Journal Entries
Waiter Buffalo
Posted Jan 23, 2004
Well, I guess I'm back at Uni, then! Actually, it's been two weeks already, but it's all gone rather quickly... 
My holidays were the usual mix of pleasing family encounters, disorganisation and varying degrees of success in carrying through my plans 
. Specifically, highlights included: seeing my nieces and nephew, who are all incredibly sweet and great fun to play with 
; chatting and philosophising with my family generally, by the open fire 
; and seeing Lifson again, strange as it was 
. Lowlights included watching various members of my family heading off abroad (Sweden, Florida, the Netherlands...) and realising I'd pretty much missed my chance to visit my friend[s] who is/are studying in Germany 
; and thinking too late that I should have looked up more of my old friends while I was home 
. But there's always a next time...
The term started with the news that my room had been broken into
- but they'd only got as far as busting the windowlocks, and all my stuff was safely upstairs anyway.
[In fact, there's an amusing story about where my stuff got hidden over the holidays, involving 3 locked bedrooms, 2 keys, and some dodgy machine translation - but I'll save that for another time...
] I'd like to be able to say "it's been [up|down]hill from there", but it's been consistently neither 
- including as it has making and filling a hole in the living-room wall 
; scalding myself rather badly trying to make a cup of 
; some scarily organisedness, and some plain old scared disorganisedness 
; much nattering and general friendliness with friends 
; being as late for everything as ever - including bed 
; going to the cinema to see "Spirited Away", only to find they'd loaded it onto the spool in the wrong order 
; and then yesterday going to see "Cypher" which was above average but not brilliant, but which contained in the credits an extra called, I kid you not, "Waiter Buffalo"! 
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Latest reply: Jan 23, 2004
Starlight Zone, Act One
Posted Dec 18, 2003
I think the last week rather sums up the whole of this term - which is handy, really, it coming at the end and all...
Now, since the end of last week was also the end of term, it's not surprising I had some coursework due in. And although it would be an exaggeration to say I hadn't started it yet before Wibble, it would be even more of one to say it was almost finished.
So, along came the 
, in went the 
, and out the window went the 
. In fact, on Wibble night I got only 2 hours sleep, as I then had to be up for a 10:00 until 13:00 Psychology seminar - at which, seasonally enough, the lecturer gave out mince pies (and managed to sit still for once, since it was student-led! Although he did rather relish his job of pronouncing the word "homunculus"... ).
Now, one of my aims for this term / year (and one I've done quite well at fulfilling, I feel...) was to see lots of live music. 
And this particular Thing, there was a second "X-Ray Folder" night at the Union - I don't know where that name comes from 
, but basically it's a live music night, generally involving indie, rock and blues. Now, I couldn't let my work get in the way of going to that, now, could I? Even if the work was unfinished and due in the next day... 
So, a quick half-hour "powernap" while my housemate cooked a pizza (
), and off I whizzed (late) to meet up with my friend. And a thoroughly good evening it was too - a few drinks , and a few encounters with random acquaintances (another recurring theme this term: people I half-know...). This included one girl who seemed to be literally unable to thank me enough for lending her some notes to photocopy; really, it was no problem! Plus one of the people involved in organising the night, who I was chatting to at Tom's house a couple of weeks ago (after a very strange night, involving more live music - this time from my Japanese housemates and their band "Freedom McArthur" - and the unlikely coincidence of said Tom being at this Japanese gig and talking me into going on to a club... )
[Note: although I don't normally include people's real names in my journal, I will make an exception for anyone named Tom, as I know so many of them that it hardly counts as identification! 
]
The main band were cool, too: the gloriously named "Up C Down C Left C Right C ABC+Start" (it's a computer game cheat, from the original Sonic the Hedgehog, hence the subject 
). Definitely one to watch (although my friend suggested it was the kind of name that gets changed as soon as they get a decent record deal 
) Admittedly, they'd have a hard time matching the excellence of British Sea Power (yes, my wall is now adorned with genuine British Sea Power foliage! 
); let alone the sheer genius of The Flaming Lips (my birthday night out 
); but they nonetheless rocked, "Porn Jam" and all [don't ask 
]
Of course, then I had to go home to bed - and my body flatly refused to give me less than a full night's sleep, so I slept through another lecture (it's alright, it was cancelled anyway). More importantly, I now had just a few hours left to polish off the coursework In the end, I had to 
all the way onto campus, print it off, and hand it in technically *after* the Student Info Centre closed! 
The feeling of relief at leaving campus for the last time till January was briefly flattened by the memory that I needed to pick up those 
notes I'd loaned out from my Psychology pigeon hole. But otherwise, it was time to settle in for a relaxing weekend of unexpected long and philosophical talks with my housemate and unimportantly slipping schedules...
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Latest reply: Dec 18, 2003
Housemates
Posted Nov 14, 2003
I've come to the conclusion that housemates are probably the most valuable thing in the world - I mean I really am not sure what I'd do if it weren't for the random people I've ended up living with over the last few years.
For instance, just the other day, I was completely knackered after lugging a parcel of networking equipment around town all afternoon [more details of which in a different journal entry, probably] 
. I hadn't [and haven't!] done any work all week, and my hopes for a brithday drink over the weekend had kind of died with a whimper. 
But then, my housemates called me into the kitchen/living room, cos they'd "made a pudding". [Now, just to clarify, this year I'm living with people I'd never met before last month, who just happened to move into the same house as me. Three of them are Japanese, and one sort of Welsh[ish].] The "pudding" the three Japanese ones wanted me to share in, turned out to be a 
-y 
/tiramisu thing, with "21" writ large on top in hundreds & thousands. They then produced a card, and a present of these weird paper balloon things, which are apparently very popular in Japan, and with which we proceeded to throw/hit around the room in a surprisingly energetic combination of volleyball, badminton [they're pretty light...] and what I've always called "balloon-o". 
And as for my other housemate - she's just perfect at sorting me out when I'm in a muddle [which is pretty often recently ]. Sometimes she does it, as always seems to happen, just by being there - like when I come out of my room for a cup of tea, and we just sit in the kitchen and chat. Or sometimes, she actually prods me into getting organised - like the other day, when she stood there telling me to eat, telling me to go to the Anime film-night, not letting me get bogged down in self-pity. , for that I owe her one!
So yeah, here's something to remember - for myself, and for anyone else who's reading this: if you're in a shared house, no matter how random, take advantage of it. It is a 
. Forget about earning an extra 
overtime; forget about trying to "have a social life" 
; just be at 'home' enough to bump into your housemates randomly, and sort each other out.
A cheer for random housemates everywhere! 
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Latest reply: Nov 14, 2003
Why I don't like Things
Posted Oct 24, 2003
For some reason, Things are currently the most ridiculously busy day of the week for me... [if that sentence doesn't seem to make sense, you'd better look at A516647]
During the day, I have a 3-hour Psychology seminar from 10:00 till 13:00, followed by another one from 13:15 till 16:15! Admittedly, they have breaks, and don't always run their full length, but ...
Then, its back for dinner in time to get to the Sci-Fi society at 19:00 (a chance to see cheesy TV series, cool films, and catch up with old mates). Alternatively, however, there's Comedy Club at the Union - which would, apparently, give me the chance to bump into some even *older* mates. And that's when there isn't an interesting film at the Film Theatre, or some kind of event in town, or...
It's jsut weird, cos the rest of the week seems to be so spread out and laid-back I sometimes wonder what to do with myself!
Actually, next weekend seems to be having the same problem - I'm going home, that's not in question: I've booked my ticket, and have entertainments arranged cos it's my birthday shortly after . But I now discover that that weekend is the Sci-Fi soc.'s "marathon" night.
Plus, I just got an e-mail advertising a "People & Planet Conference" which actually sounds quite interesting - although I'm intrigued by the idea of it including "An Interactive fringe programme" [a hair-Net, perhaps? 
]
Ah, well, interesting events are like 
(or somethursday like that...)[IMSoP]
"You win some, you lose some; such is life..."
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Latest reply: Oct 24, 2003
Not according to plan...
Posted Oct 14, 2003
My summer was a bit hopeless, in some ways. But then, they often are.
This one started with me somewhat depressed, and promptly proved anything but relaxing - Lifson's home life reached breaking point, scuppering any plans for a holiday for us.
Instead, I spent a week in Cumbria with my parents [long walks, coffee breaks and real ale]; a weekend with one brother (and his fiancee, and their cat) in York [cheap white wine, Italian restaurant, rock-hard sofa-bed]; and the rest of the week with the other brother (and his partner and their three children) in Matlock - or rather, in a cottage *near* Matlock, because they'd unexpectedly rented out both their houses to a TV crew! [weak white tea, take-away curry, overly soft folding bed]. Towels caught fire, and my parents' car was broken into, but I got a tour of York and a chance to meet my 7-month-old nephew, and all things considered had a pretty good time. 
Then came the toughest challenge of all: realising that me and Lifson were drifting apart, and that it might be time to declare "us" "over". They say that if you really love something, you have to let it go - I've never really understood that, but I hope things work out for the best. I do still love Lifson, but I could think of no better answer. 
And finally, back to Reading, to face the horror of my Final Year: new people to get to know, hard work to get done, and the rest of my life just around the corner. My bed's gone through half a dozen variations, and there's a slight language barrier with my Japanese housemates, but actually I think things might turn out alright. I may not know exactly what the future holds, but I know where my 
is... + 
[IMSoP]
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Latest reply: Oct 14, 2003
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