Hey – I made it to that 9am class! Be proud of me, especially since I was more awake through it than I was in last Friday's seminar. Actually, to be perfectly honest, it wasn't that I was asleep last Friday; it's just that my mind went into tailspin halfway through when my professor started to read aloud from this book by a historian called John Henderson. It's a great book – I read a bit of it for my current essay, but hearing it read out loud made me realize why I'd had to read passages three times over when I was taking
notes from it. Well, try reading things like 'the fragmentation of their socially validated truth is very soon realised for any reader' out loud, and watch the listeners eyes go 'eh? What? Come again?'

Current essay (which I'm busy putting off – I have 600 words of it done) is on speeches in Tacitus, which is interesting, but it does mean that my books now have a pretty border of post-it notes marking all the different speeches for ease of quoting. Should really get around to finishing it off though, since I have another one to write for my First World War class and a presentation for the Historiography one. Ah yes, more presentations. Love 'em. I get to be under pressure for this one though – it's on the autobiography of Augustus. Never heard of it? Of course you haven't – it only exists in fragments quoted in other works.
My professor has been working fragmentary historians for a while, and I get to use his draft article on the topic for my presentation - joy! So, work.

Anyway – last weekend was Raisin Weekend, so madness and mayhem came to St Andrews. Like I said, I wasn't a mummy, but I did hear a few funny tales (including academic incest on the part of one of my friends!). With children vomiting into computers and printers,
vegetarians dressed up as butchers, and M&Ms carrying car bumpers through St Andrews it sounds like a good time was had by all – and with far less press attention than last year fortunately. I think I may have to have children next year though.

What else has been going on? Well – ten weeks into term and our house finally has a cleaning rota. I only have to clean the bathrooms before Christmas, which makes me happy! I spent a good three days attempting to find cheap train tickets home for the holiday – I
discovered that if you type the same journey details into the virgin website 50 times you will be told over and over again that there are no value tickets, so you’re about to give up and cry, when it finally gives you a ticket option!

The ending of a jar of marmite nearly induced a house crisis – with one camp going: 'we need more', and the other going 'no we don't, we have nutella, and peanut butter, and jam, and honey, and marmalade which no-one but you eats, and syrup, we don't need Marmite when we're broke.' I suspect marmite will be in the cupboard by 5pm today, given that lentils were bought this weekend, which the party in question does not like. Understandable? No, didn't think so. Never mind. Clare just got the Little Book of Stress, so we're thinking of taking up the concept of 'Carpe Diem' – whinge daily – amongst others.

Fragility is the name of the game in the house, and not only emotionally. We've begun to break glasses every other day, so we're going to have to start saving for new, or buy plastic. Yesterday my history notebooks decided to attack my stereo when I put them back on my shelf, making the stereo do a double somersault off and land on its head. It only just, randomly, decided to start working again – fortunately, since it's about time to start thinking about Christmas presents for friends. Only three weeks of term left to go, so I'll
just go and get on with this essay-thing.

Swiv

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