The End of Year 2: Part 4 – Cowboys & Rollercoasters

So much has happened since the end of my last exam that I feel the only way to do it justice is go over it bit by bit. The saga is on-going until it ends so who knows how many parts this will have…

After one of the best spontaneous days of the year on Monday at Wimbledon, Tuesday was almost the opposite. Anne had been planning her 20th Birthday party and looking forward to it for longer than I care to remember. She had planned a fancy dress party at our house in the evening which was going to be a good laugh, but first there was a small matter of a costume.

Josh, Jess and I had come up with the idea of going as Cowboys. A trip to the party shop later and the transformation could commence…

It was a great party, lots of friends, but most importantly all the house was there. I can’t remember the last time we all went to a party together, probably because it was last year at the earliest, and it was great fun. It’s a shame that only in the shadow of saying goodbye could this happen, but it just shows how busy we all were all year. With Josh on Christian Union, Anne and Will on ChemSoc and me at MAD TV, it became impossible to do things together. But that made the few times we all spent together even more special. I’m really going to miss them all, it’s been such a brilliant year!

Talking about the shadow of goodbye, the following day we’d all arranged to go to Thorpe Park together for one last full day together and to celebrate Anne and Josh’s birthday. The day had been planned months ago and we’d all been really looking forward to a last day of chill before having the clean the house and say goodbye.

Unfortunately the day didn’t go as planned. In the morning Josh and his friend Chris Nash, who was also coming to Thorpe Park, missed the train we were all getting on. This meant Josh, Chris and Jess spent all day without us and we didn’t get the last day together we’d all been looking forward to. I don’t like to think that this ruined the day in any way, but it certainly dominated conversations. That evening I had a decision to make…

The next two posts in this series are going to be accommodation posts. A lot has changed in the last 7 days regarding housing, not least of which is moving out of my current house and into a new abode.

• Happiness. 8 out of 10
• Tiredness. 4 out of 5 (unpacking…)
• Workload. 0 out of 10 (can’t get board of typing that)
• Last Meal. Pork pie
• Song of the day. B.o.B – Airplanes ft. Paramore
• Thought for the day. "Be yourself, everyone else is already taken" - Oscar Wilde
• What I’m Doing Now. Relaxing at my sisters :) Life. Is. Goood.

The End of Year 2: Part 3 - Centre Court Baby!

So much has happened in the last week that I feel the only way to do it justice is go over it bit by bit. The saga is on-going until it ends so who knows how many parts this will have…

Up at 5am to go to Wimbledon! I’d got very little sleep the night before thanks to Josh’s snoring! But we prevailed and joined the queue at 6:30am. We were 2200 in the queue already, and it was going to be a long wait…

After talking, playing tennis with a foil ball, listening to music, playing rummy and making the most of the freebies, we finally got into Wimbledon. Criddle knows everything about tennis, so he was our guide for the day. We watched a British girl playing in the first match, she unfortunately lost after 3 sets even though she was obviously the better player. She just couldn’t control her emotions and stay on top of the game when it mattered.

Then we went onto Henman Hill to watch the end of the Federer match. At one point it looked like Federer might loose, but he managed to claw it back, as he always does.

After that we watched a show court match and I saw a tennis player who has the best name ever: “Ramon Delgado”. That’s the new name of my alter-ego. The name in itself is a chat up line. No woman would ever be able to resist Ramon Delgado :D

Then, on our way to another court, we were given two tickets to centre court by two people just leaving! Two tickets! To centre court! We took it in turns to go in, and it was amazing! You have to see the pictures to get the full idea, but it was definitely the highlight of the day!

After that it was time to leave sadly. We had to get back to Guildford in time for Anne’s birthday the next day…

OK, so this post got a bit long, so next time I’ll talk about Anne’s birthday party…

The End of Year 2: Part 2 – Bouncy Time

So much has happened in the last week that I feel the only way to do it justice is go over it bit by bit. The saga is on-going until it ends so who knows how many parts this will have…

After the events of the lake party, I woke up after a measly 4 hours sleep, which had been interrupted by 2 phone calls and a text message. Headache and memory loss played a part before taking to Will about what happened. We agreed to arrange a meet up with a few friends and go to Wagamama’s. A dozen text messages later and my stomach was more than ready for food. It was a great meal, good to see people again and just relax for the first time in weeks without having to worry about exams and revision.

After that, we headed back to our house for a spot of Monopoly and Strudel. Not the first time a night has ended this way, and I hope it isn’t the last. I just need to get better at monopoly…

On Sunday Criddle and I met up to buy snacks for Wimbledon the following day. A trip to Tesco later and we headed over to Emily’s for a bouncy castle BBQ. That’s right. Bouncy. Castle. BBQ.

It was amazing, the most fun I’ve had in a long time, and a great way to expend energy. Sunshine, burgers and friends are what Sunday’s were made for.

Sunday evening Criddle, Josh and I went to my house in Balham so we could get up and off to Wimbledon early in the morning. So good to see Beth again after so long. Loving the relaxing and chilling, can’t get enough of it.

So much for an early nights sleep as we got to bed at 1am for our 5am start to queue for Wimbledon!

That brings us up to Monday, Wimbledon day. The next post will cover Wimbledon and Anne’s birthday on Tuesday… still have Thorpe Park and moving out to talk about too!

The End of Year 2: Part 1 - Goldschlager

So much has happened in the last week that I feel the only way to do it justice is go over it bit by bit. The saga is on-going until it ends so who knows how many parts this will have…

After the Maths exam on Monday it was time for me to start revising like mad for my Friday exam. I had been invited to go out every night that week, but resisted in order to get the most work done possible.

The big breakthrough came on Thursday spending the whole day with a few people from the course in the library going over the topics and answering lots of questions. It was a very productive day and, in hindsight, made all the difference on the day.

The exam itself could’ve gone either way depending on the questions, but luckily I opened the paper to find some very nice questions. Certainly put a smile on my face :)

After the exam it was time to celebrate. Off to Channies immediately to get a beverage and chill with my course mates. About half an hour later my housemates turned up and we walked home together. Back at the house was what me and Will had been waiting for… Goldschlager. A cinnamon schnapps with gold flakes in that packs a punch. It was Will and I’s idea to buy the bottle between us and drink over the week after exams to celebrate. 1pm on Friday was time for shot one.

(I would put a picture here, but my computer with the pictures on is packed away…)

After that the afternoon was spent going to Tesco to stock up on a certain liquid and then off to a BBQ. After one BBQ it was obviously time for another, so I went over to Julie and Sophie’s for BBQ two. I have lots of pictures of us playing Twister which will go online as soon as I am back up and running with my computer.

I left Sophie and Julie’s to head back home so, as a house, we could go to the lake party. The lake party is an annual party held next to the lake on campus. It’s organised by students for students and is supposedly “impromptu” and a “surprise”. The atmosphere at the lake was electric and loads of people I know were there. Needless to say that Will and I continued to drink the Goldschlager all night, until it was empty. So much for it lasting a week!

The sun came up and we were still partying. In the end Will, Heather, Lauren, James and I went to a local Café for a fry up breakfast at 7am. Very good way to end the evening and I’m sure is the reason I only had a headache for 6 hours…

Part two coming soon and will include the Saturday meet-up at Wagamama’s, bouncy castles and tennis. Stay tuned because not all is as it seems…

So Much To Say

I have so much to talk about, but I’ve been so busy with everything that I just haven’t had time.

My last exam went much better than expected, and it’s such a great feeling knowing I don’t have to revise anymore.

The last week I’ve been to 2 BBQ’s, a lake party, Bouncy Castle party, my own house party, Wimbledon, Thorpe Park, Wagamama’s and I’m about to move out of my house. Its been emotional, but very fun. I will elaborate on all of this very soon, but until then, here’s a picture from Wimbledon:

• Happiness. 7.5 out of 10
• Tiredness. 4 out of 5
• Workload. 0 out of 10 (yes!)
• Last Meal. Coleslaw and potato salad
• Song of the day. Daft Punk - One More Time
• Thought for the day. Smile, and the rest of the world seems to fall into your arms. Laugh, and the sun shines just for you. Live every second with no regrets, every day without looking back, take every opportunity, and feel every breath with a new wave of enthusiasm. You are the only one living your life, make it count. We've only got one, so use it!
• What I’m Doing Now. Watching bumblebee tuna (our stray cat) drinking the leftover milk out of my breakfast bowl :o)

No Curtains

The last week has flown by. Revision from dawn to dusk and beyond. And so far it looks like it’s paid off…

The last three exams have gone really well. I’ve left each one with the feeling that I’d revised the right thing and I did as well as I could.

Especially the Maths exam today since I was so worried last night that it was going to be a disaster. As it turned out it was probably the best exam yet! All the right questions came up, even some questions I’d looked at last night.

So only one exam left. On Friday. That gives me 3 days solid revision to prepare. I’m not very confident about this exam at the moment, but I’m hoping a lot can change in 72 hours.

Then, after Fridays exam I have a lot of partying to catch up on. The university has an annual lake party at the end of the year, that literally thousands of people go to, last year was a blast and this year promises to be even better. We’ve decided to go together as a whole house since we barely spend time together outside these 4 walls together.

As the end of this year gets ever nearer, as a house we realised we didn’t have a group picture. On Saturday we spent an hour in the garden rectifying this fact. I’ve got lots of brilliant photos, but at the moment this is our favourite:

 

I also really like this one:

• Happiness. 7.5 out of 10
• Tiredness. 3 out of 5 (thanks to Viv, I don’t have any curtains)
• Workload. 8 out of 10
• Last Meal. Anne made a cheesecake. You should’ve had some.
• Song of the day. Free Peace – Shook Up
• Thought for the day. “The tinsel's on the table...”
• What I’m Doing Now. Hoping for a good nights sleep since this happened:

Press The Issue!

My first exam on Monday went OK. The most important thing is that it’s over. I think it was definitely the hardest of the three electronics exams I have to sit this week. The second is this afternoon. I’m far more confident about this one, but there are a few questions that would cripple me, so here’s hoping they don’t show up :S

Revision has been going really well and the next two days of exams are going to be intense, but at least I feel as prepared as I could have been.

As a form of procrastination of the weekend, I created a new wallpaper for my computer. It’s a mosaic of over 500 of my pictures from my time since I’ve been at university. It’s amazing how many good times there are! A picture that I took a couple of days ago is definitely going to hold a lot of memories of this year:

Tickling, Uno, Anne’s cakes, Anne’s frame of shame (more on that another time), Knocking on the wall for Josh, Anne and her OCD… and so many more :) It’s not even sunk in that we’ll be leaving this place in just 16 days…

• Happiness. 7 out of 10
• Tiredness. 2 out of 5
• Workload. 8 out of 10
• Last Meal. Anne cooked Josh and I bolognaise :)
• Song of the day. FM Static - Tonight
• Thought for the day. “Lets press the issue!”
• What I’m Doing Now. Revision, then an exam, then revision, then sleep, then an exam, then revision…

The next 2 weeks

Hi all! I’m a big fan of not looking back. The past is full of memories and lessons written in stone, but the future has all those moments begging to be memories and the mistakes waiting to be lessons.

As such I’m taking a look forward at the next two weeks. Unfortunately, I don’t anticipate many memories being made, but you never know…

• Monday. 1st exam. Semiconductors, EM Theory, Analogue Electronics and Machines & Power. One I am not looking forward too.
• Wednesday. 2nd exam. Programming, CMOS and MIPS. Could be worse.
• Thursday. 3rd exam. Communications, Circuit Theory, Electronics and Control System. I’m getting there with this stuff…
• Monday. 4th exam. Maths!
• Friday. Final exam! Computer vision and graphics… wish me luck for this one :S

At 11:30am on Friday I become a free man! Then I have two whole weeks before I start my placement! I’m going to see my sister for a few days, and I’m staying in Guildford for party times too :D

Interesting things are afoot for summer… Life: The fun never stops, but it can pause.

• Happiness. 8 out of 10
• Tiredness. 4 out of 5
• Workload. 8.9 out of 10
• Last Meal. Pie and chips
• Song of the day. The King Blues – Headbutt (again)
• Thought for the day. “What other names are there for cows other than Daisy and Buttercup?” (Josh’s forever insightful revision ponderings…)
• What I’m Doing Now. Prepping for revision weekend bonanza!

That’s What Friends Are For

Revision, revision, revision. A bit of MAD TV, and more revision.

My first exam is on Monday and I’m really starting to feel the pressure. I have 3 full days of revising to do, and I’m hoping that will be enough.

I’d like to take today as a good example of what friends are for.

Firstly, I revised with a few people on my course this afternoon in the library which turned out to be really useful.

Then, just after I left, I had a great phone conversation with one of my friends who is really ill at the moment. I’ve been worried about them for some time, so it was great to find out how she was doing.

I hadn’t been off the phone for more than 10 minutes before my sister rang for an impromptu chat while the pasta boiled. Always welcome. And it’s only 3 and a half weeks until I visit :D

After talking to Becky, Heather rang to invite me to drinks in Roots in an hour or so!

After a long day of revision, and a very successful day, I really appreciated spending time with Lauren and Heather. They’re always hilarious and we had a great laugh. Got my mind a bit free of the stress, but still ready for the revision train stopping at all stations tomorrow…

The lesson from this is never to under-estimate the power of friendship, they’re are always people out there who value who you are.

• Happiness. 8 out of 10
• Tiredness. 3 out of 5
• Workload. 9 out of 10
• Last Meal. Pie and chips
• Song of the day. Alicia Keys - No One
• Thought for the day. The time you enjoy wasting, is not wasted time......
• What I’m Doing Now. Still getting over my 85% mark for the computer vision coursework :)

May: The Best Moment

May, a month of two halves. It all started with Jake coming to visit….

It was such a great few days. We went to Rubix, had a BBQ and went to town… and there was non-stop banter all weekend.

After Jake left there was the small matter of coursework to attend to. I spent the next two weeks working very hard on two bits of coursework and finishing off a third. Come the 24th of May I was a free man… well, expect for those exams looming, but we prefer not to mention those…

Only a couple moment’s really stand out for me from May since Jake left, but that’s not because life has been boring, it’s just because it’s at such a high all the time the great moments blend in and it’s only the extraordinary that makes a lasing impact.

So what made the lasting impact this month? The runner-up is the Student Awards. MAD TV won best Special Interest Society of the Year, Mike Frazer won Best Student Media and MadSoc won Best Society. Everyone had such a brilliant evening and no-one was as impressed as I was with the ‘MAD umbrella’ walking away with so many awards!

I guess the reason this night doesn’t make number one is because I didn’t win Student Trainer of the Year award. That would’ve been the icing on the cake, but alas, the best man won, and congratulations to Matt Clifford.

So the best moment of the month was in fact Frankie and Mike’s joint birthday BBQ. Last Saturday was such a lovely day for a BBQ and it was brilliant to spend it with loads of friends in the garden soaking up the sunshine.

As a consequence of conversations that happened that evening, my plans for the summer could be changing quite drastically. Once the tenancy finishes on my current house at the end of June, I planned to live at home for 6 weeks before moving into the new house in mid-august. But, Frankie and Claire, the left two girls in the above picture, may have a spare room for me at their house. That’ll make it a lot easier to commute to Basingstoke and I won’t have to worry about moving all my stuff back home and back again. I’ll hopefully find out in the next few days what is happening, but I’m really excited about the possibility :D

It is customary for me to ‘pre-hash’ the coming month at this point in these posts, but since June is exam month, I’d rather not. Instead, here’s a picture I took on Saturday of a regular sight in our house… tickle time.

Speak to you soon :) x