I soooo want to be on the Oxford quidditch team..

I'm really tempted by this...but I know I shouldn't. No...mustn't! One of my unofficial new year's resolutions is to stop joining anything and everything fitting in academic stuff as a side activity....

*sigh* so tempted. I'd be a SEEKER.

Check this out:
http://sites.google.com/site/oxfordquidditch/Home

The videos are HILARIOUS but oh so fantastic at the same time. Ha ha...the snitch is hilarious...how do they do that you say? Watch the videos and find out... :)

STRESS STRESS AND MORE STRESS!

I can't believe that 2nd week hasn't even finished yet and I am already dreaming of the Easter holidays (actually, felt like that in 0th week whilst revising for collections!).

This week so far has already been very stressful. With no work being done over the New Year weekend and then OXCIA and various other stuff occupying my time, I only got started READING for my essay at 4pm the day before it was due. Then I wrote it and finished around 4am on Thursday....my quickest essay to date! Let's hope not the crappest!

Ha ha...I certainly won't be able to pull the wool other Whittaker, the key book of the biogeography lecture is co-authored by him and he (and others) devised the speciation model which I based my whole essay on! I do love tutorials though...I kept on saying "Whittaker's, I mean er, your model"...he is certainly pretty friendly for a world expert!

Anyhow, ironically enough, the tute provided my only 'non-stress' moment of this week. Straight after the essay, manic OXCIA organisation as the first mandarin classes came about. Displaced students, lost mandarin teachers, negotiating for cheap college wine, room keys to collect, tickets to sell...MADNESS. All the while rushing to get to formal as I had left my poor guest all on her own - I'm not the best host but I was ok in the end!

Let's hope my mental state is recoverable after this weekend. This week has been the only week where I've actually cried out in despair as I've realised I've taken on too much. And it's not even the peak! I start peer-support training next week and also my aim higher mentoring :/ I hope I can cope....

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!

Ah...new year has come around again...so quickly! It was great to usher in the new year at home - fantastic to be away from all the commotion of Oxford. YUMMY food all around and general merriment. I like how the media latches on to the whole 'ox' thing with the "hardworking" animal hopefully leading us out of this recession..wishful thinking but then again, I always like to think positive as well!

Unfortunately, I had forgotten that my annual temple trip needed to be made and thus I prayed how many thousands of times (I lost count!) and then went to sleep at 2am but had to get up at 5am to go to Victoria :( Back in Oxford for New Year's Day...it's like being away from home at Christmas. I'm already dreaming of the glorious Easter holidays....

Anyhow, although it is not technically New Year's Day any longer, the festive period actually extends for several days does it not?!? Who knows.

Anyhow, hopefully this will be a year of great happiness, health and prosperity to family and friends :)

First essay out of the way...

Ah...the 5am essay finish for the day that you have your tute (and I started reading relatively early for this essay!)....I'm feeling déjà vu and it's only 1st week....I also have predictive abilities and anticipate that I'm going to have many more 5am essay finishes this term....grr....maybe stuffing my 2nd year with extra-curriculars wasn't a great idea :/

Oh well, I was reasonably sprightly in the island biogeography tute which was very interesting! Tutorials are definitely the best thing about Oxford..funnily enough. However...I came back to find out that I wasn't so sprightly/alert after all...the toast I had toasted at 11am had burnt to a black crisp when my flatmate found it. I'm half relieved, half worried that our smoke detector didn't go off.... :O

Then from 3am to 8pm, I was out the flat going to various meetings and trainings etc (including my first trip to the gym...HILARIOUS. Felt like a fish out of water as I pretended to know what all the equipment did....ha ha...took me a while to figure out that the cycling thing had to be cycled on for a bit before the display and buttons would work!).....blimey it's been a knackering day.

Goodbye Bush and hello Obama!!!

Wahooo! America has a new President!!!! Of course, doesn't just affect those on the other side of the Atlantic. Ha ha...I'm so very fickle, as soon as America gets a new president, my view of the country gets changed completely! I actually want to go visit it now :)

I guess even strong orators get nervous...oops; he messed up his inauguration. I immediately thought of that programme 'it'll be alright on the night' :P

His speech was pretty awesome though..I especially liked the line about how "we'll extend our hands to you if you unclench your fists" or something like that! I really do hope this signals a change not just for Americans but everyone...

Did you see the crowds?!? Wow! Wish I was there...nothing 'historic' has happened much around Blighty recently...*sigh*...come ON British politics (though admittedly, I find it pretty interesting already though Obama-fever has just blown everything else out of the water!)

Sidenote: Did anyone hear the last guy speak (the one with the moustache)...he said the whole colour thing....hee hee hee:

"When black don't have to give it back, when brown can stick around, when yellow stay mellow, when red can get ahead and when white can get it right".....hilarious! What about orange? Poor Dale Winton.

COLLECTIONS ARE OVER!!! :)

Wahoooo! Collections are over! Unfortunately, just like last time, I ran out of time and didn't finish the last question...didn't even have time to scribble a short apology to my tutor (not that it works!).

Alas, the questions I prepared for didn't come up...I guess that's not the way of exams anyway! Mmm...cramming till 3am the night before for a 9.15am exam probably didn't help...I didn't actually get to sleep till 6am! Just had stupid references swimming in my head.

Anyhow, fully caught up with sleep now so all it well...well, I still need to find a venue for OXCIA's New Year celebrations but that's another stressful story all together....

Back to the 'dreaming spires' or so I'm told.

Got back today (well..technically yesterday)...yippee. I *really* didn't want to come back..it just represents stress, stress and more stress. In all fairness, my extra-curriculars aren't helping though no are the tests which Jesus sets as a 'welcome back' package.

Even college in-jokes don't work anymore :(.

Wow...Word no longer takes 10 minutes to load...

Brilliant news today...well actually yesterday. So late blog I know but I was busy on my new laptop (I'm on it now!). It's nice to have a word document actually loading when I click on it...it's strange that in the new term, I'll no longer have to go make a cuppa and a sandwich whilst waiting for my essay to load!

Big investment (for a student!) but I worked over Christmas so I've (hopefully) got enough money for the next term!










Oh yeah, and I got my phone delivered on the same day as well! Hopefully I won't lose this one as quickly as I lost the previous two....that's why I got a super-cheap phone. Woe. I miss my first phone :(

P.S. Pictures are not an accurate representation of my purchases.

My first bread

Today was a momentous occasion for me, I made my first loaf of bread...nay I made TWO loaves of bread all on my ownsome. So I cheated slightly with a breadmaker; it instilled a sense of pride - a sort of man-bakes-bread type of pride.

The first was a brioche type of concoction and the second an ordinary white loaf. Oh yeah.

Mmmm.....I think this is symptomatic of my extreme deviation from work... :/

Deal or no deal

I admit...this is a (now not so secret) indulgence of mine...I am of course talking about that show 'Deal or No Deal'. You all must have surely heard of it before right?

Today was a classic game...this 80 year old pensioner Mary was hilarious to watch and was deservedly rewarded with £75,000 to boot! Of course, it's all down to luck though her faith that a big win was destined for her amazed me!

It's quite strange how I get so wrapped up in these players' back-stories...I think my powers of empathy are exaggerated when I watch tv....

Anyhow, that's my current addiction. Alas, what will I do when my holiday ends? :O

EDIT: Wow! I can now add images!! :)

Dr Who?

So Matt Smith is to be the 11th doctor...certainly not what I had expected! As the Guardian put it, the "Obama effect hasn't reached Gallifrey yet". Whilst some may find this disappointing, I've already gotten used to the idea of this new doctor. Looking forward to the new series already though I can already predict that it will play havoc with my finals...

A new year, a new blogger

So now we welcome in 2009 - HAPPY NEW YEAR everybody! Boy these years are flying past. I feel old.

So here's my new pet project; a blog. Wonder how long this will last?