Since when is bacon ever unwanted?!

I’m doing my favourite trick while revising, and that’s eating my lunch while watching something on the laptop before getting back to work. I’m a sucker for cookery programmes as I love food and all its associated cooking goodness. Except maybe the washing up. That’s always posed a bit of a problem, but it’s normally resolved by whining “But I made the tasty, why do I have to wash up toooooooo?”, with accompanying pout.

Anyway, I’m watching Nigel Slater’s Simple Suppers at the moment (not literally because I couldn’t be typing this, but it’s currently paused and ready to be watched in another tab), and I’m finding myself ranting at the screen through mouthfuls of noodles. (Microwaved I’ll have you know – the height of cuisine in this flat). I like his programmes for the most part, but this one is driving me barmy – the theme is “don’t let it go to waste” and it’s giving tips on how not to waste food, that might otherwise end up in the bin or on the compost heap. I’d love to have a compost heap for it to end up on!

ANYWAY. I’m so good at getting distracted. Point the first that’s bugging me – the quality of odds and ends is far above what I’m dealing with – leftover cheese in this house is a sliver of cheddar that’s managed to survive being munched on by a hungry Hairy. The recipe called for 350g of the stuff, and the cheese being used was definitely of the fancy variety, but then also double cream, eggs and fresh thyme!

For me, that’s not a using up the bits and bobs kind of affair – that’s a meticulously planned manoeuvre that requires tactics and planning to get the ingredients to last long enough.

Number two – more of a general grumble at cookery programmes in general. They hardly ever serve up full meals, and if they do the portions are tiny. By full meals I mean having more than a bit of meat and a carrot on a plate. Nigel Slater (in my books at least) is notoriously bad at this – he serves up a lamb chop and says it’s a wonderful supper. I’m sure it tastes lovely, but I’d be hungry still after eating it! Today he came pretty close to a full meal, but I was scandalised by his flagrant use of the word “dressing” in conjunction with “bacon”. He even insinuated that some people might regard it as “unwanted”! What is the world coming to?

Shock and horror over at that. I know his food is simple, and I’m sure it’s delicious. Sometimes the simplicity of it seems a bit over the top though – there were people, they had an allotment with vegetables past when they were due to be picked and he gallantly went and saved them from *gasp* having to throw them on the compost! So instead, he fried the potatoes in herby oil and was complimented on his tasty tasty chips and excellent ideas. Hmmmm…  Yeah.

I think my biggest problem with this is the initial concept. I mean – what are leftovers?

Technically revising, actually just puttering around the flat.

Technically revising, actually just puttering around the flat trying to read stuff that I have no interest in any more. I’ll be good in a minute, just putting it off for that last little bit.

So, I rang and left a very awkward voice mail letting them know that I will be attending the job interview. I’ll toddle along to it, but it’s going to be a pain trying to get there. I didn’t actually think about it properly beforehand, and now I’ve checked and it’s going to take me nearly two hours to get there on the bus. It’s even worse by train because it’s 4 miles from the train station to the offices and although I have no problem walking that, I’ll have to be in office wear. No walking boots to be seen.

I’m going for the interview, but I’m going to have to think seriously about accepting the job. A 2 hour commute at either end of the day is a hell of a chunk of time, and I’m not sure when we’d be able to move to Leicester because the wages are less than Hairy’s, so we couldn’t afford for him to give up his job. So four hours on the bus every day would be the way it’d have to be for at least three months.

Hairy and I have had a few relaxing evenings recently, just sitting at home and watching our latest obsession on Netflix – it’s called the 4400 and it’s pretty good. Thankfully it’s actually got all the episodes up, so we don’t end up waiting for years for something that just ends up getting cancelled.

Apart from that, it’s life as boring usual. Napping for hours yesterday made me feel brilliant, but then I couldn’t sleep last night so I spent most of the night trying not to wake Hairy up by wriggling around too much.

I ordered my graduation gown today, so that’s pretty much me sorted for my graduation now. All I need to do is either get my Doc Martens fixed and trundle across the stage in those (plus a sensible grown up outfit), or buy some work worthy shoes.

Okay, SO.

Today is my last coursework deadline for my undergraduate degree. I’ll be handing in a monster of an essay, currently standing at about 3,300 words. My essays are normally in the realm of about 2,700-3,000 so this one is a bit of a beast. It’s all about heroes in Icelandic literature, what heroes are and how they are portrayed. I’m just editing, putting references in the right places and then to write the bibliography. I’ve got until 3.30pm, so I think I’m doing pretty well for time although the washing machine man is due around again but I don’t know when! I sent him a polite message asking for a rough estimate, and he didn’t reply. It’s just that if he’s planning the afternoon, I need to know that so I can hand in my essay earlier rather than later.

Weekend was rather lovely, I spent a few hours on campus helping to run a viking workshop for the university Mayfest, and I’ve found a beautiful replica cup that I would love to have. It’s the Jelling Cup, and it’s the perfect size to be a shot glass. I’m getting paid for 2 and a half hours of work, which works for me because at least half of that was sat around chatting and organising what we were going to be doing.

Sunday I worked, got most of my essay written and then loaded up the Sims medieval for a few hours of playing computer games. I’d forgotten how much I like that game!

Last night – Guides. Got our unit hoodies finally! They’re all purple, but I didn’t realise that all the writing is in silver, so I’ve got a giant 3 on the front and my name emblazoned in shiny shiny letters across my back. Also I got overly excited by the fact that there are two little pockets INSIDE the big one on the front which are supposed to be for your ipod, but it fits my phone pretty perfectly We went to the park, got the guides to complete a challenge which involved lots of running about like headless chickens, and then we went and played on the playground. I got roped into spinning the roundabout type affair – like a roundabout, but you stood on a circle about a foot off the ground, and held onto a set of handles about waist height. So yeah, I was the propeller for that little monstrosity and ended up nearly wrenching my shoulders out of their sockets.

That was quick update, but no more time to write since I have to get back to writing my essay. Last one! Then one more exam, then I’m free.

I’ve got a job interview.

I’ve been boring over the past few however long it’s been since I last posted. It’s finals month, so I’ve been labouring over the last few bits of work that I need to complete my degree. Currently it’s a 3,500 word essay on heroes in Icelandic sagas. I’m about a third of the way through, it’s due on Tuesday and I’ve got social things to be doing this weekend which isn’t ideal.

I’ve also been asked to help run a Viking workshop at the university because I helped out doing something similar in a primary school a while back. I don’t really remember when, but I’ve agreed to do it and I’ll be getting paid a whole £6.95 an hour to do it!

Graduation seems to be sneaking up on me every now and again, slightly scarily it’s less than two months away. I’ve got one more essay to hand in and one more exam and that’s it. It’s seriously terrifying me, but I’m looking forward to it more than anything. I don’t want to be stressed like this for the rest of my days, even though I love learning. I’m going to miss it, but I don’t think I could do any further study just yet.

So, back to the title. I applied for a job quite a long time back, not really thinking I was going to get it to be honest. It wasn’t exactly something I planned to do, and so I was a bit facetious and put down that I make a really good french coffee on the application form. Dappy, I know. I didn’t think I’d get through, but then yesterday I got a letter saying that I’m being invited for a group interview/written exam on the 29th May for the position of a support worker in Leicester. It’s working for a charity, supporting people with mental health and learning difficulties in the community, helping them with anything they need like housing and giving them the chance to live a normal life. If I get through the first interview, I’d be invited back the next day for an individual interview, and then I guess I’d start working for them. Scary, but nice getting an interview.

Back to nice things – going out for drinks with a friend tomorrow, helping out with children during the day and having another amble onto campus to return a book. It’s overdue (oops!), I meant to take it back yesterday and got all the way to returning the book, but then realised it was the wrong book so it’s now even more overdue. Sometimes I swear I need a brain.

Like a BOSS.

I’m going to take a second and be completely egotistical in a way that I find very difficult normally. I’m clever. Pretty astoundingly so on a normal day and if I put my mind to it, I can be brilliant.

Today I had an exam that went pretty swimmingly (even without all the help the lecturer gave us). Yesterday I nearly had a breakdown in Aldi because I thought I was about to fail my exam and Hairy had to bring me home and feed me chocolate and oranges (and buy me green beans to make me smile).

My exam was an Old Norse-Icelandic translation and grammar test; I’m good at languages and grammar, and pretty damn good in exam conditions. I’m not sure that today could have done any better – I found all the grammatical terms that I needed to, then set to on the translation which counted for 70% of the entire thing. There were two passages of about 200 words each of which we had to choose one and translate it. I was a jammy jammy lady and translated both and then picked out the one that I liked better, then transcribed it into slightly better modern English.

And I did all that in 25 minutes. I’m that good. One bit that made me laugh was the last line of one of the texts (from Grettirs Saga). This bloke had climbed up onto the roof of a hall where some guy on the inside is shooting arrows and keeping all the other guys away from the hall. Blokey number one is wearing a red tunic (must have been English), and gets seen from the inside and stabbed. He falls to the floor, one of his friends wanders up and asks “So, is Grettir at home then?” Blokey number one replies “You know that well, but I know something else. His spear was also at home.” ‘After that, he fell down dead’.

Seriously I should get my sense of humour checked soon.

I’m happy tonight, ignoring my essay in favour of telling Hairy on a regular basis that I am “THE BOSS”. He’s pretty happy with it and is plying me with drinks and jellytots I only have three things left before I’m done with my degree, so YIPPEE!

Stupid uni and your stupid system.

I had a lovely post drafted yesterday about how amazing my weekend away was, how relaxed I felt when I came back and THEN I TRIED TO BUY MY GRADUATION TICKETS. Stupid system has crashed because they said that it was on a “first come, first served” basis and we all panicked and set our alarms for 9am to try to get tickets.

Now I’m stuck, refreshing the page and hoping to get a ticket so that Hairy can come and see me graduate, after sticking with it for nearly three years and supporting me through all the tantrums and nearly giving up more than once. I can’t even get through to get one of the broadcast tickets, which let him watch it on a big screen in a tent.

Everyone’s angry and annoyed now, and all because the university didn’t figure that everyone wants to get a ticket for graduation. So instead of revising, I’m procrastinating and freaking out over the fact that I want a ticket and can’t get one and the system’s gone down. ARGL FLARGL. There are no words for my rage.

But anyway, the past weekend was pretty idyllic. Not perfect because I’ve got sunburn on my forearms (way more painful than I’d expected), Hairy smoked enough to fill a hot air balloon and I had to revise but all in all, rather lovely.

We slept in single beds pushed together with a duvet stuffed down the middle, in a room that was colder than all the rest of the house and a beautiful view out over the Severn. We had a barbeque, drank too much but didn’t get drunk because Hairy started spiking all my drinks with lemonade so they tasted better. Every morning I came downstairs to Hairy playing WoW with his brother, his sister in law watching god-awful telly and I read while being sat upon by a very small Yorkshire terrier-Jack Russell cross. I finished the first of the last books by George R R Martin, so only one book left and I’m up to date with the entire series.

Things are getting better and worse by turns. This weekend was a welcome break from everything, but we got back yesterday evening and I smacked my funny bone on the shower door and Hairy had to come and cuddle me for ten minutes before I could stop crying. It didn’t even hurt that much.

Last night we had a wander onto campus to return a library book, stopped in mooch for a pint then went home before my goosebumps threatened to grow any bigger. The extraction fan has finally been replaced, we have a new fridge WITH A LIGHT THAT DOESN’T OPEN INTO THE WALL. Never underestimate the pleasure of a clean new fridge. We’ve called ours Simon.

I taught Hairy to play a card game, I beat him soundly but then he started beating me and it made me sad. We also popped for lunch in the Roundhouse before heading off to Gloucester because we had a few hours to kill before the train.

The view, the view! It got sunnier, promise.

Hairy being mysterious and hairy, while gazing out of the window.

I had a bath, then plaited my hair and slept on it. It was prettier before I brushed it and turned it into a copper poof of dandelion fuzz at the bottom.

VIEW VIEW VIEW VIEW. And a gazillion dandelions.

Flargl.

It’s crazy busy here in Nottingham this week, but all for good reasons. Well, for the most part it’s still good.

This week – Guides on Monday, nearly didn’t go but ended up having a really good time and glad I went. Talked about camp, hoping to have a nice relaxing camp again because that’s the way I roll. My guide leader and I will probably come to blows over who gets to play with the campfire first, but should be good.

Tuesday – boring lecture, but managed to get most of my translation for tomorrow done in it so I’m counting that as a win. Panic moment when I realised that I had an essay due in before the one I’m working on, so dash to the library to pick up ALL the books then home to buy ingredients for pie and chocolate mousse for the challenge dinner. My friend challenged me to make an awesome pie, and in return he’d cook dinner and it would be a cook off of small proportions. I think it went rather brilliantly in the end, I didn’t get around to taking any pictures of what was going on in the kitchen while I was cooking, but this morning I had this. Mostly clean living room, horrendous kitchen to sort out because I didn’t do any washing up and the washing machine has broken. It’s decided it doesn’t like anything, and I don’t really blame it! It was sweet though, Hairy came in and started mopping up and helping out without even taking off his coat.

Tonight we’re off to see Iron Man 3, tomorrow is the reciprocal dinner and Friday we’re getting a new fridge and then off to Lydney to stay with one of Hairy’s brothers for the weekend. It’s lovely, but slightly scary. I have an exam next week, an essay a week for two weeks after that then another exam, then blam. Nothing else academic.

I’m off to read a pile of boring, translate some more crazy and think about packing. Argh!

My spotify buggered up.

Now I’ve had to set up a whole new account, and I’ve lost all the music I had queued up on there. To give you some idea, I had a regular playlist that had two days worth of music on it and now it’s all gone.

This is where you lovely people come in – suggest to me some music to check out, stuff that you love.

Bands I like: Metallica, Show of Hands, Imagine Dragons, Seth Lakeman, Rob Zombie, Meatloaf… Again, short post because I’m supposed to be working and Hairy will tell me off otherwise. Shall be back to update properly soon, promise!

Guess who’s back?

I applied for my first graduate job a little while ago. I also got rejected from my first graduate job. Twice. Very lovely and polite emails, but I’m fairly sure I got the message with the first one, thanks muchly. Now that’s off the table, and I’m thinking about other things to do with my life. I’d quite like a job with English Heritage or somewhere like that, but that remains a dream for the moment. A real difficulty is the fact that I don’t know what I want to do, I only know what I don’t want to do. I really don’t want to move to London, even though most of the jobs are there.

I’ve just applied for a job at a pub again, because you never know. It’s part time, they might take me on and it would be good to at least be doing something to earn a little bit again. It would be possible to fit it around my studies as well, and if I’m good enough maybe they’ll make me full time. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Hairy and I have had a lovely few days since I came back from Cardiff, despite having the mother of all rows just before I left. It was horrendous, particularly as I was hungover and trying really hard not to just go and hug the toilet and hope it would all go away. We’ve figured out a few things that hopefully will mean even longer until we next fall out – when period, drunkenness, lack of food and going away all combine, bad things happen. Rule to abide by – on ‘How I Met Your Mother’, they say that nothing good ever happens after 2am. I agree, but we’ve modified it for us. For us, (apart from making sure I’ve actually eaten before going out), is NEVER GO TO THE FOLLOW ON. You know when you’re out at the pub, and it’s great and you’re having a brilliant time and you don’t want it to end so you end up going somewhere else (read the late opening bars or someone’s house)? Yeah, it always fails and we have most of our arguments when one or either of us is drunk after one of those nights. Anyway, we texted and met for lunch, but because it was all so quick I felt pretty awful all weekend. Also, word of advice. Seriously don’t attempt eight hours of travel when you’re hungover to high hell. I got to Paddington station in a bit of a blur and then went and got myself a carton of orange juice, an apple, orange and banana and a salad. I looked like a health weirdo, but I desperately needed fresh things!

I had a lovely little adventure in Paddington station, involving money and public toilets. I arrived, dehydrated and feeling rotten and got myself food. After that, I figured that a trip to the toilet would probably be a good plan as I wasn’t going to be leaving the station again for another three and a bit hours. I discovered that I had to pay 30p for the privilege of using (rather sub-par) loos in the station, but shock horror! No 10p and it only accepted 20p and 10p! What to do? Well, I pottered back into the supermarket, and picked up a pack of hair grips – been meaning to try new things with my hair before interviews and things, and it wasn’t expensive. Should have got my 10p then – nope, only 20p coins and I already had one of those! Text Hairy, let him know that the universe hates me and doesn’t want me to pee. He laughs at me. I amble over to the Boots after checking to see if I could see any more toilets. Nope, no luck. Gaze rather dimly at the displays, think about a hair clip because I’ve been meaning to buy one but never got around to it. Stroke of genius! A box of painkillers! Yay! Brilliant, cheap and practical. I pay, and get back a ream of tuppences. Bugger. In the end I give up and trog down to the toilets, only to discover a coin changing machine. Face, meet wall.

And before the whole public loo fiasco, because Hairy asked and I’m lovely, I took this photo:

Hairy has a thing about bears. I didn’t get a chance to take a photo of the statue because there were always people sat around it, but this was right next to the shop that only sold Paddington bears. Brilliant, right?

Cardiff was good, if somewhat damp. It rained ALL weekend. Arrived late Friday, spent the time before collapsing into bed doing the clothes swap (Sister mine came out worst – I’ve been wearing the new stuff I got since I came home and I’ve still got about a week’s worth of stuff to get through), and popping my cousin into the ball gowns to see which she should wear for the ball this Friday. I’ve come out with some lovely things, some of which might see me through the interviews. I think I still need a jacket and a haircut, but I’ve got a pencil skirt, shift dress and several blouses and now some really lovely tops that look slightly less formal but still good enough for an interview.

Saturday we went shopping for the essentials to go with the dress, watched some truly terrifying (but fascinating TV) and the Hobbit. HA! I was overly excited about that I ended up sharing the bed with Sister mine, despite the fact that I’m awful to share with – both of them have had to in the past, and I think would really rather never do it again! Luckily I got away without getting punched in the face, although it was one of the worst weekends for sleep I can remember.

Sunday was a giant fry up with fresh bread (seriously amazing), then a few episodes of  “Don’t tell the bride” – not something I would ever choose to watch on my own but I did spend the entire time going “Are they SERIOUSLY doing that?!” And then another eight hours travelling. We left at 13.45, I got home about 21.45 and that was only because I managed to get an early train and “bullied” into getting a taxi home. To be fair, I was carrying a bag that felt like it weighed the same as a small child.

I’m reading for an essay that I’m doing, although I’ve just had the wonderful discovery that I don’t have to hand it in for another month, rather than thinking the deadline was on 1st May and aiming to get it done for then. I’m still aiming for that deadline, but it’s just nice to have a bit more breathing room to get things done.

The post I may or may not choose to post.

I’m considering giving up this blog. It would make me sad to, but I’m not sure if it’s worth it any more. I mean, I don’t really get that many people coming to check it out so it’s not like I’ve got a massive fan base that I’ll be disappointing. I don’t write about ground breaking or interesting things, just little bits from my rather mundane existence. It’s not a repository for my hopes and dreams in the way it kind of was in the beginning, and it feels stilted to me now. It doesn’t feel like me as much.

So, it’s not you. It’s me. I feel too boring to carry on with this. The highlight of my day yesterday was eating fishy sushi for the first time and buying a pair of shoes that say “BANG!” on the side. Yay woot. I also sat in a cemetery and saw an old man either having some alone time or peeing. Not quite sure which, I didn’t dare look that closely. For the past two weeks I’ve spent most of the day in the flat, sat reading things online and that’s not interesting. I think the key would be to keep making everyday life interesting, but I’m not that good at it. 

I’m also not good at angry. I have a secondary voice in my head that censors most things that I say and everything that I write. I can’t complain on here unless it’s a safe topic to complain about, like the weather. Or annoying people who live in the flat above me because none of you know who that is. I find it hard to rant about people I know just in case they find this blog and read about it then hate me; it’s not that I want to it’s just that I can’t and as soon as I think I can’t, then it’s all I want to do.

Yesterday one of our friends came around for the evening (didn’t drink or have dinner – on a diet/detox), and she kind of made me feel like some of my hobbies/interests are interesting and cool. In my head it’s really not, I mean it’s just beadwork and making stuff. She told me I should sell my stuff. I remember that I had planned to do that when I came to uni, but never got around to it. I finished a bracelet, but it’s too big for anyone’s wrists because either my hands were significantly fatter when I started it or I just got too carried away. I don’t know why this is relevant. Probably it’s the validation she gave me that I’m not a total loser who should go hide in a hole.

I don’t know. I’m scared shitless about my future, but I don’t like saying that because I don’t think anyone really wants to read about it. It’s not like it’s news that a student about to graduate is bricking it.

I’m fine, I don’t need to be checked up on. I just needed to say something. It’s mid holiday blues I guess, plus the whole graduating soon thing. I’m frustrated that I don’t have many good friends. I can meet people and get on with them fine, but it’s been a while since I was properly happy with them – a lot of the time I make excuses not to see them because to be honest, it’s a chore. I don’t like feeling tired after going for coffee with someone. I want to come away feeling good about myself and the world. I do know people who are like that, but they tend to be busy with all the other people who use them to feel good. I’m scared about applying for jobs and getting turned down because I’m not good enough.

Yes, I’m moaning. Seriously, why are you still reading this? I’m off to attempt reading sagas (again) and download LOTRO onto the PC so I can play it tonight on my geek-date while Hairy reads. I just spent five minutes trying to write this: please talk to me because I’m lonely and I’m sure you’re cool. This is why I fail. This was really hard to write.