Tuesday, September 21, 2010

I can count to 21!

The last few days have been phenomenal! In fact, the last two months have been crazy and I’m sure you can tell by the fact that I haven’t been writing on this blog much that I’ve been very busy.

Despite all the 21st Birthday celebrations last week (which I assure you I will get round to explaining, with annotations, in a later post) life has kept me busy!

I’ve felt over-whelmed recently by the sheer amount of things I have to do both at home and at work. Work is going amazingly, but sometimes I find it difficult to concentrate because of everything else that is happening. I’m hoping that once university starts everything will find a rhythm, but right now it doesn’t stop.

Anne, Will and Viv have all been staying over the house in the last 2 weeks (coming and going), and it’s been great to see them. I just find that with so many people in the house, so much to think about and so much going on that I am losing my personal space. I’m one of these people, once I arrive home, I need to just sit in my room and think. Perform some mindless task like cooking or washing or Facebook just to relax, for an hour. I don’t mind if I have to rush out somewhere or do something as long as I know about it. I think I’m just struggling with coming home and having so much happening in the house that I feel needs my attention. It’s like work again when all I need is rest.

The last few weeks I’ve found myself getting very few hours sleep and consequently using travelling time between work and home as a perfect time to get an extra 20 minutes kip. Why have I been loosing so much sleep? I’m a worrier. There’s no doubt about it. I worry about everything. And recently there’s been a lot on my mind:

  • Work. I have reports to write and things to research, and I find it hard to switch off.
  • MADTV. Lots of Fresher’s events and programs coming up… but MADTV has also been my saviour as I’ve started working on a new projected (titled REDRUM) that I love spending time on and I’ve been using as a big relief from everything.
  • Friends. One of my friends from home recently died quite suddenly and it was a big shock to the system. It had me in quite a daze for a number of days and it’s only after his memorial last Friday that I’ve started to push it to the back of my mind.
  • House. People staying over, keeping everything tidy, paying bills and fixing things. I rearranged my room at the weekend and I think it’s much better now… pictures coming soon!
  • Logistics. Getting things organised for parties, going to London, a trip to Amsterdam and generally travelling places a lot. Takes a lot of planning. In this regard I got a new phone for my birthday and it’s helped me check train times on the go and keep up to date with emails while travelling so I have more time for other things.

Life is mad. I think when I found out my friend died it was like the last straw and I took a lot of things that were happening around me at the time quite personally. I still feel like I need some time to sort my life out and decide what I’m trying to do. I’ve found since I started placement that I’m a different person, but I don’t know that new person yet.

For example, every Monday I find myself having tuna pasta for dinner. It’s not a planned thing, but every Monday I get home and can’t be bothered to cook. And on more than one occasion I’ve gone straight to bed when I got home (like today).

I’ve had a brilliant time celebrating my birthday, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. I really needed that to relax and enjoy life a little. But I’m also glad it’s over so I can focus on getting into a routine. I’ve been working at Sony for 12 weeks now, it’s about time I figured out how to live the life I need to with Sony at the centre, rather than still having a full life as if I was still only have 20 hours of lectures a week. I don’t get to choose when I work anymore, and I have to get used to it! Something I didn’t realise would be this challenging and certainly not something I thought I’d struggle with.

Until next time… Charles x

  • Happiness. 6 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 4 out of 5
  • Free Time. -1 out of 5
  • Last Meal. Peperoni pizza (not tuna pasta, couldn’t even be bothered to cook that today!)
  • Song of the day. Newton Faulkner – Dream Catch Me
  • Thought for the day. I have been a fool
  • What I’m Doing Now. Really wanting to go to bed, but glad to have that off my chest :)

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Special Post #38: Two Whole Years, And Counting!

Happy birthday blog! Two years on and still much to say!

I’ve been having an amazing time the last few days. Monday was my 21st Birthday, and it has been celebrated in so many ways. Six to be precise.

Friday 10th: Sophie Jones arrived in Guildford the week before. Sophie is the fifth and final girl to move in to the house. But her visit was short and sweet, only staying a couple of days before flying off to Portugal no less! Since she is going to be away for all my birthday celebrations, it seemed only appropriate to create a new one just for her! Sophie had been to an underground club in London called Shunt Vaults, I love the idea of a secret underground bar so we aimed to go there. Unfortunately, we later found out they had closed down… Never mind, on to plan B… Ministry of Sound!

DSCF3759

It was a great night, but no thanks to Ministry of Sound. The music was rubbish Drum and Bass and it was a very small club considering all the hype! So we ended up in Farringdon (don’t ask me why, because I don’t know) and had a great time!

DSCF3772

Lots more to say, but also lots more to do, so I’ll keep you posted and chat to you all soon!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Special Post #37: Ron Burgundy?

This post starts at the top… and stays there. This post, is about hair.

I’ve had the same haircut since I was born pretty much…

China 2005 044.2

DSCF1260

DSCF0114

See. pretty short. Straight fringe.

I’ve been told for years that I should grow my hair and see what happens, but I never listened. I’m not great with change, it scares me. Plus, I was happy with my hair, it was easy to maintain and didn’t get in my way. I also think self-confidence played a role there in that I wasn’t sure I could pull off a “cooler” hair-style.

But back in June something clicked. University has made me a much more confident person, and as for change… you only live once. Some may say that we only regret the chances we don’t take. So my housemates at the time devised a plan which went something like “put this in your hair and see what happens…” this is what happened…

hair1

This gave me an idea… I spent the next week scruffing up my hair to see what it looked like. But it was missing something… Then I went to my sisters. Becky is great at cutting hair, and took on my mop as a mini-project. I left that week with something very special…

DSCF3461

Nothing too radical from the norm, just more… vertical. I love this! Over the coming weeks, well 2 months, this was the new norm. Providing some great quiffs, especially as it got longer…

DSCF3606

But today was time for a change… off to the hairdressers (not my sister this time) and this is what returned…

DSCF3756

Hair V3.0

So far this hair experiment has been great fun and I imagine there’s more in it yet, but for now I’m really liking this look :) I think it’s because it has the quiff-like-ness of the long hair, but still maintains a short-ish look. I’m definitely a fan of short sides and vertical top, so this is a winner for me at the moment!

I’m intrigued to hear what you think of the old and new, so post a comment :o)

Friday, September 3, 2010

August: The Best Moment

The summer month has been and gone, and despite working at Sony every week, I managed to have some fantastic days in August.

The first great day was the first Wednesday of the month, when Sony’s 2009/10 placement students gave a leaving presentation. It got me excited to see how much they’d done in their short year and filled me with anticipation as to what my experience would bring!

The last 3 weekends I’ve been a busy man, travelling the length and breadth of the country to parties and celebrations with friends and new faces. The first weekend was Devon for Phil’s ‘birthday’ party. Lots of fun on the beach and a genuinely great time without much alcohol (just to prove it can still be done).

The second weekend was Orpington for Heathers even less so ‘Birthday’ but no less so ‘party’. The highlight of this trip was undoubtedly the Saturday night with all the usual Heather/Sophie/Lauren banter (mostly Nigerian sea-monster related of course)

Then last weekend was off to Southampton for Zoe’s actual birthday this time. And this one did involve alcohol! We went to the Isle of White, saw the needles and coloured sand, visited the IoW Zoo, spent some time on the beach and went out partying in Southampton!

46123_422778463262_579473262_4926530_7161149_n

So the real question is which was the best day? This is the hardest to decide so far, but I’ll have to go with… Devon! That day on the beach was amazing, and swimming in the sea was such a good laugh, I wish every weekend was like that!

40465_417127207260_516282260_5228942_6561365_n

And then there’s September. Amsterdam for my birthday (albeit on a work visit), night out in London, big 21st birthday party, fresher’s week, lots of MADTV and plenty more to boot! September WILL be an interesting month, there’s no doubt about it.