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[11 Jun 2009|11:26pm] |
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mood |
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 excited |
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I had the weirdest revelation today - in a conversation about our names and parents etc., Ellie mentioned that her mum is called Zoe. "Really?" I asked, and she said, "Yes, Zoe Penn." I recognised this name, because a few years ago Zoe Penn was on TV explaining something on the news about breast-feeding, and my mum had pointed her out and said that she was her obstetrician and was the doctor who had delivered me and after whom I am named.
"Ellie, is your mum an obstetrician?"
"Yes"
"She delievered me, I'm named after her..."
After ringing her to confirm that she did indeed work at Barnet General in 1987, Ellie put me on the phone to her and she went, 'Ooh, you're one of my babies!'
How awesome is that? Ellie and I are clearly destined to be friends in some fantastic cosmologically aligned kind of way! Hee!!!
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| Tintern Abbey |
[02 Jun 2009|02:40pm] |
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Yesterday my friend Ellie and I went on a road trip to Wales, to Tintern, just the other side of the Severn Bridge, where the abbey is, in the bit of the Wye Valley that Wordsworth wrote about and that I since have written about twice, including in my dissertation. To be honest I wanted to see what the fuss was about ;-) ( And so I did! )   
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| Pagan Pride |
[26 May 2009|07:37pm] |
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mood |
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 cheerful |
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Had a pretty good weekend. Been back working at the Golf Club, grabbing shifts where I can, and Saturday Night went to the awesome Elephant and Castle Superbowl with a bunch of people. Bowling was quite good (was out of practice but will go back sometime soon) and we also played some other games there (table football etc.). I suck at pool but rule at Air Hockey, so it's OK really ;-)
Sunday morning went to the Pagan Pride Parade! Mark came too and I met Ellie there. She made me an amazing wreath of ivy and roses and we looked like nymphs frolicing in Russell Square fountain and the British Museum forecourt :-)    
Then we went to the Tate Britain because Mark had never been and it's my favourite UK Art Gallery :-)
Last night went to see Angels and Demons which I quite liked. I like a Hans Zimmer-scored treasure hunt :-) and today went to see Coraline in 3D with Natalie. 3D made it very pretty :-)
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| Off to Munich! |
[15 May 2009|08:18am] |
Wednesday I did a photoshoot as a Student Ambassador with some other people where we had to swan around the campuses standing about on stairs and looking over each others' shoulders at books and stuff, so look out for me in future KCL promotional material :-P!
However, in the name of wearing brightly coloured tops I wore these really loud blue and orange numbers from H&M that I'd bought for £3 and never worn yet, and they bloody gave me a rash all over my torso! Mark said it was like someone had scratched me in swirly patterns all over my back! Bloody weird. I'm really healthy, I never usually have allergic reactions to things. This reinforces my profound hatred and suspicion of any product with the word 'organic' in front of it (screw you 'organic cotton'). I'm a big fan of efficiently made things which do NOT make my skin all red and blotchy for a day. I'll wash them and wear them again and see if it was just because they were new and potentially bearing factory chemicals...
Anyway, I'm going to Munich today, EEEEEP! Very excited to see Corissa (I go to her bearing the Pro Plus she asked for, they don't have it in Germany!) and generally embark on trip #1 of Zoe's awesome summer of travels. I also get to continue with my joyous 'reading for pleasure' escapades on the plane. I'm very pleased because yesterday I finished a short story in French (Sans Nom by Amelie Nothomb), and only needed to look up a few words (I actually did, rather than just leaving it and letting my shrunken vocabulary remain so). I'm building up to one day getting maximum pretentiousness points by reading Proust in the original language, hee hee. I also impulse bought some Virginia Woolf from a bookshop the other day, on account of I quite like her and it doesn't take a reading list and an exam to make me want to read her writing.
Argh I had so much fear that my degree would put me OFF that kind of thing that I am clinging to the idea that it hasn't in case it wears off or something and I turn into some pleb who only reads Heat magazine and the back of cereal boxes.
Also very excited for Eurovision tomorrow night! I'm very much rooting for Greece. I love Azerbaijan's song still but I caught the semi-final yesterday and their live performance let them down a bit. Turkey's my back-up I guess but it's not as glorious as Sakis Rouvas <3.
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| Eurovision Bets 2009 |
[12 May 2009|01:55pm] |
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Right. This is what I've gone for this year. Norway's the favourite for some reason and watching it with that in mind I can see it doing quite well but it just doesn't quite feel like winner material. Turkey I am placing because it's likely to be popular although I find it far too American sounding for my liking. Greece I love because I love Sakis Rouvas and his 2004 entry was underrated (who knows, it could be another Dima Bilan situation where a past entrant wins with a different song?) and I rather like this one. Azerbaijan's entry I just think is good and in with a good shot so why not, I do prefer betting on things I want to win after all.
I'll be in Munich for Eurovision this year which was an accident but should be fun! The German entry is actually rather fun (and quite hot) so it should be good to go out somewhere and watch and please let it be a gay bar? ( Links to the entries I am putting money on, if anyone is curious. )
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| Reading |
[01 May 2009|12:55am] |
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Everything since Tuesday has been blissful.
I've been reading. No really. You might think that after a solid month of cramming in the last of an English degree I'd not want to look at a book for about a year. But no. I started ravenously on the books that I've not been able to read till now because I had so much work. I'm currently reading The Passion by Jeanette Winterson, which Heather gave me for my birthday. I'm halfway through it already, too, from sitting on public transport. It's amazing. I can just read it and turn the pages and I don't have so much as a pencil in my hand. All the same things come to mind as I've learnt to think of, I just don't have to make a note of them anymore. I don't have to footnote anything. It's such a welcome novelty to just enjoy a book for its own sake!
It's completely a marker of how good my degree has been. It's turned me from a non-reader into a reader and it's as simple as that. I know I chose to do an English degree, but seriously, I wasn't well read. To paraphrase the Izzard, "I was thinly read. I'd read fuck all." The only 'classic' books outside my own curriculum I remember digging out and reading for their own sake were Catcher in the Rye and maybe some Oscar Wilde, and some poetry. I was not a reader. I liked analysing, I liked language, I liked meanings, but I was too lazy to pick up some thick looking tome and start it and generally speaking I hadn't done it a lot.
I'm not like that any more. I've realised that big fat 3 volume Victorian novels are somehow more rewarding to finish than some half-arsed modern short stories, and that enjoyment of stories is found in the most unlikely seeming of titles. I've got a list of things I want to read (some of which are very pretentious and some of which are in French, oh yes...) and I plan to get stuck in.
I also have a lot of Paganism-based reading and studying I can devote some time to, which will be excellent.
I know loads of my friends eat books and have no frame of reference for the laziness that puts one off reading books, but it's a miraculous thing to be swayed away from, especially by a degree, the thing of work and discipline that makes so many people hate their subject.
I can safely say that not only do I know drastically more than I did, I like it drastically more than I did when I came to King's.
My university is awesome, my department is awesome, my teachers were awesome (especially Clare Lees, Neil 'amazing' Vickers, Sonia Massai, Bob Mills, Richard Maguire, John Stokes... all the inspiring bunch and all the just-as-diligent ones too), London is awesome and my education's been awesome. I know I'm going to be paying for it for a while yet, so it's just as well!
I just feel like it's the mark of a good decision made, that you went somewhere that challenged you enough to keep you thinking and made you want to keep doing so when you left, rather than one that made you rebel against everything it made you do as soon as you walk out of the door. Not that they'll get rid of me that easily :-) All my linguist friends have their final year next year and I'm counting on them to smuggle me into Truffle Shuffle, and everyone knows you can't really ever leave Geeksoc ;-)
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| There are no more words. |
[27 Apr 2009|12:40am] |
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I have finished my dissertation.
In fact, I have finished everything.
I have finished my degree.
SQUEE!
Tomorrow I am going to the library to make sure my referencing isn't all wrong, and I even plan to proof-read what I've got, painful and risky as that may be. Then I'll print everything and all will be well.
This is weird. So weird.
I stopped typing and then started looking in indexes of books I had only half read for anything useful I might have missed. It was like I didn't want to let go! I have no idea if my dissertation has any academic merit whatsoever but I feel like I've given birth to it somehow and when it's in my hands I'm sure I'll be stroking it. My other essays might be a bit hit and miss, especially the Queer Theory one. But I'll worry about that when... wait, I won't worry about it. There is now no purpose in worrying. I have done my best.
Blargh, I am so tired. I can't believe it!
(And I'm done early? WTF??? What's up with that? That never happens! Last week of 3 years and I finally learn how to time-manage?)
Apologies if the aftermath of this month leads to me going completely insane at some point in the near future but all I have wanted to do lately is run down a hill screaming all day and howl at the moon all night. Blame Wordsworth and Keats, respectively.
Perhaps it's inspired by my dissertation's front cover:
 ( The Bard by John Martin) |
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[24 Apr 2009|08:45pm] |
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(4934 words now... going to watch HIGNFY in a minute...)
Have had major clothing epiphany.
Problem: Own many tops that are too big to flatter my figure as they could do, but are not quite too big to merit instant getting rid of.
Plus, I still like them.
Solution: Grab bottom of them, gather up spare material and tie in a knot to create midriff-exposing tank top effect. GENIUS!
Can't believe I didn't think of it before.
I love summer weather and my belly button peircing.
It's amazing how constantly updating Facebook/Twitter/LJ makes this time of year easier. ;-)
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[24 Apr 2009|07:31pm] |
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mood |
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 determined |
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4,519 / 10,000 now.
I may have lost quite a while today making lasagne. But it was really good lasagne.
Also I did non-word-count-contributing things earlier like going through some longer works and making notes, because I wanted to be outside in the sun. Anyway it's only 19.30. Much more to be acheived.
More tea required.
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[21 Apr 2009|04:13pm] |
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Why is Spring manifesting outside in such a gorgeous way?
I knew this would happen.
How am I supposed to write 10,000 words on the sublimity of nature when all I want to do is go out and lie in it?
Eh? Eh?
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| Pub-going |
[08 Apr 2009|12:43pm] |
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mood |
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 busy |
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Yesterday I made lasagne for the first time. Was exciting :-P Also, much easier than it looks. Will definitely be making more. Last night went out to St Albans for pub-going with Lucy J and Halina and their lot, as well as Sammy and Heather and Natalie. Met Heather's new guy who seems very nice, likewise for Lucy's (I think our collective tastes are gradually improving as we seem to get progressively less useless boyfriends. The current set are excellent ;-)). Was pretty fun as it was quite a big group, and Mark and Natalie discussed serial killers for about an hour. Woo for best friend/boyfriend success.
Anyway. I have 260 year old books here waiting to be quoted from. Eep.
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[30 Mar 2009|09:43pm] |
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mood |
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music |
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Dead Can Dance - Salterello |
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Sooooo! My days as a lecture-going, seminar attending undergraduate are over. Last seminar was fun. I enjoyed it and at the same time felt fine about it ending. Basically I've had the perfect amount of formal education, no more, no less. Can move on from it soon, and then focus on what I want to educate myself about. :-)
Saturday night went to Heather's 21st, which was really good! There was a beautiful and delicious cake, a pinata shaped like a shoe (which I got to have a good bash at too) and a game of Twister. XD. Had a fun time!
    
Last night Mark came over which was lovely. Made spontaneous crumble, and this morning made spontaneous pancakes. Om.
Today was being Student Ambassador. Just got back from Leicester where I did a Post-Offer Holders Reception. Am v. tired.
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[21 Mar 2009|06:00pm] |
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Been a busy busy little Student Ambassador this week. Did an online chat session on Tuesday, the English Department Open Day on Wednesday, and Thursday night I got a train to Manchester to do a presentation and Q&A session at the Offer Holders' Reception there. It was quite a posh event and there were a bunch of us there, not to mention free tea and biscuits. Win!
I got to Manchester early to look around and go shopping. It's full of Northerners, eep! I'm not used to that, I'm criminally unacquainted with the north. Also very good shopping. Bought a very exciting skirt, it's all tight and authoritative-looking and has a purple waistband bit with a massive bow. (I decided I needed more purple and bows in my life). They also have trams in Manchester, they're quite fun! Very friendly place too, several people asked me if I wanted directions when they saw me looking confusedly at a map of the city centre.
Reinforced one of the many plans I have for May, which is visit random cities in England, because I haven't actually gotten around much within my own country.
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| Nightwish! |
[12 Mar 2009|08:25pm] |
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music |
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Nightwish - Over the Hills and Far Away |
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Last night I went to see Nightwish in Brixton with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) readingthegirl</lj>. The first support band were all girls and I have no idea what they were called but damn they were well-dressed ;-) Sparkly dresses ftw. And the music wasn't bad either. The second support band were 'Pain' who I have seen before somewhere. They have some catchy tunes. Although one had drastically inferior hair to the other band members (80s perm that padmez</lj> might well love but really didn't work) and tried to compensate by ostentatiously displaying his flying V all over the place (the guitar, much as that sounds like a filthy euphamism).
  (I look awful in that picture but Sheena looks nice..)
Anyway, the Nightwish:
The highlight of my evening was definitely when I got a direct line of sight at Emppu the guitarist and opportunistically blew him a kiss, to which he mouthed 'thank you' and pointed and winked at me in a nicely public blatent way, leaving me with a massive fangirl squee and a massive grin I couldn't wipe off my face (a bit like the flirting with Adam Balwin incident at my first Comic Con...). Displaying massive amounts of cleavage often helps with my 'distracting musicians' quests, but also meant the nearby bouncer stared at me all night (I ignored this and kept moshing, as I do rather love the moshing).
The set was a nice varied selection! They opened with Seven Days to the Wolves, which was cool. The Poet and the Pendulum was obviously a huge highlight, but apart from that they only did a few from Dark Passion Play (Amaranth, Sahara, The Islander). They all went down very well with the set - there was an epic amount of fire and sparks and confetti and general impressive chaos, as well as great scenery involving bits of shipwreck and Tuomas' keyboard in the front of a boat named 'Ocean Soul' with an Edward Scissorhands doll on the front of it (woo!). It was great to hear a couple of older songs - Dead to the World (which totally reminded me of how much the themes of Century Child meant to me on first hearing it and still do) and a whole bunch from Once! Nemo obviously worked a treat, and I think Annette pulled off Dark Chest of Wonders better than last time I saw her, and I still contraversially like her rendering of The Siren better than Tarja's :-P Mind-blowingly, they did Romanticide, which not only did Annette very much nail, but apparently it's the first time they'd ever done it live! I felt honoured :-) Unexpectedly, they did the obscure slower ballad Dead Boy's Poem and I think a new song.
Their encore was Ghost Love Score and Wish I Had an Angel.
Now, Ghost Love Score is yet unchallenged as 'my official favourite song', and being so very very very operatic, and a song which I WAS lucky enough to see life pre-change-of-singer, the lack of Tarja was a bit glaring in the chorus, although Annette did the rest of the vocals admirably. Still, it's the chorus that gets its own t-shirts and if you can't do the peaks of a 10 minute track, it messes with the pattern of climaxes somewhat. However, Wish I Had an Angel really is still an ideal finishing song and it was spot-on :-)
Want more symphonic metal! :-(
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