Thursday 25 May 2006

#50 Meh

Well that's it, I'm done. My last exam, English Literature, ended at noon (although to be honest I was back in my room and enjoying a beer at 11:15) so that's the end of my first year at uni. To top it all, it's a sunny day and England have literally just bowled out Sri Lanka in the cricket for very little.

This week I've had two exams - neither went brilliantly, but neither was a disaster either; I've been to a rather scary dental appointment (it's not very reassuring when the person setting up your X-ray has a badge saying "Sheffield Hallam University"); I saw "Goodnight And Good Luck" at the union cinema; and we celebrated Ollie Shaw's birthday on Saturday...

Photographic evidence: Click here


Since coming to Sheffield, I've...
▪ Become a pirate
▪ Changed my name
▪ Been introduced to Rubicon, Real McCoys and pies
▪ Ridden a paternoster
▪ Heard my first real Owl
▪ Been to watch the Blades play
▪ Taught nursery rhymes to a Cypriot
▪ Met a bunch of weirdos
▪ Met a (bigger) bunch of fantastic people

Things I won't miss
▪ Being able to hear next-door's hot tap
▪ "Missing" breakfast
▪ A severe lackage of Friday lie-ins
▪ TV "rooms"
▪ Ranmoor food
▪ Ranmoor buildings
▪ Ranmoor doors
▪ Ranmoor halls

Random fact:
The £1 coin has a scrap value of roughly 5p, the £2 coin around 8p. The 50p at 4p is worth less than the 20p, at 5p.

Thursday 18 May 2006

#49 Final countdown

In one week from now, my first year at university will be over. Completely finished. Done and dusted. My final exam starts at 9am on Thursday 25th, and it's all over by noon. The plus side of this is that I have from a week today until September 25th before I have to start worrying about coursework, lectures and seminars. The down side of this is that this week has been utterly mental.

I've been sorting out next year's module choices, writing essay after essay, organising appointments and meetings and preparing for exams on top of all the normal chores that get in the way of uni work (washing, shopping, dining, Doctor Whoing, Facebooking, etc.). Tomorrow, I have to write 2,500 words on Early American Literature. Wish me luck.

Blasts from the past:
▪ Badger Girl
▪ Earth Warp
▪ Through The Dragon's Eye

Five months too late, my New Year's Resolution has kicked in. I've started going running every evening in an attempt to raise my fitness level above Michelle McManus's. Luckily, the road nearby is both (a) just the right length to go for a meaningful-but-not-heart-attack-inducing run, and (b) one of the few fairly flat roads in the city. It's not the most challenging route in the world, but I've simply got to start somewhere.

Annoying advert of the week:
"We've traced the call... it's coming from inside the house!!"
How can a call come from inside the house???

I shelled out £3.90 for a CD this week (which came with a free copy of Q magazine... or was that the other way around?) full of cover versions. The Sugababes cover 'I Bet You look Good On The Dancefloor' appallingly, some Jazz singer covers 'Wonderwall' brilliantly, and Nick Cave of all people covers 'Disco 2000' freakily. I'm not sure why I chose to include that in this week's blog... possibly because I haven't actually managed to do much else this week. Sigh.

Number of magpies seen today:
Four in one go... enough for a boy (or a birth)

Thursday 11 May 2006

#48 The week in pictures

Friday


Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday

Friday 5 May 2006

#47 NOC

Well, another week has passed, blah blah, etc. etc. As I’ve been told to get some blog down for last week... let’s get on with it, shall we?

Friday, and off to the Union cinema to see Jarhead. It’s about a soldier who goes off to fight in the first Gulf War (the half-finished one) and then finds it hard to return to civilian life afterwards. Not a bad film, enjoyable as it was, but I can’t really say that I came back from it with anything more than I went in with. Apart from my ticket stub, of course.

The Bank Holiday weekend was unfortunately spent doing work. Yes, an English essay due in for the Tuesday meant that Sunday and the best part of Monday were spent staring at a computer screen/book/cloud while I tried to get 2,000 words out of some Renaissance poem.

Wednesday and it starts to get interesting: down to City Hall to see the legendary Morrissey perform. After a fairly warm day, I decided to treat myself to an ice cream before the gig began, safe in the knowledge that I could eat it way up in the Circle and not feel embarrassed. Then the fire alarm went off, and we all got marched outside -- me stumbling along with a (melting) After Eight magnum -- and told to wait outside for about ten minutes.

Morrissey (during the gig):
"There was a fire alarm earlier tonight and we all got escorted out of the building... the call was traced to Q magazine"

Indeed, the whole night was full of witty quips such as this one. Opening band Sons & Daughters had to put up with their fair share of hecklers (annoyed at having to wait slightly longer to see Morrissey). Here's just a selection...

Lead singer [in an attempt to stir up the crowd]: "Are you alright?!"
Audience [rather pathetically]: "Mmmm"
Lead singer [fed up, sarcastic]: "Oh, so-so then."


Morrissey fan [during Sons & Daughters set]: "We want Morrissey!!"
Lead singer [annoyed]: "We want Morrissey too, but we can't have him."


Lead singer: "This is our last song"
Morrissey fan [the same one]: "Hooray!"
Lead singer: "Yeah, this one's for you"


As for the man himself? Well, apart from some questionable shirt-wearing for a man of his age, Morrissey was fantastic. I'm not a massive fan of his new album, but live the songs sounded great. New track 'Gang Lord' had a catchy opening and reassured me that he has still got some decent music in him. Classics 'How Soon Is Now?' and 'Girlfriend In A Coma' were excellent, and the best songs from "You Are The Quarry" allowed everyone to sing along to some of his new stuff too. Well worth the "£3.50 ticket price" (Morrissey's words, not mine).


After voting in the General Election, and the Union Elections, not one of my chosen candidates got in. Curse you, Howard Stoate. Regardless, the opportunity to vote in the Sheffield Council Elections presented itself on Thursday, and it was down to the lovely village of Ranmoor for a quick vote and a celebratory afternoon pint. Despite not having electricity where he lives, country bumpkin Ed and myself managed to cast our votes with no problem at all... Unfortunately, cheeky Liverpudlian scamp Tom Carlin almost committed electoral fraud on two occasions within two minutes, not realising the significance of a secret ballot.

Sadly, Labour got in again.

If only...

You could "save up" magpies.
(I'd have a baby boy by now, or possibly some silver)

The Apprentice update: I now want Michelle to win. It wasn't the sob story that they insister on repeating to us that won me over, just the recognition that Badger is such an obnoxious cow.

Bernard's Watch update: Bernard's... was only filmed during the Summer holidays, and all the money the lead earned from the role is still in a savings account should he ever need it. It is also not true that the actor in question punched someone who called him "Bernard" in real life. Fact.