h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello Cynthesis!

Sorry for taking a few days to reply to your post but I have been rather busy for one reason or another, and the pressures of real life have been reducing my involvement in conversations here on h2g2 recently. However, I now have some free time to respond to your post and catch up with what's been going on in the weird and wonderful world of h2g2, and I intend to make the most of it!

I only have two weeks of college left before I depart forever, and my final day will be Friday May 26th, so I am looking forward to leaving college so that I can close that chapter of my life and move on to university in September. That's as long as I can pass my two English exams, one of which is on June 10th and the other I think is on June 24th, which I am currently revising for and hoping to do well in so that I can go to Bournemouth University (which is only fifteen minutes away from where I live) and study their Screenwriting for Film and Television degree. I need to get a B grade overall in my two English exams, as that is what Bournemouth University are asking me to get, and if I don't get that B grade for whatever reason, then Southampton University is my second choice (even though it's usually a forty-five minute drive from Bournemouth depending on the traffic). What makes me really want to go to Bournemouth University is that it is the best university in England for Media, and I would be a little disheartened if I didn't get the B grade and had to go to Southampton University instead. Southampton University is still good though, don't get me wrong, but it's just that Bournemouth University is still my first choice, and the nature of heavy traffic is not so much of a problem with that university. So, I am revising really hard for the two English exams I have coming up, so that I can get the B grade I need to get into Bournemouth University. I feel almost relieved to be leaving college in two weeks time, but will miss the friends that I've got there. I only have eight lectures left before I leave!

The Screenwriting for Film and Television degree looks absolutely fantastic and is perfect for what I want to do in life. It covers all areas of television production, not just scriptwriting, and you study not only scriptwriting, but editing, sound editing, directing, script editing, ratings, film theory and about a dozen other areas associated with television production. In the first year, you write six-minute no dialogue scripts, then in the second year you write thirty-minute dramas and in the third year you write sixty-minute dramas. You are also put into groups of five people and one of you is the scriptwriter, one of you is the sound engineer, one of you is the camera operator, one of you is the editor and one of you is the director. You take it in turns each time you're put into a group to do a different job, which sounds absolutely brilliant! Also, while some areas of the course are essay-based, such as the film theory area, there is the distinct possibility that there are no exams for this course! However, if there is an exam at some point during the three years of the degree, then it will be something like picking up a sheet with several different script ideas on it, choosing one of the ideas, and having from 10.00 on Monday morning to 10.00 on Tuesday morning to write a script of twenty-eight to thirty-two pages based on the idea that you chose. That sounds like a difficult but interesting challenge, having twenty-four hours to write almost an entire script. Obviously I wouldn't go to sleep on that night... But with any luck that won't happen.

Nothing much else is happening in my life at the moment really, it's all taken up with college work and revision for my exams. The weather in England is at long last improving and becoming more summer-like, which is nice and enjoyable, and for the last five or six days we have been having sunshine all day and very little in the way of thick clouds and rain. The sunshine each day has been making me feel good, and also bringing back fond memories of Italy. Our average temperature during the day for the past five or six days has been 21 degrees C, and at night the average temperature has been around 10 degrees C, so it's been quite warm really. Hopefully we will get a good summer this year!

Anyway, I had better do some more revision... Speak to you later my friend!

Hello CYBERHUMAN!!!

I'm just popping by to let you know that I'm sending out lots of








wishes and confident, caring and supportive vibes to you for your final English exam...
I'm hoping for the very best of results for you!

I know you'll do your very best, dear friend!

Hello Cynthesis!

How are you my good friend? Long time no speak!

Hello Cynthesis!

I got an A grade in each of the two English A Level exams I took in June, which gave me a B grade overall (as I got a C and a D grade in the two exams last year) and I have been accepted into Bournemouth University, the university of my choice! I start university on September 25th.

Congratulations CYBERHUMAN !!!


I'm so very happy for you!!! That was the news I was waiting for... and sooooo hoping to hear. You've made my day with your perfectly wonderful news!

You've been at the forefront of my mind the past few days and I was more than wondering how you've been, what the exam results would be and if you'd soon be entering the university of your choice. I really couldn't be more happy for you. You've worked so long and hard for this and I know how important this is to you in the long range plans of fulfilling your dreams. So this really is a peak experience of your life and I'm hoping that you get to truly savour this major accomplishment! Well done, my friend!

It's terrific that you won't have a long commute to uni. I have a feeling that your mum, Anya, Willow and Eddie will appreciate having you so close to home, too.

So how are you feeling about all of this? Has your summer been a good one for you? What's new with you? We haven't had a chance to chat for such a long while and I've missed that quite a lot!

I just came back from Canada the other night. I had a concert peformance of () Mozart arias with the symphony orchestra there. Before that, I had been performing in Oregon and California Bach Festivals. It's been a busy summer doing music gigs-and it isn't even over yet. I have yet another concert on the east coast in about three weeks.

Hope you got my photos. I've been to a lot of nice places lately and sometimes describing them with words isn't nearly enough.

For now, I'm just taking care of my mum as usual and doing a bit of gardening in the backyard in between the voice and ballet classes.I'll send you a link to some of my garden shots. I'm setting out to top last year's overgrown garden look this year. Even though it's August, I've still got a lot of things blooming in rebellious profusion. Quite gardening mad, I am...

And I've just harvested the very first watermelon that I've ever grown:

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/8295/thumpinripexz2.jpg

I thought I'd better photograph it for posterity's sake before I slaughtered it.
*giggles* It was pretty delicious, too.

It was so lovely to hear from you and thanks for sharing your happy news. I knew you'd do well!


Take care and enjoy these beautiful late summer days to the fullest!
Hope everyone in your houshold is doing fine and that I'll get to hear from my favourite cybernetic friend again soon!

++++Jek and Hade send their very best of canine cyborg wishes, too!++++

Hello Cynthesis!

How are you today?

Hello CYBERHUMAN!

It's so good to see you here again! How is university life?
Are you settling in over there pretty well?

I've been a bit busy with my mum the past couple of days. I was at the hospital emergency room with her last night because she went into respiratory shock from an allergic reaction to her medications. They admitted her for monitoring and oxygen and respiratory treatments. She's going to be alright.
It was a bit of a scare, though.

On Halloween night I went to a Devo concert with a bunch of friends. We all wore pink tutus and pink strap-on headlamps. I wore a tiara and aviator helmet. It was fun seeing the guys in their tutus and airforce jumpsuits. The music was outrageously good and the crowd was in an exceptionally mood. Perfect Halloween celebration environment!

Btw, it's such a disappointment that Nickelback won't be touring the UK or the rest of Europe even this coming next year season. They're touring North America exclusively. Still it's good to see that their last album went platinum a few times or more !*shrugs*

Other than that, I've been preparing Ralph Vaughan Williams 'A Sea Symphony' that I'll be singing in concert next month. I'll be performing more Mozart this month and the next, as well.
I'll also be in a dance exhibition programme featuring my own modern ballet choreography. After that, I'll be dancing with a friend using his choreography at his university's arts performance hall. It counts heavily as part of his grade, so I'm really hoping to do my best.
Then, both dances will be performed a week later at a charity fund raising concert event. It'll be a busy next couple of months but I'm looking forward to it all!

I hope Anya, Willow and Eddie are doing well this weekend. All the fireworks will soon be over, thank goodness. It's not much fun being a when humans insist upon celebrating with frighteningly loud and dangerously explosive devices!*sigh*

I'd better get some sleep over here. It's nearly 5AM!
Luckily, I get to sleep in this morning.
You were up late when you posted on the other thread, too!
Hope you got a proper recharge with a good lie in this morning!

It's really lovely to hear from you. I hope to catch up with you again soon!
Have a wonderful Sunday, dear friend!

Hello Cynthesis!

I'm doing very well at university so far thank you. It's hard to believe that I have been there for five weeks already (not counting the Fresher's week at the end of September) and things are progressing well. The social aspect of university life is a little slow in getting off the ground, but progress is occurring gradually and I'm sure that it will pick up and improve soon. My best friend Simon is at the same university as I, which is absolutely brilliant seeing as there was a time when it looked as though I wouldn't be able to get into Bournemouth University because of my poor grades. He is now in the second year of his Information Communications & Systems Technology course and doing well. One or two other people I knew at my college are also at the same university, and one of my best friends is hoping to start at the university next year, so that will be nice.

I have now started my first ever assignment for my Scriptwriting for Film and Television course! It's a script that has to last for six minutes and must be sound and vision only, so it can include sound effects, music and images, but no dialogue whatsoever. It's been designed to teach us just how much of a visual medium the film and TV industries are, so the emphasis is all on what the camera can see and not on what the audience can hear dialogue-wise. The best six scripts will be selected to be filmed in the brand new TV studio that has been built at the university, so I'm aiming to be one of the six students who's work gets chosen to be turned into reality. We get no budget however, with the university just providing the facilities and the equipment, which puts just that little bit extra pressure on us to keep our scripts within realistic filming methods. So we can't have helicopters buzzing overhead or lots of special effects or anything! Damn, they won't get to see my six minute "Doctor Who" story involving tons of special effects and helicopter scenes!

Actually my idea for my six minute no dialogue script is going very well and is well within the zero budget range for this assignment. This week, we get our first university essay set, so that should be interesting and a little worrying for me as I always struggle with essays. Being something of a long-winded writer (as I'm sure you've noticed!), I find it hard to keep to word limits or to keep my paragraphs brief. All of our essays in the first year are 2,000 words only, so I think it will be a struggle for me to stick to that word limit. Oh well, we shall have to wait and see.

Nickelback won't be touring Europe or the UK next year?! That's the first I've heard of it! If I could get enough free time and enough money, plus conquer my fear of flying anywhere in the direction of America since the September 11, 2001 attacks, I'd go and see Nickelback live in concert in America! Hopefully they'll have a new album out late next year as they have had an album out every two years since "Silver Side Up" was released in 2001. With my increasing university schedule between now and 2009, and the fact they won't be over here at all next year, I guess the chances of me seeing them anywhere in the UK are now pretty slim.

I'm no good at choreography. I have two left feet. I tend to walk only in one direction - the left-hand direction - when I walk. I'm better at performing though. I once had an audience, a rather small audience I will admit (mainly family and friends, as in those who could be bothered to turn up), literally in stitches. Yes. Stitches. I was so bad they had to be rushed down to the local hospital to be stitched up for internal haemoraging (and isn't that one of the hardest words in the English language to spell?).



That rather bad joke was not in very good taste, particularly after what happened to your mother. I hope she's okay.

My university timetable, if you are interested:

Monday - Lecture on Media as a whole
9.00 to 12.00

Scriptwriting lecture
2.00 to 5.00

Tuesday - Scriptwriting seminar
11.00 to 1.00

Peer Assisted Learning seminar
1.00 to 2.00 (only once a fortnight)

Wednesday - Personal Development Planning lecture
10.00 to 11.00 (only for three weeks per term)

Thursday - FREE!

Friday - FREE!

Weekends - ALWAYS FREE!

Not too bad really. Although it will get busier next year though.

Ahem. All three of my cats don't like fireworks and some irresponsible dog owners behind my house insist on leaving their poor dog out amongst the fireworks for the entire duration of the Bonfire Night period. Over in Britain, the firework season lasts between the middle of October and the end of November, with occasional fireworks being let off at Christmas, New Year and even Easter! To me, that is just far too much, especially when idiotic people leave their poor pets outside as fireworks are being let off all round them. That poor dog I just mentioned spends about four weeks of each year cowering in it's back garden, terrified and barking and howling as these loud bangs, crackles and dazzling flashes and so on. And there's no point telling the RSPCA as they don't do anything unless they have concrete evidence of the animal being mistreated or neglected. So you basically have to get DNA evidence, camera footage, eyewitness statements, a diary of events, testimony from the animal itself and statements from all the animal's friends before the RSPCA will even lift a finger. I'm not kidding.

Britain, a nation of animal lovers?! Yeah right. I bet you Americans are glad you don't celebrate Bonfire Night. Less fireworks each year for the poor animals to be terrified by.

On that note, I shall bid ye a fond farewell!

Just wanted to wish you...

A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

How come you aren't talking to me anymore?

Hi and Merry Christmas to you, CYBERHUMAN!
I'm so sorry I didn't get back to you sooner...there's no excuse for not checking my convo listings more frequently and thoroughly!
I hope you can forgive me for being so remiss!

Things got a bit busy with my mother being hospitalised again in November shortly after I last posted to you. She only returned home 3 days ago and needs full time assistance and care.
While she was in hospital, rehabilitation, and a nursing facility, I stepped up the pace with my out of town singing engagements all across the states and in Canada. Just last week I performed in Seattle, Montreal and Boston...while battling the flu and asthma.

How have you been? Was your Christmas a nice one? I was wondering what kinds of Dr. Who pressiess you might have been a recipient of this year.

I got stuff like art books, lingerie, shower gels, tickets to concerts and the symphony, a mahogany, silk brocaded chair, an iPod(holds 20,000 songs!), a pair of sound isolating earphones, cookery books, cashmere sweaters, socks, 2 evening gowns, , a Japanese tea set, a watercolour painting, some earrings, DVDs and a boxed calligraphy set. Quite a lovely haul! There are still a few pressies waiting to be unwrapped,though.

We had 16 people over for brunch and now I'm roasting a big rib roast for 18 supper guests!

Hope your mum, Anya, Willow, Eddie and you are having a lovely holiday. Did you visit with any of your other relatives? I mostly had cousins over for the weekend. It been a nice family gathering.

Well, take care dear friend, enjoy the rest of your holidays and I promise not to be so lax in perusing my convo list again(it wasn't reloading the page recently, either!)!

Hope to see you sometime soon!

Hello again Cynthesis!

May I start off by wishing you a very Happy New Year and I hope that everything goes fantastically well for you in 2007.

Sorry to hear about your mother not being in the best of health again. I hope that she recovers soon and doesn't suffer any more bad luck in the future. I hope all goes well with her during 2007 also. Well done to you for being able to carry on with your performances despite being not in the best of health yourself! I'm sure you did brilliantly and won over your audiences (and critics) on each performance!

My Christmas and New Year have been very good thank you, although Christmas was far busier and was celebrated far more than New Year was. My mum, dad and I went round to my grandparents' house for both Christmas Day and Boxing Day, to be joined on Boxing Day by the rest of my family, who came down from their respective locations to make that day quite a hectic and noisy one! It was especially important that all the family came down this year because my grandparents are selling their house, which is a large house built at the beginning of the 20th century, and as from February of this year, they will be living in a new house just over a mile away from their current house. They're moving because they can no longer afford to live in their current house and they don't want to have tenants because of the fuss that involves, with things like collecting rent, sectioning off areas of the house purely for the tenants and so on. The house they're moving to is much smaller and more financially worthwhile for them. It's a shame in a way because it's a nice house and my family has owned it for the past 73 years, with my grandmother, my mum and my mum's brother all being born in that house, and I grew up in that house until I was 6 years old (then me and my mum moved to the house we've been living in for the past 13 years now). Sadly none of my family members are either financially able or interested in buying the house off my grandparents. Anyway, this Christmas we just sat around chatting about various subjects, exchanged our presents and had a nice meal together in the evening on Boxing Day. For the first time in I don't know how many years, my parents managed to avoid having a major argument over Christmas! What a relief!

My full list of Christmas presents goes as follows:

- "Little Britain" T-shirt with Andy on it and “Want that one” written above him.

- "Little Britain" socks with Lou and Andy on them.

- "Galaxy" chocolate bar.

- Plastic cartridges for Game Boy Advance game packs (because the cardboard boxes they come in are so fragile).

- Diary for 2007.

- DVD of "Monty Python’s Life of Brian."

- "Superman Returns" Xbox game.

- "WWE Raw 2" Xbox game.

- Box of Cadbury’s Miniature Heroes.

- DVD of "Peter Jackson’s King Kong."

- DVD of "Little Britain Live on Stage Tour."

- DVD of the first series of "Extras."

- Novels written by sci-fi writer H.G. Wells – "The Time Machine," "The Shape of Things to Come" and "The War of the Worlds" (these were given to me by my dad, and he reckons he can get me "The Invisible Man" and "The Island of Doctor Moreau," two others on my Christmas list, for my birthday).

- DVD Boxset of the second series of the revived "Doctor Who."

- Cyberman figure from the revived series of "Doctor Who."

- DVDs of the "Doctor Who" episodes from the original series "Earthshock," "The Invasion" and "Genesis of the Daleks."

- Novels of the "Doctor Who" episodes from the original series "The Armageddon Factor" and "The Android Invasion."

- TARDIS Console Room playset from the revived series of "Doctor Who."

- "Doctor Who" Top Trumps cards for the revived series.

- Books called collectively "The Doctor Who Files," and individually they are "The Cybermen" and "The Daleks" (which have detailed background and biological information on the two races, as well as details of their encounters with the Doctor).

- Scripts for the films "From Dusk Till Dawn" and "The Exorcist III: Legion."

- £25 in book vouchers.

Apologies if you are not as familiar with the comedy series "Little Britain" and "Extras" as we are over here in Britain, but I think both those series will be airing in America at some point in the not-too-distant future, so you'll be able to check them out. They are both very clever and very funny, and "Little Britain" has quite a fan base over here in the UK.

It sounds like you had a nice Christmas and got some great presents. I always think it's nice to get lots of presents at Christmas, which I guess comes from coming from quite a large family with lots of aunts, uncles and cousins in it.

My mum, Willow and Anya are all doing well, but right at this particular moment in time I am a bit worried about my cat Eddie, because he has been sick three times in the space of only a few hours, and the vet's that we go to is not open on New Year's Day. Hopefully it will pass without further incidents, but it may turn out to be something more serious. If he carries on being sick, my mum will take him to the vet's for a check up after New Year's Day. Eddie is now 8 years old, which is middle-aged for a cat, and he weighs over a stone (as he was weighed last time my mum took him to the vet), which the vet said when combined with his age, could lead to diabetes if he doesn't lose some of that weight in the near future. With any luck, he won't be sick again and the incidents will pass into the sands of time and memory.

My first term at Bournemouth University is now complete. It went okay, but nowhere near as good as I had hoped it would go, but I won't go into all the reasons why in this post because it's 6.35 in the morning here and I need some sleep, so I'll tell you next time I post. I'm not really enjoying university as much as I thought I would and have even contemplated dropping out, but my best friend Simon persuaded me to carry on at least until the end of the first year in June, when I'll be in a much better position to make any major decisions regarding university. The work is much tougher than I imagined it would be. For my first ever assignment, a 6 minute, no dialogue script and an essay on the use of images in the media, I received 48% for the essay and 58% for the script. The pass rate over here is 40% (I don't know if it's different over in America), so I just about passed the essay and got a very good grade on the script. I need at least 40% by the end of the year to be accepted into the second year, otherwise I get kicked out.

I now have a new assignment to be doing over Christmas and New Year. A 30 minute, dialogue script, a 10 minute presentation on a film or TV series/documentary that we like and an essay. I'm finding the work more of a chore than a pleasure though, but the lectures and seminars are interesting.

It's my birthday on February 16th, woohoo! I will be 20 years old this year! I wish I was a child again! I can't take all this adult responsibility and grown up independence! How do all you adults cope?!

Well I'd better go to bed, before my eyelids drop down so much they hit the keyboard and start typing the words for me! Take care, enjoy the New Year celebrations and don't drink too much! (That's the mature, responsible adult in me starting to emerge!) Speak to you soon!

Are you okay, Cynthesis? Only you don't seem to be replying to my posts as regularly as you have been doing. Hope everything is alright with you and your mum.

What's up Cynthesis? You haven't spoken to me for a long time now and I'm getting concerned as you normally don't leave it this long without speaking to me. I hope everything is alright with you and your mum. Please get in touch as soon as you can because I'm worried.