The title seems to fit in very well with my feelings today. Tomorrow is the deadline for our photography project and although I am quite a bit closer to finishing the damn thing, I am sevearly lacking in prints of pictures and final pieces. This of course means a trip to Snappy Snaps at 9am as they have one of the slowest printers known to man and therefore will take up to an hour to print off 30images size 6inx4in. Then of course the final pieces must be in a minimum size of 10inx10in and as I doubt very many places actually sell frames of this size I have gone for the simpler method of purchasing 2 frames 10inx12in from Wilkinsons. Muc easier to handle and have printed. In all honesty, the research still hasn't been written up, but only because the images I am looking at, although visually good are boring as hell to write about. Everyone knows Hanz Holbeins Ambassadors and the weird shape at the front or it wouldn't be famous. Someone has done a picture of a storm in a teacup, very fun and interesting but sat on just a plain wooden background has all the interesting points taken out. Still, it could be worse... I could be writing about pears on draining boards.
Today has been nice. Me and Emily spent the day looking round for makeup ideas and for a dress for her for the Snowflake ball... I will at this point point out we have yet to buy tickets. We might not be able to go, but at least we are going to look good! Looking at the dress ideas Emily has been trying on, I'm slightly worried I will be looking rather over-dressed with my long, corseted skirt and holter necked top against her short and stylish club wear and massive stilettos. But we both have men to take us to the ball and neither are looking any further for our princes than our escorts so we should have a fantastic time!
I've found the city of Lincoln really quite lacking in terms of christmas lights and a general Christmassy mood, but I feel this would be massively improved if I could find someone to go on the Ice-rink with me! I shall, however, be quite happy to settle for looking round the Christmas market with Emily and her friends on thursday. Also a chocolate advent calendar would help towards the general Christmas feel too... Wilkinsons? yes, I think so too!
So, the cleaners have promised me that tomorrow will be the day I can finally give a very rude hand gesture to my very rude old flatmates and move into my new flat. I think I'm more excited about the move because it will allow me to unpack than to not see the people I live with now because I believe two of them haven't been around this weekend and the one left isn't so bad really. Of course I think that now, but the second the other two come home I will probably be over the moon at the prospect of leaving them all in my past and moving very swiftly towards my new present. I'll be really annoyed if they say I can't move in tomorrow because tomorrow will be a whole week since I first complained and asked to be moved, so if it doesn't happen tomorrow then more complaining will consequent.
Seems as if my life is on hold today and will really start again tomorrow. Really can't wait to see my mummy next weekend though! The idea of Yorkshire tea, crackers and cream cheese and of course my lovely, long, warm, (matalan) black coat are enough to have my mouth watering. Oh and of course a nig big hug from my mummy!!
Sunday, 29 November 2009
Saturday, 28 November 2009
Someone tell me how I feel
In case anyone is wondering, todays title is from "the lonliness of a tower cab driver", or as it has become more well known "one day like this" by Elbow. My dad introduced me to this band months ago and of course this is their most famous song, which was invariably played at my 18th birthday. I found the video for the song on youtube and it made me smile with happy memories from that party so I thought I would place a little joy in a few more hearts as they remembered the wonderful night of September 18th 1009.
Today my thoughts are slightly concentrated around Mark Hewis, a freelance film maker who came into our university to do a lecture on freelancing. I found him very fun and casual, some of his work was fantastic and sparked a lot of curiosity on my part, but some really didn't agree with me and I guess that's how most freelancers affect everyone really. But I'm not thinking about his work, I am thinking about a piece of advice he gave to us all. His piece of advice was to buy a box, and whenever we have a piece of inspiration or a wonderful idea for a project, to write it down and put it in the box so we remember it later on. This is the point where I tell you I really wish I listened to this advice better and had acted upon it last night because I had a wonderful story to write on this blog and I've completely forgotten it. Lo and behold, this is life.
Back to the title then. I think it sums up very well the atmosphere of today. I'm not sure whether I am happy, sad, angry, tired or just feeling like I really need a holiday, but I think the latter is winning over. I am absolutely over the moon because I have finally ordered the skirt I am planning to wear for the snowflake ball on 7th December. It is a beautiful piece of workmanship for a lot less than I was willing to pay, which of course has put a huge grin on my bank account. Then I felt the lovely, relaxing feel of my bank account almost crying with joy when it realised my mum would be feeding it a nice, big, fat, disability living allowance cheque and so it is about to gain a lot more weight than it has been living on over the past few weeks. Unfortunately the grin it had set in place then wilted once more, when I heard student finance are messing around asking for my mum and dads evidence of how much they earn a year AGAIN. It could be January before I receive any money from them, something that will be a pain for where I live and those I love and want to give Christmas presents to, I still need to purchase the box-set I have promised Emily, find a little something extra for Luke, his family and my grandparents.
I seem to have caught myself in a time rut. That is, time is moving far too fast for my photography project which is still unfinished, but too slowly for my wanting to go home and rest from all the frantic work I have been doing. The next project I am going to do, I will not bother about what goes in the book, but every time I have a thought on the project I will write it down in the hopes I will receive more marks than I am likely to receive for this piece of work. However, I am fairly confident my images are of a lot better quality this time so shouldn't loose marks on that front. However, the quantity of images could be a slight issue where marks are concerned. I have the images I need, but only have about 30 images overall. I do have a few more ideas for images, but the weather will not permit such images to look good. Another problem on this issue is I have already packed my memory card reader in anticipation of moving and can't actually remember where I put it. Not feeling overly clever at this moment in time.
Last night I had quite a nice surprise from Sun Wen. As I went to pour myself some cereal, I met her in the corridor outside my room and we stood talking. I told her I was really quite tired and not feeling particularly on top of the world because of this. She looked very worried but I told her I would be fine and would see her later. About 5 minutes after re-entering my room and sitting at my laptop, I heard a shy little "tap tap tap" at my door. So I went to see who it was and there was Sun Wen. She smiled when I said hi and held out her hand to reveal a beautiful, big, shiney red apple. "I've brought you an apple. Keep eating!" She said before waving to me and going back into her room. It made me smile a lot. I'm really going to miss her and BaoBao when I move out but I know it's the right thing to do.
Craig and Emily have gone to the Cathedral today to look round. They invited me but I really am too tired to do much right now and really do have to finish my work. (This blog is the ultimate method of procrastination.) The three of us went out together to the campus Tower Bar to meet with 3 of Craigs friends. Unfortunately Emily had forgotten her passport and left it at her mums house so me and Emily had to stay on campus as they don't really ID here. We finally have proof that The Shed (another of campus' bars) actually do water down their spirits. The Shed sell a variety of cocktails which me and Emily like to sample which are called "Shed Trebles", three shots of alcohol topped with a mixer. We drunk 3 of these trebles before getting a jug of the most delicious alcoholic drink I have ever tasted. By the end of it, emily was getting rather giddy and I didn't feel a thing (alcohol related). No wonder the booze there is given out so easily.
And now, I shall finally stop procrastinating and actually do some work...
..... This work really is boring you know T_T
Today my thoughts are slightly concentrated around Mark Hewis, a freelance film maker who came into our university to do a lecture on freelancing. I found him very fun and casual, some of his work was fantastic and sparked a lot of curiosity on my part, but some really didn't agree with me and I guess that's how most freelancers affect everyone really. But I'm not thinking about his work, I am thinking about a piece of advice he gave to us all. His piece of advice was to buy a box, and whenever we have a piece of inspiration or a wonderful idea for a project, to write it down and put it in the box so we remember it later on. This is the point where I tell you I really wish I listened to this advice better and had acted upon it last night because I had a wonderful story to write on this blog and I've completely forgotten it. Lo and behold, this is life.
Back to the title then. I think it sums up very well the atmosphere of today. I'm not sure whether I am happy, sad, angry, tired or just feeling like I really need a holiday, but I think the latter is winning over. I am absolutely over the moon because I have finally ordered the skirt I am planning to wear for the snowflake ball on 7th December. It is a beautiful piece of workmanship for a lot less than I was willing to pay, which of course has put a huge grin on my bank account. Then I felt the lovely, relaxing feel of my bank account almost crying with joy when it realised my mum would be feeding it a nice, big, fat, disability living allowance cheque and so it is about to gain a lot more weight than it has been living on over the past few weeks. Unfortunately the grin it had set in place then wilted once more, when I heard student finance are messing around asking for my mum and dads evidence of how much they earn a year AGAIN. It could be January before I receive any money from them, something that will be a pain for where I live and those I love and want to give Christmas presents to, I still need to purchase the box-set I have promised Emily, find a little something extra for Luke, his family and my grandparents.
I seem to have caught myself in a time rut. That is, time is moving far too fast for my photography project which is still unfinished, but too slowly for my wanting to go home and rest from all the frantic work I have been doing. The next project I am going to do, I will not bother about what goes in the book, but every time I have a thought on the project I will write it down in the hopes I will receive more marks than I am likely to receive for this piece of work. However, I am fairly confident my images are of a lot better quality this time so shouldn't loose marks on that front. However, the quantity of images could be a slight issue where marks are concerned. I have the images I need, but only have about 30 images overall. I do have a few more ideas for images, but the weather will not permit such images to look good. Another problem on this issue is I have already packed my memory card reader in anticipation of moving and can't actually remember where I put it. Not feeling overly clever at this moment in time.
Last night I had quite a nice surprise from Sun Wen. As I went to pour myself some cereal, I met her in the corridor outside my room and we stood talking. I told her I was really quite tired and not feeling particularly on top of the world because of this. She looked very worried but I told her I would be fine and would see her later. About 5 minutes after re-entering my room and sitting at my laptop, I heard a shy little "tap tap tap" at my door. So I went to see who it was and there was Sun Wen. She smiled when I said hi and held out her hand to reveal a beautiful, big, shiney red apple. "I've brought you an apple. Keep eating!" She said before waving to me and going back into her room. It made me smile a lot. I'm really going to miss her and BaoBao when I move out but I know it's the right thing to do.
Craig and Emily have gone to the Cathedral today to look round. They invited me but I really am too tired to do much right now and really do have to finish my work. (This blog is the ultimate method of procrastination.) The three of us went out together to the campus Tower Bar to meet with 3 of Craigs friends. Unfortunately Emily had forgotten her passport and left it at her mums house so me and Emily had to stay on campus as they don't really ID here. We finally have proof that The Shed (another of campus' bars) actually do water down their spirits. The Shed sell a variety of cocktails which me and Emily like to sample which are called "Shed Trebles", three shots of alcohol topped with a mixer. We drunk 3 of these trebles before getting a jug of the most delicious alcoholic drink I have ever tasted. By the end of it, emily was getting rather giddy and I didn't feel a thing (alcohol related). No wonder the booze there is given out so easily.
And now, I shall finally stop procrastinating and actually do some work...
..... This work really is boring you know T_T
Thursday, 26 November 2009
3 boys and a camera!
Today we did the first bit of filming for the 3rd year video project I am working for. The film is going to be called Shell-shocked, about a man coming back from the war in Afghanistan with a serious case of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). I play his lovely girlfriend "Kelly" who basically calls him inconsiderate and takes constant jabs at him for not talking to her enough. I love playing the part and the lines are amazing, if a little hard to remember. Today we shot the home scenes in a beautiful apartment in Witham Warf, the really expensive pent houses in Lincoln. The bed was beautifully warm, soft and cozy and I'm the only one who got to be in it. Kellys boyfriend, Paul is played by a guy called Michael who I only just met today and would not let me stop laughing in between scenes! I have never seen anyone dance in such a silly way, it was really good that we got on so well together because the next time we will be filming will be the more romantic scenes.
I know I usually use a song quotation or lyric for the titles of my blogs, but this was said by Sophy (The manager) when Lee (director), James (camera man) and Michael (Plays Paul) walked into the bedroom together to film a very basic scene showing the depression of Paul, I honestly can say they were in there for ages and we heard some interesting noises, so when Sophy said "they're 3 boys and a camera", we and Matt (sound man) could not stop laughing! Excellent fun.
The only bad bit about today was receiving the text message from Sophy asking me to bring a few changes of clothes (to symbolise multiple days). Me and her have been communicating via. the university email and I suddenly seemed to stop receiving her emails, so I had thought we either weren't going to be filming or they had found a new Kelly. So when I suddenly get a text today saying "can you bring a spare change of clothes and some pyjamas?" I got really scared! But all was ok because I have finally taken the bull by the horns and put some new credit on my phone so I managed to get there with plenty of time to spare. I'm hoping no-one unexpectedly decides I need to do anything this weekend, I plan on catching up on some sleep and finishing off my photography project! True I got the pictures I wanted, but I only have 20 pictures in total, so could do with taking a few more.
Tonight Emily, me and a few of Emily's friends (Craig, Jack and some others) will be going on a club crawl through Lincoln so again we will probably end up drinking semi-lethal amounts of booze through the night and I will end up arriving to my video lecture in the morning with a rather impressive hang-over. If no. 27's flat party is anything to go by, Ozone (greek vodka) does not react well with my head and I'd rather not be living off pain killers again! I am so tired, I'll probably comatose this weekend, ah the joyous feeling of sleep when one is truely shattered.
p.s. I won't be moving out until Monday lunch time at the earliest! The cleaners have not even thought about starting to clean the new room because of room inspections. *sigh*
I know I usually use a song quotation or lyric for the titles of my blogs, but this was said by Sophy (The manager) when Lee (director), James (camera man) and Michael (Plays Paul) walked into the bedroom together to film a very basic scene showing the depression of Paul, I honestly can say they were in there for ages and we heard some interesting noises, so when Sophy said "they're 3 boys and a camera", we and Matt (sound man) could not stop laughing! Excellent fun.
The only bad bit about today was receiving the text message from Sophy asking me to bring a few changes of clothes (to symbolise multiple days). Me and her have been communicating via. the university email and I suddenly seemed to stop receiving her emails, so I had thought we either weren't going to be filming or they had found a new Kelly. So when I suddenly get a text today saying "can you bring a spare change of clothes and some pyjamas?" I got really scared! But all was ok because I have finally taken the bull by the horns and put some new credit on my phone so I managed to get there with plenty of time to spare. I'm hoping no-one unexpectedly decides I need to do anything this weekend, I plan on catching up on some sleep and finishing off my photography project! True I got the pictures I wanted, but I only have 20 pictures in total, so could do with taking a few more.
Tonight Emily, me and a few of Emily's friends (Craig, Jack and some others) will be going on a club crawl through Lincoln so again we will probably end up drinking semi-lethal amounts of booze through the night and I will end up arriving to my video lecture in the morning with a rather impressive hang-over. If no. 27's flat party is anything to go by, Ozone (greek vodka) does not react well with my head and I'd rather not be living off pain killers again! I am so tired, I'll probably comatose this weekend, ah the joyous feeling of sleep when one is truely shattered.
p.s. I won't be moving out until Monday lunch time at the earliest! The cleaners have not even thought about starting to clean the new room because of room inspections. *sigh*
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Painting with all the colours of the wind
So I finally did the photoshoot and if all images are in focus (Which I do believe they are) then I have quite a few really good ones to hand in at the end of the project (Monday, eek!). After the shoot, me and some of the other girls who were in the studio did a little mini personal photoshoot ourselves, with me acting as photographer of course. It was only after the shoot that I finally learnt where the flash is on my beautiful Canon EOS450D camera! So unfortunately none of the pictures were on my camera, but I'll know where the button is for next time. Yes, I did manage to find a soft toy for the shoot. It has not got the nicest fur but it has a huge smile and very bright eyes and only cost me 50p, a much improved price on the £20 for the perfect rabbit.
Speaking of prices making my bank account smile, Emily sent me a link to a website yesterday at about 1:30am, (and I loved it so much I was still up looking through the site at 2:45am!) The website is called the "Goth-Shop" and it sells everything from jackets to prom dresses. Me and Emily have agreed we will go to the winter ball together, escorted or not, and cleverly (not) decided on what our makeup would look like before we got our outfits. This is where I tell the world I love charity shops. I found the most beautiful corset style halter-neck top in a charity shop for only £4! add that to the skirt I found on this "goth-shop" page and my entire outfit is going to cost no more than £50! People should shop more in charity shops, they're worth the time and effort when you stumble upon something like that.
This point lets me slide quite smoothly unto more explinations. If we are going to be talking about cliques such as goths, then I definitely fit into that label with my black hair, pale skin and a love of metal and classical music very few others understand. However, when I first came to Lincoln, I had never actually seen "The Nightmare Before Christmas" or even "Coraline", two of Pixars finest works I may add. So of course Emily took that as a means to title me "worst goth ever!" In a very comicbook guy style, meaning she has ALSO taken it upon herself to make me a better goth, therefore showing me "The nightmare before Christmas", allowing me to drag her into all goth shops I do find and applauding Luke for showing me Coraline. (Other such films we have enjoyed together include: When Harry met Sally - with Emily speaking all the lines over the movie, The Lost Boys and possibly Van Helsing, but at that time Dan and Jo still lived in the house a lot and we ended up spending the entire film talking to them)
Anyway, I have been told I am allowed to move out of the room I am living in at the moment and move into another one not too far away, but far away enough that I never have to look my flatmates in the face again (because this action does create a bad sence of nausea in anyone from the female gender who is not as spoilt as they). I was hoping I could move out today but alas this has been seen as not possible as I chose inspection week to move and the cleaners have not yet finished cleaning my new room. Then again, I look round my room and realise I'll probably be stealing a morrisons trolley to get everything from apartment A to apartment B.
*slight pause as Ice-cream tub is placed back in freezer before my stomach literally becomes an ice-creamed black hole*
On an incredibly happy note, my grandpa has put money into my bank account now bringing the total to a high enough number that I can pay the rest of the money for the San Fransisco trip. With the photographic side of the course we apparently go abroad once a year, 1st year is San Fransisco, 2nd year is New York and 3rd year is Venice (must go to this one!)so we can view other galleries, meet artists, take pictures of a different country and, erm, well... Be tourists. I am very excited about these trips as the most adventurous I have ever been was visiting my Uncle in Canada, not complaining but it was six years ago now and as wonderfully amazing as the holiday was, one can't really enjoy a country to its fullest when being new to the teenage years. I am really hoping we get to see the Goldengate bridge.
Still no word from Jessica, the girl who is sorting out our video project this time. The deadline is in a few weeks. Oh dear.
Speaking of prices making my bank account smile, Emily sent me a link to a website yesterday at about 1:30am, (and I loved it so much I was still up looking through the site at 2:45am!) The website is called the "Goth-Shop" and it sells everything from jackets to prom dresses. Me and Emily have agreed we will go to the winter ball together, escorted or not, and cleverly (not) decided on what our makeup would look like before we got our outfits. This is where I tell the world I love charity shops. I found the most beautiful corset style halter-neck top in a charity shop for only £4! add that to the skirt I found on this "goth-shop" page and my entire outfit is going to cost no more than £50! People should shop more in charity shops, they're worth the time and effort when you stumble upon something like that.
This point lets me slide quite smoothly unto more explinations. If we are going to be talking about cliques such as goths, then I definitely fit into that label with my black hair, pale skin and a love of metal and classical music very few others understand. However, when I first came to Lincoln, I had never actually seen "The Nightmare Before Christmas" or even "Coraline", two of Pixars finest works I may add. So of course Emily took that as a means to title me "worst goth ever!" In a very comicbook guy style, meaning she has ALSO taken it upon herself to make me a better goth, therefore showing me "The nightmare before Christmas", allowing me to drag her into all goth shops I do find and applauding Luke for showing me Coraline. (Other such films we have enjoyed together include: When Harry met Sally - with Emily speaking all the lines over the movie, The Lost Boys and possibly Van Helsing, but at that time Dan and Jo still lived in the house a lot and we ended up spending the entire film talking to them)
Anyway, I have been told I am allowed to move out of the room I am living in at the moment and move into another one not too far away, but far away enough that I never have to look my flatmates in the face again (because this action does create a bad sence of nausea in anyone from the female gender who is not as spoilt as they). I was hoping I could move out today but alas this has been seen as not possible as I chose inspection week to move and the cleaners have not yet finished cleaning my new room. Then again, I look round my room and realise I'll probably be stealing a morrisons trolley to get everything from apartment A to apartment B.
*slight pause as Ice-cream tub is placed back in freezer before my stomach literally becomes an ice-creamed black hole*
On an incredibly happy note, my grandpa has put money into my bank account now bringing the total to a high enough number that I can pay the rest of the money for the San Fransisco trip. With the photographic side of the course we apparently go abroad once a year, 1st year is San Fransisco, 2nd year is New York and 3rd year is Venice (must go to this one!)so we can view other galleries, meet artists, take pictures of a different country and, erm, well... Be tourists. I am very excited about these trips as the most adventurous I have ever been was visiting my Uncle in Canada, not complaining but it was six years ago now and as wonderfully amazing as the holiday was, one can't really enjoy a country to its fullest when being new to the teenage years. I am really hoping we get to see the Goldengate bridge.
Still no word from Jessica, the girl who is sorting out our video project this time. The deadline is in a few weeks. Oh dear.
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
We kissed on the corner and danced through the night
Ok, before we go any further, I need to explain who Luke is. Luke is my boyfriend and very possibly "THE ONE". We met in Feburary 2006 at a birthday party and started going out the following month. Let me tell you, if this is love I never want it to end. We both have simplistic dreams in life mainly involving educating children whether that be our own or a classroom full, a medium sized house and a car each, only so we don't have to argue over what music to listen to and when. The relationship started as a long distance one with about 130 miles seperating us, and with me entering university we changed the miles from that big scary 130 to a mear 10. We do often have arguments about when we see each other with him being in his 3rd and hardest year of university and me only in my first but it works out quite well. He does all the typical boyfriend stuff; insists on paying for lunch, making sure I'm in a taxi after dark and spending ridiculous amounts of time on msn when we are not seeing each other generally chatting and I like to think I do the typical girlfriend stuff back; eat the food he buys, ignores his taxi obsession and looks through his essays to check the english before he hands them in. But then when looked at closer, he does so much more that doesn't usually become important until husband-dom. I can always rely on him trying his hardest to get to my diabetic appointments, if just to hold my hand and whisper that everything will be ok. He looks after my little brother while my mum sorts out my low blood sugars, he didn't even freak when I had a panic attack from an unfortunate accident involving a party popper new year 2008. In fact the only bad thing would be him telling me off for planning what engagement ring I want him to give me, but a girl can dream can't she?
Days gone by
Things haven't been so great recently. The royal Mail is really starting to upset me now. I'm expecting a new sim card for my phone which will be contract so I will actually have credit, but has this been delivered? No, course not. General lack of phone usage has been a bit of a nuisence, not because I am a typical teenager who needs to spend half her lifes savings on text messaging a week, but because the other people in my video group seem to have a habit of skiiving off every lecture, meaning I can't plan with them as they generally like to keep quiet until the day of the lecture when they ask me what we should do. So of course stress levels over this have been fairly high. Not to mention the photography side of the course! It has taken me 4 weeks to come up with a good project base for "fascinating objects" because the brief is one of the worst ever. But I finally have an idea as I mentioned in the last blog. Unfortunately finding the needed objects has not been the easiest of things to do. I found a toy rabbit that was absolutely perfect with the correct eyes and smile, but a very unfriendly price tag of £20! With a tiny amount of £13 in my bank account, I'm not wasting my last chance at buying food on a toy bunny rabbit. Unfortunately, Lincoln has few charity shops all together so I have not been able to find a cheaper substitute and I have the studio booked for tomorrow. I guess it'll have to be a "make do and mend" photoshoot.
On a lighter note, I have finally decided enough is enough and have applied to move into a new flat! The new flat is again miles from the enterance, but is on the ground floor and only has 4 residents. The people seem lovely and the view from the window is a little patch of grass rather than a big building site. Actually now I think about it, it will be perfect for picnics in summer so I can make excellent use of the picnic set my great aunt and uncle gave me as a congratulatory present for getting into university. I'm excited about getting to know my new flatmates and getting away from the girls I live with now, but I will very much miss seeing Gu Yin Bao and Sun Wen (the chinese girls from my flat). Life will be getting a lot easier I expect!
Today, we had a breather from being hard working, ill students and treat ourselves to a day of fun. I wasn't particularly impressed with New Moon and think Kristin Stewerts acting has little to be said for, but was glad that the director is still sticking with the original plot line of the book which is a nice change from other films changed from books, such as Queen of the Damned and of course the tragic attempt at filmising Harry Potter. But the day was made a lot better looking down the cinema aisle to see my group of six all sat eating salty popcorn and sharing sweets like we do this every week. After the film we went to "playzone", a childs soft play gym which many of the population have not entered since being about 7. The slides were exhilerating, the obstacles brought back thrilling memories of being a child and the netting added a new kind of fun to travelling around without accidentally finding your teeshirt round your neck, exposing body parts that should not be exposed and yet still trying to arrive at the desired destination without a shattered limb. Such an adreniline rush, which was then added to with a bad case of brain freeze because the place sells Slush puppy, again a child hood pleasure!
With the time now being 2:03am and me needing to arise at 9am I think it's time for me to say adieu and get some sleep before the dark circles under my eyes become any darker.
Days gone by
Things haven't been so great recently. The royal Mail is really starting to upset me now. I'm expecting a new sim card for my phone which will be contract so I will actually have credit, but has this been delivered? No, course not. General lack of phone usage has been a bit of a nuisence, not because I am a typical teenager who needs to spend half her lifes savings on text messaging a week, but because the other people in my video group seem to have a habit of skiiving off every lecture, meaning I can't plan with them as they generally like to keep quiet until the day of the lecture when they ask me what we should do. So of course stress levels over this have been fairly high. Not to mention the photography side of the course! It has taken me 4 weeks to come up with a good project base for "fascinating objects" because the brief is one of the worst ever. But I finally have an idea as I mentioned in the last blog. Unfortunately finding the needed objects has not been the easiest of things to do. I found a toy rabbit that was absolutely perfect with the correct eyes and smile, but a very unfriendly price tag of £20! With a tiny amount of £13 in my bank account, I'm not wasting my last chance at buying food on a toy bunny rabbit. Unfortunately, Lincoln has few charity shops all together so I have not been able to find a cheaper substitute and I have the studio booked for tomorrow. I guess it'll have to be a "make do and mend" photoshoot.
On a lighter note, I have finally decided enough is enough and have applied to move into a new flat! The new flat is again miles from the enterance, but is on the ground floor and only has 4 residents. The people seem lovely and the view from the window is a little patch of grass rather than a big building site. Actually now I think about it, it will be perfect for picnics in summer so I can make excellent use of the picnic set my great aunt and uncle gave me as a congratulatory present for getting into university. I'm excited about getting to know my new flatmates and getting away from the girls I live with now, but I will very much miss seeing Gu Yin Bao and Sun Wen (the chinese girls from my flat). Life will be getting a lot easier I expect!
Today, we had a breather from being hard working, ill students and treat ourselves to a day of fun. I wasn't particularly impressed with New Moon and think Kristin Stewerts acting has little to be said for, but was glad that the director is still sticking with the original plot line of the book which is a nice change from other films changed from books, such as Queen of the Damned and of course the tragic attempt at filmising Harry Potter. But the day was made a lot better looking down the cinema aisle to see my group of six all sat eating salty popcorn and sharing sweets like we do this every week. After the film we went to "playzone", a childs soft play gym which many of the population have not entered since being about 7. The slides were exhilerating, the obstacles brought back thrilling memories of being a child and the netting added a new kind of fun to travelling around without accidentally finding your teeshirt round your neck, exposing body parts that should not be exposed and yet still trying to arrive at the desired destination without a shattered limb. Such an adreniline rush, which was then added to with a bad case of brain freeze because the place sells Slush puppy, again a child hood pleasure!
With the time now being 2:03am and me needing to arise at 9am I think it's time for me to say adieu and get some sleep before the dark circles under my eyes become any darker.
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
I fell in love with the girl at the rock show
Ok, I have some explaining to do. Names keep cropping up of people and friends and what-not, so I shall explain who everyone is now so there is no more confusion.
Emily:
We were schedualed to go for a "Welcome Talk" to welcome us into university at something like 1:30pm. However, having only really met the girls in my flat, I agreed to go shopping with them and by the time we got back, the welcome talk for my group was well and truly over. Being teenagers we thought, oh whatever and went into one much later. I sat next to Emily thinking she looked the least likely to judge me immediately for who I was. It was when the guy at the front said "welcome to the journalism welcome talk, can we take a register please?" that I realised I really wasn't supposed to be there. I whispered this to Emily and realised we were probably going to get along fine when she silently laughed her head off. The rest of the talk was spent laughing at the lecturer at the front giving the worst welcome speec I have ever heard and so we left in high spirits. Then was the legendary "headphone disco" where me and Emily almost literally bumped into each other again and spent all night flicking between the channels and doing mad dancing followed by lots of drinking and terrible singing that managed to vacate the back of the Tower Bar of everyone except us. Since then, we've been pretty much best friends. We eat cherry flavoured... anythings, we talk a lot, watch a lot of movies, eat a lot of junk food and pretty much know everything about each other. She invited me to live in her house after the first few weeks of university, but it seems I am stuck in this luxurious hellhole for this year at least. I love Emily to pieces even if she can be very rude about music that is not to her taste, but like she says, I am the worst Goth in the world.
Matt:
Her even ruder housemate, often can be found wandering round in a rather camp night gown, wearing a rather camp amount of styling gel in his hair and slavering his face with Emily's foundation in a rather camp way. I'd've thought he was gay too. He's fun to talk to when bored, fun to laugh at when he's failing at chugging beer from a funnel and even funnier to scare, but we won't go into that night at Walkabout...
Jo and Dan:
I would write about these two seperately, but I don't really know them seperately. They are the sort of couple who make other people in a couple horribly jeleous. They do everything together including eating, sleeping and probably breathing... Although I have not found any strong evidence to proove the last one yet. Jo is one of the quirkiest girls alive who fills her world with fairy lights, animation, green hair dye and of course Dan. Dan is really rather strange who also fills his world with animation, acting in Jo's many different videos, trying to be funny, being Sarcastic and of course Jo. I have never seen one of these two without the other for more time than it takes to use the bathroom.
SunWen and BaoBao:
The two Chinese girls in my flat and I swear they could give Gordon Ramsey a run for his money, they cook the most delicious food ever and also the most healthy. They are always smiling, always trying to improve their English and as of recently Baobao is working at teaching me to speak Chinese (I'm a slow learner!) I would do anything for these girls and it always makes me smile when I see them happy or with friends or talking to their family who of course still live in China.
Hannah, Shanah and Sarah:
The English girls in my flat. Shanah and Sarah are definitely sheep following Hannahs almighty rein over the apartment, but they are a lot more polite and a lot easier to get on with than their rude, two-faced, spoilt brat of a leader, Hannah. As you can tell, I am certainly not one of the sheep, although I do pretend to be around them just to make my life a little easier.
Today.
I really haven't done much today in the means of productivity, although the hour I spent in Morrisons has to be said was quite an achievement on my part. Trying to purchase less than £20 worth of food when it also has to be gluten-free is not an easy thing to do but I managed it and have to say the lack of need for pasta was a great help.
I spent most of the day checking up on money. Canon owe me £50 cash back from a deal on an EOS 450DSLR I bought (it's beautiful!) and apparently I haven't heard anything from them because the application for the £50 takes up to 28 working days. Student finance, who still ahve my birth certificate, have said it may be up to 4 weeks before I receive a penny of my student loan which really is quite upsetting. I should be receiving a new, and fairly cheap sim card for my phone by the end of the week, that is if Royal Mail have got over their little hissy fit about machines and what not and start actually doing their jobs properly.
My biggest worry was about the video project we have to have completed by 20/11/09:
Make a documentary about a persons life. They must be interesting and not a student. At first we were going for a glamour model who is known by one of the girls in our group but she is currently holidaying in France. Then we thought we had got our break, another of the girls was comissioned to photoshoot the Lily Allen! Unfortunately security was far too tight and this was not possible. So instead we are going to ask a photographer if we can do the documentary on him. We'll ahve to see how it goes.
I went for a job interview with one of the companies controlling the temporary "Lincoln on Ice" Ice-rink yesterday and didn't get the job. On the downside I missed the chance to work for £6 an hour, on the upside I won't be missing Cristmas with my family which is one prospect I was dreading.
So things to do are sort out the Maoam wrappers, clothes strewn, books bomb of a room I live in and try and find an innocent looking cuddly toy in a charity shop for my next lot of work for photography. Also I need to learn my lines to play Kelly. She is a character created by a 3rd year student doing the same course as me and is the main character of a 20minute film about the shell shock eaction of a soldier returning from Afghanistan. The script is excellent, the camera angles I can imagine will look stunning and I can't wait to start filming!
Now I shall go and work on feeling better. Tata for now.
Emily:
We were schedualed to go for a "Welcome Talk" to welcome us into university at something like 1:30pm. However, having only really met the girls in my flat, I agreed to go shopping with them and by the time we got back, the welcome talk for my group was well and truly over. Being teenagers we thought, oh whatever and went into one much later. I sat next to Emily thinking she looked the least likely to judge me immediately for who I was. It was when the guy at the front said "welcome to the journalism welcome talk, can we take a register please?" that I realised I really wasn't supposed to be there. I whispered this to Emily and realised we were probably going to get along fine when she silently laughed her head off. The rest of the talk was spent laughing at the lecturer at the front giving the worst welcome speec I have ever heard and so we left in high spirits. Then was the legendary "headphone disco" where me and Emily almost literally bumped into each other again and spent all night flicking between the channels and doing mad dancing followed by lots of drinking and terrible singing that managed to vacate the back of the Tower Bar of everyone except us. Since then, we've been pretty much best friends. We eat cherry flavoured... anythings, we talk a lot, watch a lot of movies, eat a lot of junk food and pretty much know everything about each other. She invited me to live in her house after the first few weeks of university, but it seems I am stuck in this luxurious hellhole for this year at least. I love Emily to pieces even if she can be very rude about music that is not to her taste, but like she says, I am the worst Goth in the world.
Matt:
Her even ruder housemate, often can be found wandering round in a rather camp night gown, wearing a rather camp amount of styling gel in his hair and slavering his face with Emily's foundation in a rather camp way. I'd've thought he was gay too. He's fun to talk to when bored, fun to laugh at when he's failing at chugging beer from a funnel and even funnier to scare, but we won't go into that night at Walkabout...
Jo and Dan:
I would write about these two seperately, but I don't really know them seperately. They are the sort of couple who make other people in a couple horribly jeleous. They do everything together including eating, sleeping and probably breathing... Although I have not found any strong evidence to proove the last one yet. Jo is one of the quirkiest girls alive who fills her world with fairy lights, animation, green hair dye and of course Dan. Dan is really rather strange who also fills his world with animation, acting in Jo's many different videos, trying to be funny, being Sarcastic and of course Jo. I have never seen one of these two without the other for more time than it takes to use the bathroom.
SunWen and BaoBao:
The two Chinese girls in my flat and I swear they could give Gordon Ramsey a run for his money, they cook the most delicious food ever and also the most healthy. They are always smiling, always trying to improve their English and as of recently Baobao is working at teaching me to speak Chinese (I'm a slow learner!) I would do anything for these girls and it always makes me smile when I see them happy or with friends or talking to their family who of course still live in China.
Hannah, Shanah and Sarah:
The English girls in my flat. Shanah and Sarah are definitely sheep following Hannahs almighty rein over the apartment, but they are a lot more polite and a lot easier to get on with than their rude, two-faced, spoilt brat of a leader, Hannah. As you can tell, I am certainly not one of the sheep, although I do pretend to be around them just to make my life a little easier.
Today.
I really haven't done much today in the means of productivity, although the hour I spent in Morrisons has to be said was quite an achievement on my part. Trying to purchase less than £20 worth of food when it also has to be gluten-free is not an easy thing to do but I managed it and have to say the lack of need for pasta was a great help.
I spent most of the day checking up on money. Canon owe me £50 cash back from a deal on an EOS 450DSLR I bought (it's beautiful!) and apparently I haven't heard anything from them because the application for the £50 takes up to 28 working days. Student finance, who still ahve my birth certificate, have said it may be up to 4 weeks before I receive a penny of my student loan which really is quite upsetting. I should be receiving a new, and fairly cheap sim card for my phone by the end of the week, that is if Royal Mail have got over their little hissy fit about machines and what not and start actually doing their jobs properly.
My biggest worry was about the video project we have to have completed by 20/11/09:
Make a documentary about a persons life. They must be interesting and not a student. At first we were going for a glamour model who is known by one of the girls in our group but she is currently holidaying in France. Then we thought we had got our break, another of the girls was comissioned to photoshoot the Lily Allen! Unfortunately security was far too tight and this was not possible. So instead we are going to ask a photographer if we can do the documentary on him. We'll ahve to see how it goes.
I went for a job interview with one of the companies controlling the temporary "Lincoln on Ice" Ice-rink yesterday and didn't get the job. On the downside I missed the chance to work for £6 an hour, on the upside I won't be missing Cristmas with my family which is one prospect I was dreading.
So things to do are sort out the Maoam wrappers, clothes strewn, books bomb of a room I live in and try and find an innocent looking cuddly toy in a charity shop for my next lot of work for photography. Also I need to learn my lines to play Kelly. She is a character created by a 3rd year student doing the same course as me and is the main character of a 20minute film about the shell shock eaction of a soldier returning from Afghanistan. The script is excellent, the camera angles I can imagine will look stunning and I can't wait to start filming!
Now I shall go and work on feeling better. Tata for now.
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
The beginning of the rest of my life
Ok, so this is a little late for the start of the rest of my life as the rest of my life started in September. My name is Ella, I'm 18 years old, I'm diabetic, have coeliac disease, an underactive thyroid and am very heavily involved in the folk scene... Or was until my education became more important.
I recently started at the university of Lincoln studying contemporary lens media, a fancy way of saying photography and video with a little history to make us seem brainier. (Surprisingly, the history side of things has started to pick up now after our initial introduction into the subject, where the lecturer went on to fill the 2 hour time slot he gets a week talking about pictures of trains. Nice for a four year old boy who likes trains, not so much for a student who can not paint for toffee and regularly has to catch trains and invariably hates the damn things.)
Sorry, I didn't start this to complain about trains. Why did I start this I hear you ask? Well I tried to start a diary of what university was like, but failed. Miserably. The second reason is all down to geography. My parents stay in constant contact with me of course (every girl needs her mummy and daddy), but also I have many other family members who are forever badgering poor old mum about how I'm getting on. Also my darling grandparents living up in the lake district who seem to have an unending amount of patience for my meaningless banter, so this is mostly for my grandma and grandpa, so they dont have to listen to my banter but can instead read it without large amounts of cash leaving their phone bills. Also as the only time I seem to get free is near midnight, well, that just seems harsh to ring them at such unsociable hours!
Right, enough introduction, more banter!
I'm living in a set of student apartments called "the pavillions" about 5 miles out of the main city centre of Lincoln. The apartments are beautiful and very modern. Leather sofas, flat screen tvs and dishwashers are just some of the luxeries we enjoy here (along with double beds and really quite huge rooms!) for the same price as courts. I was lucky that my general lifestyle was what caused me to be placed in one of these flats as I received the first bill for living in courts while spending my time at Whitby Folk Week and so the courts filled up, pushing me out into the sea of Luxury that I now live in.
So what could be the downfall of this paradise? Yes, of course, it's a student pad! The fire alarm went off (Saturday?) at 4am. Now, if fire alarms are supposed to warn you of danger and to get out of the flat as quickly as possibly before you turn into what resembles human shaped bacon, then why does our fire alarm cause me to wriggle further under my duvet for long periods of time screaming "shut up!"? That thing scared the bejeezus out of me! In the end I went to the only place I knew still to be open, quiet and warm, the laundry room. In the lovely peace and warmth I met another few freshers who in turn invited me to their flat party on Thursday, which of course I will be attending!
Now I know this was days ago and I should have got over it by now, but I'm pretty sure it's because of these events I have, yet again, contracted what is known as "freshers flu". Headaches, sore muscles, runny noses that would make toddlers proud and a hacking cough that should only belong to the soon-to-be-deceased-smokers of the world.
But amazingly enough, I am not complaining! Let me explain, last night while staying at my boyfriends house, I was still awake at 3:45 in the morning. Moaning to myself about lack of sleep and stuff, my mind began to wander over my near and far future.
Near future: I have a photography project due in very soon that is named "fascinating objects". I have spent countless hours in the library over the past few days trying to get some sort of inspiration as to what I'm going to do for this project and I'm sure it's been giving poor Emily (more on her later) and other people bad headaches.
Far future: Although I knew I wanted to be a photographer of some sort because of my keen enthusiasm into the subject, I've always been stuck on what sort of photographer to be. I could see myself in the future, ring on my finger, bells on my toes, in a quaint little 4 bedroom house filled with me, my husband and children, a camera around my neck... turning into a pretty necklace as I desperately searched for non-existant freelancing jobs (yes, I do find cameras pretty thankyou very much!)
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