Ruminations from Antiquity

25th December (I planned this then...minor delay in posting)

My christmas - muchos fun and shizzle including some rather fabulous presents! I now have a digital camera to fulfill all my posing dreams :-D And also the slightly less conventional digital calculator mirror which inspires a lot of jealousy to be quite honest. It was also an exciting christmas because it was the first christmas I can remember where I did not go to church - woo active atheism (lol). Instead I was all deep and meaningful on my walk around Leyland.

The main structure of this post is a theory Helen, Ally and I have strung together over several Thursday 1pm County Diner Jacket Potato sessions (being a creature of habit is awesome, lol).

Physics/Maths - This group is the founding stone of our theory as there are a group of physicists/mathmagicians who also hang out in the awesome county bar when we do. The guys always look slightly sun deprived, wearing jeans and a dark top with greasy but organised hair. The girls share the same level of organisation in their attire - no dangly sleeves, trousers (if skirts then they aren't floaty ones).

Environmental Science/Geography/Earth Science/Biology - Earthy colours like browns and greens (this doesn't dictate their whole outfit but it will be present in a significant way). Usually wearing jeans or combat-y trousers. Brad is my prime example of this :-p

Business Studies - Normal jeans; not baggy or torn with sober coloured tops (white is a favourite). They carry around their important business notes round in a messenger bag. Lizzi also states that this is also the case of business studies students in Warwick ergo it must be true :-p

Psychology/Sociology - Baggy or torn jeans with bold patterns on their tops. They tend to conform to indie fashion stereotypes (i.e. Pete)

Politics - Tailored clothes or normal fit, usually look smart but will normally have something bold on their person.

Drama/Theatre Studies - Eclectic colours, strong patterns and in girls there is usually some bold jewelry.

Law - Dark colours - usually wearing black in some form. Patterns tend to be lines, tailored jackets.

English Literature - We are an exciting bunch! Guys usually wear open shirts over a t-shirt as they are fervent fans of layering with jeans or coloured trousers. Girls tend to go for floaty, feminine themes in their wardrobe or if not then they have bright make-up with emphasis on the eyes.

So that is the great theory! It is based on a very small sample of people I know who do certain courses (hence why every degree scheme isn't covered) and there will be exceptions just to spoil my fun :-p But I was mildly impressed with it, so nerr

x x x

Picking a Facebook status is a hard thing to do...

I have officially finished now for Christmas - this is an exciting prospect after an intense last few weeks of ultimate work :-D Exciting things that have happened...

1) I went to see my room for next year in the Wharf. I have a really nice view (unfortunately not including the helipad) and I'm in the same flat as my lovely flat 10 ladies! I am, however, divided from them by a door and am surrounded by three other gentlemen - this led to much amusement for Kate who enjoys implying that I am a whore, lol.

2) I've had an entire week dedicated to Emily Dickinson in American Literature <3 And even my incredibly dull seminar man could not ruin it! We had to choose our favourite poem from the collection for the seminar...this I found especially hard as there is such a depth to her work. I really enjoy her poems that are concerned with gender (for those of you who know me, will already have experience of my feminist nature) such as 'She rose to His Requirement - dropt' but there are her more self-conscious poems like 'I would not paint - a picture'. One of her other great concerns is religion; her family were devout Christians, swept up in the 'Reawakening' however Emily retained a sense of religious scepticism which can be shown in poems like 'The Bible is an antique volume -'. Dickinson is also aligned towards the self, which makes her stand out amongst contemporaries like Walt Whitman who was very extroverted, whereas throughout her life she became increasingly reclusive.... Any way I'm going to stop this mini thesis on why Emily Dickinson is amazing; ending on the final point that my new ideal career would be to be a renowned researcher on her life and works :-)

Can't think of any other exciting things at the moment apart from my defeats of Mark - although he does kick my ass occasionally; the fact that he practises whereas I just play when I'm round at the boys' house means that I'm not that far behind him...that's what I like to think anyway

x x x

An old blog plan from last week

Unfortunately I have recently been drowning under work - not such a fun experience. So this post is a bit outdated...last Friday I think....

Me and Angela had an impromptu night of relaxing on Friday, curled up on the sofa with our laptops close to hand, for spontaneous Wikipedia usage, lol. We settled down to watch Kerrang's 101 Damnation's (Hellraisers of Rock) as the guys had respectively abandoned us for decidedly less amazing climes :-p

We came across a rather fun Homage (to be pronounced with a vaguely French accent) game - in which you look for allusions to other videos in the one you are watching. I began this game with The Offspring's Hit That as an homage to Def Leppard's Lets Get Rocked. My evidence was the perspective - male character walking round town and the colouring of the protagonist (they were both blue). Another more amusing one was the start of Britney Spears' ...Baby One More Time with Queen's I Want To Break Free - the foot-tapping against the desk is also done by Roger Taylor (I think that is his name - the one dressed as a schoolgirl).

This nice easy evening also provided a retrospective look at our old music tastes... Songs like She Sells Sanctuary by The Cult, Papa Roach's Last Resort and Deftone's Back In School lead to a bit of excessive youtube-ing after - if only on my side, lol. I also realised the titles and bands from songs I knew (The Used: All That I've Got for example) :-)

Finally a double session of QI and we learnt that the Lake District only has one actual lake... I only remember that it begins with 'Br'...I think...

*returns to present*

Well I'm off to chill and all that jazz... I shall maybe do a more up-to-date post...who knows, lol x x x

Mid-Reading Week Review

Well, it's now Wednesday and I'm sure you're all dying to know how my reading week has gone...

Things I've done from my 'To Do' list:
1)Read Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
2) Read the 207 Romanticism anthology reading
3) Choose a female poet from selection
4) Find article on aforementionned poet
5) Read A Vindication on the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft

Things I have yet to do...

...yeah lets not even consider that...

Other useful things I have done this week include:
1) Going to the Whale-tail Cafe with Pete and Mark: I had a Tofu BLT which was rather yummy (aided by Garlic Mayonnaise :-D) which was slightly over-priced I felt at £3.50. We then went to Sainsbury's where Pete proceeded to commit ABH (Actual Bodily Harm) against me with a violent swing of his basket - raising the alarm of a Sainsbury's employee, lol.
2) Signed up for Chancellor's Wharf next year with Chris-pea, Helly-poos, Jon (Helly-poo's boyfriend) and Graham (Jon's friend).
3) Went for a wee walk before which was cut slightly short by some loose bovines which I did not care to have a close encounter with, lol
4) Had a brief rendezvous with Toni Hallettfish the Warwicker in which she slunk back to House 39 which she admired extensively (well momentarily - we had greater things like gossip to do)
5) Got my membership for Leyland Historical Society: this is only in order to go and see the mighty David Starkey in June and bask in his genius-ness, lol
6) Received my DVD of North and South so I can spend 4 hours swooning over Richard Armitage and his pure manliness :-D

In conclusion - a good week so far.

Reading Week

Reading week, the mythical event that occurs in Week 6 for only those worthy of such an honour. Also referred to in antiquity as 'independent study week'. It allows us hard working English Literature students a whole week to gorge on text reading, prepare for essays and all that jazz. Or relax a bit. Unfortunately upon completion of my to do list this morning it appears that this secondary, and more favourable option is increasingly unlikely.

There is a way round this though. My North and South DVD arrived this morning - cue much excitement and uber grinnums from me. As North and South is a course text for Victorian Literature; I am entirely justified in watching it this week. <3

This post is immensly short but I have aspirations of writing lots for my blog this week, so yay (possibly :-p)

If you sail the seven seas, you r a Pirate!!!

A seemingly good start to yesterday as nearly immediately after pushing the button to get across the road of doom to get to the bus stop, the lights went red and a nice green man appeared to help me across :-D This rarely happens - in fact it may have been the first time - and to make it extra awesome, it did the same for Angela! There was a moment when I was not talking to myself because I had left my folder at home. A situation which was entirely the fault of Mark and Pete for walking past my window with about 3 minutes in between and ultimately distracting me, lol.

However last night made it all cyclical as when the hardcore Sugarhouse 4 (Me, Pete, Angela and Mark) went to see Pete and the Pirates (and their support act Buen Chico). It was blooming great :-D Me and Angela slunk right to the front for the support act and gave them a warm Lancashire welcome as they called it. We also managed to be right at the front for PATP too and got our respective grooves on! It also turned us into proper fangirls *pines when they walk past* lol. We gained 20 celebrity points too when, after mildly accosting the band for photos and a wee natter *insanely cheesy grin* they asked us for our photo (because mine and Angela's pirate costumes were brilliant if I say so myself)*our Pete flees without us realising* One of the Pete's also said we could be in the band and that he was glad we dressed up at Pirates. Ergo mine and Angela's slightly obsessive love of dressing up is entirely justified! We also made friends at the front with some gentleman pirates (they had fluffy pirate hats) who were very boppy.


All in all it was a rather fabulous day. x x x

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5B3LRxXnjI

The Lazytown 'You are a Pirate Song' - my new personal anthem :-p

150 year old Vampyre Daemons ftl

Exciting things this week:
1) I used a very exciting word in my 207 seminar - proto-Marxist which made my slightly terrifying tutor seem pleased.
2) I had incredibly yummy enchiladas for tea last night courtesy of Mark. I think I had all of my five a day in that one sitting. A more than reasonable trade for my lolSpaghetti Bolegnese a while ago lol.
3) I went to see Danny and Erica's swish new pad (and to exchange pressies :-D)
4) I had hot chocolate and cake with Helen on Thursday
5) I watched Fanny Hill - which I normally justify because I'm an English Literature student and it's a literary adaptation. However, I was intending on watching it anyways - who doesn't love a bit of self-gratuitous smut?
6) My family came up to visit me on Sunday avec presents and eau de mud which would not leave my room for ages (I heart my little brothers muchly...)
7) Going out on Thursday avec all of the Bridge Roaders!

Linked to number 3 is my present from Danny and Erica which I found rather amusing when I opened one of them. It was a very exciting jewelry making kit with design cards so you know what you're doing. I shall share some the titles of some of the things you can make: Trinity bracelet, Cross ring, Fish ring, Rainbow Promise ring and a Chain of Faith bracelet. It's like the cards are trying to tell me something... :-p

Thursday was also muchosly exciting due to our amazing poses (shout outs to Peter Petrelli and his acting advice) and Angela predicting the playing of both the Hoosiers' singles. I had a well good boogie to some classics especially Girl From Mars which made me think of Leeds and me and Mark with our glowsticks (lol at us).

I'm off to watch Britney's Greatest Hits on TMF with Angemala...mayhaps another lolpoem before I go:

I want to - take My Heart
Tear it Out,
Show You how I Bleed -

I hate This Pain -
It Fills Me Up -
I have No Voice left to Scream.

Leading - and losing,
Laughing - and turning -
Till now Our Time is Done.

Back to friends,
We've reached The End
Before We'd Even Begun.

x x x

Biffday Awesome-ness

Just a quick surmation of the amazingness that was my birthday. I woke up at about 10 and was forced by a very amused set of housemates to wait till Angela got up before I could have any presents...Due to my petulant pouting Claire slunk upstairs to wake her up. Then the fun began :-D I got some amazingly Sarah presents including a pop-up enchanted castle, the uber cool new Radio One album and Disney princess dolls!!! I now also own a very practical small pink chair, a giant colouring book, a Little Mermaid game and a rather swoon worthy Jonathon Ross calendar /vomits, lol. I had an really good night however after a few too many drinkies I was not in a fit state to party anymore and was quite a bit of a wastrel :-(

This is just a short post as I have to do my work for 207 or else I'll get voted out of my seminar group, seriously.

Here is the previously mentionned poem - it's one I quite like and think is okay. I tried to explain to Pete why I don't like people reading my own writing and he seemed confuddled by my crazy girl logic so I shan't try to recreate it here, lol...

I have a power within me
Though it may seem small.
It can brave the highest seas,
Or build the biggest wall.

You can't defeat it!
Though absent-mindedly you try.
You never see me wince or quiver,
Or searching for a place to hide.

It holds me up - tears you down,
Keeps me safe not warm.
Warmth is unattainable
Now that you are gone.

The last two lines don't read very well but I can't seem to work past that...lol at me x x x

Meh, I guess I should update :-p

So it may or may not have been a significant amount of time since I last updated :-(

The important things that have happened (in priority order)
1)Student loan paid in :-D
2)Saw Flat 10 groovers and other people I hadn't seen in forrrevverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
3)Moved in to 39 Bridge Road
4)Freshers' Week
5)Getting the Turin Brakes album and The Maccabees' new single at SCAN Music
6)Lectures

One significantly notable absence is the now infamous 'Prank Week'. Why? Because the guys tried to kill me twice. Only one was an actually viable attempt, the other just went against several laws/human rights...

Now I am all settled in my lovely house avec Angela, Claire and Sonia. Dans ma chambre il'y a une majestic horse qui s'appelle Harold, who is awesome! He even makes horse noises, lol.

Freshers' Week was muy exciting *slinks on the most attractive t-shirt ever* *swiftly customises t-shirt*. Bar the insanely short notice by which we were told to be on campus - I had such a good time (easily worth sacrificing the trip to Squires for :-p) Me and Chris-pea had 6 freshers (one of whom is still unknown to us) and they were awesome and we also 'adopted' two second years from their flat which made it a really nice number. They were all really good and talkative which made mine and Chris-pea's job sooo much easier, lol. Freshers' Week ended with a triumphant mass pat on the back lead by Debs the County President and I'm definitely going to try and do it again next year (Y)

I've also decided (somewhat foolishly) to try and live the writing dream more this year. Why, I'm not entirely sure but after joining the Writer's Guild (read most socially inept group ever) and SCAN music, I'm going to give it a go. However I have a very low opinion of what I write but to try and counteract this I'm going to post some stuff I've written on this blog (because only my ubers read it and hopefully they'll not be too harsh, lol) but not today as I have none with me.

Ranty McMangerson

Another post in such a short space of time? What could have possibly got Sarah so riled? Well my friends, it is the seemingly unoffensive Alan Titchmarsh Show! Yes everyone's favourite presenter of the much beloved Ground Force is apparently trying really hard to get on my hitlist. So much so that I was incensed to write a plan for this while the show was still on - to my mother's great amusement. When I came into the front room a debate was being introduced about 'Good Ole Blighty' and to be entirely honest it only went downhill from there on, lol. Apparently there is a mass exodus going on at the moment of people leaving the aforementionned 'Good Ole Blighty' and heading off for better climes. Why this abandonment? Well you see England is going to the dogs. I know, I was shocked too when I found this out! The recent media coverage of doom of crime and the like has led poor Alan and many of his Daily Express, Richard Littlejohn-esque friends to flee out of fear for their own lives...

So what would the almighty Alan have as a suggestion to bring unruly Britain back to the 'Good Old Days'? The naughty step? Oh no a far more ingenius plan (which on hearing, it took great restraint for me not to pull out my hair/throw something at the television)...he wants a government grant. Not a seemingly illogical request? But what does this great social philosopher intend to do with the hypothetical grant...bet you can't guess...oh go on have a try...Buy a big table and four chairs for each household!!! Clearly, it's a stroke of genius! Except for families with more than four members, those who work irregular hours and so forth. But lets not let such trivialances stop Alan, he's on such a roll. However he apparently needed help from a lovely lady from the Daily Mirror - who I was deceived enough to think would maybe politely show Alan the error of his ways. Unfortunately this lady (and I try to avoid sweeping generalisations, honest) with the Home Counties accent merely encouraged him, manging on about how good things were in the past and how the reason for all this crime is...a crisis in the family. Now I accept that family structures have changed but how could you possibly lay all the blame at the door of the family. I understand how important the family is but it is not the only influence on our lives and no particular type of family is more or less prone to such horrendous acts as would lead to a mass exodus. There are many other socioeconomic factors and *drifts off into Sociology rant from college which I will spare you from* So the lady finished off, after ranting about a lack of respect, by saying we need to reinstill fear. A contradiction mayhaps?!?!!!!! I was so appalled that I put my headphones on and tried to block out the next segment which was on naked fishermen *shudders*.

The greatest threat to the peace of the world is...

So my plans for a great deal of posts being made over Summer did not come to fruition, lol. Although I like to think I have been being productive with my time - a mini holiday down south with Toni and Lizzi (which was immense), Leeds (which was also immense *waves wristband proudly*) and now I'm working my way through some reading which I have to do. Now reading may not seem like such and arduous task; and it isn't, when it's done leisurely. However re-reading North and South was one of the most traumatic incidents this summer, not purely because when reading aloud I may or may not have mis-pronounced a name to Mark great amusement... Anyways I made great progress yesterday and got halfway through Guilliver's Travels so hopefully that will be finished today :-D I remain however slightly apprehensive about the amount of reading I have to do. I have twelve left (3 of which are anthologies *fear*) but yay for hopefullness :-S

So Leeds. Well my early day pass never arrived which was a slight dampener. However Angela, Mark and Pete got to spend a fun day in Leyland which included a brief tour of the supermarkets and hanging out on the green opposite my house. After many a fun game of Cadoo, which I feel highlighted my amazing acting abilities :-p they departed and I slunk off to be manly and watch the football with Lizzi, Sarah Small and mayhaps some lager and lime....teehe. On Thursday, after a refreshing nights sleep in my own bed and a shower in the morning, Sarah R and I caught the train to Leeds - and due to our immense timekeeping ended up getting a direct train. On this voyage we collected many freebies including a t-shirt, fruit bar and some pheremone (sp - methinks so) wipes. My highlights of Leeds were: Nine Inch Nails (gotta love Hand That Feeds (Y)), Lostprophets (Dancing to last sumemr with the sun on my face was immense), Panic! at the Disco (I hearted Brendon's dodging of bottles {which I think Angela would have been more than happy to stand in the way of} despite an ill conceived add campaign that was ruining our view, Maximo Park (one of my favourite literary bands - yes I've claimed them for the English Literature side - especially ending on Graffiti *swoons*) and finally playing Kings with Harry Potter (Matt T)(Some elaborate rules were developed during a fervently fought battle of the sexes).

On Friday I had my romantic dinner date with Shiva which was gravy, we had a well good catch up and exchanged some mangoes and it made me quite glad that after 15 years I hadn't been able to shake her off :-p.

Finally, the title of this post may be causing some intrigue, possibly. Well I've jsut finished Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion which I thought was really insightful. I'd recommend this book to anyone, it's well written with minimal confusing science bits (there was one bit about memes which I didn't follow fully but on re-reading I hope to) but more significantly it really opened my eyes to certain things and also helped me with evidence to support further what I already suspected. Anyways, whilst discussing the importance of life to religious folk, he quoted Mother Theresa, who I thought to be an all round good egg, irrespective of her religious views. Oh how I was deceived! The title of this post is the start of a quote from this noble prize winning lady. Can you possibly guess what such a threat could be? Famine? War? Over-zealous religios fanatics (:-p)? Nope, it is in fact abortion. Sometimes people just terrify me...

Sleepy McTired

A long time since there has been an entry methinks, I can tell this because I have a few plans of things I was going to post but never got round to. Yes, I plan these things...I am the height of cool. :-p Anyways I shall use the one I wrote while watching Garden State (Zach Braff ftw) which is a bit bitty but quite exciting (not).

So why am I now Sleepy McTired? Well I have started work again at the Newsagents. This means I have to be up at 7 in the morning in order to have a brew before living the inky fingers dream. I'm only doing a few hours a week but the extra little bit of money should keep me a bit warmer at night. However when I get back I usually slink off to bed to regain a little bit of sleep however on Sunday this plan was thwarted! Firstly Toni rang at 9:30 as she was ill and waiting till she slunk to the Doctors *huggles* so we had a natter about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I didn't mind this as I'd only been in bed for about 30 mins. However when the Gorebeast rang twenty minutes later I was not impressed. I greeted her with the rather affectionate "You bloody people! I swear you can just tell when I'm about to drift off and you swarm. You know some of us have been working hard already this morning!!!" which in my isolation I thought was very witty and she seemed amused so all was good in the world.

*looks around room* (This is how you can tell its planned because I have to post at the library) As Brad may have noted on occasion my room is messy. Unfortunately now it has all my uni stuff in it, well, its really messy. :-( Tidying it shall be a fun activity...

Ooo The Shins have just slinked on in the background. I doth heart them muchly and recommend them (Y) New Slang is probably my favourite song *sways along*.

Well this is getting a bit too incoherent so I'm off to pay more attention to my MSN conversations. x x x

Duck and Cover!!! Be alert like Bert...

A brief update of my exciting Leylandite life? Oh okay then. On Tuesday it was Martin's gathering of much fun. The bottle of free wine won at the pub quiz was split between Lizzi, Charlene and myself and then the rain of doom forced us to have two more drinks... When we made it to Martin's there was some cocktail drinking, including a very special cocktail from Jake which was incredibly potent but didn't taste as bad as it looked. Then there was some Sangria making and a few shots in the kitchen, when Lizzi, Martin and myself toasted things like Leyland. The night was complimented by some fab music from Jake, including Whigfield's Saturday Night; which I may or may not have been dancing to...lol. And certainly not dancing on my own...And also on the way to Tesco, Jake did not get splashed by a car, not one bit. Neither did Charlene and if they had me and Lizzi would have been incredibly sympathetic!

Whilst nursing my stomach lining back yesterday I watched Top 20: Take That and Beyond on The Hits. Mark Owen's '4 Minute Warning' came on and it got me musing. (Yes religious posters irritate me but a cheesy pop song gets me thinking about the 'big questions' :-p) Anyways I was wondering what I would do with my 4 minutes...Which may be coming sooner than expected based On the uber blurry photos of me, lol. I came up with three possibilities. Firstly, the most obvious one, I could tell everyone how much they mean to me. I don't think I'd do this. Not because I'm a misanthrope but I'd like to think that the people who mean the most to me already know. So my second thought was that I could do something I'd always been too afraid/always wanted to do. This links to the first point but more obvious things like swimming with dolphins. This strikes me as a wee bit impractical to arrange in 4 minutes so that idea is dismissed. However, something like holding a spider *shudders*, would be a bit better. It'd be a perfect time because it should override any fight/flight responses due to already imminent death, lol. Yet, to what end would this be done? There'd be no more spiders in a few moments, but then I guess the sense of achievement would be a bit swish. So my third option, just in case there are no spiders in my vicinity *crosses fingers*, would be to carry on as normal and just enjoy these last few moments.

So moving on from that cheery note...

Oh yes Take That. This is a tragic admission but I cried when they split up. Yes I am a loser, lol. My favourie song was their version of 'Could It Be Magic', I did love it quite a bit/ still do. Mark Owen was my favourite member and I used to have a video of them on tour. When Martina from down the road was babysitting us, I used to be allowed to choose a video and it was always this one (or Grease). I always used to feel very cool, especially when her friends came round - they'd be on the patio and I'd be on my swing (r.i.p.) getting occasional pushes :-D I didn't always get a choice in the video though and this is the reason that I had seen such films as Silence of the Lambs and Se7en before I was 10, lol.

So I'm off to enjoy the sunshine now! x x x

Flowers

Some men never think of it.
You did. You'd come along
And say you'd nearly brought me flowers
But something had gone wrong.

The shop was closed. Or you had doubts -
The sort that minds like ours
Dream up incessantly. You thought
I might not want your flowers.

It made me smile and hug you then.
Now I can only smile.
But, Look, the flowers you nearly bought
Have lasted all this while.


Wendy Cope

(as cited on http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~evoflynn/Poems/Flowers.html as accessed 19/07/2007)

Weird Weather - Time To Ask The Big Questions? :-p

So it appears a great deal of time has past since my last update. Why such a long time? Due to the emotional drain of the last two posts? Well I'd love to say that but no... I have been dazzled because Leyland library has swish new computers which not only have accessible USB ports but also MSN!!! As such I spend the majority of my two hours alloted time pretending that I am still at uni, lol. So on to a brief update of the fun I have had since being at home...

On Tuesday there was a grand trip de verbassen to Manchester with Sarah Small, Lizzi, Ruth and Matt R (a Warwicker). I had met Matt at Toni Hallettfish's Disney birthday party in which he was playing a very accurate pirate - if only due to slight drunkeness :-p So after much traipsing around, Lizzi and I evoked the honoured tradition of hat-trying-on. There were some fabulous ones, including a fetching pair of spotty hats in Urban Outfitters as sported by Lizzi and Matt (see photographs uploaded to Facebook). After Sarah Small and Ruth departed, Lizzi, Matt and myself went into H&M and carried on the most amazing tradition - buying reduced hats! Now most of my hats have come from this tradition...the classic Oasis hats which me and Lizzi bought in the sales and upon spying Toni with her Mum, snuck up behind her and put the hat on her head before running away - good times :-D This time, as Toni is rudely in Newquay, we purchased two train workers hats for 99p for ourselves and maybe a rather smexy hat for the Toni...lol. So following this adventure and fabulous purchases we slunk back to Leyland where we were joined by Shona (another Warwicker) and thus went to the Roebuck in Leyland then back to Lizzi's for scary films. People who know me, will have muchos experience of how well I cope with such films, but apparently Saw III was the thing to be watching - so we rented the extended, extra gore and blood and general loveliness edition. I was sickened especially the bit with the pigs *shudders at memory*

Then on Sunday, it was time for another trip to a Leyland pub - this time the Eagle and Child - famed for its cheapness. Helen J and her boyfriend Jack, Charlene and her boyfriend Harry, Lizzi, Ruth and me all slinked into the pub, where, due to financial constraints, I had 48p Lime and Lemonade. We took part in the pub quiz (which was most importantly free) which was a bingo/quiz hybrid. After some rather spectacular quotes from certain group members *looks at Charlene* there was a distinct feeling from the rest of the pub (mainly old men) that we didn't stand a chance. However the power of 7 people, most of whom are at University was not to be underestimated! Collectively sharing answers we ended up with all three prizes (a free bottle of wine, £10 meal voucher and 4 free pints) which were shared between us all.

Today we were meant to be slinking to Lyme Park (infamous for the Darcy lake scene in Pride and Prejudice) but unfortunately this temperamental weather *hears much thunder and rain outside* *is distressed because is wearing knee length skirt and vest top* Which reminds me of a minor point of irritation this week. St Andrew's C of E church in Leyland, master of those religious posters which are there to inspire/frighten people. Well it now displays one which says "Weird Weather - time to ask big questions?" Now I don't mean this as a rant against religion, honest, but wtf?! I saw this and was reminded of the words of The (Arch?)Bishop of Carlise who declared the flooding in the North East was due to heathens who weren't following the Christian way of life. Now I don't claim to have a great understanding of meteorology but I'm a bit unsure about any correlation between non-Christian life practices and the combination of high and low pressure which causes such weather, lol. It just baffles me...

But this was not a post based solely on updating people with my week and a minor rant. I have an actual point, honest. The generic text message. Now when I rant about these I am not referring to the mass messages which are sent to groups when organising events or at certain times of the year like Christmas or New Year. Like the following message from Chris-pea:

Happy Christmas!hope ur avin a lovely day and santa brought u evryfin u wntd! :-) love chris x x x

Neither is this against text which make you feel good just when they are sent like the following ones sent to me from Shivs:

This is MAGIC!! Press down 12 times and U'll become SEXY! Sweetheart U dont NEED Magic - girls like us were BORN sexy x

Those ones make me smile and I am more than happy to send them on to my fabulous friends who also don't need magic :-p I also got one from Becky which is along more male bashing lines but also muchos smile worthy.

The ones I have an issue with are the ones were you have to text back to feel good. Now there is one of my friends who is a key culprit for sending these sort of messages and he *cough* Mitchell *cough* knows who he is. Now these messages initially make me smile but then the end bit is usually along the lines of "if you get 5 back ur loved" or the like. Thus in conclusion these texts aren't an independent feel good and its only because I pity the sender (:-p) that I replied to the last one although stating that it was clearly an ego boost - I am a good friend, non? Well at least an occasionally witty one.

Anyways I'm off into the weird weather - I may or may not be smited on my travels by an angry deity... x x x

Bridge Road Massive

So on Tuesday after the fun trip to Ashton Memorial, spying Bowland Tower and watching Lizzi be eaten by butterflies (lol) we decided to have a detour on the way back to campus via Bridge Road. As we drove past our soon-to-be-houses I got un peu excited, although not when I saw the steepness of the hill again - fitness for the win :-s

Thus this blog is, like the Flat 10 Lovelies post, a somewhat brief look back over the people I have met this year and in September I intend to live with :-D !!!! For those mentioned in this post, the idea was ever so slightly plagarised from Mark but I've tried to re-write it in a Sarah fashion, just using the structure, which my English Course (whose key focus was re-writing)has told me is good.

Angela

Angela has the privelege of being one of the first Bridge Road people I met at Brad's 19th party of doom. I can only imagine the impression I made, turning up with a bottle of Cherry Lambrini and enthusing about it to her and Sonia. Angela is always really smily and boppy, just being around her makes me feel all energised, lol. She has a great sense of fashion and always looks incredibly stylish on nights out. As people who vaguely recognise me will know, I am slightly partial to a little bit of Baileys and on a movies and ice-cream night I was muy impressed to see that Angela had brought with her some Baileys Haagen-Daaz (sp?) ice cream. This became a trend on our Thursday outings to The Sugarhouse when drinks were £1 before 11. On many an occasion the obligatory Baileys would be bought, along with several other drinks...and ignored till the ice (if there was any) had melted. Further examples of Angela's amazing taste can be found based on the posters that used to adorn her university room. Her excellent taste in music includes Panic! at the Disco, Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance - as such I once again want to thank Angela for my uber Frank Iero poster which I'm going to put up in my room next year and maybe every bedroom I ever have, lol. More than that I'm looking forward to enjoying Leeds festival in the most manly pink flowery tent you will have ever seen :-p

Song Associated With - Gym Class Heroes: Cupid's Chokehold or Pieces of Cleo: I Want You To Want Me

Brad

Well Brad is the person, through whom I met everyone else. I've known Brad since college (woo Runshaw woo). The first time I saw Brad in Lancaster was on an uber rainy day of doom, when me and Shiva were out shopping and forced him to stand, in the rain, whilst we had a minor catch up, lol. Mini gatherings in Bradley's room are the thing of legend, playing SuperMario, whilst consuming alcohol before a night out and his immense number of glasses :-p He is also the king of vodka - in just the past term, courtesy of Brad I have had vodka with grass in it and more than enough shots of vodka pertaining to taste of banana and choco-raspberry. Particalarly during Cartmel extrav when Brad, Pete and I went back to his room for a fuelling of alcohol and hair fixing, the mighty shot of banana vodka nearly pushed me over the edge, luckily I just split it a little but bleugh, lol. Irrespective of his lovely and amiable personality, one of the things I love most about Bradley is his hair, its just amazing. But aside from the hair, Bradley is one of my closest friends and I know if I tell him something, it won't go any further then I'd be comfortable with. A rather amusing memory of Brad is the day after Lizzi's party in Easter when we decided to have a water fight - now any nice and pseudo-chivalrous demeanour of Brad should be forgotten now because after taking the uber water pistol, leaving me with a watering can, he proceded to soak me till I was fully saturated with water and literally now more could be absorbed by my skirt, lol. Next time though....

Songs Associated With - TaTu: All The Things She Said or Jamelia: Superstar

Claire

First of all I feel the need to emphasise that Claire is a Layyydeee, lol. I'm not definitely sure which night that was from but I remember muchos manging about how we were ladies and we went to the ladies and so on, teehe. It still cracks me up now :-D Claire has a very particular way of making me burst into hysterics. Sometimes it can be for no reason - genuinely how the giggles started on the infamous trip to Wibbly's or be more risque involving onion rings and Mark and Pete looking at us as if we were mentalists. Claire is a fellow Jane Austen enthusiast, with whom I can discuss in depth the fabulousness of Mr Darcy and how when he declares "you must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you" it just makes you melt, especially when uttered by Colin Firth *minor swoon* When we went to see Being Jane I was very glad Claire had forewarned me of the content and was sat next to me, able to console me near the end (I'm not going to say what happens as I don't want to spoil it for anyone) but her squishy hug cheered me up no end. She is also a keen walker and on our last meander down to the duck pond, she conversed with the wisest duck of all, a Stephen Fry-a-like complete with dignity and poise as he protected us from the evil geese of doom. Finally Claire also loves Bon Jovi and got to see them (and passed on my declaration of love to the Sambora)- if there was ever a marker as to what made you a good person...

Songs Associated With - Bon Jovi: Livin' On A Prayer or Girls Aloud: Something Kinda Ooo'

Dwain

Dwain, despite technically not being a Bridge Road person, is included because he is, and I'm an English student so I can choose whether or not to argue semantics. My most amusing memory of Dwain is the first time I properly went out with Brad, Becky et al for Becky's 19th. Dwain was dancing with a girl who doesn't like me (and so out of politeness the feeling is reciprocated) to Michael Jackson and she was doing the moonwalk (or atleast an artistic interpretation) while Dwain looked on completely baffled. This does not mean to say he is a good person, he is a key abuser of my bags as can been seen in photographic evidence on Facebook. Him and Pete refer to my lovely bags as 'spam purses' and violate them in ways which means they have to go to counselling - shame on you! lol. Dwain does get a reprieve however for noticing my haircut although I am slightly suspicious that Pete/Mark/Brad may have informed him after they suffered some uber mangoes for not paying heed, teehe. Also Dwain and Bradley form a very amusing Tulketh tag team, and I can't wait for Dwain to slink up to Lancaster next year, when my bags will be safely locked away :-p

Songs Associated With - Any Panic! song or Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody

Mark

I think Mark and I first bonded over a shared love of Southern Comfort and lemonade on our nights out to Hustle, when drinks were initially £1 and the music was amazingly retro. A fairly reluctant dancer, it was only when the Hustle music changed to 90's that Mark would rush furiously up to the dancefloor (maybe a slight exaggeration) to Will Smith's Wild Wild West. Ever sympathetic, on our ice skating excursion at Easter, when I fell over quite spectactularly; I recall a certain person laughing whilst muttering something completely unfounded about 'karma'. This 'wit' carried on to our trip to Blackpool Pleasure Beach when, for merely not realising there was a pedal in the dodgems, I was subjected to muchos teasing - although I feel that when we went to Ally Pally's festival my driving on the dodgems, while Mark was in charge of the pedal, redeemed me ever so slightly. He also, bar The Fray, has a good taste in music, like Ben Folds Five (who I thought only I liked, lol) and journeys in his car are always nicely complimented with Maximo Park or The Killers for example. Mark is the main member of the 'Sarah Search and Rescue' team, when after a few excellent texts from me, it appears that working my way back to everyone is just a bit beyond me, lol. I do appreciate this as it makes me feel uber looked after. And despite playing Guild Wars, which in my books makes anyone morally conspicuous, he is a lovely person who begrudingly allows me to steal body heat and also mang on at him when I'm less than amused, and reassure me that it doesn't automatically make me a bad person.

Song Associated With - Ocean Colour Scene: Day We Caught The Train or Ash: Girl From Mars

Matt

Matt bought me a Disney Princess game. I think that just about sums up what a wonderful person he is :-D When I got it, I was so excited, and I remember ranting about it for a significant amount of time because I was so chuffed, and he became on of the first people I made into a princess. Yet it hasn't always been such easy princess times - on numerous occassions he has threatened to take away my princess priveleges, I can never remember why, but it must have been serious lol. Actually I think once was after I'd had an entire bottle of red wine before going out and I got very very giggly and he came outside with me, clearly bemused by a merry Sarah and forcing her to prove her lack of sobriety, lol. It was at Matt's that I discovered my secret bloodlust when playing Halo and getting a bit too involved in trying to kill various characters then getting a wee bit miffed when he started playing and kept p-wning me. Despite being an ex-vegetarian he doth make me chuckle. And irrespective of his dismissing of Shakespeare and generally trying to wind me up (don't think I hadn't sussed you out, lol) he is a lovely person who gives me hugs and always tries to cheer me up.

Songs Associated With - Cascada: Everytime We Touch or Aqua: Barbie Girl

Pete

I remember the first time seeing Pete in a Sociology lecture, after realising being told we took the confounded subject. He was sat on his lonesome looking all studious so clearly the right thing to do was to enforce sitting with me and Lyndsey. There was a noticable declination in the quality if notes taken I feel, especially when I was revising and noticed an page in which Pete and I had entirely debated the house 39/51 thing in the form of an elaborate set of pictures, lol. On numerous occasions Pete has refered to me as having an 'old person' fetish - this is a lie, I just appreciate certain people who coincidently happen to be old enough to be my dad, lol. He is also my Tuesday shopping buddy, an elaborate trail around Lancaster, purchasing some random objects before slinking to Sainsburys. This, as a force of habit, includes a trip to New Look's shoe department. During every visit Pete enthuses about how girls' shoes are better than boys, in selection available and general prettiness. Our meander around Sainsburys also includes the eventual placing of tins and other heavy items in Pete's trolley as my basket becomes tres heavy. As Mark's blog said Pete is uber creative, and on one occasion of particular creativity involving Disney princess posters, I faced constant criticism from two of my flatmates, whereas Pete, despite putting green on her skin, got constant praise, its just not fair :-p He is always there for some mango shaking, to listen to whatever is doing my nut in at the time and reassure me that it'll all be fine and if not a cup of tea is always available, lol.

Songs Associated With - McFly: Five Colours in Her Hair or Sandie Thom: I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker

Sonia

When I first met Sonia I was enthusing about Cherry Lambrini and subtley coercing her into trying some, before she slunk off for the infamous red vomit. On our subsequent nights out Sonia developed a talent for 'accidently' (:-p) beating me somehow. The most amusing of these incidents remains on the bus back from town after seeing Pete's play of doom when we were spying on each other with a roll of wrapping paper. Despite everyone else fervently telling us it would end in disaster, we carried on regardless till we went over a bump and with considerable force the roll was shoved into my eye, leaving it bloodshot and rather smexy looking for the next few days. Oh how we larfed. Sonia is my dancing partner and at Hustle we were usually the first to up on the dancefloor, getting our respective grooves on, possibly linked to the amount of alcohol we'd consumed. She is a fellow epic movie enthusiast who also adores Pirates and LOTR. She also gains muchos kudos for taking me to see Pirates 3, the day before its release, for free :-D And she still talks to me despite me getting her a chocolate orange for christmas, ignoring the fact that she dislikes them quite a bit, lol.

Songs Associated With - The Sounds: Painted By Numbers or Kelly Marie: Feels Like I'm In Love

There's so much more I could say but then this really would become an essay and Pete is manging on at me on MSN to hurry up, love you guys lots <3

p.s. House 39 > House 51. End of.

The First Day

I wish I could remember the first day,

First hour, first moment of your meeting me,

If bright or dim the season might be

Summer or Winter for aught I can say.

So unrecorded it did slip away,

So blind was I to see and foresee,

So dull to mark the budding of my tree

That would not blossom yet for many a May.

If I could only recollect it, such

A day of days! I let it come and go

As traceless as a thaw of bygone snow;

It seemed to mean so little, meant so much;

If only I could recall that touch,

First touch of hand in hand - Did one but know!

Christina G. Rossetti

(as cited in Nations Favourite Love Poems ed. Daisy Goodwin (BBC Books, London: 1997) p. 84

Flat 10 Amazing People Who I Adore To Bits...

Last night was my final night out in Lancaster with the remnants of Flat 10. Me, Danny and Erica, along with other County/Lancaster/Warwick :-p people slunk to Lounge and enjoyed some rather fab cocktails before Lizzi, Pete and I went to Hustle for some less ghetto music and more cocktails...Attempts to reunite later were deliberately thwarted by Rev's declining to let us in because it was too quiet. This blog is, as such, in memoriam to all the fun times that I've had this year with my flatmates and how much I am going to miss them *glomps de verbassen*


Firstly I would like to say I wasn't sure what to expect from my prospective flatmates, but what I got was 5 undoubtedly fun and caring people....


Helen a.k.a. Hellypoos



One of the Neighbours watching trio, who cordially allowed me to steal the end of her bed on a seemingly daily basis. It got to such a habit that at Neighbours time, when we caught the end of the amazing Gordon Burns, Helen would have put my cushion (by mine I mean Helen's but mine because I always had it, lol) at the end of the bed, all prepared. If we were feeling particularly adventurous then the viewing may have been known to extend to Doctors and occassionally Escape to the Country - we don't watch that anymore because it gives us weird dreams. Helen, it appeared, was always to be found working away - she genuinely is one of the most studious people I have met at university, partly due to the excessive amounts of tests that Environmental Science decide to inflict upon their students. More than television, Helen was also part of the Baileys and Milk tag team. It all started one night when Helen and Chris' respective boyfriends were elsewhere so we had a girly night of doom. This involved pizza, chips, sorbet and films. When purhasing alcohol we noticed that Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Baileys-esque drink was half price, this was the start of the trend. With hindsight I can only imagine how cool we looked, stood outside in our pj's after a copious amount of Baileys and Milk watching the lunar eclipse. Thinking of Helen and her boyfriend Jon (a rather witty Physics student - not an oxymoron I promise) - together they are such a cute and lovely couple, the sort of relationship I would love to have. When there aren't pea fights going on, they are really easy to be around, which can't be said of all couples. My favourite moment was near the end of this term, Helen and Jon slunk into my room after a shopping excursion and presented me with the cutest Disney princess cup ever. The reason? I hadn't finished my exams whereas everyone else in the flat had. I think you may be beginning to understand why we are soo close. Helen has always been there for me when I've been sad, looking out for me when I've been crushed and I think that next year, her room in Chancellor's Wharf may need another Sarah spot.









Erica a.k.a. Smelica (I doubt she'll read this so I feel brave enough to put that)









A fellow admirer of Johnny Depp - I think that explains why we get on so well, lol. We both have sizeable posters of him in our respective rooms. Erica's room has bared witness to many a singleton rant about sickening couples, trying to learn the dance to various Steps songs and watching of Pussycat Dolls: Search for a New Doll (we watched the final episode - it was not so good). When Erica is not being physically abused by Danny lifting her up and carrying her off her bed so he can lie down on it, she is generally concocting in the kitchen. I'm going to begin with one of her more normal creations - the flapjack, occasionally covered in chocolate. Despite never quite managing the right consistency it tastes bloody good, lol. Now my favourite Erica creation - not that I'd ever have it, this is purely on teasing basis - is chicken, bacon and banana. Everytime I see her slicing a banana my mind boggles. It seems the oddest meal to have ever but she swears by it. One of my most amusing memories with Erica is singing Steps karoke in County bar at Christmas - I can only imagine how fab we sounded.


Kate a.k.a. Date Raper


Although this year we didn't make our 'special' trip into town, which I fear next year we shall, I still have muchos love for everyone's favourite Kate. When Kate was packing her room it became clear the extent of her shopping this year. Whenever she returns from town, there was always a bag from New Look or Bay. However this only appears to be a small amount...I swear on my life Kate had thousands of shoes packed up when she was leaving, some she hadn't even worn despite their immense prettiness. If we shared the same shoe size, me and Chris would have had a field day, lol. One of my most vivid memories of Kate is just dossing in my room and hearing Kate come in ranting and heading into the kitchen. The words I caught were 'bastard' 'tosser' 'prick' and 'knob'. I entered the kitchen with some trepidation with a note (she was on the phone) to ask if she was okay. After the phonecall Kate descended on my room to explain why person R was such a complete dickhead. And in all honesty all that I know of person R suggests that Kate's description was somewhat accurate, lol. Now this may just be because we appear to have develop a group mentality of you upset one of us, you upset us all so woe betide, but I'm not too fussed :-p The strongest element I associate with Kate is her incredibly messy room, its just filled with things flung on the bed and law books everywhere, yet she has the cheek to come into my room and refer to a slightly precarious pile of books as an avalanche! So despite her calling me a whore and incinuating I partake in booty calls, I do love the drunkard :-p


Christine a.k.a. Chris-pea


Chris is the other third of the Neighbours and Baileys and Milk crew. Christine never ceases to be able to cheer me up when I'm down, or make me smile more when I'm just in a normal mood. Chris-pea is a cheerleader and on numerous occasions we've been in the kitchen or her room and she's been trying to teach me some routine or part of a routine while I just get distracted by the shaking of the pompoms. After the traumatic experience of watching Being Jane, on returning to the flat, our favourite analogy cropped up. This is that Sarah will forever remain a singleton and have cats, many cats, maybe a dog and rabbits. So led on Helen's bed I clutch my teddy, planning out my future cats names when Chris declares that in all fairness I will meet my Prince Charming when I go to buy my first cat, and it'll be the Disney perfect love at first sight. This really did make me smile. Cats aside, Chris is also my uber English Literature buddy of doom. There've been many a Sunday when we have traded notes on the weeks reading before the lectures, swapped critics and proof-read each others essays. I also blame Christine entirely for my new found lateness. On many a Monday or Tuesday morning we have been forced to practically run to George Fox and sneaking in the back of the lecture, despite Reuben always fervently stating that he'd never seen anyone from his seminar groups go in to a lecture late, bless him. I also have Christine to thank for making my hair look muy fabulous for Cartmel extrav.

Danny


Danny was the first person I met from our flat. I remember slinking into the kitchen after rudely being ditched by my parents and seeing Danny, Lewis (who I presumed was his elder brother, lol) and his mum. After a brief natter in which it was quickly established that we both shared a love for The Rocky Horror Picture Show, we pottered off to our rooms before the kitchen rep's introduced Kings to us. At this point only Danny was the only person I knew ish and I think it was likewise because when he had to pick someone to drink he chose me and likewise. As time moved on we developed an intricate manner of political debating - usually involving him refering to me as a 'dirty stinking liberal'. Most time it ends with me pulling out some amazing point which makes Danny feel morally conspicious and thus he asserts 'I'm a good person'. Oh how it makes me chuckle, especially because for some issues we are complete opposites for example I'm staunchly pro-choice whereas he will harass me with images from pro-life sites. Yet when we argue about these things or have a discussion about religion its always with a sense of playful respect, well thats what I like to think. Generally when I think about Danny I think of quotes, some of which I'm going to share now...."I'd rather have milk from you than a cow", "a million peope died...of death" and the eponymous "I love you Sarah, I'm going to miss you *cue drunken stumble and hug*".


So this uber long blog is going to end now, I bet hypothetical people can't wait for the Bridge Road one, lol. I'd like to leave this blog finally saying how much these people have meant to me and although I jest about them sometimes, I do love them to pieces x x x

Love is Enough

Love is enough: though the World be a-waning,

And the woods have no voice but the dim voice of complaining,

Though the sky be too dark for dim eyes to discover

The gold-cups and daisies fair blooming thereunder,

Though the hills be held shadows, and the sea a dark wonder,

And this day draw a veil over all deeds pass'd over,

Yet their hands shall not tremble, their feet shall not falter;

The void shall not weary, the fear shall not alter

These lips and these eyes of the loved and the lover.

William Morris

(As cited in Best-Loved Poems ed Neil Philips (Great Britian, Little Brown Books, 2000) p. 37)

45% Wholewheat-y Goodness

Today Sarah is particularly excited. My favourite Lizzifer is slinking up to visit, this pleases me greatly :-D This called for some early(ish) morning tidying up and hoovering. She had best appreciate it. However there has been an unexpected effect of tidying, I now feel quite industrious and like working. Personally I put this down to using tidying my room as a forebearer before I have to start working furiously on an essay or presentation all year. So with no actual work to do I found myself at a loss. I made myself a cup of tea to try and calm my nerves but twas to no avail. The tea story is another dilemna I'll briefly go into. At the start of the year Erica arrived with a bag of 1,000 Tetley (pronounced tet-ee-le-tea, lol) bags which as she didn't pay for them she kindly allowed the rest of the flat to use. Now there are 2 left. I feel this can be positively correlated with Christine and I's excessive consumption. However there are now some Yorkshire teabags to use...these don't taste like Tetley tea - they have a pseudo metallic taste with isn't too groovy. But going back to my newly discovered industrious nature, I decided to plan out some future blogs, as I've had quite a few ideas and I tend to think about how I'd say things but never actually write them downas I'm usually in bed, trying to sleep, lol. So here is the planned trail for today's blogs....

My name is Sarah and I have an addiction. To what? I hear hypothetical voices cry. Well its quite shocking and a bit odd. Its buying books. I genuinely don't think I can help it. I adore reading so I don't just buy them and leave them on the shelf to look pseudo intellectual, I eventually read them. Yet like all good addictions, there's a specific type of book that I love the most: old books. That lovely, soft, delicate, musty smell is just like a homing beacon to me! I feel sometimes that the 'I'm an English Literature student!' argument will only get me so far. Four copies of Wuthering Heights does seem a little bit excessive...but it is one of my favourite books. When I was considering the extent of my addiction I reached the somewhat frightening conclusion that it had extended to paper. In Lancaster there is this really cute crafts shop which, on numerous Tuesday shopping trips, I have been known to visit and make purchases. In this magical shop they have really pretty paper, a piece of which is stuck up on my wall. The piece on my wall is extra special. Its square and has a red background but written on it different fonts and sizes are quotes on love and life. Those who have paid attention to the poems that frequent the end of my blogs may have noted these as two key themes to those chosen. My English tutor at A-level told me that there were four main themes behind poetry: Love, Life, Time, and Nature. I think, for the majority this is true. However going back to the uber piece of paper...despite its more general inspirational qualities; it has an Emily Dickinson quote.

Emily Dickinson, my most favourite poet. Even though you are supposed to hate the texts you study at A-Level, I love her writing to bits. She was an American Romantic whose innovative punctuation and relations to the natural world are genuinely entralling. Now this could become a major rant, and if so I apologise. One of my favourite poems is 'He fumbles at your Spirit' I love the imagery for example: 'He fumbles at your Spirit/ As Players at the Keys/ Before they drop full Music on - He stuns you by degrees'. In my mind I can see some empassioned pianist putting all their effort into a resounding crescendo just as I imagine the first flush of love to be. I also love her searing criticism of dogmatic religions, like in 'There is a certain slant of light'. I'm going to stop now as I maybe neglecting several MSN conversations...many apologies Mark, Pete and Beth. x

XXXVI
MY worthiness is all my doubt,
His merit all my fear,
Contrasting which, my qualities
Do lowlier appear;
Lest I should insufficient prove
For his beloved need,
The chiefest apprehension
Within my loving creed.

So I, the undivine abode

Of his elect content,
Conform my soul as ’t were a church
Unto her sacrament.

Emily Dickinson

{as cited on http://www.bartleby.com/113/3036.html as accessed 2/07/07}

Rain, rain, go away!

So I have decided not to venture out into the amazingness that is drink the bar dry at the Sugarhouse. Why? I hear my hypothetical readers cry...well its raining. A lot. And my usual going out buddies are all ready whereas I am decidedly not! No pound drinks for me tonight :-(

So I intend the rest of this blog to be a bit eclectic.

***

Cartmel extrav. It was 'special' but in a good way! After a light drinking session in Sonia's flat we slunk to Cartmel in the most amazing rain - Claire and I opted for ditching those waiting for the cash machine and ran, got our incredibly flimsy wristbands and meandered inside. We were greeted by Fall Out Boy and after a quick dancing session with Lyndsey; Pete, Bradley and myself decided to slink over to Brad's room for un peu drinking. After a shot of doom, a vodka and lemonade and a vodka and coke, I was forced to walk really fast back because of this rain of doom (Brad and Pete had spent a signicant amount of time in the room straightening their respective hairs). There was some hiding behind foliage, chaving it up and general natter... Then I spied my drunken flatmates Danny and Erica. This caused much amusement for me, especially the following day. Although I did genuinely appreciate Danny being lovely and huggy, honest. Later there was muchos grooving with the aforementionned drunkards and the majority of County JCR plus Angela and Pete, ending with the classic, if somewhat misplaced, 'All I Want For Christmas Is Yoouuu'. We sauntered back, playing pass Brad's hat (which I still have) and having Pete mang on at me about the impracticality of my footwear (I was in a great deal of pain).

***

Last night was our final pseudo bridge road meal, filled with drunkeness, dancing and singing. Pizza was ordered by yours truly from Domino's - shout out to my favourite girly cousin Teri for the lovely boxes and the incinuation that all the food was for me :-p After an amusing game of Kings in which I got to live my wildest dreams after getting 3 of the rules cards, we departed (minus a drunken Paul) to Sonia's room for some singstar and ddr. Singstar as ever was interesting - I once again felt the need to expose the poor, innocent people in the room to my amazingly out of tune and flat voice. However my secret rap skills did mean that for the fist song Sonia didn't entirely wipe the floor with me. Claire and I also managed a rather fine duet, to a song which I cannot remember but it think it will have sounded fabulous. Then the dancemat came out, of which a new form of dancing 'Sarah style' was coined. This was due to me attempting to get my groove on to Big Brovaz but it was on difficult, leading to much arm and leg flailing. I am classy at all times! However once I returned to songs which reflected my rumoured ghetto roots I didn't phail quite so badly, lol. We departed with a walk down the corridor, I genuinely found this a bit distressing as I have been hanging out with the Bridge Road crew since November and I am muy attached to them. But I'm saving uber tearful goodbyes and shout-outs till my last day at university...

When I Have Fears by John Keats

WHEN I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain,
Before high piled books, in charact’ry,

Hold like rich garners the full-ripen’d grain;
When I behold, upon the night’s starr’d face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour!
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power

Of unreflecting love!—then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink

{as cited on http://www.bartleby.com/126/52.html as accessed 30/06/07}

Bring On The Fun

So exams are finally over! This is a cause for much excitement for me. It means that until the 12th of July (uber day, :-s) I can be relatively carefree. After Sociology on Wednesday it was a Flat Ten outing to the Carleton for Erica and Kate's Fake Birthday. It also coincidentally was Pete's outing for his biffday too, making it extra special. There may have been some playing of Kings in our kitchen beforehand which was the catalyst for the state of Christine at about 1 in the morning, bless her cottons. I had a great time, especially because I was bequeathed two drinks voucher which made the evening significantly cheaper! I returned home with a big bruise on my foot and Mark's shirt. I love the responsibility placed on me when I'm not sober, lol. But I looked after the shirt and woke up at 8, still feeling drunk and with the imminent arrival of the parents in 2 hours. It was fun.

(Me, Helen, Christine and Kate)

On Tuesday the Flat 10 lovelies had our last official outing to County's Extrav. I had such a good time and we all looked very summer of love-esque. The Deadbeats were amazing; me, Hellypoos and Smelica, oh and Chris-pea later, were grooving our little hearts away to Summer of 69, Johnny B. Goode and other such classics. Beatlemania I didn't rate too much as they chose an odd set list but ended with the eponymous Hey Jude, much to Helen's delight, lol. I spied quite a lot of amazing Countarians and it was a really nice goodbye.

(Me, Amy Cooper and Laura Bradshaw)

So tonight is Hardrock Cartmel, of which I'm a bit dubious, but only because it's Cartmel and as a member of County, I've been well informed of the 'special' nature of Cartmel. I've made myself a denim skirt in honour of the occasion. This will never be repeated again as it was far too traumatic! If I see a sewing needle again....lol. Tomorrow is the final Bridge Road meal and grooving too, it's muy sad, but I sense that there shall be numerous gatherings over the summer, including Leeds which I am uber excited about. I canne wait, although I am a little bit gutted that pink tents are a target for mean, nasty people, lol. Well I have some room tidying to do....

(Kate, Christine, Helen, Me, Erica and Danny aka The Flat 10 Lovelies)

Love Songs In Age by Philip Larkin

She kept her songs, they took so little space,
The covers pleased her:
One bleached from lying in a sunny place,
One marked in circles by a vase of water,
One mended, when a tidy fit had seized her,
And coloured, by her daughter -
So they had waited, till in widowhood
She found them, looking for something else, and stood

Relearning how each frank submissive chord Had ushered in
Word after sprawling hyphenated word,
And the unfailing sense of being young
Spread out like a spring-woken tree, wherein That hidden freshness, sung,
That certainty of time laid up in store
As when she played them first. But, even more,

The glare of that much-mentioned brilliance, love, Broke out, to show
Its bright incipience sailing above,
Still promising to solve, and satisfy,
And set unchangeably in order. So
To pile them back, to cry,
Was hard, without lamely admitting how
It had not done so then, and could not now.

{http://www.igreens.org.uk/love_songs_in_age.htm as accessed 28/06/07}

Exams

So the time of exams is nearly drawing to a close for me. I've been revising since, well before the 5th of June which was my first exam. Just Sociology left now. This is a subject which has caused a great deal of mental trauma for me this year. I loved Sociology at college, as sad as this sounds, it really inspired me. Now I find that its become very different, I have a seminar tutor who is about as much use as a chocolate teapot for making a cup of coffee and it rarely seems to grab my attention as it used to. It doesn't help that now all my flatmates have finished with exams - the drive to revise has all but gone. Still I'm struggling through, just another day of revision then its all gone. And in that day of revision I have a shopping trip with Mark and Pete to look forward too. I do love shopping trips on a Tuesday!

So I'm going to go and ignore my revision for a bit longer (it's becoming a well developed skill) x

He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven

'Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half-light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams'

W.B. Yeats

(as cited in Best Loved Poems ed. Neil Philip, (Little, Brown, Great Britain, 2000) p. 41)

Warwick Weekend

Well I made it back from Warwick, although it was truly difficult to tear myself away. I do less than three turned 270 degrees clockwise the Warwickers a lot.

On Saturday night we went to Lava/Ignite in Coventry in full Disney garb. Of which I feel a special mention should go to Fiona as Mrs Incredible, twas very brave of her, to go out dressed in such an outfit but she looked very fab. We have a Lava in Preston...its not my favourite place. Its okay on a Wednesday or Thursday as they are mainly student nights (thus cheap, lol). Saturday nights are, however, expensive and filled with dance music and non-students. All quite concerning really. When this is combined with a 6 hours coach journey, Sarah unfortunately, only lasts till one in the morning. I did have really good night though.

Sunday was spent in International house, just relaxing and watching Heroes. Oh and painting Toni's nails. There were some interesting games of bat the beachball around Lizzi's room too. So despite not leaving the house I had a lovely time just relaxing.

I left at eleven on Monday morning to embark on the return leg of my coach journey of doom -filled with German phrases, after Lizzi and I, whilst being very wide awake at four in the morning decided to see how much German we could remember from year nine...it turns out there was quite a bit. With the help of an online translator of course, lol.

I was glad to return back to the fold though. Christine and Helen were so excited for my return that they nearly came to meet me on Sunday at the underpass! Now unfortunately I have an essay and a presentation to do...oh the fun.

Washing, drying, tidying and packing

Tomorrow I shall be leaving Lancaster for a long weekend in Warwick. I can't wait. I've missed my Warwickers so much this term. Unfortunately this means that the mountain of laundry, dispersement of clutter and the like which are making my room look less than tidy. It won't be a fun evening as I have to pack my costume (a Disney fancy dress party for the Hallettfish) which is not in a complete stage...not even close.

(Me and the Warwickers)

This mini vacation also means that I have to be up fairly early to catch the coach from the underpass. This is bad news as I may have indulged in some socialising last night, and, I may have chosen to partake in Frisbee and rolling down a hill wrapped in a Purple Ronnie Twister mat. I can't say it was my finest move, I'm still finding bits of grass.



The following poem is in honour of the micro-climate that occupies South West campus. A fine land with brisk, cooling breezes irrespective of the weather anywhere else in the vicinity.

Spellbound by Emily Bronte

The night is darkening round me,

The wild winds coldly blow;

But a tyrant spell has bound me

And I cannot, cannot go.

The giant trees are bending

Their bare boughs weighed with snow.

And the storm is fast descending,

And yet I cannot go.

Clouds beyond clouds above me,

Wastes beyond wastes below;

But nothing drear can move me;

I will not, cannot go.

(Spellbound by Emily Bronte as cited in Best-Loved Poems ed. Neil Philip [Little, Brown Books: Great Britain, 2000)