clareyperson

It's my brithday today, and it's depressing that the only people who would have remembered without me reminding them are Hannah, Em, Helen and various family members. Sara and Terry hardly ever go to lectures any more. Sigh.

Ignore me, am feeling depressed and like I've made few true friends since I've come to manchester. Meh.

I'm going skiing!!! On the 30th December so we spend New Years out in Italy. It does mean my bank balance will be very overdrawn until i get my scholarship money in February, but it'll be worth it. Haven't been for 4 years, and neither has Helen, so it should be a lot of fun!

This week is reading week, and because the Physics department hates us poor students, I have three tests this week. Had the first this morning, which went well, and the other two are tomorrow. They count for 10% of the marks for each module, so I should probably start doing some form of revision.

The dog went home at the weekend, and I did lots of driving around on Sunday while my mum panicked quietly in the passenger as I was driving her car. I can't fit much in my car, it's only little and I can't open the boot without it falling off. Poor Ron, he needs the water leak mending, 4 new tires, a new wing mirror (long story), new hinges on his boot and the hazard warning lights mending. At the moment if I use my hazard warning lights it looks as if I'm indicating right. But he's still going, nearly three years after I got him for £100. Not bad really.

Anyway, this is just a load of rambling procrastination, so I'm going to stop babbling, and start revising. Good plan...

Landlord came round yesterday and agreed that smashing the door was the only way to get Helen out of the bathroom and said he'd pay for a new one. Everyone has a new respect for my Boots of Doom now, including all of the people I know in my physics lecture. It's quite amusing really, and Flossie and Tom want me to take a photo of it and show it to them.

Life's never dull. It was the fire drill yesterday, and I wasn't on the seventh foor this time, luckily, so didn't have to go down excessive amounts of stairs, which was good, and at least it wasn't raining. It's reading week this week, and only have three tests this time. The annoying thing is that they're worth as much as a whole module was last year, and so I really need to do well, unfortunately electromagnetism is impossible as we have a crap lecturer and my textbook hasn't come through yet. I'll worry about that next week...

Am going home for the weekend, have to pick my mum up from the airport on Sunday morning, take the dog home, take my dad to lunch then take my mum to Liverpool airport so she can go to Dublin. I feel sorry for my mum, she'll be knackered and probably jet-lagged.

In other news, Helen's got me tickets for Placebo for my birthday!!! Very excited, can't wait. I've wanted to see them play for years!

Anyway, I think that's all I wanted to say really...

I got back from a night out last night, and we were quite drunk. Helen ended up stepping on a glass, breaking it and cutting her foot. She went into the bathroom where she got locked in because the lock got stuck (it's still stuck now, bloody thing) so I ended up doing the only thing that made sense. After trying to open the lock from the outside (it's one of those ones that have a thing you can stick a key in and turn it to unlock) and when this failed, I kicked the door in; nearly breaking the door in half in the process. It now looks has a crack that goes all the way through the door and runs from below the handle to the top of the door.

Amy stumbled in a little later to discover the bathroom door in pieces and blood on the floor (from Helen's foot) and promptly panicked. Oops. I broke the news to my landlord today, he was very calm about it and said he'd sort it out. I hope he doesn't make me pay for a new door. My hip's killing me today because of it. Sigh.

Today has been boring, labs from 9 to 5 today and I spent most of the time trying to make bits of wire do strange things. Still, no labs for two weeks now, so it's all good. Today has been very strange. We adopted a new lab partner, called Johnny. He didn't have a lab partner, so me and Sara let him join in with us. I'd never seenim before, but he seems nice. It made poking wire into little holes slightly more bearable. The skittles helped too.

Well, today had a crapy start. Spent the first hour of labs being shunted round experiments until they could find space for me and then Sara decided to turn up. Not that Sara turning up was a bad thing, it's just that I'd been on my own for about an hour trying to find an experiment to do. Ended up with a really shit one about something to do with some silicon and light diffraction.

Have to give a talk tomorrow, and haven't done anything for it. Oops. And I got rained on on the way home.

This update seems to consist mostly of grumbles. I shall stop now.

Well, have finally found out lab days, and due to a series of events, I now have no lab partner. Alas. However tomorrow's experiment is on cepheid variables, which shouldn't be too bad, and means I don't have to be in uni until ten instead of nine.

I went home for the weekend and ended up spending most of the time constructing furniture for my sister. Luckily we had an electric screwdriver, so it wasn't too bad, but still. Also the dog might be coming to manchester for a week, which should be fun, as my mum is taking my sister to Florida. Also got a printer, but the people at Argos gave us the wrong one, so have to take it back on Wednesday.

Lectures weren't too bad today, but am dreading wednesday when I have to do give an informal talk on my essay topic. Bleurgh. Also found myself signing up for a diploma in marine biology with Helen yesterday. I'm actually really looking forward to it, it should be really interesting, and as I don't have to work this year I shouldn't be too pressed for time, even with this.

So basically life is good, and hectic. This makes me happy.

Back at uni properly now. Labs, computer labs, workshops and tutorials start next week, but lectures started on Monday. I have discovered many things including the fact that quantum mechanics is hard, there are literally millions of known galaxies (and they keep finding more) and that just when you think you know everything about differential equations, they hit you with partial differential equations.

It's good to be back though. It's so easy to settle into the routine here. I get up, go to uni and come back to Helen and piss around until the time comes to go back to uni. I wish the house would stay in one piece. The day after the bathroom is finished (the landlord refurbished it over the summer), the front of the oven falls off (and shatters). Still, at least we have a tv license now, and things are looking good.

Have the day off uni on Friday so am heading back to the Wirral for the day to go to the beach and walk the dog. I like having Ron here, makes things so much easier. Anyway, am off to watch Casino now.

Have finished essay! Have been very productive over the last couple of days. I tidied our room, did the washing and the washing up, finished my essay and took all the rubbish out. Today I'm going food shopping. Have a strange feeling that somewhere along the line, without me noticing, I've been domesticated. Meh.

I'm going to have a roast dinner tomorrow, and am looking forward to it. Yummy.

I think it's friday, and i have to do this essay by monday. So far I have one 350 words out of 1500, so I suppose it could be going worse. I spent the entire day yesterday genuinly believing it was wednesday, and so am a little confused as to the days at the moment. Unfortunately so is Helen, so I'm likely to remain confused for a while.

On Wednesday Em came to Manchester, and we went to town and I spent more money than I have again, and got essential things like a key for Helen, and a digibox for Helen, and a TV aerial cable and plug extension lead. After that we came back to my house, and slobbed around for a bit, until it was time to get Hannah. My house is a bit out of the way, and hard to find especially when you don't know where it is, so I met Hannah at the main road (a ten minute walk away) and brought her back. Em and Helen opted to be lazy and stayed in our room and lazed around. We were later joined by Amy and went for a curry. Well, we do live in Rusholme so...

I officially left ASDA yesterday. I got a letter from Inland Revenue telling me I've been paying to much tax, so could I send them a P45 or P90 with the form they sent me. I still have no idea what a P90 is, but a P45 is what you get when you leave a job so I phoned up and am getting one sent to me by next week. It's the end of an era really, I've worked there for over two years.

Last night the pipes or radiator in the wall of our room were vibrating noisily, so didn't get to sleep until about 4 in the morning. It's stopped now, but I really, really hope it doesn't start again. Stupid old house, nothing works.

On the plus side the bathroom next to our room finally has a working light and the toilet now flushes. We also have a new freezer and tumble dryer, so as far as my landlord is concerned he's done everything he needs to do to the house now. Hopefully that means we won't see him again for a while.

Anyway, am off to write more of this essay. As much as I love physics, right now I really cannot be arsed.

I'm back!!! Have wireless internet in my room. Moved in today with Helen to Manchester. Room is lovely and big, which is good as there are two of us living here.

The summer has been good. California was amazing, and I had such a good time there. Went to my aunty's wedding last friday, and ended up pissed on a couple of bottles of wine. It's traditional at a wedding!

Anyway, have been up since half three this morning though, so am shattered. Have an essay to do in the next week on extra-solar planets and am painting my room tomorrow, three out of seven walls are going to be red, the rest white. It's a very strange shaped room.

Got some fish today, two for me (called Frodo and Sam) and two for Helen (Bozo and Laura, after my cousin). They're really cute! Have a desk each so hopefully we won't piss each other off too much. Mostly unpacked now. Bleurgh.

Anyway, am off to sleep now, but I'm back online! I missed you all!

I came back from cyprus with:

-Enough tobacco to keep half of Cornwall going til Christmas
-A pretty new lighter
-A keyring with a clock on it
-Grazes on my knee, legs and arms
-Twelve stitches on my left foot
-Crutches

I fell off a rock, onto yet more rocks, and my foot swelled up to twice it's normal size. Not that the crutches stopped me doing anything. I went bowling with some of Helen's friends, and I still beat Helen. Luckily am able to walk again, and the stitches came out yesterday.

In other news, I also finally got that tattoo I wanted of a dragonfly on the back of my shoulder. It's so pretty!

Am currently in an airport again, off to Paris this time. I could get used to all this travelling, I really could. I get back to Cornwall on Saturday, and then I'm going back to work on the Wirral. Alas.

Am at Heathrow airport, with a few hours to kill... Very excited. Hayfever has exploded, and despite taking up to 7 antihistamines a day still feel crappy. Alas. Iona, I have no idea why you take them to help you sleep, they do nothing to me.

Anyway, the last few days in Cornwall have gone very quickly. So far have been bowling, drank lots and met Helen's parents. It's been strange, but in a good way. I was hoping for some sunshine, but alas after the first day it rained. It was the only place in the country to rain. Maybe it follows me.

Hope you're all ok, and having a good summer so far. I'll speak to you again when I return from Cyprus... Squee!

Exams are over!!! Advanced dynamics wasn't as bad as I expected. It wasn't that brilliant either, and I know I got all the maths wrong, but I think I'll have passed. That's good enough for me. I'm so unbelievably tired though, haven't had more than four hours sleep a night for about a week...

Am celebrating with a mug of wine. Mmmm. Have to pack today though, which is a shame, as I really wanted to spend today pissing around and relaxing. Alas. Off to Cornwall tomorrow, and Cyprus on Tuesday. Don't know when I'll next be able to update, won't have internet access much over the summer. So, in case I don't get a chance to update any time soon, I hope you all have a wonderful summer full of alcohol and sunshine.

When Terry knocked on my door at 9 o'clock this morning so we could walk down to the Maths exam together, I opened it to find a very confused Terry wandering around the flat looking at all the doors. He saw me and pointed at my door. They've changed my room number from 17 to 37. I have no idea when they did this, Terry thinks friday as they wouldn't have done any work over the weekend. Am slightly disturbed, and curious as to why they felt it necessary to renumber the flats...

Maths exam was fine, no problems. Made up a rule, vaguely remember my Maths Tutor going on about the area under a sin squared curve between 0 and 2 pi radians being equal to something, so I made it 2 pi as it gave me the right answer. Other than that no problems. Am feeling slightly calmer about Advanced Dynamics, there isn't as much as I thought there was. Might see how I feel and stay up all tomorrow night again, we'll see. Didn't sleep last night, although that wasn't on purpose, I just couldn't sleep. Hope I'm not getting insomnia again.

Didn't see Sara at the exam today, she was running late when me and Terry left Halls, hope she made it in on time. We were in Whitworth Hall, which is the old, pretty one. I was under the impression that you registered there and then never entered it again until you graduated, but apparently you can do some exams in there too. It wasn't very exciting, and I forgot to stick the corner of my paper down again. I've done that every single exam so far this time round. I put my hand up so they come and get the paper, and then feel totally stupid when they point out that I've forgotten. This time the guy told me that I shouldn't be in such a hurry to leave.

Anyway, enough exam babble for now. Canal Street had some gay pride thing on this weekend I think. There were a lot more actual gay people there than usual, and it was really busy. I only went in search of pizza, and found myself surrounded by gay guys. Helen went for food on sunday, and she found herself surrounded by butch lesbians. She got free coke and lots of tomato ketchup and mayonnaise with the food. I think that the guy behind the bar was relieved to see a girl who actually looked female, and of course she's very pretty too and was wearing a low-cut top which probably helped.

I'm sorry, this post is even less coherent than usual. I'm avoiding revision again. Alas. Can't avoid it much longer though... Sigh.

I've got out of bed relatively early (lately I haven't got up until about four in the afernoon) because I have an exam tomorrow and another on wednesday. Tomorrow's should be fine, it's maths, which I'm good at despite the fact that the maths students don't do this until their second year. It's relatively easy. I think I'm using the word relatively a lot. I blame Einstein. Wednesday's exam, however, will be impossible. It's Advanced Dynamics, and they weren't joking when they named the course. It's my option module this term, and it was very interesting when I was doing the lectures, better than the other options anyway. But now I have to do the exam and I wish I'd chosen Physics of the Solar System, which is apparently very easy. I haven't really revised for either exam yet. Oops.

I'm just holding on to the fact that I'm going to Cornwall on Thursday, and to Cyprus a week on Tuesday. It's my only lifeline in all of this.

Have just finished booking a holiday to Cyprus. Helen and I are going on the 13th of June, which is in twelve days. I'm very excited. It was a lot of effort to book though. We started with the hotel yesterday (all inclusive - drink!) and then realised that there are hardly any flights on the days we wanted. So we're flying from Heathrow. Which means that we have to get the coach from Cornwall to the airport, which will take six and a half hours. But it's all done now, just have to sort Helen's passport out, and get E111 forms, and we're all done.

Squee.

So yes, instead of revising, I've been sorting that all out. Much more exciting.

Exam wasn't too bad. It could've been better, but then it could have been a lot worse too. Ended up leaving out 8 marks, out of 75, because I looked at it and just knew that there was no way I was going to work out how to do it. Sigh. Still, all over now, and I only have maths and advanced dynamics to go. It's only something like 9 days until me and Helen go to Cornwall now. I'm actually looking forward to going to Cornwall, makes a nice change. I hate that place, it's absolutely beautiful, but the people are so fucked up, and there's far too many bloody tourists.

Helen didn't sleep last night either, despite me telling her to every half an hour, and went to sleep just after I left for my exam at 9 this morning. She's still asleep, bless her. I can't sleep though, I tried, but it didn't quite work somehow. Alas.

Well, it's nearly half three in the morning, and I'm revising. Have an exam at quarter to ten tomorrow and I know NOTHING! It's my own fault, I should have revised before, but I didn't so now I'm resorting to staying up all night panicking with multiple cups of tea and Queen. Terry is doing the same thing, so we're keeping each other company via text messages. If either of us pass it'll be a miracle.

It's only electromagnetism, how hard can it be...

Help!

Well, vibrations and waves exam went badly. I think I'll have passed, and apparently this lecturer gets so many complaints each year for being a bad lecturer and setting ridiculously hard exams, that all the marks get boosted. It does make me wonder why they still let him lecture though. I stopped going to the lectures after six weeks because they were only confusing me more. Ended up learning the course from the notes on the internet, which are slightly more coherent and less full of rubbish than the lecture notes.

Still, it's all over, and I doubt that topic will crop up again too much unless I do something stupid like do a PhD in Simple Harmonic Motion or something equally ridiculous.

Before the exam, there was a big group of us talking excitedly about X-Men 3 which came out on Thursday. We all decided that to celebrate the end of V&W, we should all go and watch it after the exam. So we all wandered along to the cinema, everyone seemed to bring an exta person as well, so there was quite a big group by the time we got there. The film itself was really good, if you don't happen to know the actual story-line from the cartoons. I did. So did Sara, Terry, Jenny and Tara. Hence on the way back we all discussed what they'd done to it. It was still good film, don't get me wrong, it's just that a few of the things they'd changed I really didn't like. Especially regarding Rogue, they've destroyed her character.

Haven't really done anything since then, just lounged around eating things. It's been fun, but not ver exciting. I should be revising now of course, but somehow I just can't force myself to. I think I'll have another day off, and then start electromagnetism tomorrow. Good plan.

I survived my Solids, Liquids and Gases exam with minimum trauma. It was actually fairly easy, and I did my usual thing of finishing in 50 minutes despite the fact it was an hour and a half exam. Terry found it easyish too, so everyone's happy. Vibrations and waves tomorrow, then five days off to recover. Drinking is already planned...