How Are You?

I've realised we don't really chat much... so grab a cuppa, take the weight off your feet. How are we all?

I'm good - back into classes and whatnot. You'd think I'd be finished with this uni lark by now, but... yeah. Going out for my friend's birthday tonight, which is about the last time I'll be able to go out for the foreseeable future. Or at least until another friend's birthday thing in three weeks time.

What's new with you guys?

Yeah, a general chat is a good idea. I haven't got a lot to say about music at the moment.

I've just started a PhD, so I'm back at university too. I'm not really settled in yet... feeling quite unsettled and can't wait to get into a routine.

Found out the other day that they want me to master formal semantics in my spare time, which is entirely nothing to do with what I'm actually studying - and really quite frightening. It's like expecting an art historian to study advanced chemistry.

Are you in your last year yet?

Still Head of a primary school. Struggling, if I'm honest. Too much paperwork, too many emails, too much general crap which keeps me away from the core purpose of my job. Too many kids with crap parents (got called a "stupid arse" by a four year old the other day) too many solipsistic staff and too much sh*t hitting a very small fan!

And I took my footy team to play at halftime in the Lincoln v Aldershot game and have never been so bored in my life, AND I love football, but this certainly wasn't!

The ice is certainly getting thinner (which is a song by......)

BUT..................

I'm off to see Brendan Benson next Wednesday, so everything will be alright again!
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(Well you did ask!)

I'm deliberately not talking about how things are for another month or so, then I may be tempted to write the longest essay I've ever written. Anyone who's a friend of mine on Facebook can probably see it all anyway, although I'm careful on there (and even here I guess), because you never know who's reading. Let's just say: work, sleep, displacement from home, nothing else.

OK, now I've read all your status updates in the right order, Damian, I'm beginning to understand. Up till now, I just had it in the back of my head that you'd gone to live in a haunted house, which I'd assumed was something I'd misread at some point. Well, tell us more next month when you've given the spies the slip.

Nope - although I'm just starting my fourth year in total at this place, I've done first year Business, first and second year Psychology, now I'm retaking the second year Psychology because last year was less than brilliant. By which I mean I let life get on top of me and never went to class, favouring the old 'stay in bed and play video games to avoid real life' method.

Of course, the whole retaking thing means that I have to pay my own tuition fees... which means I have to find £2760 for that and about £3500 in accommodation for the year. I'm only getting £4500 in loans. I probably need to get a job, or at least set up a new student bank account with a massive overdraft. Or both, I suppose.

As for today - I may be a little hungover. Nowhere near as bad as it should be, luckily, but still enough to make me want to ignore the work I really need to do tonight.

Chapter 2 - The Good Stuff!

Still buying too many cd's(!) just had my Akai 4000DS reel to reel tape deck renovated, had a guitar made for me (Fender Thinline-alike) and now having guitar lessons, though I still can't play the bloody thing! Alex & Beth both celebrated birthdays recently, and have been home, which cheers me up no end. My golf is disappointingly consistently six over par and today I bought a leaf hoover.

It doesn't get much more exciting than that! (and I bet you can't wait for Chapter 3!!!)

I'm sorry to hear about the tuition fees (I was one of the last years that didn't have to pay them - I can't imagine what it must be like having that much debt by the age of 21...) but very impressed to hear about Nick's leaf hoover. Does it only suck, or can you blow the leaves around as well?

It does a bit of both, depending on the way the switch is pointed! (ooooeer missus etc etc) One of the byproducts of this particular hoover (£33 from all good B&Q outlets!!) is that it munches the leaves and wafts out huge clouds of dust!. After 5 minutes I appeared to be wearing a suit composing entirely of brown leaf dust!

I couldn't really see the point of putting it on blow, as you only move the stuff around the garden, to little purpose. A bit like herding cats really!

Are you planning to add a garden shredder to your collection at some point? They're awesome. Insert tree branches an inch or two wide, receive coarse sawdust.

I probably ought to have grown out of such amusements by now.

Got One! Had it a couple of years. Use it to give grief to the several buddleia each autumn, after trashing them with my electric hedge trimmer.

I hate gardening. A low level strafing run with napalm is my gardening tool of choice!

I'm just back from a week camping (including some wild) on the Isle of Arran in Scotland. It rained every day. On the second day I fell over, twisted my knee and landed on my face with a 2 1/2 stone rucksack on my back (it had everything in it, including my tent). Before this my water filter had leaked in my bag and ruined an OS map, which meant I tried to use my memory and took a wrong turning up a mountain, still with the backpack on and climbing with nothing to see but cloud, it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. My twisted knee wrecked with every step and I had to come all the way back the same way. One night in a storm my tent leaked and ripped. Another day I got stranded by the Sunday bus service. When I saw the car hire place was open I decided to hire one - this took about 2 hours! When I was due to take the car back it had a flat battery. Anyway, I won't bore anyone who is still reading with more bad things that happened, the point is it was all like an adventure and I still enjoyed myself. When a guy rope snapped in that storm I made a new one out of a shoe lace and a new knot I learnt. I was well proud and it lasted the rest of the week. Arran has some beautiful glens and waterfalls, and loads of wildlife. I'd like to go back some day...

If i didn't know better, I'd say you were in the Scouts as a lad.......

If you can handle all that, you ought to come to Glastonbury next year.

That sounds awesome!! Congratulations on the new knot.