Business as usual
It occurs to me that Lj is for more than Fandom!Secrets, so I oughta get back to posting stuff, so it doesn't hit a brick wall like my Occultism Blog (which i'm working on as I speak).
So, stuff i've been up to in the past 4 weeks, helpfully labelled so you can skip bits you don't wanna hear.
Coursework - The dissertations are coming along slowly, as is to be expected, and I got my first batch of essays back. I got a 74% for Hinduism (Good, but since i'm doing a dissertation for it that essay is now only worth 20% of my mark) and a 66% for global modernities (also good, since i'm only looking to get a 2:1 in that anyway). Started Theravada Buddhism today - looks like it'll be more of a challenge than I thought, being more on Theravada denominational stuff than the role of Buddhism in east asian countries. But it can't be any worse than Mysticism, for which the essay was handed in on monday. Jesus that was harder than I thought it would be, even after the massive coffee OD while working on it (I stopped dropping Pro-Plusses in each mug after I noticed I was shivering for no reason).
Doctors - Went back to the doctors for a follow up. Turns out its Psoriasis, meaning that it's not going to go away. But i've got plenty of skin cream this time around and a few refil slips. Only problem is I had to pay this time because I don't think I got a "free drugs as a student" form to fill out. I've claimed on it before (the last set of creams, the anti-typhoid injections for Egypt) but I don't imagine i'll be hunted down and charged for those. And if I do turn out to have been charged wrongly, i've got 3 months to fill out some forms they gave me and get the £20 back for this stuff. But even if I don't get it back, 2 boxes of pills and four tubes of lotion would be worth that in Superdrug, so what the heck.
Work - went back to the Ruskin Library on Wednesday. I've gone from "Non-Ruskin Unmounted small" pictures, to "Non-Ruskin Unmounted Large" ones. Well, given that at the start of summer I was cataloguing vast shelves of duplicate and miscellaneous books, I consider myself as having gone up in the world. Maybe someday before I leave I can actually handle something actually made/owned by Ruskin himself. Granted I care only marginally more about the man than when I started, but experience is experience. Even if i'll still have to do a training course afterward before I can maybe get in on the ground-floor step of museum curating.
Telly - HIMYM was the first of the series to come back off its winter break, and it was a Doozie, featuring a full cast musical number. Even though I thoroughly despise Barney, I have to admit Neil Patrick Harris can sing. Somewhat. Hopefully House, Supernatural and Flash Forward will follow suite, and no I don't care how ridiculously out of context that would be.
I've been keeping myself entertained in the meantime by getting round to some of the Anime I have stacked up on my hard drive. Higurashi seems thoroughly creepy, and comes in Mini-arcs that cover the same characters in different situations. Hopefully it won't end up like Hellgirl where it does the same episode format, theme and structure for OVER A WHOLE FUCKING SEASON. Plus I was getting reeeeal tired of Anime after a year running LUMAS and being obligated to put on Harem series and Visual-Novel based crap half the time.
Movies - Went to see Avatar just before Christmas, and was pleasantly suprised, having been given an exhaustive damnation of it by LUMAS secretary Rhiannon the night before. Trust me folks, 3D is worth every penny (which actually is 0p more than a regular film) even if some people are reporting brain-meltage. I also went to see Sherlock Holmes the other night with Kirsten and Ali. Not the best film i've ever seen (Downey Jnr was way too quirky for my tastes) but an entertaining lark, and although sometimes I want to bury their corpses where they'll never be found, on the whole I enjoy spending time with my flatmates. It's taking much longer than usual to alienate them (current record - last year less than a term).
Random Stupidity - I almost shredded my mouth the other night after trying to finish the last of the Nutella. It was all at the bottom of the Jar, and I, after deciding against it, then coming back 10 mins later and doing it, dropped it on the kitchen floor, hoping in my naivete that it would break into large pieces and I could scoop the chocolate out. Instead it shattered on the floor, contaminating what little chocolate was left with granules of glass and dirt. Worse yet, I was caught cleaning it up.
Other - Dad's moved out to Egypt for good (or at least unless something goes wrong). It was kind of flaky of him to bolt for it and leave mum and David with a house to rent out, but we're all just glad that he's finally happy. Broke, maybe, but happy. Plus it meant that I got to loot whatever I wanted out of his house. Heloooo gold cufflinks!
So yeah, if anyone out there is reading, Bob's back in business!
So, stuff i've been up to in the past 4 weeks, helpfully labelled so you can skip bits you don't wanna hear.
Coursework - The dissertations are coming along slowly, as is to be expected, and I got my first batch of essays back. I got a 74% for Hinduism (Good, but since i'm doing a dissertation for it that essay is now only worth 20% of my mark) and a 66% for global modernities (also good, since i'm only looking to get a 2:1 in that anyway). Started Theravada Buddhism today - looks like it'll be more of a challenge than I thought, being more on Theravada denominational stuff than the role of Buddhism in east asian countries. But it can't be any worse than Mysticism, for which the essay was handed in on monday. Jesus that was harder than I thought it would be, even after the massive coffee OD while working on it (I stopped dropping Pro-Plusses in each mug after I noticed I was shivering for no reason).
Doctors - Went back to the doctors for a follow up. Turns out its Psoriasis, meaning that it's not going to go away. But i've got plenty of skin cream this time around and a few refil slips. Only problem is I had to pay this time because I don't think I got a "free drugs as a student" form to fill out. I've claimed on it before (the last set of creams, the anti-typhoid injections for Egypt) but I don't imagine i'll be hunted down and charged for those. And if I do turn out to have been charged wrongly, i've got 3 months to fill out some forms they gave me and get the £20 back for this stuff. But even if I don't get it back, 2 boxes of pills and four tubes of lotion would be worth that in Superdrug, so what the heck.
Work - went back to the Ruskin Library on Wednesday. I've gone from "Non-Ruskin Unmounted small" pictures, to "Non-Ruskin Unmounted Large" ones. Well, given that at the start of summer I was cataloguing vast shelves of duplicate and miscellaneous books, I consider myself as having gone up in the world. Maybe someday before I leave I can actually handle something actually made/owned by Ruskin himself. Granted I care only marginally more about the man than when I started, but experience is experience. Even if i'll still have to do a training course afterward before I can maybe get in on the ground-floor step of museum curating.
Telly - HIMYM was the first of the series to come back off its winter break, and it was a Doozie, featuring a full cast musical number. Even though I thoroughly despise Barney, I have to admit Neil Patrick Harris can sing. Somewhat. Hopefully House, Supernatural and Flash Forward will follow suite, and no I don't care how ridiculously out of context that would be.
I've been keeping myself entertained in the meantime by getting round to some of the Anime I have stacked up on my hard drive. Higurashi seems thoroughly creepy, and comes in Mini-arcs that cover the same characters in different situations. Hopefully it won't end up like Hellgirl where it does the same episode format, theme and structure for OVER A WHOLE FUCKING SEASON. Plus I was getting reeeeal tired of Anime after a year running LUMAS and being obligated to put on Harem series and Visual-Novel based crap half the time.
Movies - Went to see Avatar just before Christmas, and was pleasantly suprised, having been given an exhaustive damnation of it by LUMAS secretary Rhiannon the night before. Trust me folks, 3D is worth every penny (which actually is 0p more than a regular film) even if some people are reporting brain-meltage. I also went to see Sherlock Holmes the other night with Kirsten and Ali. Not the best film i've ever seen (Downey Jnr was way too quirky for my tastes) but an entertaining lark, and although sometimes I want to bury their corpses where they'll never be found, on the whole I enjoy spending time with my flatmates. It's taking much longer than usual to alienate them (current record - last year less than a term).
Random Stupidity - I almost shredded my mouth the other night after trying to finish the last of the Nutella. It was all at the bottom of the Jar, and I, after deciding against it, then coming back 10 mins later and doing it, dropped it on the kitchen floor, hoping in my naivete that it would break into large pieces and I could scoop the chocolate out. Instead it shattered on the floor, contaminating what little chocolate was left with granules of glass and dirt. Worse yet, I was caught cleaning it up.
Other - Dad's moved out to Egypt for good (or at least unless something goes wrong). It was kind of flaky of him to bolt for it and leave mum and David with a house to rent out, but we're all just glad that he's finally happy. Broke, maybe, but happy. Plus it meant that I got to loot whatever I wanted out of his house. Heloooo gold cufflinks!
So yeah, if anyone out there is reading, Bob's back in business!