girlofprey

Things that happened to me yesterday:

• I got my first payslip thing. Which made me nearly tremble in excitement. No lie. The effect of money on me, folks. And contrary to my previous thoughts, it was more than I thought it would be. £914, baby! I am clearly well in with this job.



• (£100 is already somehow gone, though. Damn you, graduation robes and train fare and Neverwhere. It slightly puts the whole 'relative value of money' thing into perspective. And that whole downside to spending it, wherein you no longer have it. Hmph. Still. £914!)



• HMV shamelessly tried to seduce me with it's summer sale. And sort of succeeded. Barton Fink for £1.99! Mystery Men for £3.99! I'm only trying to debate whether its worth trying to take metal The Company of Wolves (£4.99!) back to get one without a silver scratch on the front. And whether I should get the Fifth Element too.



• jekesta sent me the BEST CARD EVER. I cannot stress this enough. Also she shamelessly and causelessly slandered her own writing abilities on the envelope, but that is beside the point. Card. It is a huge sparkly cake. It makes me slightly wobbly to look at it, and I may icon it. And with it came a postcard from pigeongirl99, who is sadly away from her internet at the moment! I did have to spend a few moments guessing who she was...while my mother grew more and more concerned about the company I keep. But it was from Brighton, and about Dr Who! I was so rich in post :)



• I found out my module results for last term - on a slightly different part of the site where I found my degree results. I still want to see my essay marks, but it's nice to know. 71 for Adaptation and Appropriation, 67 for Arthurian Literature, 67 for Creative Writing. Giving me an average of 68 for the term, and the year, and a degree result of about 66.2. Not bad :)

Things I have to watch at some point:

• The last two (terrestrial) episodes of Lost.


• This week's King-filled Emmerdale episodes. I have fan shame, yes.


• Pirates of the Caribbean again. Because I don't think I have since seeing it in the cinema. And clearly this is wrong.


• And the rest of Lost Season 1, Platoon, Withnail and I, all those DVDs I bought yesterday, and various other bought-and-left-in-a-stack efforts.

Which doesn't go well with the fact I only have five hours a day free nowadays, in which I also eat, bathe, and read Neverwhere. Ho hum.

Mostly I am worrying the Neverwhere videos won't fit through the letterbox and deciding between saving my money for frugal usage, or buying all the things. Which, what with play.com and Amazon and summer sales and all, I think I could probably actually do. Not that I will. Probably.

Or, to put it another way, I'm not going to Nottingham tomorrow. I remembered to check my uni email at the last minute, and they've cancelled the meeting they scheduled when they cancelled the individual appointments. I'll be getting my marks online and my essay coversheets in the post after the 21st, apparently.

I'll unpack my bag, I guess.

I just wrote the last essay of my degree. Dudes.

I wrote it yesterday. And I'm slightly worried about the fact none of my fellow Arthurians were around at the time of deadline. And possibly it was just ALL NO GOOD, but it is done, and they're all done, and I'd like to do something to celebrate but I'm actually too tired to move. Yet here I am back at the computer. Ah well.

This means that my degree is practically OVER, except for my exam on Monday, which is only for two hours - and you can revise all you want, because you never know what will come up, but you're actually only going to use two hour's worth of stuff. This is how I feel now, post-essays, knowing that there NO MORE WRITING to be done. Probably I'll start freaking out more tonight.

Exam is also after the Green Wing finale, omg. I'm sort of hoping for a huge cliffhanger until Christmas, because I'm not ready for it to be over, and especially not if they go the way I think they're going to go. Oh. Guy. Mon cher Guillame. If they end with Guy/Caroline, I will love them excessively, mainly for flying in the face of most of fandom. If they end with the OT3 I will LOVE THEM FOREVER, and first-born children may be involved. Omg. Tomorrow.

Also there will be Part 2 of Mickeytastic Dr Who on Saturday. About which I choose to have no feelings one way or the other, to avoid hurt.

I hope he gets a gun.

I sent off my Connotations form, and have a space in a room (of great!), so that is all going swell. And I have money which will probably be ALL GONE a few days after my exam. And I can finally watch those DVDs that got delivered to my door EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND, while I was trying to work. And I need to renew my paid time and extra icons soon. Yes.

My housemate does not like Sawyer, and is ruining my appreciation of new Lost. Woe.

Not enough of you have been to see Brick and brought me back a fandom.

I go sleep now perhaps.

My house has turned into a bizarre, nocturnal/time-zone free kind of place. I keep coming downstairs in the morning to find all the lights and television on, while my housemates sleep until the afternoon before getting up to write. It's slightly scary and disorienting. But K has finished her dissertation now anyway - only two essays left - and J is handing in his second to last today, so it'll all be over soon enough, I guess.

And me? I have an essay due on Thursday that I've just started (introduction and a paragraph) today, after excessive and not necessarily relevant reading - and am caught between references and theories and saying 'omg it is so COOL!!' - and am pretty sure that, as per usual, I'll end up writing a 5000 word essay in place of a 3000 one, and have to spend even more time cutting it down. Before starting on the next one. Sigh. I'm getting on with the Creative Writing though. Apart from freaking out that everything I write is too short/too "open"/too weird. And it's too late to get feedback. And I can't spend too much time on it because of other essay/s. And yes.

But it will be over soon. Two weeks today, two weeks today, etc.

I'm starting to think it was actually really rubbish of Channel 4 to put Green Wing on around my birthday - given that it is JUST GETTING INTERESTING in the middle of my essay deadlines. Hmph. But I love it still. I may write a huge squeeing post when this is over, assuming they don't crush all my hopes and dreams. Till then essays. Totally.

I told you I'd be rubbish at this.

We had househunters. Also ants. I cleaned the kitchen, which involved cleaning up the ant powder and probably breathing a lot of it in. Also I nearly went blind from recycling. But it was the first time I had ever cleaned the kitched when I was finished the kitchen was TOTALLY CLEAN, dudes. I had such pride. Then I hoovered my room, and the carpet isn't grey!, and I watched Blackadder and ignored the fact I was meant to be doing a takeaway exam. But I have been doing work. Not enough, naturally, but I've handed two things in, and they were just straightforward enough that I get to worry that I didn't put enough work/thought into them, but they're each worth quite a small amount of marks, so I'm just going to move on. Now I just have the three massive essays and film presentation to do. Yes.

I have been far less strict with myself about TV and film than LJ, naturally.

On Green Wing: The OT3 is true! As is the OTP! And yes!

On the Night Watch DVD: ( Extras spoilers ) It's only a shame that, as with Green Wing, they brought out the DVD when I am much more psyched about part 2.

And on Emmerdale: Omg, Sadie TOTALLY USED CARL AND MATTHEW'S LOVE AGAINST THEM! It was amazing. She was all 'I think you should have lunch with Carl. He likes you. He trusts you.' And Carl was so obviously, beautifully still in love with his brother, all sneaking out of work to have a drink with him. And Matthew was so obviously 'I pretend to not know what she's talking about so I DO NOT HAVE TO BETRAY MY BELOVED HOT brother!'. But he did. And Carl found out. All in one episode. It was great like woah. Seriously, if you want some brotherly vaguely-pretty-when-Carl-doesn't-make-that-face angst fallout, with added Yorkshire accents, tonight, ITV, 7 o'clock.

And I am quite looking forward to Saturday's Dr Who too. Oh, and 'Suburban Shootout' tonight on 5 - I await it with awe.

Also I miss you lots except when I'm secretly checking my flist as well as my email.

Having done some thinking last night, I realised I've - somewhat underestimated my workload for uni.

A week on Monday, I have to hand in my book review for Creative Writing (I haven't started researching this yet). The day after that, I have a two day takeaway exam for Arthurian Literature. And when that's done, I have two and a half weeks to hand in two 3000 word essays, for which I've done no real research yet, and my 4000 Creative Writing portfolio. For which I don't have one finished piece yet. And haven't shown any unfinished ones to my tutor to be checked over. And through most of this I'll still be having seminars and lectures, for which I have to read quite a few relevant passages of Malory, two novels, and watch 'The Hours' so I can take part in a presentation on it. And then when all of that's done and handed in, I have 7 days to revise for my Adaptation and Appropriation exam.

All of which means that I can't really do anything else, for the next month or so.

Probably this won't stop me squeeing over Green Wing, but - still.

Eek.

Today I did not achieve my PITIFULLY SMALL to-do list. Or at least, not so far today. There is still time left for a few pitifully small acts.

I shoulder none of the blame, however, since my mother walked in from work in the middle of my lunch-and-Emmerdale (well before I could even think of doing anything useful) and said she was going into town, did I want to come? To which the answer pretty much had to be yes, because she doesn't really know what to buy me to eat. So I really had no choice.

We decided to take care of the whole 'buying me a 21st birthday keepsake' thing as well, which turned into a bit of an angstfest, sort of. ( Details )

Also I got a wee little Japanese doll thing, and the new Editors album, because it was all of £8 in Tesco's. And then my sister called and we had to go mess about at her house, and then it was dinnertime, and then I had a bath, and now I'm doing Livejournal things, and I'm probably going to fail my degree horribly. Yes.

My Emmerdale DVD is glorious. It has numerous scenes of Carl angsting and crying and shaking, from the plotline where he accidentally killed a postman. And it turns out in the beginning it was Jimmy who was the lovely, supportive brother, holding his face and calling him "kiddo", while Matthew just sort of shouted at him and conned bereaved widows out of their houses. There was manhandling though. But SADLY not the scene where Matthew stares at Carl and is all 'do you know what they do to boys like you in prison?', which I remember and know was true! Possibly it's on the Emmerdale Annual though, which Amazon tells me I've just bought used. Hurrah :)

In one week, I will be going to see the Mighty Boosh with K.
In two and a bit weeks, it will be the end of term.
In two and a half weeks, I will be 21.

In three and a half weeks, my Green Wing DVDs will be delivered :D

It's slightly terrifying that it's already practically the end of term. Although this has been a short term, and we're still having some lectures and seminars after Easter. But we also have a couple of assessed pieces and a Takeaway Exam pretty much straight after Easter. And the fact is, I haven't really been doing any work so far except the basic reading/workshop exercises. I've read no theory or historical/contextual stuff. I've written nothing (I don't think the Craig/Wade angst will count). So I feel like I should be panicking. Or settling in for a stressful Easter.

The birthday thing is just plain odd. I'm going for a meal with the family, and as far as I know they're (well, mum's) still deadset on buying me some fancy lump of gold or platinum 'keepsake'. Which is lovely, and I'll probably appreciate it in years to come when I sell it for crack?, but seems like not the most useful thing I could get. Although to be fair, if I was to get what I wanted it'd probably be a short list of DVD boxsets and a trip to Cuba. So usefulness is probably not my key arguing point here.

American Gothic is out soon. And Barty Crouch Jr Goblet of Fire. Still no word on the Crime and Punishment DVD. I live in hope.

I discovered this icon yesterday. I don't even like it all that much, but all of a sudden I want to write a book about a post-apocalyptic world (or, perhaps, just like our world, but without electricity and cars and such) wherein books are suddenly seen in the same light as drugs - not necessarily illegal or harmful, but just sort of wasteful and self-indulgent now the world's gone to hell. And the library's are now 'owned' by the criminal underworld, and there are gangs of hardcore literature-heads like the Modernists, and the Sci-fi crew, and the Romantics (they will fuck your shit up), and you can get literally stabbed for a book. Also there are some fires. Possibly there are a hundred books like this. Possibly I will write it anyway. Except that the thought of a world without central heating, where you just have to be cold, all the time makes me want to cry a bit. Possibly I will save it and do Nano. Possibly you'll never hear about it again. Yes.

I'm meant to be having a lecture at 4. Except that last week our tutor said that we 'would not be having a lecture in that room', and I thought she talked about emailing us with the room change, but I haven't heard anything yet. So I'm starting to think she meant a lecture at all. But I can't be sure.

I could go home. Or read. But I choose to waste some hours on the internet (conveniently close to my inbox) instead. Hence, a few memes:

New Snaps Cup Meme! Which you should all totally do yourselves as well.

And, snagged from a few people but probably mostly nerdcakes: Name a character or pairing! Watch me I ramble on about it!

You can pick characters and pairings I don't know if you, but my ramblings might be slightly random and inexplicable.

K went home yesterday, and texted me to say thanks for being nice (not sure I was all that helpful, frankly), and that she'd like to go to Cuba with me this summer if I still wanted to (I do)...and that she was going to Venice with J, anyway, platonically, as friends. Platonically as friends in Venice days after they broke up. J later told me she'd be coming back today, so they could go tomorrow. However, this morning K texted again to say she'd decided against Venice as it 'would be madness on her part'. We had sort of wondered together if J was being nice now so he wouldn't have to move out, which is quite bitchy, but, y'know, possible. Anyway, she said she was going to stay at home for the weekend, till Tuesday, and that J would be staying there till then, and then moving out for a week, and then she didn't know, we'd have to wait and see. So...yes. Here we are. Somewhere.

I called my parents to update them (sort of) again, and talked them into coming down on Saturday, when I thought K and J were still going to Venice and I'd be alone all weekend. But now they're not, although God knows what J will be doing. But I can't really tell my parents not to come. Despite the fact that I still have a third of 'Morte D'Arthur' to read, a presentation to plan, and, ooh, 379 pages of Great Expectations to read. I have not started the monologue thing yet. Which I will need to read aloud probably tomorrow. Picking a real person to 'inhabit' is not as easy as once I believed. Why did I never write RPS? Why?

I'm still in love with the Mighty Boosh. And might try to get tickets to see it in Nottingham with K. Also with DI Sam Tyler. I was randomly in a charity shop the other day, and found an odd little video of a BBC show called Chiller, which I think I watched once, one of whose two stories stars John Simm. Which is nice. Apparently he's an odd young man who lives in an abandoned church, and has a 'friend' called Gary, and they both have horrendous secrets of some kind, and a spooky attachment to each other. I have Life on Mars crossover ideas already.

I don't know why John Simm more often than not stars in things that sound really, really slashy to the trained ear - but I'm not complaining.