I've been lazy again...

Yeah, this blogging malarky is a lot harder to keep up than I thought! Kudos to those who manage frequent updates! Anyhow, here's a roundup (no particular order...just the bits I remember of the two weeks since the end of term and now...)

1. Survived two extra weeks in Oxford. It wasn't fun (in the library 9-7pm everyday!) and I'm definitely glad to be back in good ol' London!

2. I've managed to find a use for my flights which I had booked previously! Although my dissertation could not be saved, I could still save a trip abroad as I found a teaching post in Yunnan province! Unfortunately, still lost a bit (understatement) of money but at least I'll have accommodation now and still get to go abroad! YEAH!

3. Unfortunately, this teaching is with really young kids so no interviewing them = no going back to my pre-prepared dissertation on education + career aspirations! Hence I'm now just pursuing on my 'virtual geographies' topic...

4. Michael Jackson - was pretty shocked when I found out (late - a whole day after it happened?!); it's only in hindsight and with all the tribute videos that I realised how many great songs he made...

5. As I said before, really glad to be back in London; just got back yesterday for a family barbie, a tradition for my middle sister's birthday. It's just great to be home.

6. Sorting out my new travel plans/insurance etc for my now confirmed trip to Yunnan. *Really* excited!

7. Watched one of the few Wimbledon matches this tournament :( ....but seriously, of all the matches I could've watched, this men's final was EPIC. WOW. I was pleased Federer won due to the history of the moment but felt sorry for Roddick as he's only won the US open in 03...he could've achieved more but a person called Federer came along...I hope he wins Wimbledon SOME day but pleased for Feds today!

There and back again...

Normally I'd be whooping for joy at the end of a term at Oxford but alas, due to my stupid dissertation*, I could only go back for Father's Day and then a day of joyous vegetation in front of the TV (Wimbledon!) until I had to come back to Oxford to research my new dissertation. Due to constraints on time, space and money, my new dissertation will be on the Internet and virtual communities with specific questions asked about identities or empowerment of the young 'digital natives'....haven't done enough research yet to decide what to focus on!

Also, I need to find a supervisor - any clever folk want to be mine?



*luckily, I didn't post when I first found out that my Chinese school placement got closed due to swine flu (which resulted in me losing my dissertation location as well) as it'd have been a major rant and many expletives I'm sure.

Procrastination strikes again

ARGH! I was plodding along, reading some e-journals for my coming climate essay (inevitable all-nighter) when I came across a word I wasn't sure of. Now, you know how frustrating this is to me...I had to look it up but then somehow I ended up on the Guardian and BBC News as I always do and then onto youtube. Then on 'videos being watched now', I saw a BNP video...

Now, I usually avoid things like this like a rabid dog* as I don't like the thought of adding to their 'view count' but I thought, I should "know thy enemy' to counter such views but it turned out to be a video against the BNP. I couldn't have put it better myself; have a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpcKqU0hTBc


*I recently found out that I forgot to ask about rabies injections (among other vaccinations) and now believe I'm doomed in China...too late to stock up on my body's various antibodies :( oh well, got my hep A booster at least....

So Gordan Brown remains...

In what was billed as the 'make or break' parliamentary labour party, it seems as if the coup is over. The majority of MPs support Gordan Brown and some previous critics have been convinced...for now.

Gordan Brown simply *HAS* to follow through on his promises to listen more and change his style of leadership. Involve his colleagues and communicate more effectively to the electorate because I still believe that at the end of the day, the choice will be clear. If only the policies were communicated across more effectively to the electorate, I'm sure that there is still time to turn around Labour's fortunes.

Here's to hoping that a return to real politics is imminent. Back to tackling the economic crisis, clearing up MP expenses and pushing through reform concerning Parliament and its day-to-day governing. Furthermore, let's return and talk about housing, jobs, health care, pensions, international security, climate change and more. As politically charged these last few weeks have been, I hope the rebels, media and the public give Brown the benefit of the doubt (as will I) as right now, he is in a position of great opportunity. He's been internationally acclaimed now let's see what he can do on the national stage. I hope for everyone's sake that he can do an encore.

Sidenote: Ha ha, the Apprentice has obviously been sidelined (though good ol' Sugar's come in as an adviser) but was v. happy when Yasmina won! Kate was far too robotic...

A protest vote or a reality check?

There's no doubt about it, it's been a bad night for Labour. I've stayed up watching the results come in with things worse than predicted. Not winning Wales for the first time since 1918 and in the North West, losing 240,000 votes from the last European elections in 2004. This allowed the unspeakable to happen, the BNP got their leader in the European Parliament (one of two from the UK).

The scary thing about this is that I'm not sure whether it really is simply an anti-labour vote or indeed an anti-mainstream party vote; indeed this is what most of the media seem to purport. However, is this simply a denial of reality? The sad truth is, the vote for the BNP might well have been in the full knowledge of all they stand for. If it is the latter, the mainstream parties can no longer skirt around or ignore the BNP but tackle them head on. If they do not, I fear that worse is to come.

I guess the only solace to be gained is that their vote didn't actually increase but it was only through the failure of the other parties, particularly the precipitous fall of Labour, that allowed the BNP to have this foot in the door.

Now people say that you cannot translate directly the votes from European Elections to that of a general election. However, I would not underestimate the significance of these European results. Not only does this win give them more media coverage but also gives them the infrastructure and financial means (as MEPs can hire party members as secretaries etc) to spread propaganda and so forth.

It's certainly a worryingly symbolic turn and a sad day for British politics. I feel ashamed that we're sending such MEPs to the European Parliament but still live in hope that there can be some renewal to be had out of these disastrous results. I must admit, my previous belief that continuing under Gordan Brown has been shaken - I suppose the events that will unfold later on today and the next few days will answer such doubts...I shall have to wait.

A bad day for labour...

...but not unrecoverable.

In the broader political landscape, I guess the only good that's come out of all the recent scandals is that everyone's talking about politics again. Furthermore, à la Naomi Klein, crises allow reform to emerge from the ashes. I just hope that after these disastrous few weeks for the government, the actual business of *governing* the country can start.

Although I've lost faith in the government, MPs and politics in generally recently, I still went back to London to vote yesterday and very glad I did. Although I could've voted in Oxford, there's something about going to your local polling station that makes you realise just how precious our democracy is. That's why I believe that not voting as all is almost as bad as protest votes.

Speaking of which, I'm disappointed at the internal implosion of the Labour party. Granted, the rebels (both backbenchers and cabinet ministers) are entitled to their own opinions but if they truly had the party at heart, the rebels would not have chosen to do what they did when they did. Despite their belief that with Gordon Brown at the helm, electoral whitewashing will occur in May next year, a leadership contest now would most assuredly bring forward that general election and most assuredly result in greater losses than are predicted in a year's time.

The soothsayers of Labour's demise don't seem to realise that if Labour really is at the lowest point it can go, surely the only way is up from here? The alternative 'caretaker parliament' that the rebels propose would not last till May and would *not* get the 'breathing space' required to stabilise the government. The reason for this is because it will be seen by the media and the wider public as a repetition of Brown's fatal flaw; that is, of never having a direct mandate via a general election.

Thus with the local elections showing the worst results for Labour on record, the response should not be fragmentation but unity. With all the faults and flaws of the labour party, the Conservatives have not been duly critiqued by the media or the public. I do not believe that I am entrenched in my political views but I simply cannot see anyone else putting forward the progressive policies that Labour has done and is doing (albeit the message is getting lost nowadays). Indeed, if the opposition parties had better policies, people would find that I am certainly no die-hard supporter of the government. However, I sincerely believe that after the furore of recent scandals such as the MP expenses, the dust will settle and in the light of day, people will see clearly which party has the integrity, guts and progressive vision to take us all through this global recession whilst championing the values of that we, the British people, embody.

Edit (06/07/09): Oops, how presumptious of me. I don't actually claim to 'speak' for the British public...how idiotic of me. I think I was just particularly riled then!

GOLDEN SUN 3!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAHHHHHHH!
I CANNOT BELIIIIIIIIIIIEVE IT! I'm SOOOOOOOOOO ECSTATIC by this news! Regardless of what else was announced at E3 by Nintendo, Golden Sun 3 on the DS has MADE MY DAY! I simply cannot believe it! I'm already thinking about using this game as motivation for finals!!

Here's what Nintendo had to say:

“Golden Sun™ DS: After going dark six years ago, 2010 will see a new dawn. Golden Sun DS updates the popular portable Golden Sun role-playing series with an impressive graphical style. This installment follows the story of the previous heroes’ descendants and immerses players into the magic of its adventure by pushing the boundaries of intuitive touch-screen controls. Golden Sun DS is playable on the Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi systems.”

Check out the artwork and the trailer!



WAHHOOO!

Summer Eights: A review :)

Saturday heralded not only the end of Britain's got Talent but of course Summer Eights too! This of course subsequently meant the end of early morning training sessions, erging and various other fitness practices. Strangely enough, I kind of miss rowing already despite the fact that I'm sure I'll benefit from the extra time I will gain for the last 3 weeks of term.

Summer Eights dominated fifth week which was particularly chaotic as a result (fittingly, chaos was my essay topic...) though on the upside, I didn't have time for introspection and the traditional "5th week Blues" which everyone gets.

Anyhow, Wednesday was our first race. In this first test for the Jesus Men's IV (though we were technically the IIIs), we had a hard draw. We basically had to bump Somerville II before we got bumped by Green Templeton I (unfair that they're in our division as they include 3 OLYMPIANS?!?). Anyhow, it was a tall order but our tactic was to go out hard and fast...which we did and it *worked*! We slammed into Somerville II and then a split second later, Green Templeton rammed into us! Phew..what a close one! The graduates of Green Templeton weren't amused at being beaten by a men's IV crew! As we bumped, we had to race another time literally straight after as we were now promoted to the division above so no one chasing us though we were chasing St Hilda's I. Oh dear...within a few strokes, I caught a crab!! It was horrendous...if you don't know what this is...well, let's just say it slows down the boat a lot! Luckily, I recovered quickly but I still felt soooooo guilty as I've never caught a crab in all our training sessions before! Though feedback from others suggested we weren't going to catch them anyway but still... :( I apologised profusely.

Thursday's racing again had two races. The first one, we simply had to 'row on' as we didn't have anyone to chase but were being chased. We did this successfully. However, I got the biggest leg cramp EVER straight after so had to do a lot of painful stretching out...my calf was positively quivering. Regardless though, I didn't want to let the team down so set my mind on the second race. With this, we knew we had to bump otherwise we would once again face Green Templeton who were climbing up the divisions after us. However, this time bow's seat broke so we were an unbalanced 7 man crew for most of the time! No chance of a bump here either. OH CRAP. I'm glad it was an equipment problem and not something that I did...I was properly scared that I was going to catch another crab; especially as I had only 3 hours of sleep as I had finished my essay at 6am :(

Friday was kind of inevitable. With no one to bump, we would have had to row over the whole 1.5km without getting bumped by Green Templeton though unfortunately this didn't happen (would have been a miracle if it did!). We did scrap the bank which made their bump even more easier!

Saturday was the final day and although we were now chasing Green Templeton, our aim really was to 'row over' and not get bumped by Lincoln III. However, what happened nobody could have anticipated! The start gun went around 10 seconds faster than everyone expected but we reacted quickly and got a quick bump on Green Templeton who looked as if they had steered into the bank in an unexpected start! WOOPEE! However, the calls of bow meant that our celebrations were short lived as a second later, we had steered into the bank with me (number 2) and bow getting scratched by a bush of nettles and bow hit his head on the stone bank! My rigger was bent and crushed and the oar had been sanded down. The bow had to be sent to hospital though luckily he returned later in good condition. As for the bump, Green Templeton (sore losers) appealed and their appeal stood!?! Not sure why as EVERYONE was unprepared by the unexpected start gun! Despite the protests (even by Jesus's head of law tutor), our counter-appeals weren't listened to. ARH! Annoying and a very anticlimatic end to our Summer Eights campaign though overall, we did ourselves proud as Jesus's Men's IV crew.

I'm definitely pleased I took up rowing for a whole year as I tried new things and met new people so all good in my book!

P.S. Phew. What a long post! Back to my essay :)

EDIT: Changed the picture to a *REAL* one of our first race (found on facebook!) - look how close Green Templeton were to bumping us! We're the 'middle' boat!

Something a bit wrong Susan?

Now Britain's has never been more talented than this year but all along, despite the heightened competition, I still thought that Susan Boyle would win it in the end. Even though I was wowed at all the other performances (especially Diversity's 'three x's' move), I could just imagine her winning....but no!?! It kind of feels strange despite me knowing that Diversity are worthy winners...

I feel that all her publicity and press was actually a bad thing; perhaps people thought other people deserved more limelight (admittedly true). Ah well, hopefully she'll be successful still! If not, I'm sure the Americans will have her (they'll be shocked by the result for sure....)

A new companion for the Doctor....

So it's been announced! Not the fanfare that the Doctor got but the casting of the assistant is equally as important...mmm....I guess all we've got to work on is the picture so not much to go on yet! But still, all this makes me really excited about the new series of Doctor Who when it *finally* returns to our screens in half a years time! Both will be little known actors at the beginning but, I'm certain, household names by the end of the next series!

Check this out: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8073734.stm

Rowing on(wards!

Whoop! On Friday we raced in the 'rowing on' qualifying stages for Summer VIIIs and we've since found out we qualified with a time of 2 minutes and 56seconds for a 1.5km course which is pretty good (apparently...I don't really know much about the timings).

Anyhow, so yesterday and today, we had more training sessions...v. manic as yesterday I had the international festival OXCIA stall to run as well as rowing in the middle of the festival. However, was really glad as it was the last event for this term (as most my committee have finals)...hopefully this will free up time for work, esp. my dissertation research which I've done zilch on :( (yet managed to blag my abstract submission...)

Today is equally busy with rowing, the Synthesis concert (which we'll be prepping for before the 7.30pm start) with Sphere....and sometime during the concert, have to squeeze in peer supporting as well. Manic and no time to study chaos (really!) for our next essay as I'm experiencing it right now :/

P.S. Guess what the picture is meant to represent...

Europe loves us again!

Eurovision makes me feel good about being European...more so last Saturday because we actually came 5th! Woop go Jade! Does this spell the end for political bloc voting then...?


Mmm....not quite! This year, 50% of the vote went to professional 'music people' and although it didn't get rid of all political voting, Eurovision became a singing contest once more! Kinda :)

I felt that last Saturday was a case of traditions continued and traditions discontinued....

Traditions continued included:

- key changes, jumping and fireworks
- satirical commentary (I thought Wogan would be sorely missed but Norton did the job admirably)
- intro videos before each song which doesn't seem to relate to much

Traditions discontinued included:

- camp songs/performances
- bloc voting (nearly!)
- nil points (no country got this accolade!?)
- bad songs

On the latter point, I honestly thought all the songs were pretty good. We had a Eurovision party in one of the two flats that had a tv and we all agreed that the results were generally correct. I liked all the top 5 (though I thought we should have beaten Turkey to claim the 4th spot...).

I especially can't get Norway's or Iceland's songs out of my head but as the former won, I'll only post up his link....what an *awesome* song:
Alexander Rybak with "Fairytale"

I'm going to add it to my list of "songs to play when I can play the violin". Pure Eurovision! No wonder it broke the record for number of points with 387 points!

College envy....but only a bit!

Today was a day of non-productivity...was supposed to make a start on our philosophy essay but nope didn't happen.

Anyhow, started the day by going through my inbox + some grocery shopping which of course took hours (literally) as 1) silly OXCIA troubles that need to be sorted out 2) I've realised that a lot of what I buy are time-dependent offers so the shopping list has to be edited each time to take advantage of the offers available today. I'm such a cheapo.

Then I had to dash off for a mammoth rowing session (without any lunch as it's at the inconvenient time of 12.45pm where you'd have to eat pretty early in order not to get cramps) which went on till around 3pm. Woah...we were pretty crap at the beginning (boat rocking all over the place, people catching crabs - guess what that means!?!) but then towards the end we were definately in our stride - very fast and steady racing. Good stuff! Ha ha..I enjoy actual rowing so much better than the prep/fitness for it which I'm not good at anyway!

Then (a bit smelly as the person in front kept splashing me) I went straight to Corpus Christi's tortoise race. It's an annual event but this was my first time. It was sooo cool! Though I missed the actual race (yeah I know, how can you miss a *tortoise* race!) - mainly because I couldn't see anything - I did do other stuff.

Firstly it was a chance to meet my corpus christi crew (I just said that for alliteration..!) which was made up of my counselling friends (I don't go to counselling, I mean training!) and people I met in China last year and people who I'm going to China with this year! It was brilliant just to be around them and all the other friendly Corpus Christi folk. And their college was gorgeous! Lots of greenery, a conservatory and that grand quad at the front! Sigh....one of my friends said "why is Jesus so ( )".....she said it half jokingly of course! Our loyalties are tested....not broken :)

Oooohh and burgers for a £1!! As well as raffles, put-your-face-in-the-painting-hole-and-get-splashed-by-your-friends thing (what IS that called?), second hand book stalls, sweet/cake stalls and more! Ah...the weather was good too! Oh yeah and Blue Peter was filming there too! The winning tortoise (from Corpus Christi...fixed anyone? :P) will race on their show...alas, the presenters weren't there. Could have got my foot in the door perhaps.......

I have to admit. This was one of those brilliant Oxford days. I've always said, Oxford's like marmite..well..kind of. You can't really dislike then really like marmite can you?!?

Anyhow, sorry Karl. You'll have to wait.

MAY DAY !!! (missed again)

Today is May Day...I'd like to say that I stayed up all night having all sorts of fun and may-day related frolics, gone to Magdalen bridge at 5am then hear the choir boys sings from the tower at 6am and then back to hear the college choir at 7pm on our lawn with champagne and strawberries and finally enjoy a May Day breakfast at any of the pubs, cafes that opened mega early today to the sounds of Morris dancers....

Alas...all I heard was the Morris dancers jingling their way past my window :( Yep...the tradition of the all-nighter has started. Darn neoliberalism essay...quite interesting but I just don't have time to read all the sources! Anyhow, wasn't *quite* an all nighter as I went to bed at 5am though got woken up about 5.30am by a call asking why I wasn't at Magdalen....*sigh*, why did I have to have a morning tute? Anyhow, actually got to my tute 10 mins late then spent another 10 mins trying to print off my essay (silly versions of Microsoft Word)....tutor wasn't best pleased but meh.

So yeah, not a great May Day...I guess it at least gives me something to look forward to for next year! I must remember to get all my work done before May Day of 2010..... :O

Oops...I did it again!

No...it's not Britney's best known hit but my recent post omissions :P Ha ha...though this time it hasn't been because I've enjoyed myself too much at..Oxford *sigh* can't believe I'm back here again.

What made it worse was the revision for collections we had to do plus the fact that I was *still* distraught over my 2nd place at the AIESEC leadership tournament. However, I think (in the long time since the event!) I have gotten over it so there's no need for several blog posts bemoaning about losing! What helped was when I came across the phrase:

"life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it"

...mmm...wise words as if from the proverbial Chinese wise man himself (or woman I guess!)

Anyhow, also you don't need to write endless posts about work and revision...although I do still have a lot of the former, the latter is done (well, for the collection which went ok - I managed to finish all my essays for once!).

I really do hope this term flies past - last Sunday I went to London to meet 'Jimmy' (the person sorting out our OCEP placement) at his brothers restaurant where I had the joys of delicious food and fantastic company - ah, I love meeting new people! I can already tell that I'm going to have an awesome time with the group that we've got together! Bring on the end of Trinity and bring on China!!

Oops no post for a while!

Yep yep...it's been a while but that's because I've enjoyed being back at home - reading, playing games; hobbies I don't get to indulge in during term time! Too be honest, my 'dossy' period didn't actually last that long because for the first time in my life, I decided to do a little work and not leave it till 3 days before collections (or indeed never!). However, it's not going to last very long...I can see myself going back to play Fire Emblem 2 soon enough! :)

Anyhow, hopefully whatever work I do get done will make up for the appalling lack of notes made during term time where I tackled each essay seemingly the night before the deadline....*shudder* bad times.

Well, since the end of term, I've been up to Leeds to see some old friends (yeah!) and go to a youth conference. Oh yeah, and I went to the House of Lords for some leadership thing - it was kinda just like Oxford to be honest which wasn't *that* much of a plus...ha ha..jokes...maybe. The buildings were pretty old and cool looking...mmm...I'm thinking more and more about potential career choices and if Blue Peter doesn't work out, perhaps life as an MP? Though suppose they're getting a bad rep right now for expenses and whatnot....I feel sorry for Jacqui Smith though....

Oh yeah, some cultural teachings - don't say I never say anything mildly educational :) We've just had one of the 5 main Chinese festivals though this one wasn't particularly 'festive' to be honest. It was grave sweeping day :/ Mmm..nonetheless I still hope that such traditions will be kept up when I grow up...suppose I should learn mandarin properly first!

MURDER!!! (mystery)

Ah...what a lovely way to end the term with a murder mystery! We had a sumptuous 3 course black tie dinner cooked by the domestic goddess whilst solving a delicious mystery full of spies, stolen war documents, a run away diplodocus and a castrato!

Ha ha, I was 'Henry Worcester', a sly attempt by the writers to get me to say the 'W' word to claim the money - you'll have to try better than that!! I simply said that my friend's called me 'Worty' and that I didn't want to say my surname because it reminded me of "dear father and mumsy". Ha ha! Who would have thought playing a posh 'total waster' would be so much fun?!!?

And yes, I did uncover the murderer (arh!) and I managed to complete my objective of slagging off my cousin Constance at least 10 times in the evening.... :)

WAHOO!!

Haven't blogged in a while as I've been snowed under with work but now I'm FREE!!! I finished my last essay this morning at around 2.30am (pretty early for me!) then had 4 1/2 hrs sleep before getting up to get a train to Banbury where I mentored some kids...wow..rough school though the kids are nice enough!

Grrr...I was assured that I'd get back in time but I was late to my last tute of this term by 20 minutes! I'm sure my tutor wasn't best pleased (and tute's are the main enjoyment for me in terms of academia! Oh well..).

Anyhow, really knacked so will go to sleep now....hee hee..murder mystery dinner tomorrow evening! Should be fun!! :D

Existential crisis

Really pissed off :O (not sure whether that's the 'angry' face..).

In stressing over my essay crisis, I forgot to apply to this placement at the foreign office which I *REALLY* wanted to get...well..I say forget but (due to sleep deprivation..well...that's my excuse for stupidity), I thought 12pm meant midnight instead of noon :(

Anyhow, links to my existential crisis because I have recently been thinking 'deep' thoughts; one of which is about future careers and something in the foreign office was definitely something I was keen to find out more about/experience...

NOTE TO SELF: apply for something as soon as you find out about it!

Because I was pissed off at myself (I cursed myself for a while- "you plonker", that type of thing), I procrastinated to keep me from thinking about a missed opportunity. In times like these, you turn to websites like miniclip and facebook - apparently I'm only 62% Chinese!?! My Chinese identity crisis may rear its ugly head again.

A day of contrasts...

I recently had a day which once again saw work sidelined (nothing unusual there!)...alas..it'll be the undoing of me! Anyhow, despite the river being wayyy to high for us to do any training, the river was now low enough for torpid qualifying rounds and thus we went out having only done one (or two - I forget) river sessions in the term. I can't say that all our erging sessions helped much!

Anyway, the time trial itself went reasonably smoothly until one of our crew 'caught a crab' in the last 100m! Noooo! Hopefully it wasn't the reason why we *just* missed out on qualifying for Torpids. Although I only took up rowing as it was an 'Oxford' thing (and I like trying new stuff), I was very disappointed having immersed myself in rowing culture. Oh well...hopefully come summer eights, we'll be more fined tuned to race! Ha ha..and maybe the photos of me rowing won't look so..'constipated' as one friend commented :/



After a quick change, it was off to the Oriental Ball (held at Freud's cafe) to sort out the dancing area for the dancesport pairs which were performing on behalf of OXCIA - ha ha, not exactly demonstrating 'Chinesey-ness' but my committee certainly wasn't going to do an act (despite my own enthusiasm!). The ball itself was *ok* but a bit lacklustre at the end true to the sad truth that..well...Asian people don't really do the whole 'UV-light raving' scene and so I left earlier than I usually would from a black tie event!

Tired and exhausted as usual, I couldn't muster enough energy to look at another e-journal on refugias and so I just went to sleep. Oh dear. I can already see myself in a pre-tute essay frenzy come Wednesday night/Thursday morning :( and then the now obligatory moaning post about essays! It's all become rather routine for me!

Half-way through!! WHOOP! :)

Just had half-way hall which is our formal hall where we celebrate getting through half of our Oxford degree! I'm half sad/half happy....probably the latter though that's only because of recent stress.

Talking of which I'm SO pissed off that literally the rest of the year in college are going out celebrating whilst I had to go to Sainsbury's to get some GOOD coffee (I'm sick of cheap tesco coffee - false economy) and that will comfort me and keep me awake till morning or whenever finish my essay AND my presentation both in for tomorrow :( I'm predicting a 9am finish. I hate such work crises.

Ok...I've moaned on facebook and moaned on here. I *really* need to just start working already!! :(

Lunch with Krebs!

AWESOME. That's one word to describe Lord Kreb's house. I recently got invited as part of the JCR committee into the principal's home which looks modest in 1st quad but is MASSIVE inside and so luxurious. Being principal of a college isn't too bad! It's like some sort of plush mansion/museum within a college with paintings of Elizabeth here and there, those marble head things, mahogany long tables etc. Mmmmm.....the food was delicious too! He had these fancy people around serving stuff whilst we talked about college welfare and stuff! I knew there were some perks to being elected into the committee :P

Oh yeah and yes. This is THE Krebs of Krebs cycle fame!

(Well...the son of! Though he is a world famous ornithologist himself!)

Happy Birthday Darwin

Yeah it may be a bit of a geeky post but well worth it. I've had a bit of an evoltion overload this term though as I'm doing my option of biogeography this term and there's loads of evolution happening on islands and stuff :)

I still can't believe that some people don't believe in evolution and I met someone who didn't know who Darwin was! People should watch that Attenborough show - see BBC iplayer!

Anyhow, going to have a work-free day today - need to clean up my room which is strewn with notes, books and clothes. My excuse is that I've got no time to clean up - this week saw the worst essay crisis I've had so far - 8am finish and then I had to skip lectures to sleep :/.