sarah_a67's livejournal

I downloaded We Were Aborted last night, of course, but the file turned out to be corrupt and now the link's gone and expired.

Anyone who could upload it for me would have my utmost gratitude! I want this song to grow on me rather badly.

Everything that went wrong yesterday seemed to go right today! Apologies for the pathetic post, but it was the only way I could immediately get rid of my frustrations.

Firstly, I now have my results. The maths ones didn't change from the provisional marks, so I'll have to resit two of the recent ones I took. But I passed Financial Derivatives. I was hoping for more, but I got 50, which is the pass mark, lol. Today a group of ten of us went to visit a debt collection company, led by Vim who's lovely (he looks like a Mancunian Asian Ryan Jarman). When I approached he waved and smiled and when I sat down he started up a conversation. He asked about my results and I said I hadn't been able to find them, so he told me this convoluted way of getting around the website, which was the only way you could actually see them. I had to search for "provisional marks" - there was no link - despite the marks I was hoping to find not being provisional!

So I can breathe a sigh of relief about that. The other turnaround was that as soon as I came home, the new guy in the room next door to mine said he'd just finished setting up the internet, and told me the password straight away. It worked straight away! So now I don't have to keep using my costly, slow mobile broadband (somehow I'd managed to download over a third of my monthly usage in the first five days of July)! Also, my rent's supposed to come out on the 1st of the month, but nothing's been taken yet. It is past the end of the contract but the landlord said he'd sorted everything out. I wouldn't mind the next couple of months being free, but he's probably just being typically slow at getting it sorted.

I thought I ought to look vaguely presentable as I was visiting a company this afternoon, so I wore skinny black jeans, a white shirt and pointy black shoes. I thought as I was dressing, hmm I'm going as Drew! But it was a bit chilly and the shirt see-through, so the jumper over the top dampened the effect somewhat. I looked good, though, haha.

It's supposed to be exam results day. Here are my "results":

Semester	Module			Status	Module Title	Credit   Value	Mark Awarded
1	LUBS	5004M	01	RE	Corporate Finance	15	**
1	LUBS	5032M	01	RE	Risk and Insurance	15	**
1	LUBS	5042M	01	RE	Financial Econometrics	15	**
1	MATH	5310M	01	RE	Mathematical Review	15	**
1	MATH	5320M	01	RE	Discrete Time Finance	15	**
2	LUBS	5036M	01	RE	Consumer & Corporate Credit	15	**
2	LUBS	5040M	01	RE	Professional & Research Skills	15	**
2	LUBS	5050M	01	RE	Financial Derivatives	15	**
2	MATH	5330M	01	RE	Continuous Time Finance	15	**
2	MATH	5340M	01	RE	Risk Management	15	**
2	MATH	5350M	01	RE	Computations in Finance	15	**
2	MATH	5360M	01	RE	Optimisation Meths for Finance	15	**

There are lists of what that's supposed to mean, but neither ** nor RE are in the lists. I've literally spent all day trying to find that table, so you can understand my disappointment when it's a load of pointless rubbish.

I know I'm going to have to resit some exams, because my professor emailed me to arrange a meeting to discuss my "resit strategy". Resits cost £21.50 per module, plus a £50 fee for everything. I just don't have any money whatsoever. Maybe Klaus'll pay for it. Nah, if he'd wanted me to succeed, he'd have made Maths Review NOT IMPOSSIBLE.

Household situation hasn't been brilliant either. I don't tend to talk, obviously, but my housemates have been sparing with their words too, and they're sociable people. Today I was spoken to twice - once to tell me where to store the prawns I'd cooked, and the other to make sure to lock the door properly. By two different people. Had a few of those in past weeks as well. I'm sure they think I'm completely incompetent. What irks me most is complaining about things that are irrelevant. I always lock the door (and it annoyed me that others were so lax about it), and once I was told to leave my pans in soak if they were dirty. Again, I always did, just someone else would drain them for an unknown reason. I can't correct them, though, because I'm too afraid of conflict to say they're mistaken.

Someone's nicked some of my chocolate too. Now there is a list on the newly-erected whiteboard in the hall of things that we apparently need for the house. Everyone has to buy one of them. Well, they're things I won't necessarily use and I can't be bothered to negotiate with everyone which to get. I have better priorities right now than deciding whether to buy scourers or bin bags (OK, I'd use bin bags, but I'm not even sure what some of the things on the list were). Also, the hobs have started refusing to come on but it's too much to even ask anyone about it. Ugh.

Now I'm looking through some offers on my email and they're all "2 for 1" meals and the like. I can't ever participate in those offers. Just reminds me the many reasons I have to be unhappy, when I thought I was over depression.

Probably should save this pic for a happier post, but Ryan looks so good in it.

The scales we had in our bathroom disappeared when Laura moved out - evidently they were hers. Without a numerical way of measuring progress there was no way I could keep up my healthiness, so I had to buy some more. They were only £7 from Wilkinsons, though, so I'm not sure I trust them. I had the inevitable shock (can you have an inevitable shock?) of gaining half a stone simply by using a different set of scales this morning. So I don't know whether I've overindulged or how much of it is the change in measuring instrument. Frustrating!

Still, it incentivised me to try harder in Parkrun. I managed to run the whole thing again - just about (no breakfast again, providing two data points for correlation)! It was really hard coming up to 4km and then the relatively steep bit round to the finish line. It seemed to go quite quickly... But my time was 35:33, once more just a few seconds too slow!

I'm finally getting around to listening to the CDs I got for my birthday (lol it was nearly two months ago). I watched the Monument DVD at long last and was rewarded with general hilarity, slashy delights and of course a spectacular live set. In the same day there were posts on LJ communities involving lots of Libertines and Kasabian slash. So it was full on Paul/Duncan, Paul/Lukas, Pete/Carl and Tom/Serge last night. I went to bed happy.

I'm a little concerned that you NEVER see Paul Smith without a hat on these days. What is he hiding? O_O

It's annoying now, though, because I've got to The Enemy's new one, which is the special DVD edition. It has the DVD but no CD! It's far too late to return anything now, and the CD might have slipped out somewhere in my room. I've searched extensively but no luck. Franz and White Lies are yet to be heard but because they are further along in the alphabet, I won't be able to listen to them until I somehow find an Enemy album. DAMNIT.

Oh yeah, and I watched the Grace/Wastelands DVD and cried at some of the songs he played acoustically. I have never cried at songs before.

Everyone's talking about travel a lot recently and I really, really want to go somewhere. Even just Scarborough for the seaside. But I'm too poor. Reading Intelligent Life and The Economist doesn't help, aimed as they are at people earning at least £50-£100k. I can't act on their suggestions, despite how much they make me want to.

I probably didn't get it. Despite running my mouth off about pensions and the company, and arguing what I thought was effectively about the recent news story that firms are closing their final-salary schemes, I was unprepared for the first half of the interview. This was a "getting to know you" type thing, which involved questions based around why I chose my degree subjects and some disguised competency questions. The three of us who were being interviewed met current graduate trainee Jo in the reception area and she told us not to expect competency-based questions. I'm glad I had asked what to expect earlier though, otherwise I'd have failed completely because I would have known nothing about the industry or current events. I asked lots of questions this morning, too, which was good.

It was interesting to find out my results from the March assessment. I'd not done so well in the essay and in-tray exercise, but got through to the final round of interviews because this was massively offset by my high scores in the aptitude tests. In the numerical one, I scored in the 97th percentile of the population, and in the language one I was in the 99th!

I'll have to wait two or three weeks to find out how I did.

( Anti-BNP people (which I hope is all of you) please click here... )

As soon as everyone moved out, different people are moving in. I'm not sure how many - two or three maybe? - lads have moved into this house and there is STUFF from floor to ceiling in all the spare rooms, and in all the other rooms that aren't already occupied. Climbing across the dining room to the freezer to retrieve my pizza yesterday was a mission! They are gradually moving it though. Gradually. One of the guys couldn't move into James' room because nobody knew where James had left the key to it. So the landlord came round and literally sawed half the door off so that he could get in!

I have to get up at 6am tomorrow to be in time for my interview. I'm so scared. Because I have to research pensions and the company and I'm just going to forget everything I've found. I have an hour on the train to re-read things but there's so much riding on this that I'll go blank when I'm asked about it, or I'll be asked about something that I have no idea of and say nothing.

ARGH! I had a seminar this morning and I actually gave two answers that were unprepared. I managed to think on the spot. I never do that. Hopefully it'll continue tomorrow, then. I've been to the Capita Hartshead office before so at least I'll feel a bit more comfortable than I usually do at interviews.

I went into town in my three-hour break today in order to get a grey jacket to go with my new grey trousers. I ended up spending over £40, which is bad but slightly justifiable because it's for an interview. A bit wasteful though if I don't get the job (then I'll need to get more interviews)! Still, the jacket is EXACTLY the same grey as my trousers. I will get the job based upon my outfit because I put a lot of effort into it *nods*.

If anyone knows anything useful or intelligent-sounding about pensions or the news in general, please comment!!

The sun's still up but I have to go to bed in 1 hour. :(

Well, they'll have to now, won't they?

Today's been a very eventful one. I woke up at seven, believing that my breakfast would digest before I ran if I ate it early enough. Alas that was not the case. I also ate lunch very early because I would not get to eat until 1pm otherwise. I was lucky though, because I was eating, hence downstairs and able to hear the door when the postman came at 7:42 with a massive box for me.

The box was full of over £15 worth of Woolworths.co.uk pic and mix!!! I kind of had to. They were kind enough to provide what I asked for on the website, so I obliged by getting a bit of everything! ( One of the new bags )

So I did Parkrun (in 35:29; came 152nd out of 161!), and got away at 9:40am when I had to be at the volunteering office at 10am. No time to go home for a shower, so I put on a hat to cover my appalling hair and the Green Streets t-shirt over my other one to cover the sweat stains (which were huge because it's SO HOT). I felt dirty, but then thought of the people who are at Glasto this weekend and thought about what I envied. I envied the good weather and the chance to see great bands, and the whole Glasto ~atmosphere~, but I didn't envy the lack of showering for five days or having to make the choice between Kasabian and Maxïmo Park, who played at the same time on different stages today.

Volunteering was fun again (I also did it on Thursday when we had to shift all the donations from the Riley Smith Hall to another part of the Union because of the open day). Today I did the most fun job - going out in the vans, collecting the red bags. I went with Sian, who oversees this part of the project. When I did the first couple of days for Green Streets and saw her, she looked oddly familiar but I couldn't place it. She had mentioned applying for a job in Bristol, and I wondered if UWE was where I knew her from. Today she was talking about finishing her degree in Leeds so I thought I must have got it wrong, but we were chatting in the van and it turns out she did her first two years at UWE! So I was right! It's weird, though, because she was studying environmental planning or something - quite scientific - so as a business student I don't know where I would have seen her. Hmm.

We drove around Headlingley, Woodhouse and Burley. There weren't many donations in the first two areas but we got about 50 bags in the third. Then we took them back and carried them into this hall we're now using. We paused for (my second) lunch after Headlingley and Woodhouse, but I think I've burned off more than enough calories to qualify for two lunches! Volunteering was fun, and I'm going back again tomorrow. All weekend for Green Streets! Lol, commitment.

Everyone's moving out and it's like a ghost town in the student areas. Except for today, of course, when there were millions of young 'uns wandering around at the uni's open day.

Apologies for the long, disjointed entry; it's like "oh I just thought of this so I'll add it".

I spent an obscenely high amount of money at the shopping centre today, mainly in Dorothy Perkins and Primark (over £11 in the latter but that's a LOT of stuff!) I felt a bit guilty because as much as I tried to deny it, I knew that buying pretty things would not make me happy. It's only that superficial kind of happiness that dissipates as soon as you leave the shop.

There you go... existential shopping trip... I massively adore Meadowhall though. I spent too much on food and eating out as well. It's weird because as soon as I said that I wasn't losing weight any more, I dropped quite suddenly to 12 stone, but just as fast I'm back up to 12 and a half again!

I spent ages looking around TopShop and New Look but those stores are just so massive that you kind of get lost in them. I got overwhelmed in Primark too but it was a happy kind of distress. I was making some weird noises. I could have used TopShop's personal style advisor because I realised I have no idea really how to dress myself, in order to look decent. I don't know how to wear skirts or dresses, or to accessorise. TopShop's so cool though; they were playing To Lose My Life by White Lies (I'm now listening to Steve Lamacq playing "a live version of Death" lol) and End Of A Century by Blur.

I had a dream last night that I was at this casino and won a load of money on the slot machines. It was like the Reverend and the Makers song, Bandits, when this guy came up to me and said that he would take the next go, because he thought he could win. And I thought he would win, and just take all the money but it was over £100 and he gave it all back, all these pound coins tumbling out of the machine. So today I felt the need to have a go on slot machines, obviously... I never looked for them before but I vaguely remembered that there were some at the station so I went in (without getting ID'd... pfft), saw a machine that looked nice, put just £2 in and turned it into £6! I love prophetic dreams. Of course, the temptation then was to put more in, but I knew that I shouldn't push my luck.

There was only one other person in the amusements - an old man sitting at a slot machine who looked like he had been there for years.

Talking of R&TM, I saw them on Jonathan Ross on iPlayer doing Silence Is Talking. Does anyone know what advert that trumpet bit was on (if it was on an advert) because it sounds familiar and it's slightly annoying me. Marmite perhaps?? (Ah - just found out from NME that it's War's Low Rider... was it on an advert though?!) I enjoyed the Mitchell and Webb interview too, though it was rather awkward, especially when David had to try so hard to convince Jonathan that he was actually living in the 21st Century!

The Cribs were entertaining on 6music as well, even though the singles they reviewed were necessarily pretty crap.

I didn't see La Roux's album in any shops, though it's out today. I think. Unless I'm failing at release dates again! Elly looks like she knows how to clothe herself from TopShop.

I've gone back to listen to all the More or Less radio shows since 2003, in order. On one they mentioned a book about very large numbers that tried to demystify them, so I looked for this in several bookshops in Meadowhall and Leeds. But I'd forgotten who it was by and became frustrated with the lack of any specific section dedicated to statistics. Such books were jumbled in amongst evolution, astronomy, psychology, etc. and labelled "popular science". I didn't like looking in the popular science section because that trivialises it - although the content is mostly fascinating, it doesn't seem as highbrow as what I was looking for. Needless to say I didn't find the book; I'll have to listen again and search for it on Amazon.

It's very sunny and very rainy at the moment. Very Glasto.

Some remarks on news stories:

- What I don't get is why they are allowed to be a political party in the first place, if everyone else in the UK hates them.

- So you can get killed by annoyed cows. Bloody hell, that's awful. I was lucky in the Lakes then; I logically thought that cows wouldn't hurt me even though that brown one was looking extremely intimidating...

Wow that was random.

I've felt really happy these past few days, what with the volunteering. Everything seems in place right now - I think because I've actually had contact with the people I was working with, nice and collaboratively, I (temporarily?) haven't felt like something is missing any more. My uni grades are bad, yes, but I strangely don't mind as much as I should do (there's always resits, right?) and maybe something has to be not-so-good so that other things can be good. I don't know.

On Thursday and Friday I mainly went out in the vans to help collect the red bin bags (as well as various chairs and things) that people had left outside their houses. It wasn't as physically draining as the leaflet dropping and, especially on Thursday when I was with Alex and Crispin, I had a laugh. As much as I thought I wanted it, I don't think I'll be able to do a job where I'm completely alone most of the time because I'd just get totally depressed. I've found I do need some sort of interaction to get me through. I have been contributing to conversations and generally enjoying myself, just feeling really positive about everything.

I wonder if those who get human interaction on a daily basis rather than as a one-off feel as at ease and complete all the time. Probably they don't think about it.

Mystery Jets are headlining two days of a Manchester festival in a couple of weeks. I got quite excited when they emailed me about it, including details of an offer of cheap local accommodation. And I was free. But clicking through, I found out that the event was strictly for 15-19 year olds (I could pass but you need ID...). I know I complain about being old all the time but this is flat out discrimination! I was rather annoyed last night but I'm over it now. I'll get another chance to see the band I'm sure.

Obligatory Parkrun update! Guess what? I ran THE WHOLE 5KM today!! The best I'd done before without stopping was 3km. I think a lot of it was waking up at 8:22am, thinking, "shit" and then, "I don't have time for breakfast", which I always eat before a run, and hence running on an empty stomach. Good way to burn the belly off I suppose, when there's no food in the way. I actually felt proud at the end this time; I did it! I'll have to run 5km each week now so I might continue to postpone breakfast on Saturday mornings.

My time was 35:38 and I came 114th out of 120.

Today I realised the convenience of grouping streets by using similar names and gained respect for postmen. So glad I didn't see any dogs; I'm terrified of them!

I went out with four or five other volunteers from the Green Streets project, delivering red bin bags to residences in Burley, near to where I live. In the morning we spent ages folding up these bags and attaching leaflets to them which explained what the project was all about. Basically we collect people's old junk and "sell" it in free shops in the student union.

It was great fun, though after hours of working it can become tedious and tiring (so many steps up to people's front doors!) if you're not in the right mindset. I was, for the most part, but we started in the union at 10am and were still leafleting at a quarter to six, so I decided I'd go home then and have some well-earned dinner.

Some highlights were getting a free lunch (literally!) and fitting into a kids' age 13 raincoat.

I'm going back tomorrow to collect and sort donations that people have left outside their houses, and again on Friday, though not for as many hours on Friday.

Yesterday the woman from Hallmark who conducted my telephone interview called to give me some feedback that I'd requested, which was nice of her. We talked through what was good and the things I needed to improve, which was basically to give better examples in terms of planning and teamwork. She said that if times were different and there weren't so many good quality applicants, then I probably would have gone through to the interview stage, because I am a strong candidate. That made me feel very good about myself :)

I recently noticed that I hardly post about negative things, at least relative to positive. Then it seemed weird. Maybe I don't like to dwell on and remember bad stuff, I don't know. I got very very (unexpectedly) disappointing exam results in the maths modules. Maybe I'll post all the results when they officially come through, because the maths papers were extremely quickly marked, like within a week of the last exam.

Random band-related things:

- Why is Jamie Reynolds posting geometry?

- OMG SQUEE etc. The Cribs have a new album out in September! It's called Ignore The Ignorant and I think it'll be the only album this year that I actually buy as soon as it's released. I didn't even get Kasabian's but it got to number 1 (maybe that's where I got June 8th from)...

- It's three years yesterday since I saw Embrace in the forest. That was a monumentally good day, but THREE YEARS? Jesus.

I've done 15 Parkruns now and it feels as routine as walking to uni. My time today was 35:27, an improvement of 33 seconds on my previous PB and a huge improvement on the last couple of weeks! I used a long-term orientation (going slower but keeping running for longer distances), which worked. I ran the first half without stopping. For the first time, at the end I felt as if I could run the 5k again!

At the end, Diane said to Arthur (the man in his seventies who passed me just at the finish line!) that now she'd done the race in a good enough time, there wasn't much point in trying to improve further. She said this because she keeps getting slower. Maybe I'll feel differently when I'm older, but I think the opposite. You've got to keep trying to improve, always, and not only in running [/philosopher]. The girl in front of me, when giving her details for her time to be recorded, said that she was born in 1991 and I felt old.

I have noticed that I am still getting leaner, which is nice, but I have stopped losing weight. I am about a stone overweight, but then muscle weighs more than fat, so it's OK. I am trying not to make Fridays such an indulgence though - I mean, I can have a Burger King but I don't have to then eat a whole tub of Sainsbury's Bakery donuts and a big chocolate bar as well! And I need to find ways to include more exercise in my routine but I'm not sure how yet. I want to run during the week too.

Tonight for my dinner I am making a smoked haddock and cumin chowder, which should be interesting!

( The Horrors, Leeds Cockpit, 7th June 2009 )

I feel better now.

So the BNP got two seats. And one of them's from Yorkshire. What the fucking hell. I'm starting to wonder what's the point. And UKIP got as many seats as Labour. Obviously they're not as bad as the BNP but they're a fucking joke nonetheless. Looks like it'll be a Tory government next year too. Oh joy.

Horrors review post coming up... it'll mostly be photographs because, well, I feel like it. There's not much to write and people only look at the pictures anyway.

Today I've been at uni 9 - 5. We're in block teaching now so we get a full week of one module at a time. We've just started Optimistation Methods, which I actually understand and can do the examples in class. Spending all day on one thing helps me to focus. I do feel slightly drained though.

EDIT - Don't know why it's taken so long but Saturday's Parkrun results have come through. I was 104th out of 106 and my time was 37:38. I wasn't feeling up for it and it was pissing down, which is why. Also, near the end, some guy said "she's the special one". I'm fairly sure he was talking about me and I'm fairly sure he meant "special" in that way.

Why did I think that Primary Colours wasn't out until tomorrow when it was released on May 4th? I hope that they'll play a few old songs so that I'll know some.

I wish I wasn't depressed so that I could enjoy myself tonight.

I've been so busy revising that it's taken me until now to find the time to update about Saturday's festival! The weather all weekend has been lovely, and it was perfect to enjoy the bands in the sunshine (except I did get a bit sunburnt!). Read all about it ( under the cut )

Phew. The coach on the way back dropped some people off at Meadowhall and went past the Premier Inn I stayed at after the Rotherham LMHR carnival. Tied things together nicely.

Some stuff has happened since Saturday, too.

On Sunday I had to go for a run on my own and I managed 38:12, which is crap but it was very hot and I was painfully sunburnt. I'll need to compare year-on-year really, for accuracy. Eddie Izzard, who said a few words in between bands in Stoke, strongly recommends running so if me banging on about it each week hasn't convinced you then maybe that will, lol.

On Monday I had my Risk Management exam, which was fairly difficult. I may well have failed.

Tuesday was nice. I recently went on a random walk and discovered Beckett Park, which is in Headingley and a half-hour walk from my house. It is so lovely there and not as overpopulated as Hyde Park is in the sunshine. There's lots of shade too, so I went there to make revision cards for Computations in Finance. There were relatively few insects and dogs, and it didn't start to rain, so the time spent was entirely pleasant.

This morning I had a very quick exam, which was relatively easy, except for the question about the uniform distribution. It's good because I have to do well in that one to make up for failing at C++. Jan set that paper too; I like that he focuses much more on meaning than mathematics.

A final word from me. This is very important for UK people aged 18+:

TOMORROW, THURSDAY 4TH JUNE, GO OUT AND VOTE!

VOTE FOR ANY PARTY YOU LIKE, AS LONG AS IT'S NOT THE BNP. TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

And tell all your friends and family not to vote BNP, but to make sure that they DO vote.

I bought a CD single today in a shop. I still can't get over it. The Kids Are Sick Again cost me £2.99, and there's only one new track. CD singles aren't popular/profitable though, so I suppose they've got to do something.

On the way into town I saw the lecturer who taught two thirds of our maths modules this term. We smiled at each other and I'm noting that here because I usually avoid people I know when I'm out and pretend not to see them particularly those I fancy. Must be the sunshine. It made me awfully sweaty on the way back, though. We had the Continuous Time Finance exam yesterday morning and that lecturer set it; he made it terribly easy compared to how difficult and mathematical it could have been. As long as I've recycled all the definitions from my revision cards correctly, I'll have passed. The last question was well confusing, though, and we didn't get a choice so we had to do it. Something about formulating Black-Scholes for binomial options.

It's the LMHR festival in Stoke tomorrow! I'm so excited. Drew!stalking fun to be had. I think he's playing there with those five bands that's he's in now... is it five? I've lost count. (I'm being facetious but Helsinki are playing and Peter Doherty is headlining, so that's at least two. I wouldn't mind if the whole ten hours was just Drew, tbh). Actually, the coach leaves at 9:30 tomorrow this morning, so I'd better go to bed really.

franzwhore suggested that I ask you all a question. OK, not all of you, but those who have lapsed in Livejournal land recently in terms of posting, but still read and hang around a bit. Just wanted to know what you're all up to these days. Feel free to comment if this applies :)

( email )

Somewhat related, I just clicked over to the iTunes window to see if I had any Pains of Being Pure at Heart songs (since bands I like seem to like them) and as soon as I did, the ONE that I DO have started to play!! WEIRD. Because I have almost 4,000 songs...

Also, Maxïmo Park have the most eloquent Twitter updates I have ever seen.

Since Maxïmo Park songtitles are very appropriate for many journal entries, it's hard to choose one specifically for a gig write-up. But that fits perfectly.

I've been rather moodswingy lately but two things have made me very happy. They can be summed up in two words: Maxïmo Parkrun!

( (i) Are you free for circumnavigation? )

( (ii) Do you ever want to wear your body out? )

This is the same store that, the only time I've ever been there, had a fire drill when my parents and I were shopping.

I'm sure that's not remotely interesting.

OMG Morrissey is playing Leeds Academy in October! Leeds Academy!! WTF I need to go but I don't know where I'll be, geographically speaking, at that time. It's going to sell out really fast, too.

Well as I've said to a couple of people I am getting excited about Maxïmo Park now. I can't believe it's been two years since I've seen them! I have listened to their new album and intend to do so as much as I can before tomorrow. I ordered the signed special edition and thought that I'd been unlucky but, no, it IS signed! By Archis. He's very discreetly written his name in gold marker on the inside cover of the CD case.

If I wasn't so averse to changing my username, I'd make it languageofideas. It's Maxïmo-related and exactly fifteen characters.

HMV have started selling CD singles again, and WH Smith have taken over where Woolworths left off with the pic 'n' mix. And everything's so cheap at the moment! It's brilliant.

I had a three-hour derivatives exam this morning. I think I passed. I hope I did, because resits are £60 or something ridiculous like that.

I'm seeing Maxïmo Park on Friday, and strangely I'm not as excited as I should be. I haven't even listened to the new album yet - I've been too preoccupied with study and exams. I don't have another exam 'til the 28th, though, so it's not so bad.

I wonder what time I should get to M&S on Friday to get some shit for 1p.

Radio 4's quite good actually. There's a play that is very good for explaining market economics in simple terms:

The Great Hargeisa Goat Bubble

I listened to it as I was falling asleep last night. Good revision for my derivatives exam tomorrow!

There's also a fascinating statistics programme: More Or Less

In that episode they are looking at the probability theory related to Deal Or No Deal and the so-called "Kate Bush conjecture", in which she sings some of pi but may or may not get it wrong.

I should be revising, really.

Today has been a bit rubbish so far because I got up early to go and hand out anti-BNP leaflets at the West Indian centre, but there was no-one there. It was supposed to be from 10:30am - I got there a few minutes early but it was all locked up, so I waited around but no one came. Then as I was walking home again a man in a Jeep wolf-whistled at me. WTF. Can't defeat racism and I have to put up with sexism too. I don't even look attractive, but that's not the point.

Saturday was better. Having not heard from Capita Hartshead for a month and a half (since the assessment day), I assumed the worst and when I received a letter yesterday morning I thought I knew what it was going to say. BUT it was actually a letter inviting me to an interview! I was so surprised. I remember the numbers - over 400 people applied for the job, 45 attended the assessment days and they called about 12 back to interview. I'm one of the 12!! And according to the advertisement, there are ten jobs available. Apparently at interview they want to find out what motivates us. It's not until the end of June/beginning of July though, so I have even longer to wait before I know whether or not I'll have a job in September!

I did Parkrun yesterday, as usual. I cam 143rd out of 149 and my time was 36 minutes exactly, an improvement of 50 seconds on my previous PB! Towards the finish line, a woman (also called Sarah) who had been behind me all along started to catch up and gave me that final push of motivation to keep on running. We finished at the same time because as much as I tried, I could not overtake her!

I was beaten to the finish line by an old man holding a "Happy Birthday" balloon. He was 74, lolz.

This morning I was woken up by the pattering of rain on my window. The room was rendered dark by my blinds and I didn't want to get up, despite it being after 9am. I eventually emerged at 9:35 and started to prepare for my telephone interview, which took place at 11am.

The interview was for a Customer Planning Analyst graduate role at Hallmark cards, in Bradford. I was surprised when I received a phone call yesterday about the job because I'd applied for it ages ago and hadn't put any thought into the application. I had uploaded my CV and answered some basic questions, but not even written anything in that "Write anything else that you think will support your application" box. But I did get a callback, and they seem quite enthusiastic about me.

After the interview was over (it only lasted 20 minutes), I was in hysterics and thought that, as usual, I was "borderline" in terms of "hmm... they MIGHT have liked me". I think and hope it was the good side of borderline. The woman I spoke to had a thick Scottish accent so was difficult to understand at first but I soon got used to it. She seemed impressed about my Excel skills and said "great" after a few of my answers to the competency questions. I didn't prepare excessively, which I think was to my benefit because I felt I sounded more at ease when I was answering questions that I hadn't written anything down for.

I'll know by next Friday and if I'm successful I'll have an interview in person. She asked me what my salary expectation was and I was like, "pfffummmmmmm" so she said "you can say you're not sure!". So I did, lol. Just pay me, I don't care how much! She seemed really friendly. I hate the "greatest achievement" question though because I don't think I've achieved anything significant. So I said about Parkrun. I like talking about that.

( Politics )

Yep. Back where I was before, then, but slightly more informed! There's an LMHR gig in Stoke at the end of this month which I'm seriously considering going to.

If you read all that well done.

Yes I play too much online bingo. Anyway...

I never save pictures of bands any more (unless they're extremely slashy) but GUH.



I KIND OF REALLY LIKE THIS GUY. AND I'M NOT EVEN SURE WHAT HIS NAME IS.

And to make it even more confusing, The Chapman Family have a song called Lies, and Heartbreak's album is also called Lies.

A quote from La Roux, "I love dancing, I love getting all sweaty. It was great fun!" OH GOD YES.

It's my birthday today (it's just about still Sunday, right?). I celebrated it over Friday and Saturday, in Manchester, Preston and the Lake District.

( There is LOTS in here! )

I hope this entry and its many pictures didn't break your computer.

I saw Simon Rix on Otley Road today. He was throwing some rubbish away outside KFC, and I was going into KFC, lol.

36:50!!! Six people behind me!! GET IN!

And y'know what? I didn't stop running until after the third kilometre. I won't stop at all next week! My ongoing goal has been to finish ahead of Amar but he hasn't been there recently. However this week I beat Diane, who admittedly is in her sixties and had her arm in plaster today, but her PB is 34:33. Of course, most importantly I beat my former self and hope to continue doing so.

They must have had so much fun making this video. Especially Chris Edwards (even though there's no other Chris in the band any more I still have to use his surname).

Cracking song too! I'm on fire!

I didn't have any money until today with which to buy an NME Radar Tour ticket and when I went on Seetickets earlier, it said that they'd sold out! For once See was the cheapest, so I actually wanted to buy my ticket from there. I thought I might have to resort to a dodgy-looking site, a ticket costing £29 or a tout on the night. But strangely, I Googled it, clicked through some links, and ended up on various different See pages, some of which had tickets available. Weird. But yeah, I'm going to see La Roux, Magistrates, Heartbreak and The Chapman Family in a week. Woohoo!

And on May the 17th I am going to do some anti-BNP leafleting.

So here is my new haircut. Despite making fun of Drew for constantly changing his hairstyle, I'm the exact same way.



Still got the fringe, but it's properly short now and doesn't get in the way. I even managed to layer it around the back, to some extent. Now I just need to let the fringe grow longer than the rest of it and I'll look like Rhys. My hair inspiration for the past couple of years, lol. Actually to look like him I'll need to lose a dangerous amount of weight XD. Got the rabbit teeth though.

Since I was uploading pics, here's a random one:



PICTOCHAT <3

Don't ask!

My Hotel Chocolat egg arrived so quickly it was already here yesterday! I have eaten the chicks out of it and that's all so far. And out of that massive box of chocolates, I've only eaten two. It's because that's all I've been allowed! Tomorrow, though, I'm gonna go for it in a big way, because Friday is Indulgence Day! Mmm, Fridays.

Ooh, there's only one more week of uni left until we break for revision. I have Fridays off, which is another reason that they're awesome.

I got a free copy of Intelligent Life through the post today. What with that and having been to the theatre quite a few times in the last couple of months, I think I'm getting posh. As posh as you can be with no money.

Google Trends results for The Cribs

The peak is when Men's Needs... was released. I find it amusing that the top two results under "Cities" are Bristol and Leeds, in that order. Leeds can be explained - it's their nearest proper city (sorry Wakefield) and they have a lot of fans here, naturally. But Bristol? That would be me, then.

I do Google a lot. I searched Trends for Mathew Horne and as expected that peaked earlier this year. Specifically when he collapsed on stage in Entertaining Mr. Sloane. Around the time that I was obsessively checking his Myspace, Twitter, Rob Brydon's Twitter... because I was worried that he wouldn't be alright. The top city in that case was Sheffield, though.

I'm doing a psychology study for £8 that looks at the relationship between sleep and physical activity. I have to wear this watchlike wristband for eight days. As soon as I got home after putting it on at uni I wanted to take it off! It will be rather irritating (and won't it get dirty?!) but it's worth it I suppose.

I managed to finally get a Hotel Chocolat Easter egg - from eBay. I can't remember if I said on here or not but I tried to buy one in their sale but they ran out and sent me a (much more expensive) box of chocolates instead. Which was nice, but I desperately wanted an egg, so I spent almost £20 on the eBay one! Though only £2.60 actually came out of my bank because I had accumulated lots on PayPal. I was so excited by last-second bidding that I nearly bought two eggs (I was watching two similar auctions).

And it's frustrating 'cos the internet's being really slow tonight.

I should have listened to Interpol all along, really. Today I ran over 1km without stopping! Granted, it was much slower than usual but before Easter I was lucky to get 200m before I gave up for a bit. I'm hoping that I can continue like this and build up my stamina each week so that eventually I can run the whole 5km (however slowly) in one go, and work on my speed afterwards. Who knows, maybe I'll even do the London Marathon next year! ;) Although that is like doing Parkrun followed by doing it again another 7 times or something.

So my time this week was 37:47 (just 10 seconds more than my Leeds PB!), and I came 194th out of 196. So many runners this week! So many good runners!

I would like a new iPod. My music collection's getting near the 20GB limit and mine can't cope with it.

I went to Dorothy Perkins today and despite not being supposed to, I bought something. I got this polka dot shirt for only £9.60 because it was 20% off everything today. I never used to be able to buy shirts below size 20/22 before so I couldn't get any from DP. But now I can! Although, looking at myself in the shop mirrors I thought, I look relatively average-sized now, but I still have a huge belly. So, basically I look pregnant. Great. Apparently people whose weight distribution centres around their middle are more at risk of most diseases. So I'll have to start doing some circuit training next week.

It is quite girly but I want to cut my hair shorter because, even though it's not very long anyway, it is too hot to have much hair right now.

The tutor for Financial Derivatives emailed us all the presentations. It turned out that my group had done something. I never turned up last Monday to find out. But why did they not, at the very least, email me the slides? The first slide had everyone's name on it except mine. And there were nine in the group. I just assumed that nobody was bothered because I didn't hear anything to the contrary, so I acted as I thought they were acting.

I feel quite lonely lately, and confused. Especially after 11pm.

I was doing a survey about television and I read "Home & Away" as "Horne & Away".

This post started out very short and I was worried that I would eventually drift over to Twitter. But luckily I thought of more things to say.

We've now got a shiny new washing machine. It looks technically amazing and I can't wait to try it out on Sunday! My landlord's brilliant.

But now my iPod's broken. When it's fixed, I wonder what will break next.

I was still asleep when it was time to leave the house for my 1pm Finance lecture today, but it's OK because the content was basically a dumbed-down version of discrete time finance that we did last term. And I went to the 9am Maths lecture. I got up too early this morning.

I am listening to The Report on Radio 4, having just read an article about the BNP's wanting to call Asian and Black Britons "racial foreigners". It's outrageous. I mean, it's only terminology but that's where it all starts, isn't it? Like, despite being born in this country and many knowing nothing else, they are still not welcome according to a bunch of racists masquerading as a political party. And it is scary because they only need 9% of votes to be elected into the European Parliament, and they got 6.4% in the last election (source) (EDIT - in the North West, that is).

Rant over. Just to show I'm not getting old as quickly as the title suggests, I would like to promote record_label. I recently signed up to the RSS feed and there's loads of good new mp3s on there for free, including Comet Gain and The Thermals, as well as plenty of brand new, promising bands.

Air conditioning. Blimey, it's like a greenhouse in there.

Aw, man. The Horrors won't be at Brudenell Social Club anymore :( They're playing The Cockpit instead, which is a nice venue but I wanted to go to the Brudenell! And the date has changed so that now it's after the exams. That is a good thing.

Someone just posted this to the Leeds Freecycle list:

Hi, we have a couple of nokia phone chargers going spare, the newer ones with the small connecter.

Haha, I love it.

So, due to being on trains on a Saturday morning again, I ran on my own today. I didn't get up 'til midday, though, and ran in the hot afternoon sun. Also there were loads of people in the park. My time was 38:28 - not bad but not my best, either.

I had a nice surprise when I weighed myself today. My parents don't have any scales in their bathroom so I couldn't weigh myself daily like I had been doing before. But - over Easter! - I lost half a stone! That's two stone since January :D The only downside is that those size 16s are now the only trousers that fit me.

Our washing machine's broken - I went to open it and noticed some smelly water stagnating in there. So I did my washing by hand today, like the good old days in Bristol when we actually had a washing machine but I didn't use it. It's a good workout for the arms and leaves the sink nice and shiny, but it takes ages for the clothes to dry. Talking of domestic things, I'm finally getting to eat that cottage pie I made before the holidays. It's well nice, and low in fat. And because there's only one of me I get to eat it four days in a row.

I might go to see La Roux in Preston next month. I'm going to Manchester, spending the night there and then travelling to the Lake District the next morning. So I need something to do that night near Manchester, and the NME Radar Tour will be in Preston on the 8th of May. So I'm going to find out if it's feasible.

(This started as a logical argument but soon descended into inane fangirl rambling!)

From sarah_a67, December 2004:

Also been watching the last two episodes of ‘Teachers’. Apparently I fancy Ewan Doherty from Teachers. And they [family people] were right. I do. And Ben. Ben looks like Nick McCarthy.

Bwahahaha. He does a bit. Ben of course played by Mat Horne. He's quite popular now, isn't he?

It was like this.

4oD comes into existence -> making me want to rewatch Teachers -> Oh it's him again -> What else is he in? -> SUDDENLY there are lots of posters around advertising Gavin & Stacey DVDs -> Oh he's in a lot of other things too -> NOW HIM AND JAMES CORDEN HAVE A SKETCH SHOW!!!

Not forgetting having a film out and doing a play and God knows what else at the same time. And now everyone knows who he is ;)

And they wrote the sketch show for people like me. They had to have done, otherwise how could it have been so slashy?! Superman/Spiderman FTW.

I'm not trying to be indier-than-thou, I just find it amusing.

It was well funny the other day - me and Katie were in town and I saw these kids walking in front of us. Proportionwise and hair-colourwise, they looked like mini Horne and Corden. It was uncanny. And Katie knew who they were. So when they stopped to say "hi" to a friend and Katie said, "that's Nathan", I lolled so much, right there in the street.

Someone please say that they know what I'm talking about.

So I have returned to the north again. Yay! I got five trains here because it was cheaper to go via Manchester, but it did take six hours.

I felt I should update but it's been rather dull since last week. I got through all of Gavin & Stacey, including the Christmas special, so that was an achievement. But now Horne and Corden is finished as well (and I'm pretty sure that they only showed five of the six episodes) I have nothing left to watch! Anyone have any recommendations? With or without Mat Horne in! I was thinking of watching all of Peep Show again, but there's five series and I've already done that twice in the last year!

There was a fitness trial to find the "fittest student in Leeds University" and I was going to do it because, all other things being equal, I would have had a 75% chance of winning - there were three prizes and only three women had entered! But it turns out it's on Wednesday when I thought it would have been on Tuesday, and my lecture takes precedence. There is a bit of apathy towards studies at the moment; not only by me. We have to do group presentations on Monday and we've had all Easter to prepare, but none of my group has done anything. It doesn't count towards our grade and I suppose we all have better things to do. Also, I got only 13% on the latest C++ coursework, so I'll have to work hard in the exam. Thankfully we don't have to programme in the exam.

The only other thing I'm doing next week apart from studying then is going to psychology for tests. I've signed up for three separate studies - the ongoing one where I have to take the saliva samples, a sleep/physical activity study and a quick one on Tuesday about face recognition. It's fun and I get paid, so I don't mind taking part!

What a lovely sunny day it has been. I always seem to write quite long entries when I think I have nothing to write about.

The one reason I went to see it was Mat Horne. He wasn't even in it! Still, I enjoyed the play.

Fergus March, an understudy, replaced him. He was quite good but it was obvious that he'd learnt the character from watching Mat play Sloane. He had all the same facial expressions! However, the play was a good length and the older actors were brilliant. Plus it has more depth than Wikipedia affords it - I booked my ticket without even knowing what it was about and Wikipedia makes it sound rather dodgy. Well, it is full of innuendo but then it's set in the sixties. And it was mostly quite funny.

So despite Mat not being there it was a fun night. Playing a naïve young tenant was appropriate for a keen young understudy (Sloane is supposed to be only 20 - would Mat have been convincing?). One of the theatre staff said to a complaining customer, "you come for the play, not for the actor". I felt kind of stupid but I wasn't the only one who was disappointed. I'll just have to watch both series of Gavin & Stacey now to get my fix! I won't get to see him in leather in that, though. :P

Before the play, me and Katie shopped for hours in Oxford Street and Camden. Well, I bought Katie a load of clothes, basically. It was fun just to shop. She wasn't bothered about seeing the play but would have come along if there were any free tickets available. So I called the number you call for free tickets but the guy said that it was fully booked. But there was a free seat next to me all night! That was irritating.

Today I've done Parkrun - both mum and Jack ran this time! It was so much fun and I'm very tired. We did it in 59:07, which is impressive because it was Jack's first run and he completed the whole 5k :)

And now I've just nommed the biggest Chinese takeaway in existence.

On Friday I'm going to London again.

On Friday I'm going to the theatre again.

On Friday I'm seeing Mathew Horne again.

*Facepalm*

I'm a size 16 now :D I bought some jeans from Dorothy Perkins and they actually fit me. I think their size 16s are bigger than TopShop's though.

The best thing was that they were absolutely FREE! Two for £25 + student discount + £13 vouchers for doing surveys meant that mine were free and mum got a pair for just £9.50!

Here's a very flattering picture of us doing Parkrun yesterday:



Today we went down town (me, mum and my sister Katie) and Katie saw this woman she knew called Rowena. It was REALLY HARD not to shout "ROWEEEEEEEEENA!" at her as she walked past.

And it recognises that I have done 8 runs now, even though it says "Congratulations on completing your first event!" on the website. I got a PB - my best time is now 36:16 - although the course in Basingstoke is a lot easier because there are no hills! I ran with mum. She wasn't looking forward to it but actually really enjoyed it and wants to come back next week! As do my brother Jack, my dad and my sister's boyfriend Martin. What a great result :D There were loads of people behind us too!

Well, we may have cheated a bit but I think we made up for it. There are no signs or marshals so when you can't see people in front of you it's hard to remember where to go! We did the third kilometre quickly because of this and retraced our steps so that we were behind the girl we were behind before.

We went for a coffee afterwards but there is less of a community atmosphere in Basingstoke than there is in Leeds.

Obviously since it's the holidays nothing too exciting has happened, but we did watch all six episodes of Mitchell and Webb's Bruiser last night. It was so funny.

Wow, I've so much to catch up on. It feels like I've been offline for weeks, but actually the last time I was on LJ was the afternoon before I went to see The Enemy on Thursday.

Well on Friday I went to see Rob Brydon. He was very, very funny. The support was Hal Cruttenden, who was already on when I got there just after half past seven, which was the time printed on the ticket. He was also funny. He was a little overweight and had been married for nine years, so it was the typical middle-aged man complaining about his life routine. He did jokes about obesity - how it's not an "epidemic" because you can't catch it from people. I can't remember much else because I've seen so much comedy this extended weekend that it's hard to recall who did what!

Rob was hilarious. ( More... )

So after that I had a few hours' sleep before I was up at 4:45 to go running! I couldn't do Parkrun with everyone else last week because I would be catching a train to London at 9am. So I did it at six on my own! Inevitably my time suffered because it was early, I was wearing the wrong clothes and there was no-one to offer encouragement. But I'm glad I still ran. I got back, showered and left the house with all my heavy baggage (never learn) to catch the 8:27am train.

I got home, chilled for a bit and then had to research and prepare for the essay I had to write at the assessment day on Monday. I woke up at what should have been 7am on Sunday, but was actually eight, to finish the preparation, as well as planning all my travelling around London! I left in the afternoon, took the tube to South Kensington and saw a well good night of comedy hosted by James Corden and Mathew Horne at the Royal Albert Hall.

( Even more... )

So it finished at ten past ten, earlier than I thought it would, and I went to the Generator Hostel near King's Cross, which was easy to find because I'd StreetViewed it previously. I finally checked in by about half eleven because I had to wait for a large group of German teenagers to check in before me. For £13 a night it was such good value, though. The staff were very friendly and helpful (the receptionist shakes your hand when you meet) and the beds were comfortable. There was no noise in the middle of the night and all the facilities were in working order (forgiving a cold shower - it was half past four in the morning...). The ambience of the place was nice. I was impressed. I would've had free breakfast too if I didn't leave at ten past five! And I was able to iron my shirt before I went.

I walked to King's Cross station in my interview clothes, had breakfast from Upper Crust and caught the 6:00 to Wakefield, where I had to change to get to Sheffield. It's quicker despite being a longer distance. I walked quickly from the station to the Capita Hartshead building and arrived (too sweaty) eight minutes early. I was happy to go up north again! I wasn't particularly nervous because all we had to do at the assessment day were solitary tests, so I wasn't being examined on my ability to convince or relate to other people. They were impressed that I'd come up from London! Also, one of the directors said that they'd had 450 applications (!!) but only invited 45 to assessment days. So I was happy and proud that I'd been chosen! The morning started with a presentation by one of the programme directors and we got the chance to ask questions of the graduates who are currently employed on the scheme. The tests we did (in-tray exercise, psychometric tests and the pensions essay) were hard, but not overly so, and I'll find out how I did by the end of next month. They'll invite 12 back to interview, and employ 10 of those.

I got the 14:27 train back to London... I eventually got home again at just gone 7pm. I did nothing all evening and slept until midday today. Just about recovered! I've been on the internet all afternoon.

Here we go again (I'm starting to recognise the touts and security guards)...

( Short but sweet )

My head hurts and I'm well tired - I'm getting too old for this constant gigging! I'm at least two years older than The Enemy. But it's turned me into a more confident person. If only I had the money to go to concerts as good and as often as this all the time. Maybe it'd get boring?

EDIT - I now know that the bassist is Andy and the drummer Liam.

"All of Kasabian... touch me tonight"

BWAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA. I LOVE YOU, MATHEW HORNE.

BTW. An ad for UWE on Photobucket made me think that when I was in Bristol, no one ever chanted "Somerset!" (or Avon or whatever the hell county Bristol was supposed to be in) at gigs, but they should have done because that would have been WELL hilarious in that accent.

( I still feel a little incoherent it was THAT GOOD so apologies XD )

Another people's band, The Enemy: tomorrow night, same venue. I spoil myself.

True that. Even though I'd StreetViewed my precise route, I went there anyway today, just to be sure. Also, it costs almost half as much to get a return to Sheffield from Leeds than it does to get one to Meadowhall, despite Sheffield being further away. WTF, illogical trains?

It was so weird! I felt as though I'd been there before because I'd "walked" it virtually on Google. I thought, this is brilliant! What could go wrong? Even the green men on the pedestrian crossings seemed to appear just for me. But then I reached one of Sheffield's many subways.

I had navigated a couple of the city's (different) subways before but this was at 1am after the LMHR gig in Rotherham, and of course I was on my own so I didn't feel particularly safe. Such anxiety can affect rational decisions about which way is the right way to walk. But today it was mid-afternoon sunshine and there were loads of smiling people around. So I was better able to make useful judgements. Still, there were three exits to the second subway I had to use, and I went to the wrong two first! Because Google maps are primarily aimed at drivers it is not so useful when you're walking. I was instructed to "go through 1 roundabout" and take the second exit from the other. I didn't do that because chances are I would have been killed! [EDIT - This is why you shouldn't follow directions like that too literally! LOL.]

Still, I reached Ecclesall Road (eventually) and found the Capita building I'd seen on StreetView. So I can conclude that StreetView is useful, but if you have enough time it's still worth checking out the area if you need to be somewhere at a certain time. I now know I won't be late to my interview as long as everything goes to plan. StreetView helped me save time today because by using maps alone I would have got completely lost, probably much sooner than the subways!

I agree with Drew; I like Sheffield. It's friendly and logical like Leeds is, but also much more industrial.



Earlier in the day I went into Psychology to do the second of three consecutive days' studies. Each day is the same - I have to take samples of my saliva whilst writing about a positive experience and at the end of the study I get £15. I chose to write about the wonderful feeling I get when listening to If The World Ends - so I'm basically being paid to fangirl over Guillemots!

You also get to read magazines to help you relax before you do the writing and feelings assessment. I had the choice of a whole host of women's mags like OK!, a copy of Kerrang and a GQ. The first day I picked up Kerrang, but it was dreadfully boring, full of grammatical errors and seemed to be aimed at pretentious 13-year-olds. I can't stand typical women's mags - they just really annoy me with their preoccupations with appearance - so today I took GQ, which has pictures of breasts in it but it was the business issue so I felt kind of justified. And it actually has intelligent journalism in it. I read a piece about Jonathan Ross and the recent scandal which was written from a refreshing perspective and started on the main piece about Barack Obama. Too much porn for a magazine containing such useful material, but I doubt I would find anything near that in the ladies' mags. Do writers and publishers think women are not intelligent enough to read that kind of thing? I was thinking of picking up OK! magazine tomorrow just to compare but I want to read more of GQ instead!

I'm not saying it's on par with The Economist or anything but I'd rather read that than "OMG CELLULITE!!!111"

"One for Peter Doherty please"
"We only have balcony left, is that OK?"
"Yeah, that's fine"

This transaction occurred before I realised how shit standing on the balcony would be. Good gig though!

( Including plenty of DREW :D )

So that's one down this week, four to go!! Kasabian tomorrow!

(Apologies for the spam today. I'm feeling active and have no one else to talk to.)

I have fallen in love with Google StreetView. I like to spend hours looking at maps as it is but now I could spend days on Google if I had the time! I've been exploring Bristol, Leeds and London and figured that they must have done the filming around the beginning of August last year. Which was quite a while ago. For example, there is no Leeds Academy on StreetView, which was up and running back in October.

The station looks the same, though:


This technology is brilliant because I can satisfy my need for seeing new (and old) places without the need for expensive train fares. I can visit Camden again as I didn't have time to go there when I was last in London. And beyond entertainment, this has a very practical application.

I was planning to go to Sheffield on Tuesday to find out where my interview will be because I'll be short of time on the day. It costs just over a tenner to get there. Now all I need to do is StreetView the address and plan my route that way, and I can see what all the buildings I'll pass look like and where exactly I'll need to get off the bus, if I take it. This level of detail in planning is heaven for me (I did a Myers-Briggs indicator that said I was an ISTJ and it is very charateristic to love plans and details). The only downside is it might take the fun out of getting lost, since it will eliminate getting lost; but then this will save a lot of time.

The other thing is it only covers locations in and around large cities. Southampton is the only place in Hampshire where you can see the streets - not that I was expecting much for Alton but there's nothing within a reasonable distance either. I was narcissistically trying to find myself - I travelled quite a bit last summer so it would have been difficult! But I was probably at home. I could have been in Dublin, but Ireland's not included in StreetView.

It's going to be so useful! I'm going to write a list of all the places I need to find. Erm, after I've done my coursework, that is!

Having listened to Grace / Wastelands and concluding, because I am a fangirl, that most of the songs are about Carl, it is a pleasant change to hear Peter being so positive about his former bandmate. And judging by the last track he was a lot more than just a bandmate, eheheheh. Some of Peter's lyrics have been quite spiteful in the past, while Carl's were always more balanced, but it seems like things as they are now provide a perfect base for them to get back together. In whatever way you can imagine.

---

So the race results have come through already - I got another PB, which is 37:37. Not only is it 48 seconds faster, it's also two 37s. Which is nice. And this time there were three people behind me!