The Busiest part of the year is nearly here!

This is my current reading book for pleasure. It's written by a guy who taught me in first year and I really liked his writing style back then. So this is Remic's new book and it just happens to be about vampires! I started reading it and so far, I'm mega enjoying it. Strange to think that it's such a 'manly' book and I'm a young woman who just so happens to be reading it right now!

Back to my title then:

The busiest last few weeks of uni are something that every student must dread. It then comes down to when students wish they'd not gone to the all-night parties and drunk so much at the clubs. Some wish they'd spent more time in class and others ponder why they didn't sit down to plan that final essay earlier!

Well, this is my last week, before I've three off for Easter. I only have one thing due in and that's a reading as a writer essay for Wednesday. I've done it, but now it needs some more work and quotes. So my plan was to go back through it tonight and I still shall, but my only problem is time. My big problem with Monday is the fact I don't finish till 6 and then I've 20 minutes walking home, a few more dumping my stuff and planing my tea. Often then its 20-40 minutes cooking tea, a few to dish up and wash things, then half an hour eating. Then its 7.30 and I don't want to start doing work really. Mostly this is because my brain is hurting after the intense English lit class and the thought of more work just drains me.

But I must, because I need it ready to print out tomorrow and I don't finish till 5pm. I know once its sorted it'll give me some breathing space. This will only be a few hours though, because then I must dive straight into another.

This is because I want to get the bulk of my essays and exam revision done over Easter, so that I'm free to do other things-such as enjoying the last of my second year classes and being with friends, who I know I won't see over summer because they live so far away etc.

I'm going to stick with my plans and I've been inspired today because my short story essay, got me 69 marks! I'm happy with that and also a little bit cheesed off because if I'd put on page numbers and indented my lines it would have hit 70 and 1.1! but still nothing can be perfect, I've learned a lesson and now I'm just so proud of myself. So its onwards and upwards now. With any luck!

Lastly comes Bioshock 2!

At last the weeks of watching my dad play this game have come to an end. at 1.30am on Sunday morning, he finished it and we both suddenly found ourselves with nothing to do and a lot of time on our hands. It's been shocking how much time Bio has taken up. I have to say though it was worth it. I really enjoyed this game, though Bio 1 is slightly better! I'm attracted to the story within the game, because this is very good and doing all the different missions as well.

Wow, I'm so turning into a boy......quick need to do something girly!!!!

This is one of my all time favorite movies! I watched Howl last night when I was home-alone and feeling down. No matter what mood I'm in when I watch Howl, it always picks me up and I feel better after watching it. I always seem to get sucked in the fantasy and of course having such a cute male character to stare at helps! Christian Bales' voice also makes Howl more attractive to me. It's hard to explain to my friends why I've such a big crush on an animated character but I just do!

If you've not seen Howl then go and see it! The animation is really good and so is the plot line!

"That can't be good for the table...."

My first favorite scene of Howl, is where he removes the scorch marks from the table....must be all that flying hair!

"You bugs better run!"

My second favorite scene is when Sophie decides to clean Howl's Castle! It's just so funny!

I guess if you like Spirited Away and want to watch more like it, then Howl is differently worth it. Also my other favorite Studio Ghibli is Princess Mononoke.....mostly because of the tree spirits! They are so cute!

Are we cute or scary?

*

I've had a very productive day today; went to Ormskirk Market-its historical-got my mum a mother's day present for next Sunday, some heel grips for my new shoes-my heels are destroyed because of them, not good. :*( Then I got some hedge cutters and when I came back I attacked the trees, bushes and hedge in the front and back garden. They were growing wild and getting in the way-some of them anyway! so I cut them back a bit and then swept up and stored out the 'yard' area beside the shed and the gate.

Then I revised for my exam on Wednesday morning, I'm going to ace it because I'm writing about Wordsworth and Coleridge and I could talk about them forever, so hopefully I'll be able to write about them and their poems in my exam!

I tidied my room too. Landlord's got someone coming to poke around the house on Monday. He's giving us £10 to go out for tea. So that should be nice, shame the house has to be spotless before hand! Trying to get the boys to do stuff has been so hard, take D- for example today: "I'll clean the cooker. I'll do the bathroom, I'll vac the stairs if you want. I'll vac the mess I made with the paper shredder in the common room later"......and what has he done? Nothing! Typical male student!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm not doing them, he said he would, so there.

Okay, so it won't let me add another image......strange. Anyway, that can wait for next time. I think I've said enough for now.....

The Mysterious Goat

Okay, so how does a mountain goat represent my university? Well, though my uni, is in the middle of nowhere and is surrounded by farming fields, there are no goats-special not mountain goats! Maybe its historical and symbolic to the uni? But so far I've no information to back this up. So I came to a decision, why not find out about this little guy and write about him on my uni blog page?

Easier said then done! I went to the Student help desk and the woman there had no idea about the goat and thought I was talking about ghosts!-which might be easier to look into because of the history of the uni, but still.....at last she phoned someone and directed me to email them. Shame she give me the wrong email address! so today I want to the Facility management help desk instead. They give me the right address and said they would look into it for me. So now I'm waiting and pondering.......

"Where have the mountains gone?????"

Next then is my essay for tomorrow! I have to study how a writer has written a poem/book/play, which isn't easy to do because I've to look at techinques and how things have been achieved. I decided to do Waiting For Godot by Sam Beckett because the play interested me and I had lots of notes about it. It was only 1000 words so I wrote it up fast. Wish I could do it for lit tho, there's just so much that can be said about the play and the fact that if Godot did so up everything would make sense!

I'm also going out tonight to see Jenn Ashworth at the Rose Theater. Hopefully it'll be good and then its off for drinks in Orkskirk!

http://www.edgehill.ac.uk/rosetheatre/2010/03/03/jenn-ashworth

Till then, I'm going to catch up with my short story reading......

A quick update!

I've been ill with a bad cold last week, so didn't get to write on here. Now I'm snowed under with uni work and so don't really have the time to be on here. I'm taking a break whilst I eat lunch and then rush off to lesson. Beside from being ill, that is what my life feels like now, always rushing off to some uni class or doing some uni work. Its not easy! Time has been playing tricks on my mind too, it seems that the student house is in a different country on a much slower timeline then I have at home. No matter what I'm doing really, time seems to drag here. Like now, I can't believe its only 4 minutes past 1pm, its sure doesn't seem to be that because to me I feel it should be much later. Worrying I have to be in class for 2pm.

It's Renaissance Eng lit today, I'm studying Milton. I found it difficult to read and got lost with the characters speaking and the narrative and then I found out that the version in my book wasn't the full thing. So I decided what was the point in trying to read it if it wasn't the real version? So I only read so many pages.

At least I got enough sleep last night....feeling refreshed but rushed. I've an essay due in on Thursday, just began writing it this morning. Its for writer's context and is looking at how a writer has written the piece. I'm doing Waiting For Godot, which though I found boring at first, has become interesting to me because of how Beckett plays around with time and nothingness. So its fascinating to see how the writer has constructed the play around these themes and how they come out for the audience.

I should be rounding off now. Need to find my shoes and pack my bag before I go. I'll try and write more in the week and put up some pics too. Until then!

This crazy life is getting to busy to handle!

This is my new house come September. Looks even better on the inside. I'm glad that its all be sorted now anyway, that's any other thing off my mind.

I've just become snowed under-ironic!-by all my uni work. No matter how much time I put a side to plow though it all more just keeps showing up! It's just becoming so bad that I've no time to write my own stuff and I'm now glad that I've not started the last book of my new trilogy, because I'd have no time to even think about it! I've also been trying to get stuff together to put on here and send off to publishers, but this hasn't happened really because time just keeps running away from me. I feel like I'm chasing after Time most of time now!!


I sort of had the day off on Saturday. Went to Liverpool with Abi and Sam. This pic is of Abi in her natural habitat-Waterstones! She just loves it and I'm becoming attacted to the places myself. Such a great place to buy books and then read them. We did some small shopping and then watch a movie; Ponyo, the new anime movie from the guy who did Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle. I was looking forward to it, but I was let down by the simple fact that it was aimed at young kids and so I didn't get the whisked off feeling I always get when I watch the others. Still the animation is really cool, but unless you're going to go with someone under ten, don't go watch it at the movies. I felt really strange leaving with my over 18 friends!

On Sunday, I baked a cake. The second time I've made something like this by myself in the student kitchen. It turned out really good! The thing is though, it looked a little bit plain when I put the white icying on top and having fussy eaters for friends, it was hard to decided to else to do with it. Luckily, the last students had left some ice writing pens in the cupboard, so I got them out and drew the first thing that came into my head....

It looks and tastes so good! I've been eating it for breakfast!

Moving on, last night went to the pub quiz, didn't win but had a good time though. Here's me and kirsty.....

Lastly then, I'm doing a research project on blogs by published (or unpublished!) writers and poets ect. So if you are one or know a blog that is, please can you let me know because it would be a great help towards my work.

Thanks!

When your head won't let you work...what do you do?

This is my housemate and best friend Abi, drinking from a long straw at our movie night. (this doesn't really anwer my question tho!)


There's many answers to that question, right now I know I should come away from my laptop, make my room dark and curl up in my bed, but I just can't. I've work to start, which I fear won't get done now because its the editing and re-drafting of my story. I've to do some more reading too. I'm not sure where this headache has come from.


I spent lunch time roaming around the historical Ormskirk and pondering before shop windows. Then Abi shows up out of the blue....strange thing this. She told me she was going to the LRC, so I ahead into town alone. Then just as I'm about to arrive, she comes around a corner and we almost bump into each other. Turns out she just wanted to check her emails on the student address and knowing I was going to Ormskirk had decided to walk the 'back way' from uni. Still it freaked me out though.


We had ice finger cakes in the park and then got surroned by ducks, who appeared to be more greedy then hungry. So after they helped us finish off the cakes, we headed for home. I also had a phone call about people coming to view the house-they want to buy it-next week. So I put up a notice telling everyone the dates and times.

But it seems I've triggered off an arugment between the boy and his girlfriend, who live under me. I've heard them talking about moving stuff around and other things. I'm wondering if the bad energy in the air is where my headache has coming from. Still, I'm not well at the minute and lacking in sleep again...maybe that is the true nature of the pain?


Don't think heavy metal is helping much, but I need to block out their voices and the silence that presses so painfully around here. I'm sleepy now too....this just won't do! Maybe eating something would help.....anyway here are some pics.


News artical, from last week. that I agree with. (click to enlarge)

The latest Gnome has finally been claimed.

Let sleeping dogs lay

This is my dog Sandy. She is a German Shep cross boarder collie, I've had her for 9 years now and I rescued her from Manchester dogs home in 1999. She was my 12th birthday present! I'd be lost with out her in my life now, she's just become such a huge part of who I am. She's my best friend and though I'm away at uni now-sometimes for 3 weeks without coming home-she is never far from my thoughts.






Being an old dog now, Sandy does a lot of sleeping! In fact most of the pics I now take of her are of her sleeping because she spends so much time napping. She likes to wear her bandanna when I come home and have her tummy tickled. Sunday is her favourite day because she gets a 2 hour walk in our local woods and then left over Sunday chicken bits for her tea.






Sandy enjoys most of the same things I enjoy too; like swimming! Its difficult to keep her away from any open water. She is fond of the seaside and spends hours in the sea, bugging people to play with her. She also has a skill of feeling with her paws for her toy and then putting her whole head under water to retrieve it. She likes digging holes on the beach too.






She also likes snow and with all the snowfall we've had recently its been very easy to get her to go on a walk. Here she is enjoying the snow....

So my title does relate to Sandy, but it also has to do with the things that have been going on in my life over the last 2 or so weeks. I've had to join the Edge Hill students crazy house hunting season once more and the struggle to find a place has been the bane of my life for the past week. The housemates are not the problem, I'll be living with two of the people I'm with now and another guy, who is doing my creative writing course and is a close friend of one of my best friends there.

The location of the house has been the issue! Like most students we decided to be lazy and pick an area closer to uni then we are now. Of course everyone else decided to do just that as well! So when we phoned to book views for the houses, they had already gone! We did see three in the area but 2 we just missed out on and the 3rd was available but you had to appeal online and compete with other students to get it.

A week, this Thursday just go we saw a really nice house which was most suitable to our needs but it was on the next street and only a few houses down to where we are now. Having no luck last Wednesday, we decided to see if it was still for rent and to take another look around. We've now gone for this house and shall be signing the papers and paying the summer holding money on Monday night. :) So me and friends are now out of that hunt!

I've no pics of house to put up, but I'll put this one of last weeks snowfall instead.

I'm at home this weekend, chilling out and de-stressing after that mad week! Also my brother is 18 and we are celebrating that. I'm also thinking about getting some of my short stories and poems prepared to send off to first editing publishing, which I've seen a poster of on my course notice board. Looks like a good place to start submitting things too.....

My new Target is also to write on here more! My problem is I'm just so buy reading, writing and of course I have to do my blog of edge every week now. but still, I'm sure I can start to find the time.