Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Wow.

Family coming over next weekend, will be ACE to see them. Been a while... And what with me being in sunny England all Summer, I haven't spent more than a week with them since June. Odd! They're only coming for two nights, but it's still be tremendous. Going to good old manc on the Sunday for a cultured day with Teh Mickey :)

Got quite a lot to do at the moment, but I still want to do more. Will be ringing some schools tomorrow to see if I can do a volunteer teaching thing one day a week. Seeing as I have two full weekdays off uni a week I might as well fill one of them with something sensible. And unpaid.

Creative Writing is a bit mental. Not got LOADS to write but I think I need to pick it up a notch. Both in terms of words, and the quality... Decided I will do 2000 words a day. Every day. It doesn't all have to be publishable - or even submittable - so long as I get my ass into gear type thing. Have joined the nanowrimo (http://www.nanowrimo.org) so in November I will write 3000 a day - that's 2000 for the novel and at least 1000 for *other*... The thing is.. I need to do it. Maybe not for my degree, but just to prove to myself I can work when I need to, not just the night before a deadline. So far today I've written zilch - but there's still 3.5 hours to go! Haha.

Did I tell you bout Brum? Brum was ace. A minor disappointment involving a.. misunderstanding.. but I had a fab time with Tara, Karin, Lynne, David and Daz. And Brum is just amazing. I'm afraid I spent way too much money - on clothes and fabrics. Will make sure I post the results of my current sewing spree (which will probably end in about five minutes, but y'kno..).

Am planning on going to Bowland's Christmas ball - and I've even convinced Mike to come! Our first date.. hehe. Was surprised that he agreed, I think he secretly enjoys getting dressed up in a dark suit and dancing the night away with a pretty lady... (that's me, for those of you who didn't get that). And anyway, my point WAS that I'm making my dress for it. Although I bought three very nice, fancy, shiney fabrics, so it'll just depend on which one turns out nicer.. Have started a brown satin one, trying some boning for it which I've never done before, might well blow up in my face. Literally. Will ask opinions when they're all done.

Speaking of.. opinions. Why aren't you commenting? I KNOW people are reading this.. and I know I may not be the most interesting blogger ever but come ooooon... ;)

I'll try harder if you do. Haha.

xx

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

I'm pretty stressed right now. Yes, I've nearly finished the bloody thing. And I think I'm about as happy with it as I could possibly be. But y'kno. Still stressed. Finishing the last little bits and bobs, and it annoys me. I hate deadlines. But then again, I hate exams more. Well.. do I? I don't know.

Mike's coming tonight, thank God. Just need to relax for a night. All this stressing is making me ill, I think. My entire body is just aching, and I've had a headache for the last few days. Typical lurgy - fresher's flu? Haha. I'm gonna say it's the stress, cos paracetamol haven't been helping at all. Switching to beechams now...

Working yesterday went really well, the boss rang me up this morning saying I did SUCH a good job, I am PERFECT for the position, and I'm a great mixture of calm and relaxed, and efficient and intelligent. Haha, I'm wondering what's shes' basing that on - my ability to move chairs? To hand out papers? To be friendly to old ladies? Either way, I really enjoyed it. Could imagine a similar job in the future actually.. But yeah.

Had a good idea for my next dissertation last night - forensic phonetics. Cos let's face it, I'm good at it. And I'm interested in it. And my supervisor is as well. Sooo... I'm just waiting for him to reply to my email, see what he reckons. This time I swear I'm going to do everything right. Starting next week.

..anyone believe me?

Stef is cooking blue cheese pasta downstairs, it smells really nice.. But don't think I can eat anything right now. Had food not too long ago...

I just read something I haven't read in a long time. Well, two things. The first one is a short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 'the Yellow Wallpaper', which we read in English a few years back. It was amazing. Well, it's still amazing. More than a hundred years old but still quite modern. Read it, if you haven't already. Second thing I read, was the bottom of my lunch box. It's a Lenore lunch box, and there's a pig saying... 'Oh...um...Hello there. I am a hidden piggy. For some reason, I was put on the bottom of this really heavy box. Each time you put this box down, it hurts real bad. Please don't hurt me anymore. I was thinking that maybe you could fill it up with like marshmallows or something. You like marshmallows.'

I'll leave you to ponder the little piggy's words of wisdom now.

Until next time!

xx

Sunday, October 08, 2006

So last night/this morning an old mate phoned me. Woke me up, but it was absolutely ace talking to him again... It got me thinking, I am so very very bad at staying in touch with people. Started writing letters, got to.. one. Lucky Karin! Heh. I keep meaning to. And it's not like I don't have the time to do it... As I have so few hours at uni, I can divide my time up as I want. But am thinking that maybe I need to get into the 'swing of things' (as Dave so eloquently put it) before I write letters? There will be enough writing this year as it is, but I just don't know where to start.

Well. The number one priority THIS week is finishing the LING232 dissertation. I don't know where I stand. I read it and re-read it and I go back through my notes and I think I've got it all down. Some minor things left to do, few more paragraphs on the lit review, as well as in the conclusion. Apart from that, just need the acknowledgements and the abstract, really.

And after this week is over... I'm taking a weekend off EVERYTHING. Lol. Cos that's unusual! After that, I need to think of a topic for my LING201 diss... Am wanting to do something on acoustics and phonetics, not sure what though. Any suggestions welcome.

And then... Creative writing. This term I'm doing both intermediate and non-fiction, next term intermediate and long fiction - all work due right before Easter. Soooo... planning ahead? Be a good student, Julia, work hard and you won't get stressed in the end. Buhullshit! Best get cracking fair soon anyhow.

Now to the fun parts... Karin is coming next week!!! YEY! Can't wait. We shall most definately be going to the Sugarhouse, so if you're a lancastrian (obv, someone I know...) you'd best be there and meet our Kalin! Bwahah.

Last Thurs in Sugar was pretty good, we managed to drag Gill along :-) Stef and Katy didn't enjoy it though - shocker. Haha.

I'd best be off before this turns into another very teenagey, uninteresting post... I read other blogs and feel guilty cos I don't put any effort into this, it's all me-me-me... I could at least TRY to amuse yous.

ttfn

xx