Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Orpington & MADTV

I had a great weekend at Heather’s house, especially meeting Heather’s friends (and brother) was really cool.

This week has so far been about MADTV.

We have several things in the pipeline for Freshers’ Week this year, which is at the end of September for the un-initiated. We’re putting together a few videos to introduce Freshers to the campus and town. It’s an interesting project that I don’t want to say to much about, but its spent the whole summer in planning and is now in the execution phase.

Another idea for Freshers Week is called Fresher Diary. It’s my own brain-child and involves one lucky fresher having their experiences of settling into university life being shown to the world. They will be the eyes and ears of every Fresher, sharing their experiences of the various events held by the Students’ Union and the University! I’m really excited about how this is going to come together, and it should make for an interesting series!

I’ve also spent the evening creating a Freshers Group on Facebook for all the potential MADTV members to join and start being part of the team.

All in all, MADTV is starting to crank up the gear in preparation for a new academic year just around the corner. And I can’t wait until we’re back up to full speed! One of the things I find interesting is that I will be in Switzerland for the first 6 weeks after university starts, so while I’ll be around for Freshers Week, I may not get a chance to meet the new team until they’ve all got stuck in. I’m sure I’ll be watching from the wings though and that’ll be interesting in itself! Now I just need to Skype into the weekly meetings from Lugano and I’m away :)

  • Happiness. 6 out of 10 (I’ll get there…)
  • Tiredness. 2 out of 5 (could do with being tired…)
  • Free Time. 2 out of 5 (Well, Thursday evening to be precise)
  • Last Meal. Deli sandwich for lunch (now the norm…)
  • Song of the day. Bruno Mars – Just The Way You Are
  • Thought for the day. Get creative. Get equipped. Get involved. - MADTV’s new slogan
  • What I’m Doing Now. Looking forward to seeing Scott Pilgrim tomorrow with work mates

Saturday, August 21, 2010

One of those weeks…

You know when everything doesn’t go your way? That sums up this week.

At work, I’ve been somewhat frustrated because I have had lots to do, but it’s been hard to do any of it because everyone else is busy. I’m still really loving Sony, don’t get me wrong, but I’d refer to have a packed day of boring tasks than have lots of interesting tasks to do, but not be capable of doing any of them because something else has come up, or the space isn’t available.

Besides from that my home life has been very hectic setting up a new MADTV competition amongst other things. IT’s just a shame I can’t do some of the home stuff at work… would make my life much easier.

MADTV has certainly got me through this week, some very interesting developments I can’t discuss with you right now, but it has given me lots to think about in those quiet periods at work :)

Oh, Almost forgot to mention that I’m going to Amsterdam’s IBC trade show on Monday 13th September for a day for work! Sony have a stall at the show so a couple of us are going to check it out (and the competition :P) The great thing about this is that the date also happens to be my 21st birthday… couldn’t ask for more! Totally stoaked!

This weekend I’m off to sunny Orpington for a BBQ with Heather, Lauren and a few other peeps. Can’t wait :o)

  • Happiness. 5 out of 10 (first time in ages)
  • Tiredness. 4 out of 5 (typical Friday)
  • Free Time. 0 out of 5 (forever the optimist)
  • Last Meal. Deli sandwich for lunch
  • Song of the day. Eliza Doolittle - Pack Up (listen to it twice, then you’ll be humming it for the rest of the day)
  • Thought for the day. "All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt." — Charles M. Schulz
  • What I’m Doing Now. About to read Questionable Content, addicted!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Best Weekend Ever?

Last weekend I went to Devon to visit Phil for his birthday. In reality, it was his birthday a couple of weeks before, but who’s counting?

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Heather, Lauren and Sophie J didn’t disappoint either, it was a brilliant weekend with lots of laughs!

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left to right: Sophie Jones (one of my new housemates), Heather, Lauren (first year housemate)

On Saturday we went swimming in the sea and played rounders on the beach. You know, genuine good times. Phil provided a conveyor belt of food: cookies, meringues, burgers and Phil English to name but a few.

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I wish every weekend was that much fun!

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This week is going to be a bit “wait and see what happens”, but this weekend I’m going to a BBQ at Heather’s house, let the good times roll.

  • Happiness. 9 out of 10 (why not?)
  • Tiredness. 1 out of 5
  • Free Time. 1 out of 5 (so much to do it’s not even funny)
  • Last Meal. Tuna pasta, again. That doesn’t look good :S
  • Song of the day. Travie McCoy - Billionaire
  • Thought for the day. "Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity." - Gilda Radner
  • What I’m Doing Now. Disappointed that I won’t get to do what I wanted to do tomorrow, but excited that I might be going to Amsterdam on my birthday :P (a tale for another day)

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Chuck

The weeks are flying by! Now into my 6th week at Sony. Now that’s just weird, feels like yesterday I started, but strangely also feels like I’ve been there ages. I got a nick-name today, Chuck. I think I can live with it, certainly better than Nnaoma who’s now called HASH, which stands for Health And Safety Hazard. This all came after he got an email saying he had to book an appointment with the health and safety officer because “the answers he gave to the workstation safety questionnaire require further investigation” hahahaha.

In other news, I worked for the Tote on Saturday at Ascot. It was a very busy day, and not helped by my machine breaking three times during the day! That didn’t help the queues and seemed to anger the technician somewhat. I also had the worst experience getting home after waiting in the cash cage almost an hour to get signed out and then just missing a train at the station… but then some days you’re the pigeon and some days you’re the statue…

On Sunday, the tables turned and I was the statue. I went to London to meet up with none other than long time friend Matthew Mitchell. We hadn’t seen each other for months (since the boat race in fact) and it was great to get up to speed on each other’s goings on :)

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I’m really having a great time at the moment, and if there’s anything placement year has taught me so far it’s that I can’t wait to finish my degree and start working!

This weekend I’m going to Devon for Phil’s birthday party, which is going to be immense! Cannot wait for that! Then the weekend after I’m celebrating Heather’s birthday in London; then the week after that is Zoe’s birthday in Southampton. And then… no just kidding! Although I’m hoping to see my sister soon after that :P and then I’m no longer 20 :(

Now you know why I have no time to write in here! Still need to figure out a way of updating this on my commute, that’s a whole hour every day I’m doing nothing! Maybe I need a netbook…

  • Happiness. 9 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 2 out of 5 (but it’s only Monday…)
  • Free Time. I can’t remember what this is…
  • Last Meal. Tuna pasta… standard.
  • Song of the day. George Kranz - Din Daa Daa
  • Thought for the day. Can I wag a half day on Friday?
  • What I’m Doing Now. As usual, wondering why I’m still awake!

PS MAD TV thing!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Custard Cream Banter

Wow! I really have such little time to write in here! I think about how busy I was last year doing 20 hours of lectures a week, and supposedly another 20 hours of work on top of that. Now I have a 40 hour week for certain, not including travel time which amounts to another 3 hours a day. That’s 55 hours (maths!). Work is a big part of my life now, just as well it’s the best part of it too…

Talking of the commute, it’s fine. I don’t mind two short trains and a bus every morning at all. In fact, we’ve built up quite a group commuting together. There’s Nnaoma and I, then two other guys who we’ve become good friends with at Sony. Then the two placement students from my course going to Motorola (which is literally right next to Sony so we get on the same bus) who started on Monday. And a couple more occasionally from Sony too.

I love having lots of people my age at Sony, it’s making getting on with everyone in the office a lot easier. And having 3 students working there who have been on the placement year before us really helps if you need someone to ask a question, or even just for a cup of tea.

I’ve got into tea since I started… on about 3-4 cups a day at the moment. I’ve even got into buying a 66p bacon sarnie for breakfast at the Deli bar when I get to work. Life is good :D

As for the work aspect, there’s plenty to be getting on with. There are several projects at various stages of the lifecycle at the moment that I can get involved with. It’s all really exciting stuff and I’m so happy that I still have another 11 months here!

As for the Switzerland trip, it’s been postponed by a month. But I’m still on the project and have done a few more things for it in the last week. Looks like I’ll be able to have that 21st birthday in the UK after all!

At the start of this post I didn’t think I had anything to write about, but as it happens I haven’t even said the half of it!

  • Happiness. 8 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 2 out of 5 (doing well so far this week…)
  • Free Time. 0.5 out of 5
  • Last Meal. Chicken soup and chips (thanks to Sophie)
  • Song of the day. My MP3 player has ran out of battery :(
  • Thought for the day. There ain’t no anti-intrusion or virus detection solution to me (thanks Baz)
  • What I’m Doing Now. Looking at the time and shaking my head…

Sunday, August 1, 2010

July: The Best Moment

July! What a month! My first four weeks at Sony, starting climbing again, settling into the house and family.

Looking back at July, it’s the days I spent with family that really stand out. Going home for an evening after being at the Emirates stadium all day, and seeing my parents, Victoria and Beth. I really enjoyed that evening, shame they can’t happen more often!

And it’s family that scores the douze points for July. Grandad’s 80th was such a good day (and night!). Admittedly it was mainly seeing Jake and Sam and being able to get this photo:

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It was also great to see my sister again. I love my sister so much and can’t wait until she moves to Guildford and I can see her every day (a boy can dream…)

The evening also held some good times. Jake and I tackled the alcohol collection full on, and had of our best banter, shame Sam couldn’t stay around to get involved.

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And that brings us onto August. The summer month! Woo! I have lots planned over my weekends in August. A road trip to Phil’s pad for a birthday party is definitely what I’m looking forward too the most. There is no better banter than Lauren and Heather together… exhibit A.

Toodles x