(no subject)
I've decided to try keeping a journal again. Since I finished university I seem to have a lot more free time. I still read a lot of my friends' journals and I miss writing my own, so here we go again.
In short: I finished university in June, went home for a few months, and am now back in Manchester living in a little flat with James. I've been unemployed for ages, and turned out to be much less fun than I thought it would be. On Monday, however, I start a new job, so not only will I have some money coming in at last, I will also have something solid to say when people ask the inevitable "so what are you doing now" question. (It's like we're all supposed to leave uni and go off and solve all of the world's problems or something.)
The job is actually with the University of Manchester, so I'll be back in the loving arms of academia but without the deadlines and hopefully more money. My job is in the offices of the Martin Harris Centre, and as that is the building where music and drama are taught, it is the very place in which I spent most of my first year as a student, and from which I tried so desperately to escape. Ironic, that. Still, I'm looking forward to the job, the people I've met so far seem nice, and although I still find drama students pretentious and intimidating, now that I'm technically a staff member I shall hold some kind of power of them and they'd better be polite to me or I'll give their essays a late stamp.
Most of my friends from university days have fled Manchester because they can't afford to live here or can't find jobs yet, so it's been rather quiet since I moved back. I had one friend, Jade, over for dinner last night and made a rather yummy Moroccan chicken dish with spicy rice and aubergine. The highlight was the dessert, as I discovered that baked apple is not only ludicrously simple to make but also really delicious and tasty and very fitting for autumn. I'll post a recipe if anyone is interested, but I found it online through the BBC website and altered it a bit.
Today I met a different (and currently only other) Manchester friend for lunch and discussed her inexplicable desire to join the army, sci-fi books and mutual complaints about students. After lunch I wandered past the MMU students union and browsed their booksale in front of the building. It was a very successful raid, and I came away with six books:
- Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. I've read this before but somehow don't own a copy so decided to rectify this.
- Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom. I haven't read this but it's supposed to be good and when it came out there seemed to be about six people reading it on every bus I caught.
- The War of the Worlds by H G Wells. Somehow I've never read this, although I've studied the radio play and it's catastrophic effect on American listeners and have seen at least one film adaptation. I enjoyed The Time Machine so should like this.
- The Iliad by Homer. Studied this and read it in school, but never owned a copy.
- The Satires of Horace and Persius. Again, studied Horace in school and university but never owned a copy.
- The Makers of Rome by Plutarch. I read some of Plutarch's Lives at university but not many. This book brings together those who apparently made Rome, and includes the Gracchi brothers, Marc Antony, Coriolanus and others, so should be interesting.
I could have bought more but tried to exercise some restraint. I then went and spent the money on buttons instead.
Tomorrow, in a desire for more exercise and more friends, I am going a-ramblin' with the Ramblers I hate going to strange places to meet new people, but it has to be done if I don't want to spend the year lonely and bored. I'll be thinking sociable thoughts and taking my camera in the hopes of good views.
As a parting gift, have a song. Vampire Weekend - M79 I really like the band at the moment, and this song is possibly the best thing ever. I listen to it when I go running and it makes me feel slightly less enervated.
In short: I finished university in June, went home for a few months, and am now back in Manchester living in a little flat with James. I've been unemployed for ages, and turned out to be much less fun than I thought it would be. On Monday, however, I start a new job, so not only will I have some money coming in at last, I will also have something solid to say when people ask the inevitable "so what are you doing now" question. (It's like we're all supposed to leave uni and go off and solve all of the world's problems or something.)
The job is actually with the University of Manchester, so I'll be back in the loving arms of academia but without the deadlines and hopefully more money. My job is in the offices of the Martin Harris Centre, and as that is the building where music and drama are taught, it is the very place in which I spent most of my first year as a student, and from which I tried so desperately to escape. Ironic, that. Still, I'm looking forward to the job, the people I've met so far seem nice, and although I still find drama students pretentious and intimidating, now that I'm technically a staff member I shall hold some kind of power of them and they'd better be polite to me or I'll give their essays a late stamp.
Most of my friends from university days have fled Manchester because they can't afford to live here or can't find jobs yet, so it's been rather quiet since I moved back. I had one friend, Jade, over for dinner last night and made a rather yummy Moroccan chicken dish with spicy rice and aubergine. The highlight was the dessert, as I discovered that baked apple is not only ludicrously simple to make but also really delicious and tasty and very fitting for autumn. I'll post a recipe if anyone is interested, but I found it online through the BBC website and altered it a bit.
Today I met a different (and currently only other) Manchester friend for lunch and discussed her inexplicable desire to join the army, sci-fi books and mutual complaints about students. After lunch I wandered past the MMU students union and browsed their booksale in front of the building. It was a very successful raid, and I came away with six books:
- Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. I've read this before but somehow don't own a copy so decided to rectify this.
- Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom. I haven't read this but it's supposed to be good and when it came out there seemed to be about six people reading it on every bus I caught.
- The War of the Worlds by H G Wells. Somehow I've never read this, although I've studied the radio play and it's catastrophic effect on American listeners and have seen at least one film adaptation. I enjoyed The Time Machine so should like this.
- The Iliad by Homer. Studied this and read it in school, but never owned a copy.
- The Satires of Horace and Persius. Again, studied Horace in school and university but never owned a copy.
- The Makers of Rome by Plutarch. I read some of Plutarch's Lives at university but not many. This book brings together those who apparently made Rome, and includes the Gracchi brothers, Marc Antony, Coriolanus and others, so should be interesting.
I could have bought more but tried to exercise some restraint. I then went and spent the money on buttons instead.
Tomorrow, in a desire for more exercise and more friends, I am going a-ramblin' with the Ramblers I hate going to strange places to meet new people, but it has to be done if I don't want to spend the year lonely and bored. I'll be thinking sociable thoughts and taking my camera in the hopes of good views.
As a parting gift, have a song. Vampire Weekend - M79 I really like the band at the moment, and this song is possibly the best thing ever. I listen to it when I go running and it makes me feel slightly less enervated.