A Christmas Tale...

Hope you had a great Christmas and have a happy New Year people!

So, I've just got back from a sales shopping spree in Tunbridge Wells. My good friend Mr Mastercard was nice and bought me some stuff there! However, there is the small matter that what should have taken us 45 mins door-to-door, took us 2 hours. We got stuck in a major traffic jam on the outskirts of the town, that was the queue to get in to Royal Victoria Place. One hour and 15 later we got to the shops!!!

It was a very good spree overall, apart from the fact that the Disney Store has closed down since the last time I was there. Major :-(

So I worked pretty much all the time in the run-up to Christmas, including Christmas Eve and then Boxing Day, Bank Holiday Monday and I'm back in New Year's Eve and on my birthday too! Hoooray. Then I'll be 22... Hmmmm.

Sooo, Christmas....

Weeel, we did our big food shop on the 23rd - having pre-ordered the turkey! Then the parents did quite a lot of the cooking on Christmas Eve when I was at work dealing with all of the genuinely miserable last-minute shoppers. When I got home I wrapped my presents and then we were all ready for the big day! It panned out like this...

9am I'm roused from my slumber by Tom texting me, so I suppose there was little else for it - time to get up.

By 10am I was all ready and downstairs. On go the Christmas lights. The first argument of the day broke out over how many parawns we need. Food prep begins - the dogs look on in anticipation of what is to come - out comes the sprout tree, swede and carrot, roaties, prawns and parsnips.

Come 11am kitchen activity is going on in earnest. Out comes the custard, cranberry sauce, seafood sauce, caramellised onion etc. Veg makes its was in to saucepans and on to baking trays. Plates are laid out for the first course, the prawn cocktail.

Half an hour later sees me grappling with the sprout tree. Mum rejoices that the annual hunt for the cake forks ahs been rendered uneccessary - she found then in October and had left them out specially!

12 midday Rejoicing cut short as an argument erupts over the location of the corkscrew. Swearing joins cacaphony of arguing as Mum trips over the dog. Dad opens the wine with a multi-tool, when he turns to get a glass, the dogs lick the bottle top. The wine is tipped away as its off and we open Cava (disgusting) and a Rosé Lambrusco to have with dinner.
It is also suspected that the seafood sauce is off, but we add it liberally to the prawns anyway.

By 12.30pm Mum is ready to dish up the dinner and also does the dogs version at the same time. We open a third bottle of wine - all without a corkscrew. Heated debate arises over which way to point a cork when pulling out of a bottle.

1pm We have an argument over who should clean up the swede/carrot mash Mum has just dropped on the floor. The dog eats it off the floor, so all is well.

The dogs dinner is put down and we sit down to our Prawn Cocktail at 1.30pm and, finally, at 1.45pm we eat dinner. We're done by 2.30pm and agree to postpone dessert until later. The dogs gleefully finish off the leftovers. Present opening begins, only pausing for the Queen's Speech.

5pm We all agree on the fact that Christmas TV is shockingly bad and put on a DVD - Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

On the present front, I got my lovely red DS and four games for it, which has kept me unequivocally occupied ever since. That was my main present and then I got some face cream, fluffy socks, a book about Christmas and money from parential friends.

So under the tree now are my birthday presents - I know what they are, but I'm not gonna say, because that would spoil all the suprise!! Let's just say that its all looking very pink!

So I had today off and I 'm off tomorrow, before a couple more days of work. Then the great occasion on the horizon is my birthday trip to London with my dear friends Sarah and Tom, for the weekend. More when I have birthday-age to report.

**HAPPY 2010**

2009 in the blink of an eye

Well, faithful blogites, it is almost 2010 - a new year and a new decade! But what has 2009 done to earn its place in the forefront of my memory? Let's take a little look...

0 I turned 21! That is a definate milestone and the last real age-related one until I turn 30, which is not in 8 years time!

0 I interviewed for Disney for a second time and got WaitListed for a second time. A lot of very quality people who I've met flew out to Florida to work. I have lived a Disney dream through them.

0 I went to Paris. I spent a lovely weekend there with my coursemates in the beautiful March weather. I had a great time and I learnt some great things about myself such as I can manage alone in France, speaking French and navigating. I love Paris as a city - it has so much to offer and I never grow tired of seeing it.

0 I wrote my dissertation. 10,000 words of academia that I just fell in love with as I wrote it. I fell in love with it again when it was printed out - the photos all glossy. I fell in love 100 times over when it was bound. Gosh it was a marvel!

0 I finished 3 years of university, some of the best years of my life, and graduated. Graduation was almost enough to make me want to do postgrad study - but not quite!!

0 Did kids work at Keswick, really got in to invigilation and helping at Cantell and in one marathon session, managed a GSMA session (totally illegally) with just one other person and a bunch of older kids I don't usually work with!

0 Sarah came out of hospital in July. It's really good that she's out and full of joie de vivre as well as plans for the future. She deserves every success.

0 I've been working at Argos a lot, I also claimed Job Seekers allowance a lot (not at the same time though, as that would be illegal). They were both good experiences for me and broadened my horizons.

0 I decided in good time, what I wanted to do for my 22nd birthday, and organised it. See my previous entry for full details. I'm also getting really cool pressies - a red DS for Christmas and (I hope!!) and iPod for my birthday. When you get to my (grand old) age, you don't really want much else.

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So 2009 has been a very nice year to be a part of, with great experiences and great people to share it with. I'm full of a curious sense of expectation for this new year, new decade that is approaching and feel it could be an important one.

So Happy New Year everybody, have a good one! Merry Christmas too, just remember the true meaning of the celebration. Yes, Christmas is a time to do good deeds, to be with family, to celebrate, give, recieve and the like. But its only cos of what God did over 2000 years ago that we have life, and life to the full anyway. Jesus is the reason for the season, let's not forget that very first Christmas day!

Birthday Plans

Well I'm very excited about this and so it warrants a special blog entry for the occasion!

I thought quite a bit about what I wanted to do and finally landed on the idea of a weekend in London as a treat to myself.

So... the plan is to take the train to London on Friday and do a little bit of shopping. Oxford Street, Friday afternoon, shopping. It beats Saturday or Sunday on Oxford or Regents Street in the midst of *the sales*!

Saturday is active day! I'm assuming at this point that Tom and Sarah will be joining me and we'll do some touristy things: museums or attractions etc. Shakeaway will have to be visited if I have anything to do with it! Harrods... Hamleys... etc.
But the piece de resistance will come with the evening's entertainment! Dinner out and then front row seats, in the circle, at We Will Rock You! Which has to be my favourite musical of all time.
Sunday, being the day of rest that it is, will be the day I travel home. Before that though, I'd like to church it up if I can. I'll have to take the day off of work of course, but since I'm working on my actual birthday day, it kind of evens out I guess.

Weekend in Windsor (and New Malden!)

18/11/09
I will return with full tales of our escapades - unlike Tom who just says 'I did this, see Vicki's blog for details'.

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And here I am!! All of the thinking about my next trip (B'day - London - watch this space!) has got me to blogging about the last one. So heeeeere we gooooooo.

I missed the train :-/ by 3 minutes :-( ooops. Luckily I got the next one, changed at Waterloo, hopped on the train to Windsor & Eton Riverside, met Tom on the train (as well as a load of England Rugby fans!), we met Sarah at the station and headed of to the castle.

Needless to say, the Castle is at the top of a hill. That day I'd say it was blowing at least a gale force wind. Bracing indeed. Reminded me of home, except there was no saltiness to the air. It also rained. Good old England!

Thanks to Tom, we had free tickets and so didn't have to queue etc with everyone else and all the foreign tourists. We went through the security checkpoints and headed to get some audio guides!! We also had Tom to add extra facts on as we went around!!

Here are the photos!



Obviously because of the lovely weather, we kept the admiration of the outside and outer parts of the castle to a minimum, but those are the photos from both before and after we went inside. As you can see, the Queen was in residence!

We ducked in to each of the gift shops in turn, to see what they had for sale and if there was anything we wanted to buy. Twas also nice and warm and dry in there. Tom gets quite a nice discount, so that was helpful when Sarah wanted to get a pressie for her Mum.

We took some other photos, including the obligatory group one, after we'd toured the State Appartments, trusty audio guides in hand and Tom introducing us to all of his colleagues as we went around. More photos tell our story very well indeed!
This is Tom with a child's busbee on in the gift shop!

The beautiful Christmas tree decorated with Crowns - I was really tempted to buy one!

Bracing the weather conditions!! I think we held up very well...unless you think that Sarah is holding on to Tom lest she blow away!

I shall call this, simply, the 3 muskateers!

Our last port of call before leaving the Castle was St George's Chapel. I am always pretty impressed with old churches and the like (which is a good thing as Mum frequently drags me around rural Wiltshire to see them!) so this was cool to see. I loved the little niches and getting to see the graves/memorials (not quite sure) to lots of old kings as well as Princess Margaret and the Queen Mum.

By the time we'd left the Castle, it was nearly 4pm and hunger was striking! First stop: Pasty shop! Second stop: Shakeaway! Lovely way to end the day. We took the train back to New Malden after that, sharing the platform with about 500 rugby fans!!

Back at Sarah's, it was board games followed by Strictly Come Dancing and other TV before bed. Tom also stayed over so we were able to head straight off the next morning (after I'd rescued my underwear from Archie!!) to the aquatic shop that Sarah gets her fish from, to suss out some new additions to her tank!!

The fish shop was a bizarre labyrinth of tanks and fish, so was quite impressive and we spent a long time in deliberation. Quite a lot of the fish we wanted weren't suitable for Sarah's tank, so there was rethinking a bit, but after that, she got 5 new fish (including a pregnant one!) and we whisked them away to their new home!

After a pretty amazing Sunday lunch chez Osborn we headed off to see Alpha, Sarah's rather large bunny, who lives with a family a few roads awy from her. Tom and I were shocked to see how she had gotten darker of fur, but it was good to see her and meet her family who seem to be taking excellent care of her.

And, well, sadly, I didn't have much more time than that before I had to think about trains and then take my leave of my dear friends for the trek home to Hastings!

Naturally, it was a lovely weekend and we were just happy to be in each others company and together, having fun again. Long may it continue and we look forward to the next time, which I believe will be my b'day weekend in January!

Until next time, Keeeeeep Dancing! Oooh and keep planning, keep striving, no good ever came of standing still.

Poppy Update

HOORAY!
The figures are in!

I, personally, raised £757.35!

HOORAY!

Oh and I didn't win a prize in the raffle :-(

Poppies, poppies everywhere!!

My life recently has been very full of this certain red flower!

I been selling poppies in Sainsbury's foyer ever since the 31st - its switched between being very cold and wet in there to being tolerably warm when they finally put the heating on. We were selling 'ordinary' pin on poppies, stick on poppies, pin badge poppies, car stickers, rememberance crosses, car poppies, silk poppies and programmes for last night's Festival of Remeberance and Rededication at the White Rock Theatre.

So I took my MP3, my phone, food & drink and sweets and got to get lots of money in my collecting tins. My record was 1 £20, 3 £10s and 5 £5s and the tin only had half an inch left at the top. Another key occurance was the man who gave me an entire plastic bag of coppers!! That was very exciting indeedy.

The week before Mum and I delivered boxes of poppies with collecting tins to roughly fifty local businesses and today began the process of getting them all back again! When they're all in we'll need to return them to the Poppy Appeal Shop based in the town centre, to be counted.

A few days after that saw Mum and I manouvering through the town centre with two large hampers full of food. They are to be the grand prizes in the Poppy Appeal raffle (we don't take the cost of running the shop out of the donations, so the raffle covers the rent). We'd spent most of the previous day trying to artistically organise them - one Christmas and one less festive - and in the end added hay (donated free by a very supportive lady!)! If I do say so myself, they looked rather good!!
So yesterday was Rememberance Sunday.
In the morning my Mum and I were at Alexandra Park for the Rememberance service at the War Memorial. Mum marched with the veterans procession and I was in the crowd watching. It was a bit of a rainy and cold morning, but there was a good turn out and the Pipes and Drums were very impressive.
The parade was massive: the parade of Standard Bearers was lead by the Queen's Colour, followed by a parade of veterans -young and old, after them came the serving personnel from 47Regt Royal Artilery and the Princess of Wales' Royal Regt, all the different types of cadets, youth organisations etc. We also had representatives from Hastings' twin towns especially Oudenaarde in Belgium, whose representatives were all wearing garishly striped clothing and tricorned hats!!! :-)
The funny thing was that the heavy rain the night before had causd the lakes in the park to burst their banks and the paths the parade had to march down were 3ft at widest!!!!
There was hymn singing, prayers, wreath laying, an update on the renovation of the War Memorial and - of course - the Two Minutes Silence at 11am marked by cannon fire!


In the evening was the Festival of Rememberance and Rededication. We arrived just before 6pm to sell programmes (which you need to get in) and I was selling them right up until 7.15pm. I missed the first part - where each organisation goes up on stage whilst their particular song is played. They are preceeded by their Standard Bearer and they all then remain on stage for the rest of the evening. That part was followed by the entertainment!!
We had a performance by the Pipes and Drums *oh I do love pipe and drum music* and then the Singalong!!We sang Jerusalem, Run Rabbit Run, Sussex by the Sea and Land of Hope and Glory. Less frivolous singing was the National Anthem, Oh God our help in ages past, The Royal British Legion Hymn, I vow to thee my country and Abide with me.

So that's all that's happened and is yet to happen with regards to the Poppy Appeal save for Wednesday which those of you with a keen and penetrating mind will realise is actually the 11th November - Rememberance Day. We'll be having another service at the War Memorial with Two Minutes Silence and then head straight to the Poppy Appeal Shop for the drawing of the raffle - I am ever hopeful that I might win a nice prize!!

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That's all for now - as you can tell I'm rather frazzled by it all and so this may not make much sense, I don't know!! But that's what I've been up to for the last couple of weeks and will be until the end of this week!

I have landed in the desert

Intrigued? Well, unfortunately ythis is not an update from my travels around the world - in fact, what travels? - but an analogy that occured to me as I sit here on Saturday afternoon pondering my future.

So, the desert. What is it and why am I here? Well...

The desert is a barren place. Somewhere where, if you'd just been dropped by a plane there, you'd look around and see endless, endless sand. You'd just see the same things whichever way you looked and it would depress you because you wouldn't know what to do. You wouldn't know how to escape.

You might look straight ahead - sand. Behind you - sand. To the left - sand. Right - sand. No change. You would think that even if you chose a direction, trudged off that way for a few hours/days/weeks that when you stopped the landscape would still be the same and your journey would have been in vain. You would be no closer to finding out which way to go, how to escape, where food or shelter were etc.

That's how I feel.

School, in hindsight, was a high. College was an even bigger high. University was an amazing high. The problem with reaching the heights though, is that you have that much further to fall - flat on your bum, I might add - when you return to the real world. The disorienting, hopeless, stressful, pressured, constricting world of the graduate.

Let's look at each of those in turn and I'll explain why being a graduate is both all of those things and none of them - all at once.

Disorienting or not
You are bombarded by so many options, so much choice, so much of life, all of the pressures of debt and family and expectations, that you don't know which way to turn. You've lost the fellowship you had, the independance, the regular payments from the SLC, the structure to the week. You've gained mental anarchy.
Then again; its abundantly clear what your situation is an how to proceed: you can't live out of your overdraft forever, for the sake of your soul you can't live with your parents forever either. You must become financially independant with a job and a natty little flat.

Hopeless or not
You graduate with debt - a large and increasing debt - to the SLC, you have personal debt too, you have parents you really can't support you - all in a recession. There is no money for work based training and the JobCentre don't offer the free courses that you want to do. Most jobs require experience and relevant qualifications. You begin to feel that your degree really wasn't worth the effort.
Then again; you are in your early twenties, full of life, fresh-faced, eager, desperate to create your own life and you are highly qualified - your degree comes from a Russel Group Uni - you're not unemployable. You have ambition, life excites you, you want to live in a city, you don't mind the rat-race that the older generation despises.

Stressful or not
You are under pressure from the moment you start Uni if we're honest, to be career-focused, to look towards that graduate job - to make yourself employable. You're under pressure the moment you graduate to make that a reality. All this = strrrress! You stress yourself out too: "how am I going to afford bread/that dvd/that really nice coat/a college course/to pay off my overdraft/to move out of my parents house/to be independant?"! Your parents add stress by asking you the same questions "because they care"! A vicious circle emerges and consumes you - the end.
Or is it? On the other hand, there is no pressure... other than that you place on yourself! So what if you haven't walked in to a job that pays at least £30,000 a year and have started to pay in to a private pension fund by the age of 23! You will never have your twenties again. They're to be enjoyed, relished, cherished, because you were young and carefree, not because you aged yourself by 7 minutes every hour thinking about jobs/finances/next weeks shopping bill/how the Christmas lights will effect your electricity bill this quarter etc

Pressured or not
There are pressures in everyones life - from everywhere. Consumerism takes some of the blame. Our own identity takes it too though: take basic facts about me; female, 21, single. That tells me I can't sit on my laurels, or let myself get obese and ugly, because to look like a young woman nad not a navie, I need to look after myself. If I'm to have a husband and kids, the same applies with more besides - I need to get out - I won't meet him on my sofa or at work. That's without TV adverts, billboards, seeing other people etc. That is all before you consider the expectations placed upon you by yourself, your mates, your family, their friends, those you have taught you throughout your life the moment you become a graduate. Expectations are very hard to escape.
Or are they? What is to say that you can't break free of the constraints of society, hmmm? I am a natural cynic and so traditional graduate jobs - management etc - have never, ever appealed to me and I could think of little worse. What's to say I can't be very poor and very happy? Just look at Uni! What's to say I can't earn £20,000 and still be ok? Or £10,000 - ok maybe not £10,000, but you get the picture! All the world's a stage, waiting for my entrance!

Constricting or not
"When I left school there were 3 options for young women. Get married and have a family, work at Carston shirt factory or go to secretarial college. You have so much more going for you, don't let it go to waste!" The Maternal Figure, frequently. Of course I don't want to dissapoint the women who want to live through me and my generation, or to devalue all that women have struggled to achieve against - and in spite of - the glass ceiling. However, to quote Shakespeare again "this above all: to thine OWN self be true" and I must, or I'll never be happy. Is happiness overated? I think not. I've had to choose between what seemed the best option and what seemed the one that would make me happy before - I went for the happy factor and have never regretted it. So why does the world insist on everyone fitting in to a singular mould?
Then again, where else but in the 21stC has diversity been more richly celebrated? When else has the work place been more flexible? Will I ever be in a better place than I am now, with the future laid out before me? Am I in the desert or do I need to look closer, stride out further in each direction and, most of all, keep faith in who I am and what I want to achieve?

So there we have it. My mediations on the desert. I'll tell you one thing you learn from the desert: there is no getting back in to the plane. In life there is no going back to your Uni days - those are gone, as are the people you shared them with. You could never return to your college, your school. You aren't a child anymore, you have to move on. You have to remember that if life before your sudden arrival in the desert was ok, then the desert is not all there is to life and there can be life - and life to the full - after the desert.

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So everyone, that is my latest blog post. Isn't the human mind a wonderful thing? I feel like quite the literary master! Well, you know what they say: 'write what you know'. I have quite the priviledge in life to be able to look at my own situation, add some drama, irony and quirky little truths and make simple blogging into a cathartic purging of the soul.
I also love to be able to look back over my blogs and remind myself that life is a journey, during which you will always encounter the desert - maybe even spend long periods aimlessly wandering it - but you will always have an onward ticket, even if you don't know it.

Work, work, work...

= money, money, money.

Buut its soooooo annoying sometimes!!! Grrrr.

I've bought myself a bottle of Lambrusco and some Yum Yums and I'm going to consume them all tonight. Mwahaahaahhaa

THE END

There are also some days when I really enjoy work... Hmmm.


Oh yeah, and what's this about Barack Obama getting the Nobel Peace Prize and being nominated within the first 11 days of his presidency?

September Weekends Away

WEEKEND ONE
Sept 12th-13th. Surrey.

I trained it up to New Malden on the 12th after spending around 20mins trying to get the ticket machine to issue me witht the correct ticket! So it was the train to Clapham Junction and then the little urban train to New Malden. Sarah met me at the station and we headed back to hers straight away! I got to see Archie again, which was good. I was shocked to be reminded just how small he is - it must be because I live with a giant doggy here at home!
We chatted for an hour until Tom arrived - and then continued chatting!! Twas so good for the three of us to be back together again and catch up - just like our dear old days in Connaught (to which Sarah will return when she goes back to Soton to study!). Tom and I gave Sarah our presents there and then, because mine was a bit too delicate to take in to Kingston!! Tom got Sarah the brand new Monopoly - Monopoly City, which is all fancy and fandangled (and, I'm afraid, over my head as a non-board game player!) The two of them had a great time examining it until we had to leave.

We headed to Kingston for 6.30pm to meet the others at the train station. Dave (Shearn), Jo (Sanderson) and Georgie met us there and our destination was straight across the way! Everyone got stuck in to chatting and catching up and getting to know one-another, so that by the time we reached Frankie and Bennies, there was a good old rapport established.
We were seated in Frankie and Bennies and immediately got stuck in to examining the menu, chattering away and another exchange of cards and gifts. Sarah had a few essays to read in her cards too! We ordered and drank, ordered and ate starters, ordered and ate our main course, ordered and ate desserts and then felt very full up indeeed!
I started with cheese and bacon skins, then had a lamb shank with mash and veg. By that point I was stuffed. I did consider dessert, but decided there wasn't room!! Some of the others had desserts and Dave put the sparkling candle from his in to Sarah's, to make it special for her birthday!!
Sarah's parents were very kind in paying the first £20 for each person!!

Well stuffed and very happy, we headed downstairs to the bowling alley, where Sarah had pre-booked two games on a lane WITH BUMPERS!! The boys seemed to think that this was below their dignity, but they did end up benefitting from them rather a lot!!
I actually can't remember the scores but the boys did rather well and it all got a bit confuzzled when Georgie had to leave near the end of the first game and Dave and Jo had to go mid-way through the second game, leaving Sarah, Tom and I with 2 goes per round - we all ended up doing better on the other peoples' goes than our own!
However, it was nice to have a small and then a smaller group to hang out with and just enjoy ourselves! I hadn't been bowling for years, and for years before that, so it was nice indeed.

We said goodbye to our third muskateer soon afterwards, as he had to catch the bus back to Ashford and go to work the next day! Sarah and I were picked up by her Dad (and Archie) and headed back to her house. We watched the News and then all turned in!
The next morning, I thought I'd actually had a lie-in and was up quite late for being in someone else's house. I stayed in bed for a while, then showered and dressed. Then I went to find Sarah - she was still in bed and, unfortunately for her, I got her up rather earlier than she was expecting! We had a lazy morning, chilling out with Archie etc and then when Sarah's Dad got back we had a delicious lunch.
Later on, they drove me to the station and we bade each other farewell, with a promise to keep in touch (cos I'm terrible at it!). I took the train in to London, then the Tube to Oxford St to do a little shopping. When in London as they say..... I popped in to UniQlo and Primark and a few others - most notably, the Disney Store - and spent a rather enjoyable afternoon browsing! I didn't spend anything though :-(

Then I headed back to the train station at Waterloo, to head Hastings-wards! On the noticeboard however, I noticed the next train (to Tunbridge Wells) said change for Hastings on it!! Confusion. So I asked the guard - he told me there were no trains to Hastings that weekend due to engineering works - which had also been a problem on the Tube!
In the end; I got the train to Tunbridge Wells, a Rail Replacement Bus from there to Wadhurst and then a train for the final leg of the journey to Hastings! So, after leaving Sarah's in New Malden in the early afternoon, I didn't get home until near on 7pm!! But I did have a nice little jaunt in to London aaaaand, when I popped in to KFC, I got this awesome thing called a Krushem, which was Malteaser flavoured - its a sort of cross between a Shakeawy and a McFlurry.

At the end of the day, I got home in one piece, before dark and it hadn't been too bad an end to a very lovely weekend!

WEEKEND TWO
Sept 19th-21st. Suffolk.

And so, the weekend after that saw me heading in the opposite direction - to Suffolk. Mum and I went to weekend with Alison & Geoff, old friends of ours from way back. We drove. It took 3hrs, there were no incidents - as opposed to the Southbound carriageways of both the M25 and the A12, which were at a standstill. The weather was nice. I was ill and had lost my voice. Having set the scene...

Alison, Geoff and their dog, Shadow, live in a little village called Holton. Its nowhere near any big towns. They live in a little cottage that they're doing up and its all very country-fied and peaceful.

We spent most of the first evening chatting, catching up etc and we had a BBQ, it was so warm! Very nice indeedy.

On Sunday, the only full day we were there, I spent most of the morning playing on Alison's DS (which is pink!) in bed. We finally walked to the Farm Shop in the nearby town of Halesworth in the early afternoon to get some veggies and cake! We walked Shadow there and I waited outside with her. People came up to coo over her and stroke her etc - as is to be expected because shes a rather cute black Labrador x Retriever puppy!
We had a late Sunday lunch: roast chicken, roasties, yorkies, veggies, gravy etc and then had a lovely tart for dessert. It was incredably warm, but cos I was ill and my bodytemperature was all over the place, I kept taking my jumper on and off literally every two minutes!

That evening we went with Alison to walk Shadow over whats called "The Round". Basically rolling hills, lovely countryside etc - she's a very good dog off of the lead! I took a fair few photos, of which I may add a couple here later. The weather was still gorgeous.

We left around lunch time on Monday, having had a late and lazy breakfast. We stopped for lunch at a Little Chef somewhere in Essex. I'd like to give a special mention to the waiter there who coped - wonderfully - on his own for most of the time we were there. Finally we got home at 5pm. I'd recovered half of my voice by this point! I couldn't believe we'd bought the warm weather with us from Surrey, twas very nice.
Alison's coming to stay with us at the end of October!

Right, phew, I'm finally up-to-date! Now I need to go to the Post Office before it shuts... See you in October!

The making of James and Emma Marshall

I have to admit I had a little panic when I first heard the date for the wedding, because I thought it clashed with Momentum, but all was well in the end!
So I travelled straight from Momentum on the morning of the 27th, to Soton where I (in my dreams) moved back in to my old house! What I actually did was move in to Ruth's room for a couple of days.

I spent the rest of that day sorting myself out and just chilling out, enjoying sleeping in a bed and having a nice shower (not that the showers at Momentum weren't nice - they were for once!).

Friday, I spent the whole day out on the town, in and around West Quay. Had to visit my old haunts: Primark, Peacocks, New Look, M&S, Fat Face, Freespirit etc and I bought myself a lovely new Roxy purse and a pair of shoes which I then wore to the wedding!
In the evening I painted my nails and then watched a couple of chick flicks to get me in the mood for the happy occasion the following day.

The wedding itself was held at Above Bar Church, so I hopped on the the U6C, which, much to my shock was *free* that day, due to the Boat Show in the City that day. I got the bus with Nikki, Izzy, Gill, Isaac & Becky, Jo and Fay.
The bridesmaids dresses were a lovely dark teal colour and they were the first thing we saw on going in, because the 2 Rachels (Brooks and Cook) were there.

Got chatting to lots of familiar faces whilst were waiting for Emma's entrance: Mandy, Lizzie and Kathryn & Roly. The ceremony was pretty awesome, with a really good selection of songs etc and great involvement of people important to James and Emma, like his dad and all 3 ministers from ABC.
Afterwards we went to Watt Park for the photos (which were taken by Roger Eldridge). Then those who were invited went to the proper Reception, whilst a group of about 10 of us headed off to get something to eat elsewhere.
Me, Lizzie, Lois, Fay, Jo, Issac, Becky, Tom, Kathryn, Roland walked to Pizza Express and then indulged in pizza and desserts! Lizzie and I shared a really beautiful and yummy tiramisu which made my day!!

We were there for a few hours and so it was time to head over to the Reception/evening activity by that point. It was held at the Southampton Park Hotel and there was a live jazz band who did more sedate and then more active numbers in turn. There was a fair bit of dancing and messing around (mostly by James and his groomsmen!) It rapped up at 11pm and I was lucky enough to get a lift home from Kathryn in her new teachers' car.

I had to pack up all my stuff before falling in to bed and then headed home in the morning. Just as I'd been to work the day before Momentum started, I went to work the day after I got home.

Then - shocking - it was September and I have no idea where all of the time has gone! All of the PGCEers are installed in placements or back at Uni and Argos will soon be taking on their Christmas staff...

This weekend sees me jetting off to Surrey for Sarah's party and to Suffolk the weekend after! Tis all jolly.

Momentum 09

22nd-26th August 2009, Bath and West Showground, camping on Purple 6 with SUCU.

Travel: Good. Not including the massive jams on the way down.

Set-up: Swift and slightly puzzling. The debate over the perfect place to pitch and which way the door should face was extensive.

Arrival of camping buddy: Tom actually arrived after me, which is stunning considering he's coming from Surrey and chose the moment I'd gone to get a programme from Information. Oh well, once Tristan had moved his car Tom pitched next to me!

Food: We'd carefully planned each night's menu beforehand, so I had bought the exact amounts of stuff we needed. Tom supplied the stoves and gas - excellent coordination! We BBQed on the first night and patronised the stands on the last.
There were assorted trips to the crepe stall etc in between.
We found that my tent was an excellent wind break to cook behind and so since its pretty high up and open on Purple 6, we were lucky!

First meeting: You can't match the anticipation and excitement of heading over to the Big Top on the first day! 3500 other people, Mike Pilavachi, Andy Croft, an awesome worsip band and a great talk - all a great taste of the am and pm meetings for the next four days.
As usual I was also interested in such matters as the drummer's facial expression (or lack of), the hairstyle of one of the guitarists, whether or not we'd see the return of Desert Scarf Guy, which songs we'd be singing and who was leading worhip...

Sung) Worship: I'll admit I had trouble - initially - getting on with some of the new songs, most of which came from Ben Cantelon's new album "Running After You" and the Tim Hughes live album "Happy Day". Although, one of my favourites was actually from Matt Redman's new album "We Shall Not Be Shaken": "You Alone Can Rescue".
Twas led by Sam Parker and Andi Arganda most times and then when he arrived, Tim Hughes shared the leading.


Tentage: Well I was camping solo for the first time at Momentum - it was odd not to be sharing with Rachel, but she was preparing for James and Emma's Wedding in Soton (see next blog!) or Kathryn, but she was at her brother's 18th.
Tom was in his tent opposite.
On the plus-side, I had a 4man that you can almost stand up in (if you're my height) to myself!! There was plenty of storage space for food etc and for 2 people to sit on the floor.
On the down-side, when the wind reached gale force 10 and I *honestly* thought that my tent was going to blow over and away, I was on my own. But the heavy boxes of food held the tent down, so all was safe and secure in the end! I also came up with an excellent way to keep warm - which *just* kept my body temperature above freezing!

Seminars: Went to some really varied seminars actually, but they were all very helpful in emphasising that its all about RELATIONSHIP with God. In a relationship, you spend quality time together, you know each other, you tell each other things, you trust each other and that doesn't suddenly change because something bad/unexpected/challenging happens.
Twas a real challenge to me to Pray, Study the Bible, Meditate, Serve and Worship. Yet instead of feeling condemned, I was encouraged, so all is good!
Must mention the Dating seminar run by Tim+Rachel Hughes. I've never seen a seminar so full up - and then they told us to split up in to girls and boys > pandemonium! We were so close to them and each other it was funny. But it was very good as the whole thing was composed of questions from us! I find it funny that Tim Hughes is so reserved in real life, but he gives a really good example of a Godly guy and it was encouraging to see.

Weather(!): Always worth a mention when it comes to Momentum. Weather at home prior to departure was very hot and sunny - this of course ended the day we travelled down to Somerset, it rained. The rain made appearances on at least 2 more days and there were very strong gales most days. The sun did make appearances, but never very strongly, it wasn't sunbathing weather.
The funniest occasion was on the morning of the last full day when it was - funnily enough - raining. We were all in the Big Top, in the middle of the worship in the Main Meeting. Now there is the occasional tiny hole in the roof of the marquee, but this was something entirely above and beyond. A veritable torrent of water was coming in - directly over the top of the very-expensive-looking drum kit! Now there was a little roof on the top of the drum enclosure, but it didn't cover the drummer himself and I think he got a wee bit wet!! I noticed it before he did, but then when he did realise, it was highly amusing how he couldn't stop but kept casting nervous glances upwards!

God: God was very good to me at Momentum, teaching me lessons in the way only He can. Gently yet firmly. As I said, He spoke to me about relationship with Him, which I'm working on! He also provided a lovely lady from the Welfare Team called Angie who helped me muchly in a couple of sessions after I had a fight with the floor under the power of the Spirit!

I may add more, but that's most of it! It was an awesome few days and a well-needed break. God did awesome stuff and I was reminded of how great He is! I'll be back again soon. Much love.

Honk if you're going to Momentum!!

Would love to put that in the back window of my car... :-)

I'm pretty much all packed and ready. We set off (or are optimistically aiming for) 8.30am!

See you on Sept 1st!

Excuse Me...Where Did August Go?

Hello.

Can you help me? I'm looking for the rest of August, as I seem to have missed it...

Since I don't want to look for it now, I'll give you a run-down of all that hath occurred since my last blog.

1. Hooray! My phone is working. Lord only knows why it wasn't working or why it is now, but it is, so cooooolio.

2. I've finally seen HP6 and it was awesome. I went with my Mum and we had an Orange Wednesday, took a bag of popcorn with us and enjoyed! Serious underestimation of the need for popcorn though, we had one bag between us and had almost finished it by 10mins in to the actual film.
Not sure what it is about the flicks that makes you obsessively eat popcorn... :-)

3. Momentum is actually 3 days away and I'm soooooooooo not ready - my mind is all over the place! Half a dozen things have been started, but not finished.
What've I done...? Today I washed and polished the car in preparation for its long journey West. The camping chair and table, tent, groundsheets, rugs, sleeping bag, airbed + pump and cool little chair for using in the meetings are in the car.
Last week I put up my tent for a bit of airing and just to make sure it was all ok. The dogs decided to help...








We've started the shopping list, packing list etc too.
Must get more organised. Must get more organised. Must get more organised.

No news on the job or life fronts yet though.

So the plan of action is thus:

20th and 21st - WORK

22nd - Travel to Momentum

MOMENTUM

27th - Leave Momentum for Soton

CHILL OUT IN SOTON

29th - Emma and James' Wedding @ ABC

30th - Travel home

31st - WORK!

1st September (Ooh a new month!) Sleep. :-)

But I can look forward to, on the 12th, travelling to New Malden to go to Sarah's Birthday/Getting out of hospital Party. Now to think of what to get her... Tis rather exciting too!

Waiting Patiently

Hello everybody, I've called this entry "Waiting Patiently" as it seemed appropriate. So, what am I waiting patiently for? I'll make a list for you:

1. My phone to actually be working again. A certain person - who shall remain nameless - has suggested that I have a detrimental effect on every phone I touch, but I beg to differ! It's definately the phone's fault!!

2. To see the new Harry Potter film 'Half Blood Prince' at the cinema. I wanted to go on Orange Wednesdays to make it cheaper, but I haven't had my Orange sim card yet. Mega :-(

3. Momentum! Travelling day is the 22nd August and I'm not ready in the slightest, so I'm gonna have to get my act together and make my little lists and organise my dear chum Tom. Then we can head of to Somerset for what is the most amazing week of the summer!

4. A job. Needless to say job-hunting in Hastings is like banging your head repeatly against a brick wall. There are a couple of vacancies advertised that I'll go for and really, really pray that they work out because I need some money extremely soon.
Meanwhile, the JobCentre are trying to Shanghai me in to a rubbish job at Sainsburys as an 'intermediary'. No thank you very much.

5. A life. When I say that, what I mean is; when I have a job, I'll have money, can actually do things for myself, maybe even get my own place and put lots of lovely things in it etc and just generally be an independant young woman!!
How exciting!

For now, I'll leave you there. The next venture into bloggage will be, perhaps, before I embark for the wilds of Somerset and, if not, will definately be after I've returned.

Graduation 20th July 2009

The day I went from Graduand to Graduate!
(and had to get up ridiculously early to do so!)

5.30am: Alarm goes off and I ignore it. Probably ended up getting up around 6.20am. Went straight in the shower in a vain attempt to wake myself up. There was a lot of faffing, Alison arrived, we left the house around 7.45am (45mins behind schedule!)

The journey down was bordering on the ridiculous (getting stuck behind lots of slow drivers etc) and we finally got to Soton around 11am.

First Stop: Wippells! Got my robes on first of all, had the hood secured, had my mortar board pinned to my head and headed straight for the official photographer.



So we had the official photos done and ordered the DVD of the Ceremony, had a look at the offical graduation merchandise and then headed off to have some lunch. We had the carvery (or Graduation Lunch as they renamed it for the day!) with lamb etc. Yummy.

Obviously I kept bumping in to people I knew: both Rob Smiths, Lizzie, Lois, Rachel, Ellie, Laura, Tom and the camera had lots of work to do!



We headed to collect our tickets next from the marquee and we also bought some issues of the Daily Echo Graduation Special Edition for posderity.

Then it was over to the Turner Sims Concert Hall for the Ceremony. We had to sanitise our hands before going in!! We were seated in alphabetical order and so I watched all the people before me. Everyone stood as the Graduation Procession came in, with all the important people (including our tutors) and they did the ceremonial cool stuff to open the ceremony. Before I knew it; it was our row's turn to stand, queue up on the stairs, listen for our name, walk across to the Vice-Chancellor, present our hands in the prayer position, chat a tiny bit with him, walk across to the other side of the hall to get our certificate, walk up the stairs out the baxck of the hall and come down again to our seats - all with military precision! Then there was the Vice-Chancellor's speech, we all stood for the ceremonial exit and then all piled out.



I bumped in to Tom at the point; we chatted, got photos, exchanged things etc before he headed off to do his photos and we went over to Avenue for the School of Humanities Champagne Reception!



Chatted to some more coursemates: Rachel, Laura, Ellie etc, but managed to miss Harriet completely! :-( Chatted for ages to Joan - my tutor for this year - which was lovely cos she has been really amazing this year and helped me loads.

Then, very sadly, it was time to head off. We went back to Highfield, handed over my robes (mega :-( there) took a last, senimental look around the campus and headed off to the car. We'd parked on Hartley Avenue, so as to avoid having to pay £5 parking fee and 3 bus fares at Wessex Lane. Whoop to free parking!
We headed down to my old house to collect the rest of my stuff and then set off for home, where we finally arrived at about 11pm!

What a day! Amazing day. Couldn't bear parting with my robes - I loved them! Oh well, I can truly say I am Educated. Celebrated. Graduated. now!




What next? Answers on a postcard please!

K*E*S*W*I*C*K 11th-18th July 2009

I'M BACK!!

Soooo, I survived a week way, way up North and all of the associated travelling. Today is my day off before GRADUATION tomorrow, so I'm having a rest, catching up on real life and sorting out what I'm going to wear tomorrow. Needless to say, it is raining and so there has had to be a rethink in the outfit department. Oh well.

Sooo, Keswick.

Well, I took the train to Stoke on Trent on Friday (10th) and overnighted there. We made yummy cake to take to Keswick and sorted out some of the crafty stuff. On the Saturday, we got to Keswick around midday and went to bag beds in the girls dorm. Good plan as the bottom bunks are much sought after!! On the way up we saw lots of the Lakes such as Grasmere and Derwentwater. Ruth took me on an afternoon tour of Keswick and we ate our lunch on the shores of Derwentwater. When most people had arrived we got our IDs and t-shirts, had a little meet n greet session and had dinner. Then we headed off together to the evening meeting.

That evening meeting would be the only one we would go to, as the purpose of our being there was to allow the parents to go to the meetings! Anyway, Sunday went like this:

Up, shower, dress in glorious blue Keswick team t-shirt, go to prayer meeting, have breakfast. Then we headed off to the the MAin Tent for the Morning Meeting where Tom Putt (our leader) was preaching and we were bigging up the kids/youth work and helping out with registration. Me and 4 others ended up going on stage and doing the actions to a song I'd never heard of - in front of a couple of thousand people!! Then we were free until our first real kids work meeting that evening - with the 8-11s!

That evening we introduced the kids to the theme for the night meetings "Faith that does stuff". They took a structure something like this: registration and outdoor games, welcome, think tanks (little buzz groups lead by two leaders), singing, the talk, singing, think tank, GAMES.

Now the games were things like the Generation Game (led by Cam), King of the Leaders (won by Tom Beaumont), Gladiators, Gunge or Glory etc. We did that each evening from Sunday-Friday.

On the weekdays our timetable was a bit like this:
7am: Up, join queue for shower, shower, dress.
7.45am or 8am: Prayer meeting for 15mins
8am or 8.15am: Breakfast!
9am: Departure for the Main Convention Centre.
9.30-10.30am: Set up the age group venues. For us this was preparing the craft and the kings for the story, listening to the story so we could tell it again, having our free cup of tea, putting out the outdoor toys and setting up registration.
10.45am: The first parents/kids show up and some of us are playing, others leading kids in and taking coats/drinks etc.
12.30pm: Kids are collected, we tidy up and head back to Rawnsley.
1.15pm: Lunch at Rawnsley
2pm til 5pm: FREE TIME! I wanted to go to the Pencil Museum but never got around to it :-( Still, there were a few nice shops - all with sales - to look around!
5pm: Our bible teaching from the main speaker (an American chap called Dale Ralph Davies) on 1 Kings. This was followed by our briefing for the evening programme and dinner.
7pm: Evening programme for 8-11s
9pm: Kids leave. We pray and debrief.
9.30pm: Freedom again! A couple of nights we went to the chippie, or there were card games or films to be watched etc.

It was an exceptionally tiring week especially given the amount of travelling required on my part!
Saturday saw us leave Rawnsley at 9am for Booths, the supermarket, where we had breakfast altogether. People left periodically over the course of the morning and I left around 11am. I got the bus from Keswick bus station at 11.20am and got to Penrith at just gone 12pm - the scenery from the bus was gorgeous! There was an hour wait at the station for the train to London Euston, but I was chatting to this missionary lady I'd met on the bus who then gave me some of her food, so the time flew past!
Then it was the Tube from Euston to Charring Cross (I was so lucky - almost every other line except the Northern Line was suspended!) and the train to Hastings from there! Total travelling time: 7hrs!

Grat week though. Amazing scenery. Wonderful kids team. Might even go again next year!

The making of Isaac and Rebekah Pain

St. Peter's Church, Woking. 4th July 2009

Well I can't believe it, Isaac and Becky are now married! I got back (eventually) from Woking yesterday and so now I can tell you all about it!

I took the train, changed at Clapham Junction (trains that is) and then changed at Woking (clothes this time!). To be honest, if I'd changed clothes at Clapham, I wouldn't've looked out of place because the train was full of race-goers who thankfully got off at Esher and those of us left on the train could actually breath (and if we were lucky, sit down!)

So in wedding attire, I left the station and who should I bump straight in to? None other than Lois and her boyfriend Jon, who were waiting to pick up Tom and Chloe! So I cadged a lift and we got to the Church with a while to spare! There were plenty of Uni people there: me, Lois, Tom & Chloe, Rob Smith, Shadrach & Naomi, Stu & Sarah, Sarah Grimm, Becca & Brian, Emma & James, Izzy & Chris, Rachel & Neil, Nikki, Hannah, Andrew Gibson and his wife and of course the bridesmaids: Rachel, Beckah, Jo, Kate and Fay. They looked lovely in their claret dresses and their hair (done by Bekah) was awesome! John-Paul, Trevor Pickup and Andrew Page (ABC) were all there too.

At some point before the ceremony, Lois managed to put her foot through the floor of the lovely 15thC church - almost up to the knee - which sparked a great deal of curiosity mixed with disdain from the elderly Verger! So that was a little bit of excitement and hilarity before the actual wedding...

The ceremony was lovely. Andrew did the address from Colossians. Shadrach read. There were some good hymns and the recessional was the theme from Star Wars!! Good taste! Whilst the registers were being signed etc, were watched a slideshow of Isaac and Becky through the years which was very sweet! For the departure of the bride and groom from the church, we lined the path and threw the confetti over them!

Photos after the ceremony took around an hour, but the photographer was very thorough and I reckon they'll be really nice! Apres ca, we all piled in to numerous small cars. Some people went to the reception (by invitation only) and the rest of us went to get some food! We ended up in Zizzi's for pizza. There were 11 of us in the end: me, Hannah, Nikki, Rach & Neil, Emma & James, Chris & Izzy, John-Paul and Trevor.

Having stuffed ourselves with pizza, we headed straight to the ceilidh - with the help of the almighty sat-nav! Well, I have to say on the subject of ceilidhs, that I am now an official fan! It was a really great way to get every single person involved and not feeling self-concious! Each new dance was explained and then walked through and then danced with the help of the leaders who had microphones. There was live music from the band and it was a riot!! Some people obviously have hidden ceilidh skills: Bekah and Kate definately! I certainly learned a few dancing terms.

Isaac and Becky left at around 9.30pm, having had their car extravagantly decorated by Rachel and Jo whilst we carried on dancing. The buffet was bought out a little before then and so we had a few snacks while we recovered from dancing. We finished at 11pm after the last dance which included everyone (caterers as well)!

Rachel & Neil gave Nikki and I a lift to the station and we got the train to Godalming where I overnighted with Nikki in her really lovely house. She drove me to the station after breakfast and I got a train straight to Clapham Junction. The the problems began!

My train to Hastings was late; delayed once, twice, three times... It was meant to leave Clapham at 11.53am and still hadn't got in at 12.20pm. So I went to a phone box to call Mum (as I still haven't got a sim card, so my new phone is still useless!). When I got back to my platform, they announced my train, but the train that pulled in said it was going to Victoria not Hastings. I asked a member of staff, but they didn't answer me and the train left. I later asked another person and they seemed to think it was fine and unremarkable that the train was displayed wrong.

Hmph. So I waited for the 12.53pm train which then whisked me away back to home. Arriving there I went to a call box, found that they don't accept 5p pieces and it being 3pm on a Sunday, there was nowhere for me to get change! I tried to place a collect call to my Mum but the MINIMUM CHARGE IS £3.90!!!. Finally I went to the self-service ticket machine, bought a £1 ticket to get some change, called Mum and got home around 4.30pm.

Here endeth the tale. I have a good mind to complain about the confusion, especially since the journey cost me nearly £30 for advance fairs! Oh well, it was a lovely weekend and great to see everyone again. Roll on August and Emma & James' big day.

Until next time: ciao!

My blog has a new wardrobe!!

Well, the title says it all really! I have a revamped blog for a new month! You may or may not like it, but this is the new look blog. Gone are the references to Disney :-( (except in the web address, since I can't change it!).

Ummm, there were a fair few to choose from and I didn't really have a favourite template, but I chose this one.

Welcome to the world, new blog!!

Watch this space (or rather that space ^ for Isaac and Becky's Wedding Blog

Home

I shall simply call this post home, because that's where I am now and forevermore Amen! Ahem. Anyways, its been a pretty hectic few days:
Thursday: Travelled home from Southampton, having packed most of my life in to boxes!
Friday: Chill day but charity quiz in the evening. Won a wooden spoon with the word LOSER on it, for being in the team with the least points!
Saturday: Went to London for the Keswick Training Day and saw Ruth again!
Sunday: Spent all day in the park doing the RBL tombola stall for Armed Forces Day. Absolutely loved and was very moved by the parade. Hope the bloke who fainted doesn't get in too much trouble!
Monday (today): Blog! Sort out my phone issues hopefully...

This month is reasonably full of events and travelling and if I sit back and think, I quite enjoy that side of it. I've always been quite happy to spend the entire summer with my nose in one good book after another, but this summer its all about getting out of the house, meeting new people, doing new things, going to new places and lots more besides.

This blog is no longer really a Disney blog, so I'm considering changing some of the blog furniture as it were. What do you think?

I've been inspired by an Onion to make a list or two:

Things to be excited about this summer!

-KESWICK! 11th-18th July. Doing kids work with the 3-4 year olds! Was truly impressed at the Training Day and can't wait to actually get there and get stuck in.

GRADUATION! 20th July. The entire School of Humanities is graduating on the same day and so I'm so happy I get to see all of my friends again! That's aside the huge excitement of gowns, mortar boards, ceremonies, photographs, degree certificates etc!

MOMENTUM! 22nd-27th August. I love Momentum and it always seems to just have a never ending stream of amazingness to recharge my batteries and get me excited. Chance to see a few friends who aren't otherwise engaged too! (I guessed the dates, don't quote me on them!)

WEDDINGS! 4th July and 29th August. Issac and Becky in Woking, James and Emma in Southampton. Dresses, photographs, presents, dancing etc!

WORK! Continuous. Not generally a thing to be excited over, but it is kind of, because not only am I going back to Argos in July but I also am applying/looking for proper jobs now I am a "proper adult"!

Rant connected to that: WHY do so many people insist that I look like a 12 year old? Or, for that matter, that I AM 12 years old? Cheers lovely people, I know I'll be grateful when I'm 50, but can you please consider what its doing to me NOW?

Anyways; home is me, Mum, 2 dogs who are always standing in the doorway you need to get through and occasionally my Dad, when he drops in and is not working. No-one else has ever set foot in our house aaaannnndddd I don't blame them - its a tip.
On the upside, its summer; the sun is shining, its warm, I don't burn easily, I don't suffer from hayfever and I have no "homework" to think about!

Adios.

BA (Hons)

'Ello

I'm reporting on the most important thing that has happened recently. A la University of Southampton today, it was results day!! Yours truly was amongst many frazled looking finalists who picked up a rather ominous white envelope and found out the news we had all been waiting for!

2:1 Wahey!! I'm rather happy with that and to express it, I went and chatted to my tutor - in her office - for SIX hours and also gave her a card and some Thorntons for being amazing this year. So that was nice!!

It's the end of term (officially) today and so that is it. Finished. Finito. Done. Over. I am now a graduand which sound very swanky and means that I am a 'degree candidate who has yet to graduate'! Nice. One month tomorrow and I'll be a GRADUATE!! Whoooooop!

I leave Southampton in six days time. Sadness. I get to come back for Graduation. Happiness.

Elsewhere in the world, ParkyPants has been in Florida for 10 whole days now (as has Daz and all the others from that group) and the pics etc on FB seem to suggest she was enjoying every minute - save the early starts!!

Not a lot else to say really... People keep going home and disappearing, tis very sad indeedy. Said goodbye to Lois and Lizzie today :'''( Glad I will see them all one last time at Graduation!

That's all really. I leave you with this:
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The End AND The Start of Something New!

Hello!
It's been a little while I feel, so apologies! Let me start filling you in on the news:

***Michelle Park flew to Florida Today!***

As I write this at 12.30am, she is at the mall, and it's 90 degrees out there. Gosh I'm so happy that her day has finally arrived, I really wish her the most amazing year. Same goes for all the June 9th people!

In the mundane life of me, UNIVERSITY IS OVER FOREVER!!!!!! Yep, the end came after a rather gruelling 4hr exam on June 1st and now I'm free! I also have no purpose to my life...if only I had a job in Florida waiting for me... No such luck!

So, although the end of Uni means a new start, it also means lots of confusion and a ridiculous amount of debt! Que sera sera, I guess. Well, time to start taking the advice of graduate recruitment agencies and take a gap year lol. Unfortunately they also require funding.

On the bright side, the Grad Ball is on Wednesday and promises to be an extremely awesome night. We get driven to the country-estate venue, have a 3 course meal, enjoy the party with performances by The Streets and DJing by Scott Mills, enjoy a funfair including rides and vendors and get a lift home again. For that I had to pay £59 - which burnt a serious hole in my pocket - but I'm hoping it'll be well worth it!

There seems to be a couple of birthdays coming up soon: Nikki and Kathryn, so a variety of festivities to look forward to! Not to mention it was my Mum's birthday this weekend and we had a great time in Salisbury.

Plans for the summer are also shaping up too. Keswick 11-18th July (travel on the 10th to overnight with Ruth), GRADUATION on the 20th, Issac and Becky's Wedding on the 4th July, Momentum the 22nd-27th August and then I'm staying in Soton that weekend to attend James and Emma's Wedding! Whooop. Plus I'll be working too obviously!!

Anyway, I am pleased to report that yours truly will indeed be recieving a BA (Hons) degree in History at 2:1 level on that fateful day in July, having got 65 for my dissertation and 67 for my exam (which I was convinced I'd messed up)! So excitement all round, now I'm almost certain that the job is done!

I go home to Hastings for good on the 25th June and go to a Keswick Training Day on the 27th, so not long before I have to put the last 3 years of my life back in to boxes! Hmmmm, a sad day that shall be indeed. Then it's back to being tied to the maternal apron strings and under the maternal thumb... ...
Ummm I'm shattered so I'll leave you with this brief and vague semblance of a blog - which I may or may not update soon.

**UPDATE THE NEXT DAY...**

Welcome to Tuesday. Today has been bewildering. I'm just wandering from idea to idea about what to do with my life and not sure that anything is right for me. Now a job at Disney... Well, that would be perfecto!! Gosh I dislike decision-making.

Suffice to say I am currently considering a gap year. Where? How? When? By what means? With whose money? I do not know. Some things seem the right thing to do, others don't seem so good on second glance... Who knows? All I know is that if I go and live back home for good then I may as well have never gone to college, let alone Uni, for all the good I'll do.

Hastings is not a good place to be attempting to establish a graduate career, that much is clear to me. I love Hastings. It is - and always will be - home. But I can't go back there right now. Well when I say right now, I know that I'll be there for the rest of 2009. 2010 though? That's different. I want to get out and about. If Southampton broadened my horizons this much, then how much more, would time abroad benefit me...

Enough pointless rambling from me. Michelle and the others move in to their apartments in a matter of hours, which excites me greatly! Here in Southampton, the very real temptation is to put the heating on! In June :-(

I can't think of anything else to write. Ooooh, I must just record my excitement actually...I set up my 30 day free trial to LoveFilm.com today and have a lovely stack of films waiting for me to watch over the next couple of weeks, including Aladin and WallE!!

*It's In!*

Yep, that's right, the only thing of note that has occured this month, since my last post, is that I handed my dissertation in!! We'll ignore the fact that I forgot to sign the plagarism statement and had to go back after it was handed in to tell them the word count... Oh dear.

Now the only thing I have to do is revise for an exam nearly 4hrs long on June 1st whoop! Not.

No word from Disney obviously.

London with Michelle 'Green' Park

Well, I got up at quarter to 7, which is earlier than I've been up the whole rest of week. I paid a lot of money for the train, sat next to a business man with smelly aftershave and got to London just before 10am. At least I got there though cos the train was packed. I took the Tube straight to Marble Arch, where I saw these cool murals on the wall!


I decided to go to the Embassy and take a look and wait for Michelle. Its a rather formidable looking building with all sorts of security measures around it. Hmmm well at least I can say I've seen it, even if I never get to go in myself. I met Michelle - who has been approved! - soon after and we headed off.

We took a sroll along Oxford Street and Park Lane; visited the Disney Store, wandered in to a Pizza Express that had no door and which turned out to be closed anyway, before settling on a little cafe down a side street. I have to say that the food was awesome and for central London, cheap as well!
With lots to talk about and catch up on, there was plenty of chatter and so the waitress had to wait a while for us to decide! Anyway with some food inside us, we decided to set out to find Harrods. Because, as a frequent visitor to London and well-to-do member of society, Michelle has a loyalty card there!! Except, we couldn't find it! Small matter of forgetting that the nearest tube to it is Knightsbridge and not Oxford Circus.

So Michelle bought some teddies and we played with the toys!! I still swear that the Little Miss Chatterbox had a little bit of a Lancashire accent that made it sound suspiciously like her! As per usual, we saw some amazingly ridiculously expensive things: £110,000 for a 108" screen TV (looked like a projector screeen it was so big) and the most amazing ornate chandalier I've ever seen for £22,000!

Feeling a bit knackered due to a combination of the early starts and a rather extensive tour of Harrods (where we got pressed pennies!! [Thanks you for the £1 Michelle]), we sought out the nearest branch of Starbucks and collapsed into some rather comfy armchairs for further nattering over yummy drinks and amazing cake :-D Gosh, I love Hazlenut Hot Chocolate and the Ginger Cake was reeeaaaaalllllyyyy good.

With time pressing, we headed off to the tube station for our final journey. We changed at Green Park as you can see...
...and this sparked off conversation about all of Michelle's various Facebook names: Jurassic Park, South Park, Park and Ride etc. We said our final goodbyes there - Michelle went to get her coach for the 6hr jaunt to Preston and me to tube it back to Waterloo.
Except I decided not to go to Waterloo, I stayed on til Lambeth North and took a little trip to the Imperial War Museum! I didn't have long, but was interested (due to my dissertation) to see the Holocaust Exhibition. So I did. For a history nerd like me, it was good and I could have spent a lot longer than I did there.

It was about 3.40pm when I left the IWM and got the tube the one stop to Waterloo and pretty much repeated the exact same routine as when we came back from Paris in March ie running up esculators and running all the way to my platform to get the 4.05pm fast train back to Southampton, which I boarded at 4.03pm!!

Gosh! There endeth the tale of my little daytrip to London which I must say was a very welcome break from work. It was awesome to see Michelle again, talk about mutual (Disney) chums, have a laugh (or several) see the sites of London and be crazy!

*OTHER NEWS*
Happy 20th birthday to Ruth for the 3rd, Happy 21st to Tom for tomorrow.
Today is the official month mark since I've been on the Waiting List :-( and its also one month until Michelle heads off to Florida... How time has actually flown since October - or indeed since I first applied for the CRP in July 08!
In 24 days, I'll have finished with Uni forever too, so how 3 years have flown!

Ummm that's it, I think. Until next time, Keeeeeeep Daaaannnnccciiiinnnnngggg

Gloom and doom :-(

As you may have guessed from the upbeat and optimistic title of this blog... I have nothing positive to write about AT ALL.

First of all, its raining! Why? Why would it rain in the last few days of April hmmm? Not neccessary at all. Plus, its making the house cold, me cold and means I have to wrap up to go out, my trainers got dirty, my jeans picked up all the rubbish from the pavement and that was all to go to a boring 2hr lecture to which half the class didn't turn up. Thankfully there are no lectures now til Thursday, when I have to get up early and give a presentation... It'll probably be raining again.

Secondly, about a week ago if that, I handed in a truly shocking piece of work that I have no hope of getting a decent mark on. Since I also have no hope of doing well in the exam at the end of the year, this module's pretty much gone up the creek without a paddle...
Which brings me swiftly and no less painfully on to my dissertation, from which I am currently procrastinating. Whilst glaring out of the window at the rain. I have written a decent amount of words, but I'm pretty sure they're not even mediocre, so 0/10 on that score. Hmmm what else can I moan about?

Oh yes, we have the new tenant for next year coming round to sign the contract tonight. My housemates are staying and having two new people move in, which means the very, very, VERY sad day when I have to move out is approaching :-( Its approaching rather rapidly in fact: double :-(

Lastly and of course most obviously (due to the nature of this blog!) is the rather annoying fact that it doesn't look like I'm ever going to get to work for Disney at this rate. I've given up trying to compare this interview with my last one, because it all seems to be happening differently and seems a bit more chaotic than October.
I mean what with the gap of 9 days between some and then others being Wait Listed and then Jim getting an acceptance letter that wasn't meant for him (a way cruel mistake if you ask me!), it just seems a little messy.
The only hope on the horizon is that no one has been given January or February positions yet that I know of, so you never know... maybe... But probably not, knowing my luck.

Grrrr is all I really have to say, cos nothing seems to be going right at the mo! I mean is it too much to ask that Disney decide that if I was good enough to get through to the Waiting List TWICE that they actually give me a job?? Don't get me wrong, that is in no way to detract from the achievements of those who did get in, many of whom I've been lucky enough to meet. Buuuuuuuuttttttt I'm envious and I feel like having a rant. So there it was.

Hmmmm. Do I feel any better for my rant? No, is the simple answer. No because of [enter the contents of this blog here], is the long answer. The only comfort, and believe me, its cold comfort, is that if I don't get on with my dissertation, then I will well and truly mess up my degree and will have wasted the last three years of my life here in rainy but lovely Southampton.

I've been Wait Listed now for a total of NINETEEN days and the others have been for eleven days, so not as long for them, but over a week less than me. Hmph, I wish I'd hear soon (and other people too)!

Well I doubt, after all of that, there is anything to rant about, so I think I'll leave it there. I'm aware I sound like a whiney little child, but I feel like being one. This is just an outlet of how I feel and not meant to have a go at, detract from or in any way be jealous of anyone else.
I am, for example, VERY excited that Michelle and the other June 9th peeps get to go to London for their visa soon - they'll be at the month mark before they know it! :-D

On one brighter note, I have been paid today. Not that its much money at all, but it is there and it helps, so I might allow myself a little 'yay' over that.

Well that's it from La La Limbo Land for now. More news when either I hear from Disney or I decide to emigrate.
Ciao!

The Waiting List moves!! Happy St George's Day

Alright!!

So, admittedly John already got off the List after being on it for the sum total of five hours!

But now, it really moving!
Sooo, congrats to Dan who is going 22nd Sept FnB!!

Long may the job offers continue to come!!

Also Happy St George's Day everyone!

My current state of affairs remains >>>>>>



I'd also like to say a few words about a friend of mine, Michelle Park (mpark90) who may be known to many of you on WDWIP.com. Michelle is someone I met at my first f2f in October, who I went tramping around London with and who is a constant source of amusement and general happiness to me! Not only are her vlogs wonderful, but her incessant good nature is important in keeping me upbeat and optimistic about being Wait Listed again.
Many other people on WDWIP from the October interviews have done the same; Matt, Helen, Joanne and Kirstie have all been cool too, so kudos to them. Special props to Michelle though for being a legend.

Let's hope I hear that I'll be joining her and all of the other very cool, very lovely people I've met SOOOOOON!

Rolling news blog...

WELL DONE ALL WHO ARE GOING TO DISNEY!!!!

Whoop! Well done guys!

Right, I'm making a role list like Matt did last time round!

JULY 14TH
John - FnB

JULY 28TH
Sian - HRC

SEPTEMBER 8TH
Nick (from last interviews)- Merch, Carly - Merch
Michelle - FnB
Samantha - HRC

SEPTEMBER 22ND
Arron - FnB, Anna -FnB, Dan - FnB, another Dan - FnB (from WaitList)
Mimi - Merch

OCTOBER 20TH
Adam - FnB (his birthday!!)

NOVEMBER 3RD
Christina - Merch

DECEMBER 8th (was DECEMBER 1ST)
Damon - FnB, Lisa - FnB, Alison, Melissa
Luke - Merch, Jade - Merch, Steph - Merch

Wait Listees
Me, Jim, Todd, Laura, Clover, Andrew, Rachel et al...

Unsuccessfuls...
Kate, Laura

I also gave in to temptation and e-mailed Michele @ Yummy. She confirmed that there is no difference between those Wait Listed last week and those Wait Listed yesterday, so that's a relief to me anyway.
We all got very excited because John (14th July FnB) got off of the Waiting List pretty much as soon as he had gotten on it, so well done him!!
The rest of us have the unfortunate pleasure of remaining in la la limbo land... espcially since its now the weekend and we'll have to wait for Monday to find out if anyone else gets the call...