My head is blocked, my nose is blocked and my chest is blocked. I’m feeling shit and I’ve been leaving Freshers Week behind because I’m too sick to party. This is not fun. Plus, I have no internet connection in my hall which is killing my link to the outside world. Funny that.
Just had my first Chinese class. Fantastic - turns out that for one semester of classes the books are going to cost £48. Just what I needed - some nice overpriced dead trees. Damn it, as though I don’t have any other classes to worry about buying shit for.
On the other hand, have just confirmed that I’ve got a job working a reception desk 4:30-10:30 wednesday nights, which is fantastic. They say that most of the time you can just read your books and stuff, there’s not much to do. I asked my boss on our ‘introduction’ evening why the ’supervisor’ can’t just do it all - he didn’t really have much of an answer - I’m thinking there’s really not much will to work hard there. The supervisor sits in the office looking over what the receptionist does and then sometimes goes onto the sports fields (that’s what we’re managing) to see what’s going on. Why they couldn’t just lock the office for five minutes whilst they check out the ‘outside world’ is beyond me - and it seems, beyond them too.
It gives me a job anyway so I’m happy; starts Wednesday which is good - means there’s a chance I won’t get overdrawn in the first two weeks of Uni. Fantastic.
Just let’s wait until week three.
Archive for September, 2004
And this place is at one moment completely fcuked up, and another moment appears to be the most fabulous place you could imagine. It’s been a whacky few days and I feel like I’m eleven again, walking into secondary school all over again with a dorky haircut and new shoes - only this time there are 8,000 other people doing the same thing at the same time, so it’s not so bad.
They always say that making friends at Uni is difficult - perhaps it’s just the fag in me, but since I seem to introduce myself to everyone I see, I don’t seem to be having that problem. Funny eh! I’m just waiting to turn around and see that in fact, though I thought I was surrounded by friends, they’ve all gone to the bar without me and forgotten what the fuss was about… “there was a guy called patrick? - how odd!”
And the whole alcohol poisoning thing is really overrated - I spent two hours last night coaxing one of my friends into drinking sugared water and cookies - she’d had quite a bit to drink - the beginning of which was half a bottle of Schnappes - and that’s 500ml she had there - no joke.
I feel so worthy, and knackered.
… I should say… I’m at Uni now - my parents drove me up with a typical ’so… how do you feel about being gay… kind of talk” but now I’m just hanging around.
My internet doesnt’ work where I live now, so if you’re wondering, I’m not going to be online very regularlyover the next few weeks - internet isn’t predicted via the crystal ball of British Telecom until the middle of October; take your time guys, no rush. It’s not like we’re PAYING for it or anything, which, if it’s not obvious, we are.
Damn them - how hard is it to lay a cable?
and my eyes are killing me.
The other day my dad said to me “so, do your sisters know about your gayness”, and I go, completely unfazed, “yeah…”.
I couldn’t believe it! He works in a fucking education department for god’s sake…. “your gayness” - I love that, it’s like the queen!!!
I saw two guys from my old school today, at this club in my uni…. they’re still hot… fucking hot… though now, I don’t care about coming on to them - if they don’t like it, they just have to say so!
Enjoy boys!
This image always makes me laugh. She’s’ completely insane. And, though the text for the image says she’s my sister, she’s not; I don’t know why I wrote that - she’s my cousin.
Stupid brain…
This pic’s here because I’m testing out Flickr after getting annoyed by how Hello by Picassa by Google didn’t have Mac support. I really liked Hello, but that’s life really - fickle consumers. Mr Doctorow over at boingboing.net uses Flickr and so, garnered my interest when I saw some of his pictures recently. Best of all, there’s a plugin for iPhoto, so iEverything can be iDone in house. Which is nice - it’s nippy, humourous (they ask whether you’ve read their fascinating terms of service… I didn’t).
Anyway, it’s fun.
It scares me, it makes me feel alone, and it reveals how much misunderstanding and hate there is in the world.
Also, read the interview with his sister Kathy and with Derek Henkle, the gay rights activist.
–Guardian
“There’s a big difference between the tax incentives that Washington state offered to Boeing and the launch aid or the direct cash payments from European governments to Airbus,” Murray said. “Boeing has never received a cash advance to build a new plane.”
–Seattle Times
The 1992 treaty allowed European governments to provide Airbus with about one-third of the money it needed to launch a new aircraft, though the subsidy was supposed to decline over time. The treaty was negotiated at a time when Boeing was the dominant manufacturer of commercial airplanes, but Airbus has now outpaced Boeing.
Boeing has said that about one-third of the $13 billion Airbus has spent developing its new 555-seat superjumbo A-380 airliner was provided by European governments.
–Sacbee
Of course, Boeing doesn’t always play as clean as they claim with lower taxes following job cuts, more tax incentives and factories built by the port authority. No-one’s hands are clean here. Airbus’s use of government backed loans is, I feel, far less questionable than the vast financial hand-holding that Boeing benefits from. Whilst they pretend to be the hard done by party, appearing to be long suffering in the face of mean socialist Europeans, Boeing is no less guilty of federal assistance than anyone else.
It took so long to get this damn thing to work. I got this with C the other day, and have been trying for hours to make it connect. Though I hate the trackpad on my laptop less than I used to, I still don’t have a real love for the thing, and so I got this mouse. It’s fabulous - a little dongle plugs into the side of the computer via USB and then the AAA powered mouse communicates via (I assume) bluetooth. There’s also a little USB extension cable to the dongle can be placed a little further from the computer - allowing greater reach. My qualm was getting it to work with OS X as there’s no documentation on this anywhere that I can find, but somehow, after simply fiddling with the powerbook’s system options for mice, it works. It really does ‘just work’!
I jumped up and down. Fab little thing - a proper (and small) wireless mouse for my laptop - superb! The wireless range of the mouse could be better: it seems to stop working after about three feet away from the receiver, but it’s still very useful. I normally use if when writing long essays or doing anything that requires a lot of reading. I just sit back in a big chair and scroll up and down the journal articles that I read in PDF form, without having to always sit upright or in some backbreaking slouch position. Ease of use: 10. Everyday, it’s not practical for a laptop for me because it would only get in the way. However, the point of it is that if you are going to be doing a lot of moving around the screen space, this mouse is the best kind of thing out there, and it does its job like a charm.
link
This BBC Radio 1 program that goes out in the deep dark depths of the night - 3AM - is fantastic. Hosted by the amazing Miquita Oliver, famous for co-hosting the pop-centric Popworld program for Channel 4’s afternoon/summer laziness show for teens called ‘T4′.
The balance is different in this show as she doesn’t have her unbelievably camp co-host Simon Amstell by her side. The show doesn’t miss him though as they cover a wide swath of topics and seem to have an interest in just about everything.
It’s a great alternative to the normal late-night ’soothing music’ radio shows that so many stations adopt - it’s different, it’s perky and it’s fun. Definitely recommended.
They say it’s good for you. There’s a lot of protein in an egg - especially when it hasn’t been cooked. For some reason, cooking the egg denatures the protein and so it’s really thought to be best to eat eggs that haven’t been cooked. I’m just home from my night of clubbing and, though it’s 4:10 and I’m feeling rather under the influence, I’ve managed to force myself to down two uncooked eggs. I mixed them up with milk and simply drank them. If I hadn’t been drinking I don’t think I’d have had the courage to actually take them; it’s a pretty disgusting idea and a pretty disgusting taste.
I just have to keep thinking how it’s meant to make you look good - muscle without the fat! Yeah!
Eugh, I need some water! NOW!
