Presentations.

Now, don't get me wrong, I understand that we need to assess people in different ways because we all learn in different ways and we all have different strengths.. but public speaking?  For an exam?  Really???
I would absolutely love it if I was just set 4 essays for the year and I worked my ass off for them... but I suppose we aren't meant to like examinations, and I can see why talking to a group of people will be beneficial, especially as I want to teach.
My real little rant here is about having to work in a team with people who just won't co-operate with you.  How are you supposed to do well in your assessment is the other people in your group won't even communicate with you?  I guess I wouldn't mind too much if I just did all of the work and they took some of the credit, but how is that ever going to work if they just don't show up to the slot we are given to present in?  Our presentation is over a month late and I really hope we are not penalised for this.  The easy way out is to just blame other people, but for once I will not take the blame here.. thank God it's only in philosophy.. if we manage to get over 40% I will be one happy girly.
I'm going to need so much luck for tomorrow.. I don't even have a script yet.  Stupid 9am lectures.. why can't you just disappear.

Sorority Girls.

Ohhh crappy television you are serving me so well right now.  I was recently sat in my university room is a depressed state and needed something light and so overly American that I didn't need to think anymore and so I brought up the Channel 4 website and found this delightful little show: Sorority Girls.

Now, it is terrible television.  Really, really bad.. but I can't help but LOVE it.  It's funny and easy to follow and slightly bitchy at the same time.  I am going to cry when I've watched them all.. but then I guess I can just watch the same episodes over again.. yay for the internet and being able to catch up on American drivvel!

Laziness.

I really, really, really do not want to go back to university tomorrow.  Urgh.

Hate it. Hate it. HATE IT.

Anybody want to give me some advice.. help.. take my place? No? Okay (insert sadface).

Days Off.

Friday's are my day off from lectures and, although I should be in the library trying to start my assignments, I think this day will have to become my blogging day each week... I just run out of time.  It's probably more convenient to do it this way because then I can post about whatever happened during the week.  Yay (insert happy face).

I watched the new Desperate Housewives.  I actually quite like it though I have the really annoying habit of starting to watch a series and then I just seem to forget about it... thank God for being able to catch up on the internet.  I'll tell you what else is good, New Girl.  Zooey Deschanel (spelling?) was in The Happening, wasn't she?  I thought that was a pretty crap film but her new show is actually quite funny and I think she fits the role quite well... sort of cute and quirky at the same time.  I will definitely be keeping up with that.

I have finally had to change my bank account to a student current account (ohhh, sad times).  I never wanted an overdraft, I hate the thought of debt but to be honest it has actually made me feel a little bit better about the whole uni thing.  I know that I have money now if I need it rather than being completely poor.  What I like most is that I can get free insurance on my phone and laptop which is really useful as these things always seem to die on me.

I'm still in bed.  I guess I should really get up now. Talk soon little blogosphere.

Cinema.

I haven't really been to the cinema for a while due to the fact I'm a poor ass student but I have somehow managed to go twice in the space of about 9 days.  I remember going when I was little and thinking how magical it was and how amazing it was to be able to watch a screen that was bigger than my house.  I remember worrying that it was going to explode because it was so loud and kill everybody.  Now I walk in, sit down, stare at a screen for two hours and leave thinking.. why the hell did I pay £8 to just sit in a room when I could wait to order the film online for about £3, no postage charges and watch it for free in my own home?  But it isn't just the film you have to pay for, is it?  Oh there's always time to 'grab a coke from the foyer' before the film starts because they play 10000000000 adverts and trailers.. you get suckered in to buying all this crap food that you don't even need.  Okay, maybe buy a bottle of water.. water's good for you.. but all of this sugar, salt, fat.. it's just not healthy.  Why is the world like this?  More than anything the sound of people eating just drives me crazy.  Here are some tips to not be a douchebag when you go to the cinema:

1) If you're going to eat popcorn or anything that is going to be an annoying/disgusting noise, please sit far away from anybody else and eat your fatty snacks on your own.

2) Don't get up in the middle of the fucking film and walk in front of people.. that shit is annoying.  If you feel like you may have to leave during the movie, sit in a convenient area.

3) Shut the fuck up.

And that's basically it.


If anybody is wondering what I went to see.. if anybody even reads this damn thing.. then I will give my little opinions of them and include the trailers.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo:

I was impressed with this film.. I didn't expect it to be a thriller but it did have me on the edge of my seat.  Some pretty hardcore scenes that were not the easiest to sit there and watch, I can definitiely see how it earned the 18 certificate. Overall, loved it and would still pay to go and see it again.

The Iron Lady

This film managed to move me to tears.  It doesn't have a story so much as in it is more of a documentation of Margaret Thatcher's life.  I'm not sure whether it was appropriate to release this film before her death, but I think it has done her some justice despite the fact it highlights her illness quite significantly.  I have a lot of new found respect for this woman.

Imgur.

Imgur is old news to a lot of people but I've only recently really started looking at it like every single day. It's the cat photos.. they really get me.

(I warned you there would be cats)



Apocalypse.

So, the Mayans have predicted that the world is going to end in 2012 and I would like to propose some ideas as to how this is going to happen...

1) Zombie apocalypse.

Nobody likes zombies.  You can kid yourself into thinking zombie films are funny/amusing/cool but in reality you will go to bed with all of your limbs under the sheets hoping the car alarm outside was actually set of by a teenage vandal rather than the walking dead.  Zombies scare the shit out of me.  Shaun of the dead even had me a little sleepless.  If a zombie apocalypse is on the cards, I'm killing myself before those bastards reach me.

2) Solar winter apocalypse.

My partner came up with this idea when I asked him what sort of apocalypse would be the worst.  The dark also terrifies me (can't see the zombies, obviously) and so I don't think this idea should be ruled out.  Yay for expanding ice caps though, they need a little bit of support at the moment.

3) Cat apocalypse.

Now, I can tell you all that I am definitely a cat person as opposed to a dog person - there is absolutely no doubt about it, but those things are sneaky fuckers.  As I sit here with my little cat cat curled up asleep on my lap, I don't doubt that he is planned my demise.  Angry shit.  Still love him though (insert smiley face and cat love).

4) Earthquake/volcanic apocalypse.

I suppose this one should be included really.  The world is going to end with a gazillion earthquakes and every single volcano on the earth (and under the sea) is going to go off in one big go and we're all going to die.  Not the most original idea but nevertheless deserves some recognition.

5) Rebecca Black apocalypse.

Yep.  December 21st is on a FRIDAY. 

And that sums up my thoughts on the way we're all going to die this year.
BOOYA.

(Cute kitty to lighten the mood and also reinforce any scepticism you may now have)

Thought Vomit.

This is basically a useless little blog entry but I think I've decided what I actually want to do with this thing.  For years I have tried and failed to keep a diary.. I'm not really sure why, maybe because it was a cry for attention that was never answered because it was never read by anybody else (obviously).  That's what blogs are basically for, let's face it.. attention seeking little entries.  So, I think I am going to use this little baby like a journal.  It will contain random thoughts, thinks I like, thinks I really don't like (see earlier post on University Drop-Outs), maybe some cats and a whole lot of honesty.

I had fish for dinner. Yum.

I Need A Hobby.

I thought I should probably blog about something a little happier instead of something that makes me want to cut my hair off and go sit in a dark corner (insert smiley face).  I NEED A HOBBY!  I used to draw lots and take photographs.. not in a 'Oh! Look at me! I'm a photographer!' sort of way like many teenagers do.. just in a nice sort of 'That's pretty.. let me take a picture with my photo generating box..' way, but now I'm just bored.  I suppose it doesn't help that my A Level art/photographer teacher was a complete bitchslag.  So, yes.. a hobby.  Is anybody even reading this?  If you are.. help me out.  Please?  I'll bake you gingerbread men or something.  Maybe I should take up baking as my hobby.  Or just continue to write pointless and (hopefully) mildly interesting blogs..


WOO BAKING!

University Drop-Outs.

Okay, so, following on from yesterdays blog about university, I think I may as well just rant on about the thing that probably annoys me most about the whole system apart from the finance and that is the UNIVERSITY DROP-OUTS.  I know some.  I have first hand experience of what they're like and they aren't all lazy, let me tell you that.  I think most drop-outs have been screwed over by what they expected from university not actually being the case, for example, it isn't a 24 hour party 7 days a week, which is kind of their own fault for going into it all naive and shit.  But anyway.. the point of this little ranty blog is to tell you all why drop-outs annoy the hell out of me. Here we go..

What I don't understand about drop-outs is that they act as though it takes some guts to just stop going to university and this, of course, is reinforced by their friends who probably didn't have the nerve to leave their parental home and try something new for once in their lives like everybody else and so it makes them feel better.  It does not take 'guts' to just stop doing something you didn't like.  In my opinion, that is the cowards way out.  Fair enough if you couldn't cope financially and were too far away from home to make the trip back every weekend for food and money, that isn't the kind of dropping out I'm talking about, it's the people who think the workload is too much, or they just miss home or their friends or their boyfriend/girlfriend or their cat.  WHAT THE HELL.  I hate university, straight up hate it, and I'm not there thinking about dropping out because I understand that in this shit economical state we've managed to get ourselves in to, you need a degree to get anywhere.. Sure, some jobs don't require that you need a degree, but if you want to actually make a decent living and maybe, I don't know, get a promotion and reach the top of your game, well.. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT. 
I also hate how they sort of group together to make their silly little drop-out cohort and they're all like 'YAY! UNI DROP-OUTS FTW! OMG! WOW!'.. just.. what?

University.

I am currently in my first year of university studying for a BSc in Sociology and I am sick and tired of people thinking it is all fun and games and unprotected sex and a constant hangover, probably like every other bloody student in Britain.  This student culture is not one which I personally have subscribed to, and although many of my friends have told me stories of how 'wrecked' they were during fresher's week, I would be surprised if, in reality, they hadn't spent their first week crying into their Cup'a'Soup and Tesco's own chicken tikka because they missed their mummy.  I know my first week away from home was pretty crap and if I'm being honest, I still hate it.  University definitiely does not live up to my expectations. 


I do, however, live up to one of the key labels we all pin to a students' backpack and that is that I am as poor as hell.  My student loan goes in.. and my university take it straight from me because they let me live on their campus.  They may as well not give it to me at all.  I think the best part is that if I am unable to pay for my accommodation because, oh, I don't know, I actually wanted to eat something that term, then I am forced to pay a 'dishonesty' fee.  If I don't have the bloody money to pay for my accommodation, I sure as hell don't have money to be paying the ridiculous fees they add on either.  The system is still as fucked up as it was in the past.. only the rich seem to be able to make it through this education system unscathed.  The tutition fee rise that we saw recently is also another knife in the back of equality.  I'd say I come from a working class background, if I were asked to define it (which I was in one of my lectures last term) and I kind of don't know whether the long, torturous road to higher education was really worth it.. at least not yet.  Maybe you should ask me after I graduate if I'd do it again.. if you asked me now, I would probably laugh in your face. 


I suppose, really, I shouldn't complain.  I'm one of the 'lucky' ones that managed to get to university BEFORE the tutition fee rise.. I just feel sorry for those who, like me, will struggle to make the journey to higher education and then be slapped in the face with debt.  This whole rant probably doesn't make sense.. ah well.

Hi..

Well, this is new.  I'm not sure if this blogging thing is really going to be my cup of tea but I guess I won't know unless I try.  I want a place where nobody knows me, where I don't have to post my name, where I can say whatever the hell I want and not feel the backlash from the people I went to primary school with, where my real life and my internet life never really come into contact with each other.. like estranged relatives.  If anybody's reading this, then a big, fat HELLO to you and a happy new year I suppose..