the road goes ever on and on...

So today I woke up and caught the bus into Colchester. Thought I'd go looking for the sweet shop Laura mentioned to me on Saturday. I also wanted to pick up a book for the plane ride home. It was a perfect day - 60s with big fluffy clouds in the sky.

I found the sweet shop fast. Apparantly it's the only one in Colchester. It was neat inside - very old time-y. But, I wasn't in the mood for sweets, so I wandered on off and explored the shopping district. There are a lot of little quirky shops tucked away behind High Street, including one which specializes in doll house fixings. I happened across Waterstone's quite by accident, and ended up buying books one and two of Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun quartet for just over five pounds, which I call a good deal. I have heard great things about this series from just about everyone, so I think it's a good buy.

After that I wandered over to the ice cream place and got some really excellent mandarin orange ice cream. I wandered around Castle Park as I ate. Really, it's astonishing. This was the fourth time I've been there and I still find new things to look at. So today I travelled a path I had not travelled before.

Also...

I went

a little crazy

with the pictures:



Rooftops. Hills in the distance.



Pretty sun-speckled path. That's the old town wall on the right, and a modern chain-link fence on the left : P



The wall. 'S big.



The path curves away from the wall. The wall traipses off into a park. There's a whole neighborhood surrounding this park. Must be a nice place to live.



It's so GREEN



Going back up the path the otherway. That's a big ol wall on the left and a modern chainlink fence on the right : P



Door in the wall. There are houses on the other side! Imagine living right up against a Roman wall.



River shrouded in willows



Naked river



The sun drowned



Ok, this is a cool picture, but I didn't mean it to be. Also I think it might be upside down. But, see the little black specks? They're some sort of weird dragonfly/butterfly hybrid. Long bodies like dragonflies, with the four wings near the front. All black but for a bit of blue on the wings. But they move like butterflies - slower, not darting. You can see the wings beat. This is a terrible picture, but it'll help me remember.



Bridges are nice.



Lots of willows. They like water.



Bend in the river. Almost as exciting as a bend in the path.



The sun road.



Very confusing overhanging branches and their reflections



A treetrunk for some perspective.



It's just pretty.



There was a perfect spiderweb here, but my camera isn't quite that good : P



River



The yellow flowers remind me of someone leaning backwards and letting just their hair down into the water.



I like the shape of these leaves.



Pretty sparkling water.



FREAKY DUCK! WOAH! WHAT IS THAT THING?

No seriously, I have NO IDEA. At first I thought it wasn't real, but oh, it is. Just chillin with all the rest of the ducks with its freaky painted-looking feathers and those weird frills on its wings. WHAT IS IT?!!?!?!



There it is sitting amongst all the regular lady ducks... I just don't know!



White water



Water that looks like cloth until it tumbles over the edge.



BABY DUCKS! fuzzyfuzzyfuzzyfuzzy ^.^



A willow I would love to climb



And this is why I would love to climb it. No, this pic is not sideways, it's right side up. There is a perfectlly flat spot at the apex of this willow, and I want to sit in it!



Can you tell I like willows? They are secretive. How many trees can you say that about?



Oh, this is a very common bird hereabouts. I think it might be a magpie, since I saw the same sorts of birds in Romania. Of course, I don't know that those were magpies either, it's just a very vampire-associated bird : P



Big roses in Castle Park



Big roses from tiny buds.

And that was my adventure! It was lovely. And that is all for tonight.

Good night!

EDIT: The freaky duck is a Mandarin Duck (thanks Jake). That one would appear to be a male, so it's anyone's guess what he's doing with all those lady ducks... I wonder if they can interbreed. Anyway, here's what Honolulu Zoo has to say about them:

The Mandarin Duck originated in China but can be found almost anywhere there is a suitable habitat. They are believed to be semi-migratory and semi-colonial. They are scattered throughout Southeast Russia, Northeast China, Japan, Southern England and Siberia. Mandarins were introduced to the west for breeding purposes by aviculturalists and can be found in zoos around the world. The fall migration ranges from China, Japan, Manchuria, North Korea, to the central and southern islands east of the Sea of Japan. Mandarins prefer to live in woodlands next to water that has many trees with holes for nesting. They favor mountain areas with streams, marshland and forests.

Yeah. Not sure what he's doing here, but he freaked me out! Freaky duck.

pictures!

Got to this sooner than I expected. Ok, here are carnival pictures!



Took this with the camera timer, so it's not such a great pic. But there's the dress. It's a big shapeless, yeah... and do you like my striped socks? I wore them all night : )



'Splosion!!!



Vicki and I tried to hold the camera out and take the classic pic, but... we're slightly off center : P



Carousel! I'm riding sidesaddle. Elegantly.



This is Haley, my horse



Here is Laura!



That is the tilt a whirl of DOOM



Me after! Looking dazed as I always am after such activities. But my eyes were really, really green for some reason. They like the night...

That is all!

Something happened that I can blog about!

Ok! Fun weekend. Started on Friday, ended on Sunday, as most weekends do. Here goes!

Friday night was Steph's high school graduation, but since I'm an ocean and half a continent away and the Internet was down (again), it was Disney trvial pursuit night. Oh, also The End.

I will explain. The End is a traditional enormous party always held the night of the last day of exams. Basically everyone gets as drunk as they can, as fast as they can, and crowds into the squares and has a huge party with loud music and, why not, more drinking. Vicki invited me down to Laura's flat to play Disney trivial pursuit with her, Lucy, and Laura, and so I did. They all started drinking of course because it's still The End even in the kitchen of flat four. That was fine, because we got Chinese and, as the night went on, I seemed to get smarter and smarter... Why yes, yes I did win. Twice.

We did pop down to the squares for a bit just to check it out. It was sooooo crowded. Vicki, Laura, and Lucy are fine drunks though. Lucy holds her drink very well, Vicki falls quite gracefully, and Laura had the good sense to go to bed before she was embarassingly ill. Experienced drinkers, these... Anyhow, we made an early night of it and went to bed to be well rested for the carnival the next day.

The carnival is another Essex tradition, known formally as Summer Ball. You're required to wear formal dress, and you go out to a big carnival around 9:30 and party until 6:30 the next morning. The weather yesterday was so miserable that they relaxed the dress code to "smart casual", but no one listened. The fools.

It rained all day. Thankfully it let up in the evening, but the fairground was one marshy, muddy, disgusting mess. Didn't stop girls from wearing floor length dresses and stilettos, of course. I saw girls walking around stained with mud up to the ankles. I dressed sensibly: I wore boots and my trenchcoat over my dress, even though Laura and Vicki were of the opinion I looked like a mobster : P The boots were waterproof and easy to clean afterward, as well as high enough to keep the hem of my dress out of the mud, with a thick enough heel that I didn't sink. The trenchcoat was because it was FREAKING COLD. Also so I wouldn't have to carry a purse.

The carnival was great. When Vicki, Laura, Laura's boyfriend Harry, and I got there we explored first. There were several tents, all with plywood floors, which was rather nice. There was a casino tent, a very large dancing tent, a smaller dancing tent specializing in alternative music, another small tent with international music, and a karaoke tent. There were food stands all over the place, a ferris wheel, bumper cars, a demonic tilt-a-whirl, and a carousel.

First we did the big dancing tent - a lot of popular British songs, but easy to dance to anyway. Then we lined up for the tilt-a-whirl. The queue was way long and took forever to get through, but it was fun anyway. We got some fresh donuts while we waited - they were really amazing. Laura and I had Vash moments. As far as the ride goes, it was worth the wait. The ride went on for rather a while, and the guys working it had a lot of fun spinning the cars faster than they ought to go. Harry and I thought it was amazing, but Vicki and Laura needed to go sit down afterward, so we went to the casino tent and hung out for a bit. Vicki ended up going back to the tower because she felt so sick. Laura, Harry, and I decided to stay a while longer.

We rode the carousel next - riding a carousel horse side-saddle makes you feel really elegant! Of course there was no other way to do it, not in a long narrow skirt. Luckily there's a big pole to hang on to. After that we decided we wanted food. I got chips and more donuts. The chips were so-so, but they were hot, which was all anyone wanted. Then we got hot chocolates and went back to the casino tent because we were so cold. After warming up for a bit we headed over to the karaoke tent because Harry said he'd do it. He totally backed out at the last minute, but I did get to see Ben, Tom, and a couple other guys do a horrible rendition of "Roxanne". It was very amusing.

After that it was close to three, so we decided to call it a night. I got back to my room, cleaned my shoes, and collapsed. Stayed up an hour longer just because, but then remembered Mass in the morning. Went to bed.

I slept really hard. I was sore when I woke up, a combination of the tilt a whirl of doom and not moving while I slept. Mass had just as many people as usual. I guess I didn't realize how much of the standard congregation are adults. I was expecting everyone to be sleeping off the previous night. Anyway, that was my last Mass at the multifaith chaplaincy centre. The next one will be in... Liverpool? Ireland? I don't know : P

Tomorrow I plan to go down to Tesco and buy a case of water and haul it back up the hill. Argh. I hope they sell little cases... six packs? That would be good... Then Tuesday if the weather's nice I'll head into town and look for a book to read on the plane.

Only 4 and a half more days! I need to pack... yee...

Oh yeah, I bet you're wondering about pictures... It'll be a separate post, for the simple reason that I am on my bed under a computer and my camera is all the way across the room on a desk. Yeah.

boring day so far...

Got bored.

Realized I had a wardrobe.

Decided to leave a helpful sign for whoever inhabits this room next.






Yeah that's on the inside of the door.

Back to being bored : P

full movie day!

Woke up for church early, feeling nasty. Went anyway. Afterwards I cuddled up in bed with the ninja and Terry Pratchett and proceeded to feel better by sitting like a lump and watching The Light Fantastic and all of The Hogfather. Actually, it really did help. By the time The Light Fantastic was over I felt game enough to walk to the store, buy a bag of cheese puffs, and eat the entire thing while watching The Hogfather... ok, it wasn't that big a bag... but still. I crave the strangest things, because I definitely thought mixing the cheese puffs with some chocolate candy sounded like a great idea. However, my brain overpowered my ovaries, so I am not face first in a pillow right now cursing my past self. Good for me.

After the movies I was pretty much at a loss for things to do. Did some reading. Resorted to facebook. Found out that manbeast totally bailed on me for Canterbury on Tuesday, so that trip's off. I'm gonna see if Vickie wants to go at some point. Let's see, what else... I colored a picture.... oh, and I took pictures of the dress, at steph's prompting. Here they are:








I was skeptical when I saw it on the hanger, but I really like the way it looks on me. Vickie says it makes my shoulders look really narrow. Actually, she said I have really narrow shoulders, but the first time she saw said shoulders was when they were sticking out of that dress, and since I know I do not have particularly narrow shoulders, it must be the dress that makes them appear thus. That's Logic!

All right that's it for today. Tomorrow... I have no idea what I'm gonna do with myself. I am taking suggestions.

The end.

half a movie day...

And by that I mean that instead of watching movies all day, I ended up watching only half of one. Not that I spent half a day watching movies. But that's all right, because it means I'll still have something to do tomorrow.

I finished Orson Scott Card's How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy last night. It was excellent, and I will most assuredly be buying it when I get back to the states. Further, I strongly reccomend any aspiring author pick it up. It's the most useful "how to write" book I've ever read.

Today I did the laundry dance, up down up down... can't wait to only have to navigate some stairs to do laundry. Well well, only twice more. I then returned How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy to the library, and ventured into the stacks to locate The Golden Bough, only to discover that the full version is twelve hefty volumes. I picked up the abridged (still a pretty lethal book), which was written by Frazer himself for a more general public, like myself, who don't want to tax their poor arms with hauling 12 volumes off a shelf, nor their brains with ingesting 12 volumes... I feel the abridged brick will be quite sufficient for my needs.

When I came back I settled in to watch part one of The Colour of Magic. Parts one and two (The Light Fantastic) could be considered two movies I suppose, so maybe I did watch a whole movie today. Anyway, it was quite good, though of course not as good as the book : P But an excellent adaptation. I look forward to watching part two tomorrow.

After the movie I settled in for a nap. It was a most unsatisfying nap. Just after I closed my eyes, my Internet noisily decided that it needed a nap as well. I laid on my bed squinting at the screen, trying to decide whether or not I wanted to get up to attempt to repair it. I decided against it, figuring I wouldn't be responding to any messages while sleeping anyway, and rolled over to try again. Then my cell rang. I crawled to the end of my bed and grabbed it off the nightstand, squinted at the numbers and answered it anyway because I was too sleepy to figure out if I recognized the number or not. I was treated to a lovely recording and hung up immediately in disgust, and crawled back to the head of my bed to bury my face in a pillow. Then the guy upstairs plugged in his guitar and pretended he was a musician for a while. And the sun came out, turning my room into a greenhouse.

I gave it up. Got up. Ate a light dinner. Sat down to read a bit and chat a bit. Tomorrow is church - the second to last Mass here at university. Tomorrow I also need to return Lucy's DS charger.

That's all I've got for today. Goodnight world.

Braintree!

awesome name : P

Today Vickie and I set out to do some shopping in a town not far from Colchester called Braintree. They have a big outlet mall there, much like Lighthouse Mall, and a cheap cinema (cheap here meaning 5 pounds instead of 8). First we shopped. I found a dress to wear to Summer ball for only 9 pounds ^.^ It is long and black - quite simple. The collar goes up quite high and looks rather Egyptian, lined with silver disks. Pictures will be forthcoming at a later time.

Vickie found a ceramic chicken.

We ate a late lunch at a place called the Chicago Rock Cafe : P I got a kick out of that. It was pretty similar to the Hard Rock Cafe; lots of movie and music paraphenalia, etc etc. I got some lasagna which was awesome and came with a great salad made of baby spinach, peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes with some manner of vinegarette dressing. Lasagna over here has a certain quality that I have not tasted before. Both times I've had it, there's been a sort of sauce in it, very light, cheesy, very delicious. Maybe they do this in America too and I just haven't noticed? Or maybe my love affair with British cheese is just getting a bit out of hand.

Next we headed over to the cinema. It was very nice, and quite large. It was certainly of Showplace quality, if not better. They had a snack bar where you could scoop your own assortments of candy and buy it by weight, just like in a candy store. I found banana circus peanuts and they were delicious : )

The seats in the theater had higher backs and were wider than your typical Showplace seats. They are also reclined more. They were quite comfortable and I didn't feel I needed to shift constantly throughout the movie. The movie itself was really really good. I quite enjoyed it. The only bit that bugged me was Pepper Potts. As soon as she let her hair down all her competence floated out the window with her brains. Oi. As for the post-credits bit, Vickie didn't want to stay and said we'd find it later on YouTube. Yeah... not so much. Ah well, I'll live.

Oh, and British adverts before the show? Pretty nifty : P I still have not got over the novelty of everyone in commercials having an accent. They're witty too, involving whole skits centered around the theme of turning your cell phone off : P

After the movie we went back to University. Driving anywhere in Britain is nice. The express ways aren't walled in, and the scenery is always doing something interesting. There are no bill boards either. When we got back to the tower, I borrowed Lucy's DS charger which works perfectly (YES!) and arranged a ride back from Canterbury next Tuesday.

Tomorrow I shall perform the landry ritual, and then sit around watching movies all day ^.^ It will be good.

DONE it's all DONE

Last exam today! Yes! DONE! I'm excited. I think the exam went pretty well. I wrote seven and a half big English pages, so I'd better get some good points : P I took the whole two hours... Sebastien left after fifty minutes. I'm not judging, except that I am.

Came back and took a nap. It was lovely. Later I helped Sophie study for her last exam tomorrow - she needed to know a lot about The Odyssey ^.^ Suffice to say, I was able to help her out.

It's raining. A lot. A good, soaking rain that I still wouldn't want to be out in. I hope it stops by tomorrow. Vickie and I are heading out to Braintree to do some shopping and perhaps see a movie.

That's all I've got for today. Let the relaxation... er, continue...

even more rain...

Last night just after I went to bed, there was an amazing storm. The lightning alone was astonishing. There wasn't any thunder for quite a while, but when it did come, it was very loud. But because the lightning was silent for such a long time, I didn't know what was going on. It was really really bright. I was wondering if someone had a search light or something and was pointing it at the tower. But no, it was just lightning making it look like day outside. A very creepy, white lit sort of day, but day nonetheless.

Turns out Phil's Vickie's and Sophie's windows don't leak. They're just that badly made. Also, the brick the tower is made of is porous. The accomodations office sent a guy to look at it, but he said he couldn't do anything. However, the heat was fixed today (it's been out since sunday), so their carpets are finally drying.

It was pretty chilly today. I studied. A lot. Tomorrow my exams will be OVER and I'll get to watch the DVD Vickie made! yay!!!

study study study

It would appear that I forgot to post yesterday. Oops... well nothing much happened, except more rain. Vickie's, Sophie's, and Phil's windows all started leaking and of course, as it was a bank holiday, there was nothing they could do about it except stack up towels.

Today I started studying for Thursday's exam. There's sooo much information, I'm glad I have another day. Today I collected all the material, distilled it into several points, and then copied it all onto index cards. Which means at this point I've read all the information three times and written it twice, if you don't count the original notes. I should only have to flip through the notecards tomorrow to be prepared.

Vickie suprised me today by stopping in with a DVD she'd made for me! It contains The Colour of Magic, The Hogfather, and the first few episodes of Doctor Who!!! Best mix DVD ever! You know you're jealous. I can't wait to watch it. Alas, I must wait until exams or over or I will be entirely unable to focus.

Oh yeah it stopped raining today, which was good since I had to run out to the bookstore to buy notecards. I am also entirely out of snacks, which is a good thing regarding my health, but sort of sad regarding my study habits. I will likely venture out tomorrow, for I am in need of bread as well.

I shall also buy a pizza and put some peppers on it!

That is all.

rain rain rain

I did not wake up at 6 AM today. That's because it was raining, so sunrise didn't make it to my windows. When I did wake up for Mass, the flat was dead silent. It was a little eerie, because the hallway lights and elevator lobby lights were turned off too, so it was very much like it was the first couple days I was here... dark, quiet, and altogether dreary.

Trudged through the rain to a rather empty Mass with no music. I think I'm gonna miss Father Martin's homilies. I always find myself listening. Go figure. Only two more Masses here... wow.

It rained pretty much all day, and when it stopped raining for a bit, it still looked like it was raining. Since I was bored I decided to cook for real for dinner, so of course the fire alarm went off in the midst of things >.< No, it wasn't my cooking that set it off. We all trooped outside to stand in the rain while the officials came by to tell off whoever left the toast in too long. I was talking with Vicki, Laura, and the Mississippi girl who was in my 202 exam when Sebastian sidled up, took out a box of loose tobacco, and began to roll a cigarette. We all just sort of gave him a look and closed ranks. He sidled away and inhaled his cancer elsewhere. Ugh.

Despite having to pause in the middle of things, I wound up with a tasty rice dish. The little peppers are delicious, much more flavorful than green bell peppers, and not hot at all. Not that I mind hot : P but these are good to eat raw as well. I only used two, though, so I'm gonna have to come up with some way to use the rest of them. I'm open to suggestions -- I found a recipe online for roast baby peppers stuffed with macaroni and cheese! Sounds delicious. Too bad Britain doesn't know how to do mac and cheese : P

I did some concept work on various storylines to while away the afternoon. Also ran the battery on my DS to completely dead, so I hope Lucy remembers she offered to loan me her charger. So now it's midnight and I'm out of things to do and nobody's around to talk to... might be an early night tonight...

More about books, a little about peppers, and a pillow.

So for some reason I keep waking up around 6:30 in the morning. I think my body really doesn't get the whole "no need for an alarm" thing after all the worry of waking up in time for morning exams...

So I really had nothing to do today. Vicki had an exam this afternoon so I didn't want to pester her. Instead I read the rest of The Princess and Curdie, the rather curious (and somewhat blunt) sequel to The Princess and the Goblin. Project Gutenberg has the rest of MacDonald's works, I just haven't been able to bring myself to read them on the computer. It's just not a convenient format... plus you can't mark where you leave off >.<

Went to the library to find some more reading and ended up checking out Orson Scott Card's How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy. Of course, it's more about science fiction because, hey, Orson Scott Card, but still. Illuminating.

Next I decided I wanted some peppers, so I hiked down to Tesco. It was hot today, but there was a nice wind, so it wasn't too bad. Fun fact about Tesco: they stock the peppers in the fruit section. Tomatoes as well. Unfortunately they had no banana peppers. I bought some baby orange peppers instead, since they were on sale. I have no idea what these taste like, but I'm willing to find out : P

A baby orange pepper! So cute! And I love the color - they remind me of the sugary Easter egg candies that no one likes except Grandma and me. You know?

Chapstick shown for size comparison : P Anyway, I have NO idea how you're supposed to cook these suckers. I figured I'd just throw em in with some rice and cheese and see how they turn out. If anyone has any tips as far as that goes, I'm happy to hear em.

Oh, and while we're doing pictures, this is a pillow. Pig shown for size comparison.

I also bought some lovely looking apples, which I shall, in a short while, make considerably less healthy by covering in peanut butter.

For dinner tonight, I was planning on testing out my pepper rice meal, but Vicki popped by and said she was ordering Chinese, if I wanted anything. So I got chicken chow mein instead : P The place was the same that we got when manbeast's friends and brother were staying over - It's called the Golden Dragon. They don't have orange chicken on the menu, but that's ok, as the chicken chow mein is quite good. Actually, I mentioned orange chicken to Vicki and she said "Isn't it usually duck?" So... maybe it's not very popular in Britain : P

That's it for today. Tomorrow is Mass, one of the three I have left to attend before seeing my family! It is also Emily Ponder's birthday! Too bad it's a Sunday in Indiana the night before she leaves for China... but still! That is enough exclamation points for one post!

The end.

...

!

i have fantasy street cred... which is sort of the opposite of having regular street cred, really

Today I had an interesting Literary Experience. No wait. I had a Literary Experience. The "interesting" is redundant...

But before that I took a walk. And a shower. And a nap. Those are all connected, of course. I did laundry too, but that doesn't have much to do with anything else I did today.

So I finished The Princess and the Goblin. That's right, I'm gonna talk about this obscure novel some more. After I finished it I went hopping around the interwebs to find out some stuff about George MacDonald - the author, you may recall - because I find it is often interesting to see what sort of ideals and influences on an author make it into their finished work. The thing with George MacDonald is that he's the one who did the influencing... if Tolkien was the father of modern fantasy, then MacDonald is the grandfather.

I believe I have mentioned that Tolkien and C.S. Lewis both list MacDonald as an influence. What I have not mentioned is that so does anyone else who has ever written something having to do with fantasy ever... the man got all over the place. Even Mark Twain warmed up to him, and Mark Twain didn't tend to warm up to anyone.

I picked up the book around third grade. In fourth grade I read Narnia, in 8th grade The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, not realizing how connected all these books I was enjoying were, following without knowing a path created over a hundred years ago - a path that was not comprised entirely of books. While I was reading Narnia, a band you might have heard of called Nightwish released their first album (I'm not counting the demo), entiled Angels Fall First. Included on this album is a song called "Beauty and the Beast" which includes a verse, nearly word for word, from MacDonald's The Light Princess. A decade later, all unknowing, I became a fan of Nightwish...

So basically, I've been following the trail of MacDonald's influences since third grade and have only just now realized it. The really encouraging thing is that, in becoming a fan of fantasy, I did things in chronological order, which I think Emily Ponder should get a kick out of. The upshot of all this is that Jung was right all along: everything is connected, and the realization of this fact leads to a strange sense of contentment, of being one with the world and apparantly turning into a hippy.

In other news, I only have to do laundry here three more times.

The end.

this children's book makes me feel inferior...

Last exam of the week this morning - two essays, two hours. The first one went very well, but the second felt rather weak. I hope the markers don't think I spent all my time on the first one and had to rush on the second, because I allotted my time perfectly. I just didn't have as much to say about The Waste Land as I did about Waiting for Godot.

Waiting to go into the exam, I ran into a bunch of kids from the Mississippi group - the group Sebastian came with - who were in the same room as I. One of the girls said that a British girl from Essex University is going to her (the Mississippi girl's) university next year, which I thought was pretty neat. I would like to show a British exchange student around an American campus, especially since I can guess what they might have difficulty adjusting to now : P

After the exam I finally got to indluge in a nice long nap. And tonight I will not set an alarm. My next exam isn't til Thursday, so I think some slacking off is in order. Read considerably more in The Princess and the Goblin. I can't believe I read that book in third or fourth grade. The language is tricky - or would be for a kid that age. No wonder I don't remember much of the book. I probably spent most of the time reading it looking up words. From reading this book, and The Hobbit, one thing is made abundantly clear to me: kids a hundred years ago had a higher vocab level than they do today >.<

Other things I did: Watched the second deathnote movie. Ate far too many sweets. Wrote the outline for the next whatever-it-is I'll write.

Tomorrow: laundry day. stop the presses.

I'm getting sick of writing essays at nine in the morning.

The exam this morning went well. There were people from six different courses in the exam room, which was strange. I had twice as much time as I thought I'd have, and finished way early. Then I went back to the room and started studying for tomorrow morning's exam. This is when it would be really handy to have an afternoon exam...

For tomorrow's exam I need to know four works: Mrs. Dalloway, Waiting for Godot, The Waste Land, and The Outsider. I reviewed the notes from each, re-read The Waste Land, and created a quick study guide that I will review a little more before bed. I will have to answer one literary analysis question, and one "other" question about... I dunno, themes and stuff I guess. I'll find out tomorrow.

Got a letter from grandma today : ) Appreciated, as always.

Other than studying and consuming a great deal of sugar to keep my energy up, I attempted to figure out how to get all the bedding and kitchen stuff back to America. Looks like checking it as excess baggage on the airline is going to be the cheapest way to go. We'll see how it works out.

Vicki and I picked out a day to go to Braintree and see a movie and do some shopping. We'll be heading out the day after my exams finish, so that'll be a nice celebratory activity : ) I'm looking forward to being the special type of girly that only fantasy and sci fi nerds can be when they're together :P

Ok, back to looking over my notes. Away!

I spent to day preparing for the exam tomorrow. I let myself sleep in a bit, but it doesn't seem to have hurt because I'm already tired. Tomorrow is what will probably be the quickest of my exams. The question is even an opinion question... as long as I sound like I know what I'm talking about I don't think they can mark me off. And I'm pretty good at sounding like I know what I'm talking about.

Went grocery shopping. Shouldn't have to do that too many more times except for small stuff that goes bad, like bread. Ran into Vicki's friends Lucy and Laura on my way to the campus shop to pick up a muffin for tomorrow. They invited me to come over to watch Eurovision this weekend, but I already told Phil and Sophie I'd watch it with them. Too bad...

Annnnd that was my ever-so-exciting day. Tomorrow: more studying! *hides in bed*

exam the first...

I woke up in time for my first exam! That's half the battle right there... I had a delicious muffin for breakfast, tried to decide whether or not my hearing aids look like cheating devices, and left for the lecture hall.

The lecture hall I was supposed to be in was in the basement of the buildings that have all the lecture halls in them. The door was closed, while all the other ones were opened... I wasn't sure whether I was allowed to go in right away or not (I was about fifteen minutes early), but luckily the invigilator for that lecutre hall came out just as I approached the door, so I asked her if it was ok to go in. The conversation went as follows:

"Oh... do you have an exam here?" The woman, older, but friendly-looking in a way that only older British ladies seem to manage, looked concerned, which likewise made me concerned.

"Yes..." they changed the exam time and I've missed the first hour... they changed the room and didn't tell me... i'm not registered for the exam... something's gone horribly wrong!

"Are you sure?"

I showed her my Official Exam Form: lecture hall 1, LT 208.

"Would you be Robin then?"

"Yes..." it's never a good thing when someone called an invigilator knows you!! what's the problem....

"Oh! Only, I was expecting a boy. You're the only one in this room you see."

Much relieved laughter and a display of my ID : P phew.

As the only half-year student in Approaches to Myth, I was, in fact, the only one in that exam room. As I was early, the invigilator and I chatted a bit. Why are all the people I randomly run into striving to be authors? This lady rather emulated JK Rowling. When she's not invigilating, she writes down stories on bits of paper or whatever's handy. Because that's what aspiring authors do : P

Anyway, I had two hours to answer two essay questions. I think I did well enough to get an A out of the class, but of course that all depends on who is grading my exam. I took nearly the whole two hours, finishing just ten minutes early. For the first essay I wrote three pages, for the second, four. And these are big A4 British pages, not the wimpy American ones you'll find in your standard spiral notebook at Walgreens. So that's pretty good.

I took a nap after the exam since I don't have to be up tomorrow : ) I started reading The Princess and the Goblin, and it's a really charming book. Seriously. I don't usually use the word charming, but that's what this is. Only I don't remember it at all... it's not coming back to me as I go, but I know I've read it. It's strange, normally I have no problem remembering what I've read, especially as I'm rereading it :P Of course I know what happens, but the book itself is not familiar to me, if that makes any sense... ah well, whatever.

Tomorrow is grocery shopping and studying for Oulipo. Wooo.

Old books...

I'm pretty sure I forgot to blog yesterday. That's ok. You didn't miss anything. I finally started studying for Monday's exam. Wrote up the study guide, read it, looked at the mock exams, and decided that was enough for the day... There isn't much material for me to go over since we only covered one subject a week. It's not like Modernity where we read a novel a week... that's not gonna be a fun one to study for. Anyway I know just about everything there is to know about Orpheus and only slightly less about creation myths in general. I call that pretty ready. The only thing I'm slightly nervous about is the fact that the exam has three sections and I need to answer questions from two of them... the first question will be one passage, and if they use a passage from Autumn, I'm down to two choices. The second section will ask me to compare two of the units in the course with regard to a certain theme. Since I was only here for two units, that doesn't leave much choice. The third section will have several random questions, and is the only section I'll be able to have some flexibility in answering. Since They strongly advise students not to write on the same work twice and also not to write about the work they've used in any papers, my choices are narrowed yet again... don't get me wrong, it's entirely doable, but I trade having less to memorize with having less to talk about.

So after doing enough studying for the day I went to the library to try to find a novel since I've finished all mine. The Silmarillion was checked out and they didn't have Out of the Silent Planet (which is utterly ridiculous since they have Perelandra and That Hideous Strength). I could have checked out any of the Chronicles of Narnia, but I didn't feel like reading them again. So, no novel for me.

Today after Mass I got the bright idea to search for the old George MacDonald stuff - a good bet since apparantly the University of Essex does not believe in modern fiction of the fantastic persuasion, and George MacDonald is about as old school as you can get when it comes to the fantasy genre. And of course, they had it. They specialize in the ancient... but I'm pleased; this book and I have a history and I haven't read it since... oh... third grade or so, and I'm sure I didn't grasp the entirety of the plot then.

So, the rest of the day will be spent alternatively studying and finding creative ways to avoid falling asleep. Wish me luck.

.

Today was another chilly, wet day. I waited til it stopped raining (mostly) to go do my laundry. Got an email from the professor who had my last essay. She said it was in the office today, and told me that she'd given me a first on it : ) yay! But the office today was closed... too bad, now I'm looking forward to reading the comments : P I'll get it after the exam Monday.

Minimal GMAT study today. I'll spend the weekend working on exam studying instead. It should be nice to switch to literature after all this math.

Took a walk out to Tesco today for no real reason, mainly to see how long the battery would last on the camera. It lasted. It's nothing like dead yet. I think if you need to record anything for longer than both of the batteries put together, you're probably overdoing it. Maybe I'll post the video later... it's pretty dull, the walk is. Lots of trees. Some cars. Some people looking awkward when I pass them.

Today was Mom's birthday, also Sophie's, and the Bishop Noll prom. So tonight I got to do the video chat thing and see Steph before she left : ) She is very pretty. And Thomas' hair is red again. Huzzah : P

That's all for now. Happy birthday again, Mom : )

oh THERE'S the English weather...

Today I had planned to go be out and about, possibly walking to the store to get finals snacks, and perhaps a few more t shirts since I don't hae enough to get through the vacation at the end of term. I woke up around 8:30 (to the alarm, not on my own I assure you), decided that this was nonsense, and went back to sleep until about 10:15, which is still better than I've been doing.

Went out to the Lit office to see if my last essay was in. It wasn't. The professor has been emailed. The weather was downright chilly. I actually wore long sleeves. On my way back it started raining, so I skipped the other shopping things and settled in to do some hardcore math review. Argh. I only dozed off once, though, so I'm set for tonight. This time I really will undo my nocturnal habits! As for the math review, the material so far seems deceptively simple. I wonder if the book is lulling me into a false sense of confidence, or if the other book is just trying to scare me... probably a little bit of both.

Calculated the scores I need to get on my exams to get As. Turns out the exams for all of my classes are worth 50% of my grade, which is kind of freaky. I'm used to exams being just sort of an afterthought... It really bothers me that the exams aren't even graded by the professors. They are essays and they are graded by a completely outside board of people. So, I guess I just have to hope the graders agree with what my teachers said. Wonderful.

In other news, I need a nap.

The end.

I have the hiccups.

Today I stayed in. It was rather cooler out, and according to the internet it rained. I didn't notice that, though... At any rate, I actually woke up around 9 this morning, putting my sleep schedule back in the right spot. This was surprising because, though I'd gone to bed around 2 the night before, I had been unable to sleep until nearly 5. Ah well.



I opened up the GMAT book to have a look at the math and promptly fell asleep til noon. So there you have it...



After I woke up again and had lunch I took another shot at the math. I have forgotten quite a bit of what I learned, and most of what I've forgotten appears to be exactly what I need. The book I've been using is not great for re-learning things, so I took a look at the other book. Basically I've completely forgotten all the tricky little rules regarding exponents, radicals, and square roots without a calculator. The other book seems to cover some of this. At any rate they have a nice long list of rules laid out, so I guess that's what I'll do next. But, since the math was making me sleepy again, I picked up Good Omens instead.



Spent some time knocking abotu the flat with Vicki and Phil not getting much of anything accomplished. Watched some anime. Read some more. Vicki wants to go out to Braintree after exams are over. She says there are outlet stores and a cheap movie theatre there, so I am most definitely game. We shall see if we both survive exams. Mine start Monday and I'm nothing like prepared, nor am I feeling any pressure. Ah well, we shall see.

Not much to report today. Wrote a novella yesterday. All finished, doomed to sit in my hard drive gathering cobwebs because nobody wants novellas... ah well.

All I needed to get today was bread, yet I came back with a full bag of groceries... well they only cost 6 pounds total so not too bad : P Cooler today, but still too warm to be comfortable climbing that hill carrying several pounds of food. So when I got back I showered, then did my studying for the day... I've gotten through the English bits of the GMAT. Next is Math. Rar. I'll start it tomorrow...

I also finished American Gods today, which is a shame. It wasn't as good as Anansi Boys, which is to say it was merely amazing rather than absolutely stunning/nearly perfect, but there you go : P Still, I wish it wasn't over. Went and made friends with the characters... you know how it goes.

Seems like I should have done a lot more today, for all the time that I spent existing. I wonder if there's a library in Colchester and whether they'll give a card to an American. I also wonder if I should be starting to study for finals, but that's the sort of wondering it's no fun to do for long.

Next time, I shall write a novel.

The end.

don't wake me...

Sleepy day today, though for no real reason. Hot and sunny as usual. For some reason every time I sat down to do something though, my eyes just kept closing.

Went and picked up another essay today (A). All that's left is the myth one, and it should be there Thursday or before. We'll see. I spent the rest of the day trying to stop myself from finishing American Gods in one sitting, alternatively taking walks, studying for the GMAT, and watching episodes of Blood +. Why didn't I figure out I could watch anime on line the first three months I was here?

I found out that the only fiction the library here carries is The Silmarillion and The Chronicles of Narnia, both of which I've already read. I'm sure they have some Shakespeare too and other classics that aren't really leisure reads... So I thought, maybe fiction is not the way to go. Perhaps it's time to break out that reading list of Scholarly Books. And of course at the top of this list is Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces. The library has it, too. Only, you can only check it out for four hours at a time >.< What in the world is up with this university and only loaning things out for a few hours?? Is anyone gonna finish that book in four hours? I figure people must be taking classes with that book as a text, so they need the book to be constantly available for photocopying or something. Still, extremely annoying.

So with all the weird sleeping that was going on today, it's now twenty to ten and I'm finally wide awake. I was really close to getting back on a normal schedule too... it's like my body wants me to sleep during the day. Oh well, it doesn't really matter until exam time.

Only 31 days til I see my family!

summer in Britain... it's hot

Another hot sunny day here in Britain... seriously, I was so misinformed about the weather here...

But it was a beautiful day for the chaplaincy barbecue, and I ate a lot of good food including Spanish rice, pasta salad, cucumber sandwiches, and some manner of German dessert that did not include coconut : P

After that I studied a bit, went for a walk, and studied a bit more. Then, unable to stand it any longer, I had to pick up American Gods again... and proceeded to read for hours on end. It's a good book. Very good. And I'm going to finish it very soon, which makes me sad. It also makes me wish I had Anansi Boys here with me, or that there was a decent library on this campus...

It is hot. I have the windows closed because there are no screens and the bugs fly in at night. *melts*

Happy Mothers' Day!!

Despite going to bed early, I still woke up pretty late. But, I think my sleep schedule will be corrected in time for exams.

Did laundry today... terribly exciting, really. Then I had planned to walk to Tesco, but vicki popped up and said "need a ride to Tesco?" She always comes at the most opportune times. It was good because it's hot and all I have are jeans... So I found a pair of super cheap flip flops that I can wear with my skirt, and so I can turn the jeans into capris. Lucy went with us and offered to loan me her UK DS charger! Awesome!!! I'm thrilled. I also bought a pie.

Finished off another novel today... two left, one of which I've read before. They won't last me until the plane ride, that's for sure...

Tomorrow is the chaplaincy potluck ^.^ I hope for lots of good food!

sunshine, ice cream, and shopping : )

I think I forgot to post yesterday... likely because nothing happened : P

Today I woke up and went to see the head of the literature department to ask about my exams and ensure that I'll get the right ones on exam day. She said she was already aware of the problem and told me that all my other exams were fine, and the oulipo had been taken care of as well. Yay!

Went back to the flat intending to do laundry, but I ran into Phil and she invited me to go into Colchester with her and Sophie for some shopping and ice cream. So of course I said yes : ) They showed me the real shopping area of Colchester, off of High Street, away from most of the crowds and the touristy stuff. The ice cream shop - called Little Ice Cream Co. - was absolutely amazing. I had chocolate and caramel fudge... really excellent, and not expensive either. Then we shopped around for a cheap pair of shoes for me, becuase I stupidly left my sandals at home and now it's HOT out. Also, I packed a skirt for Summer Ball and not shoes >.< I miss my sandals. And my capris. And my workout shorts... somehow I didn't think Britain would get this warm? Well, I will be checking Tesco for a cheap versions of all of these things.

Anyway, yes, the weather is fabulous. Today it was 75 and sunny all day. It's still sunny even though the star in question is setting. It was a really great day. I'm thrilled I got to see more of Colchester, because now I feel like I could really show someone else around the city properly - which is what I will have to do : P

Tomorrow, I will go to Tesco to look for pie. The end.

oops... late

I almost forgot to post today... let's see if I can remember what happened.

I finally finished Life A User's Manual. Yay! Then I headed out to see if any papers had been returned, and to pick up the advanced copy of the Oulipo exam. The Versions of Modernity paper was returned - 66, A, yay. She marked me off for claiming guilt complex issues in Kafka's Metamorphosis without having the psych evidence to back it up, which is fair.

The person we were supposed to get the Oulipo papers from wasn't in, so I went back to the room for some lunch and some reading, and then back out to the offices for the paper. Ran into Sebastien on the way... he gets a little grosser every time i see him... he's taken up smoking now, blech. When we got to the office, the lady did not have the different exams for us, and just gave us the regular exams for full year students. Sooo on Friday I'll be going to the head of the department to make sure that when exam day actually comes, I'll have the correct exam in front of me. I'm guessing something will be screwed up for each of my exams though, knowing this university.

Got back to the room and finally opened the GMAT books. I've begun studying for the critical reading section and it's ridiculously easy... I hope the math section is that easy too. Then I set aside the books and picked up a novel : ) The rest of the day was spent in frivolity, and much of the night as well, seeing as how it is now 4:30 in the morning. I am thinking... bed.

my throat is eating me...

Yay the kitchen was clean this morning! wooo. I ate breakfast and was about to set out grocery shopping when vicki appeared and asked if i wanted to go with her and Lucy later in the day. Since I had kind of a lot to get, I happily agreed...

I have one and a half chapters left in Life: a user's manual. Woo. Tomorrow I can go down to the general office and pick up the final itself so I can prepare to take it in two weeks... which is an odd system but there you have it. When I go to the final itself, I'm not allowed to have anything on me except a pencil. I'm not sure why they are giving us this one in advance... might as well just make it a take-home final, but of course professors here do not have the independance that American profs have.

For dinner I was finally able to make some real food in the kitchen. Yay pasta. What will I do in America when I can no longer obtain my beloved double Gloucester cheese... I do not know. Not sure where the flatmates were tonight, but wherever they were I had the kitchen to myself.

And a random bird that decided to fly in. I glared at it sternly and it left.

In other news, I feel pretty gross. My throat is killing me... just attacked out of nowhere and decided that yes, a slow painful death is just what my life needs... at least I have some good soup.

That's all for today. I've slept so much... now I will sit around doing meaningless things that require no thought... because it will make me feel better!

angst would be so much better if i were a wizard!

so turns out sunrise in these parts is around 5 AM. I stayed up til about 6:30. I was hoping for a nice cloudy day, but British weather let me down. I slept through the sunshine anyway... yes, my sleep schedule is messed up, and no, it doesn't matter. I work better in the afternoon.

So this morning i started doing my reading, realized I was way ahead of schedule, and stopped. Went to the kitchen for some lunch, but ended up eating in my room again... Lisa did not appear to miraculously cleanse the kitchen this morning. I fear the weekend revelries of the heathens have proved too much for her and she has refused to clean up after them any longer... I really want some real food, but it's gotten to the point where I hold my breath in the kitchen. I don't even want to be in there long enough to wash a dish.

So I got a lot of writing done today. I'm coming very close to the end of the lost pass, so I should shortly have a finished novella on my hands. Which is completely useless. Huzzah. But hey, yay for finishing something... or coming close to it anyway.

That's all today! Tomorrow I go buy more food i can keep in my wardrobe! Huzzah!

arglefraster.

Mass this morning. I went, then I came straight back and went back to bed.

I slept til 3, which is a little scary.

I did my work then proceeded to waste time.

Next week's Mass, they are having a potluck. It's supposed to be multicultural. Father Martin asked everyone to bring a dish representative of their home country. I think I might just skip it because it's impossible to prepare anything in our kitchen on the weekends, and I have absolutely no space in the fridge or freezer to store anything. I don't know... I'll think about it. I might be able to find an apple pie at tesco, though i really don't want to have to carry a pie up the hill. It wouldn't exactly fit in my backpack.

Sophie, Phil, and I finally got sick of looking at the disgusting clogged sink that people keep pouring stuff into anyway. The water was opaque with a rim of solid orange grease around it... I'm thinking that grease is probably part of the reason the sink is clogged in the first place, the other part being people shoving food down the drain. So I said what about baking soda and vinegar? Phil got a straw and poked it down the drain to try to clear a hole so the water would drain and we could pour the vinegar in. All we had was balsamic, but that still works. It just looked a little gross. Then we poured the baking soda in, and it fizzed and voila... unclogged sink. I just went in there to wash a dish and it's clogged again. Figures.

Summer came early!

Now that I'm officially done with classes, I feel like I can really relax. I suppose I should be saving that for after the exams, but I'm not concerned about them. Everyone freaks out about essays around here and I have no idea why...

I woke up and finished my daily reading, then went to the kitchen for some lunch. Unfortunately, there is not a single clean surface in the place, and one of the sinks is overflowing with food encrusted dishes, while the other's drain is blocked. So, being unable to wash dishes, I had to find something to eat that didn't require getting any dirty. Which amounted to bread and cheese. It was then that I realized I needed some groceries, which is unfortunate because I had planned to spend the day in pajamas in my room. So, I got dressed and headed out - into 65 degree sunny weather! The walk was really pleasant since it was so gorgeous out, so I didn't mind having to leave the building so much. I bought mostly junkfood, unfortunately, but also enough stuff to get me through the weekend without using any dishes ^.^ I'd consider washing them in the bathroom sink if it wasn't so disgusting in there all the time... really i should just take them in the shower with me >.<

Anyway, I really did intend to spend the rest of the day writing, but somehow I ended up watching anime instead. Sadly, archery was cancelled, and looks like it will be cancelled for the next three weekends due to some classes having exams in the sports center, and other types of functions. The club is going to a town range tomorrow morning, but it costs 14 pounds, is outdoors, is during Mass time, and, since I wasn't sick today, I probably will be tomorrow. So, I opt to sleep in instead : )

That's all the excitement for today... expect more of the same tomorrow : P

Just a few plums short...

Early class today, and I could not get to sleep last night. At least that's the last early class! Of course, all of my exams are early too... figures. But, in good news, my second class today was called off due to me being the only one who showed up and really not needing a review : )

So I did laundry. How terribly exciting. But at least it didn't rain. I hate doing laundry in the rain. It was really sunny and nice all day. Despite the huge ominous cloud. Figure that one out. The dryer worked today and everything. Huzzah. So, having finished this business early, I took a very long nap. And finished my five chapters for the day. The latter actually instigated the former...

Got a letter from grandma today - the first one of this term : ) In it she revealed her Scrabble secrets to me! Ahahaha!

hem.

So classes are over now, and I just have to wait for exams. Yippee. The rest of the day was spent in frivolity, which is how I intend to spend my weekend as well. It's a good life.

i have moonlight densetsu stuck in my head... and i am not surprised

So I definitely went to bed around 5 AM last night. But then I only slept until ten thirty this morning... so go figure. Last night (or very early this morning) Sophie, Phil, and I got to talking and decided we were going to go out for ice cream and shopping and such things today. Then we woke up and it was thunderstorming, so we didn't.

This morning I did a lot of lounging around because of all the rain. Got a lot of reading done in that accursed book. When the rain cleared away in the afternoon and it was brilliantly sunny, I lugged my computer out to the library and got a good bit of writing done. Unfortunately, the library was pretty packed, so I do not think i'll be doing that again until after exams.

Hmm... for having passed a lot of time I don't seem to have done much. Yet here we are at 11 o clock at night... when did that happen. Clearly I exist in the midst of a time flux.

It was a good day!

So, today's class was Oulipo. And now it is done - no more Oulipo ever. I'm ok with that - Oulipo's hard! That being said, we got our papers back today. So far that's the only class that's returned them. So, when I left class I hit a comp lab to see if the packages had arrived yet.

They had! Both of them! So I stopped at the post room first and picked up my packages, and then went to the lit office to pick up my paper, and dragged all of it back to look at.

I got a 74 on my paper. For those of you who don't know, that's a First. With bells on. The prof included comments such as "Pure genius" and "brilliant" annnnd now my head is the size of a house, but lets face it, I'm freaking awesome.

As for the packages! Contained therein were my contacts, hearing aids, scarf, a shirt, and some good wholesome American food: soup, pasta and macaroni and cheese! yay ^.^

Let's see... what else. Finished my daily 5 chapters in Life: A User's Manual. Oh I remember now - of interest to Steph (my sister) and Kai and possibly Steph (my friend), Nikolodean has announced that the new episodes of Avatar will begin July 14 th I believe. There is an awesome trailer at avatarspirit.net.... and yes, I am an enormous dork.

Further! I took video of campus! The following is a recreation of what I saw the first day, the famous bike path that stops in the middle of nowhere, and then a look at the route I would take next time I was faced with 50 pounds of luggage:

I've never posted video before so I hope it turns out all right. I promise that cut on my lip is not as bad as it looks.

So, between the package and the paper, this was just an awesome day. Oh, plus I made a stuffed pepper for dinner. yummmm. And tomorrow I can have American food.

That's all for now!

Sunshowers

This morning it was absolutely pouring rain. Luckily by the time I woke up, it was afternoon and the sun was out : ) I had lunch and then took a walk, but after about an hour the rain was back. Of course the sun was still around too. So, I read my five chapters for the day, and then actually sat down and wrote the script for the first issue of True Neutral. It felt really good to be writing again, and the script went very quickly. I hope it's ok.

Vicki and I made nachos for dinner, and we ate with Sophie and Phil, which means fun conversations were had : )

Annnd... that's actually all I did today. I know it doesn't look like much, but it took up quite a bit of time : P

Tomorrow: Oulipo. And that is all.

Say, does the evil organization give you Sundays off?

So, for myth lecture today we were back to the same professor we had in January. Of course, only four of us showed up for the lecture total, and what's more, the administration had begun dismantling the classroom: the projector screen was spread across the front tables. Professer Cardew tried to get it to come down on the wall for a while before realizing this : P

More people showed up for the 202 lecture at 10, but the lecturer did not, so we all dispersed. And now I am done with Monday classes forever! So now Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays are all free until exams start. I wonder if I should be more nervous about exams... everyone else seems to be. Vicki has said she's confiscating the speaker system in the kitchen starting May 10th, when exams start for the entire university. I'm all for it. The thing's attached to a subwoofer, so the sound really carries through the walls and she shares a wall with the kitchen.

Went grocery shopping with Vicki and Lucy today. Vicki and I bought a nacho kit to share sometime. Other than that, no particularly exciting purchases. I read a bit more in Life: A User's Manual, but that book is really hard to get through. On the bright side, it's keeping me from tearing through my novels. On the down side, I'd much rather watch old episodes of Sailor Moon than read it : P

Well that's it for today. Tomorrow... who knows...

Mass, archery, and not much else

Today was a nice day - in the 60s, sunny, and raining at the same time : P

I went to Mass today, and they gave us lunch! yay! Ran into Miguel and Chiara there, as well as Annie - she's a Roman Catholic, but this is the first time she's been to Mass at the chaiplancy. So I've gone from knowing no one to knowing three people.

After Mass I wandered about campus enjoying the sun. And the rain. Then it was back to the room for some reading before archery. manbeast forgot about archery today, so when I went to get him he had just started cooking dinner and he asked me to wait for him. So we were about an hour late for archery. I don't mind that so much, but I do mind that I then had to watch him eat. Remember the scene from Beauty and the Beast where the Beast doesn't know how to use a spoon? A lot like that, yeah.

Anyway, it would appear that taking a month off has completely wrecked my shot : P Hopefully next weekend will be better because I was all over the place tonight. I didn't go to Top Bar after because I was feeling a bit run down for some reason, so I just came back to the room for some more recreational reading (ie, webcomics)

And that's about all.

When have you ever seen the captain do any rowing?

Today was absolutely beautiful - perfect for wandering around Colchester. Which is what manbeast, his 16 year old brother boybeast, Laura, Mike, and I did today, so that's good.

We left University around one despite the best efforts of Mike and I to get people moving. We ate a late lunch in Colchester. It's lucky I know my way around that town already because no one else did - and manbeast and Laura have been here since September.

We ate at the Wimpy Burger, despite Mike's lobbying for something a bit classier. Cheaper won out. I'm not too impressed with the Wimpy Burger, but hey, food is food.

After lunch we went to Castle Park. Just about everything is blooming now! It's so pretty and colorful. Mike gardens so he was able to tell us what flowers were what.





These are the BIGGEST tulips I have ever seen. They are mutants. Most of the tulips are normal sized, but these are overachievers.



Castle Park has lots of pretty flower patterns. And palm trees for some reason. Wishful thinking, Britain.



This is the Roman wall behind Colchester Castle. I believe it used to be the city wall... but I'm not certain. But man when those Romans built things, they were serious about it.



Ok, here's the group! From left to right is Laura, Mike, boybeast, and manbeast. Further profiles to follow. But first!



Oh look, ducks in a pond.



Oh look, boats in a pond! We rented paddle boats : ) That's manbeast and Mike in a boat. boybeast had his own, and Laura and I shared. Quickly becoming adept at the paddle system, we then declared outselves admiral of the fleet. No one argued. Possibly because they were on the other side of the pond at the time...



We chased off the enemy fleet! ... er... that is, flock.



The admiral of the ducky pirates hides his head in shame.



Unfortunately, heavy casualties were taken in our battle with those fowl pirates (!), and Captain Mike and manbeast's boat sprang a leak! We headed for shore and leapt to safety before the two could get completely soaked.



Look, a castle. and... er, three random people.



Colchester castle actually used to have another floor on top. It got lopped off and they added a dome. Improvement? I don't think so.



Here's the old temple foundations.



There is a tree growing on the roof. I do not know why.



Ok, so here is boybeast. And, me for some reason.... they said get in the picture so I did. But really, boybeast and I did not get along. His real name is Steven. He's 16 years old. He tags along with manbeast because manbeast buys him alcohol. The only reason he was with us today was because he thought he might get a drink out of it. He smokes pretty much constantly and also actually bought some drugs off of someone at some point. He spent the whole day complaining about how he wanted to sit down and have a beer. He was actually whining about it, like a small child. "I don't waaaanna go in a castle, i want a drink!" Ugh. I won't go into detail, but by the end of the day we were all pretty much disgusted with him.



This is Admiral Laura! She's a creative writing major specializing in fantasy ^.^ We got along swimmingly. She's also the only one who managed to wear this helmet and still be able to see. Woo. Oh by the way, it's a Norman helmet, and the chain isn't part of the original design. It's just to keep people from stealing it (the other end is attached to a wall). Did I mention we're inside the castle in the museum? Because we are.



Here's manbeast. You already know all about him : P

Mike did not put on the helmet. Or rather he did, but I was not quick enough with the camera. He is far too sophisticated to be caught doing something like that on film anyway : P The story with Mike is, he and manbeast have been best friends since high school. I suspect Mike is from that upper class I keep hearing about. He is very well spoken and polite. He was somewhat appalled at the University. Turns out Essex is well known for being a party school, but he couldn't believe the things that go on around here (like... a 16 year old being able to purchase drugs, for example). I was able to wholly sympathize with him and we got on quite well. He goes to Canterbury University and invited me to come visit in June, which sounds like lots of fun. Canterbury, for the record, is not a party school >.<

We stayed in the museum until it closed around 5 and then hung around the park a bit more.



That's St. James, I believe. I could be wrong. But coming from this angle, with the gates and the old church, Colchester just looked like a really old town. We wandered about a bit more before going back to university and trying to find a place to eat. The only places open were SX Express and the SU bar. We didn't want to eat at the Express because most of us had had burgers for lunch, and we were avoiding the SU bar because we knew if we went in there boybeast would start drinking and then we'd have to deal with him. So we went back to manbeast's room and ordered Chinese, and watched this old British comedy called Fawlty Towers which, despite being a bit dated, is really funny.

The Chinese food was pretty good, but took about an hour to get there, so not something I'd be doing again. I had chicken chow mein, which I've never had before, and was pleased : P We continued watching funny British people until about midnight, and dispersed.

And now it's two AM! Gosh!