New Kindlings

As I always seem to be saying on this blog, new and exciting things are afoot. Lots is happening at the moment, and I don’t just mean revision for my final exams… although I probably should.

No, there is lots to look forward to once this university madness is over. I’m currently in the process of looking for a new abode in Guildford for the coming year, since I seem to be sticking around thanks to my new found PhD position :D I’m hoping to live with Will, my current and ex-housemate, and Anna, my current housemates girlfriend. It’s complicated, ok, but it’s going to be awesome! 3-bedroom places are not all the rage, but there are some out there and we plan to find somewhere to call our own! But we haven’t found anywhere yet, there are a few viewings going on this week though so I’ll keep you informed if anything drastic happens. I promise this time.

What else? Well we’ve been testing the limits of our housemate Mike’s stupidity…

For those of you who don’t know, the Cinnamon challenge is where one attempts to swallow a tablespoon of cinnamon. It’s as simple as that…

If you like that there’s a few more here :D

I’ve also been keeping up my involvement in the student television station, recently put in charge of producing the fresher videos for the new students starting in September. Now isn’t that a shift? Just a few years ago I was the unknowing fresher…

I’d love to go into more detail about some of these things, but it will all be eeked out of me eventually.

Lots of plans, lots of ambition, lots of revision to do…

• Happiness. 7 out of 10
• Tiredness. 1 out of 5
• Workload. 7 out of 10 (revision time!)
• Last Meal. Chilli without the chilli 
• Song of the day. Stevie Wonder – Superstition
• Thought for the day. House times are exciting!
• What I’m Doing Now. Putting off sleep…

Pause for thought

Hello again! My heart is still beating, and I have lots of news you might be interested to hear, but first an explanation.

Since I last wrote here almost 2 months (wow, I’m ashamed of myself), I have been very busy. Busy, you say? What on earth could be more important than writing in your favourite place on the internet? You better have a damn good excuse. Well…

I’ve been going to a local piano bar quite a lot with the ginger one in this photo. It’s a very civilised place with live music and cocktails.

Experimenting with banana and choc ice milkshakes.

Doing some terrible singing at the aforementioned piano bar.

 

Covering our kitchen in highlighter fluid and UV ink. The reason behind this will become clear… you just have to be patient.

Been on a treasure hunt around Weymouth.

Gone Ape!

So that’s what I’ve been up to! When I haven’t been doing all of those fun things I’ve been working on coursework and my final project – which I finished today! Hence the post :)

So coursework in and final report written, now is a good time to note that there’s only precious few weeks left of my university life before heading out into the world of work… or is it?

I have kind of been keeping some big news from you since the last post 2 months ago, and it’s kind of what the last post was about. When I wrote the last post I was deep in thought about what to do once I graduate, because I’d been given a choice: Work for Sony, or be sponsored by Sony to do a PhD. And I changed my mind. I’ll never know if it was the right choice, but I’m so happy that I’ve decided to do a PhD.

I don’t want to dwell on what the PhD is on right now, that will come in a future post, but needless to say that it is really exciting and I can’t wait to start! My PhD course is 3.5 years long and it’s at the University of Surrey still, starting in October. I’m being sponsored and getting paid tax-free, so it’s not going to get me into any more debt! I do want to go into depth about why I decided to do a PhD, because I found it a hard decision and I want to be able to help other people who might have to make that decision in the future.

This isn’t the end of my links with Sony, in fact it’s only just the beginning. Sony have a big input in my research during the PhD, but I’m also working there over the summer with the team I was in last year. Hopefully the ties can continue because they are amazing people!

So… life turned on it’s head and I don’t really know what to say. This blog will be getting a major overhaul in the late half of this year, to capture more of my personal and professional life as it develops… hopefully!

I feel like my life is going from strength to strength, just got to get through these exams first and then I have a long summer of work, America and a new home to look forward to! I’ll reveal all, just bear with me! And thanks for sticking round this far! As a thank you here’s the link to the rest of the Pound for Food videos I produced with my housemates recently, they are seriously funny: http://bit.ly/poundforfood.

• Happiness. 7 out of 10
• Tiredness. 1 out of 5
• Workload. 5 out of 10 (revision time!)
• Last Meal. Spaghetti Bolognaise
• Song of the day. Jason Mraz – Everything is Sound
• Thought for the day. Dissertation done! Boom! 
• What I’m Doing Now. Sleep! Then starting revision tomorrow… All will be over in only 5.5 weeks!!!

Progress is progress…

So since my little excursion to Greenwich, life has been dribbling along very nicely indeed. I’ve got some plans for updating some websites which I currently run, namely moving the www.stmarybalham.org.uk site over to a php server running WordPress… I’m doing it to get more experience running my own server, and writing php; but also because I wrote the code for this website before I came to university and since then I’ve learnt some better techniques for dynamic website building than I used back then. It’ll be a challenge, but something I’m looking forward to digging my teeth into once this whole university thing is over.

My final project is coming along, it now shows a lot more information and I’m in the process of building a test rig that can assess the accuracy and performance of the system so far for benchmarking and to get some pretty graphs to go into my write up :)

And I got my results last week for my exams in January, I did really well! I got a first in all my modules and I’m averaging 82% for my degree :) Only 30% of my degree left! The end is in sight, finally!

And for those of you who are interested, the next video about my stupid housemates who are living off £1 for food for a month is up:

I didn’t think my voice could go that high for “Top tip of the week”… turns out I was wrong.

• Happiness. 8 out of 10
• Tiredness. 1 out of 5
• Workload. 5 out of 10 (but it’s all interesting stuff…)
• Last Meal. Fish and chips
• Song of the day. Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Scar Tissue
• Thought for the day. Don’t know whether giving my housemates a beta version of my app was a good idea… :p 
• What I’m Doing Now. About to do some more work… after lunch….

Bath Time

So since exams have finished, I’ve spent my time catching up on fresh air. Firstly with a trip to my sisters for grandma’s funeral. It’s never a good reason for seeing someone, but it was really nice to see my sister and James again so soon as I’d kind of resided myself to the fact that I probably wouldn’t see much of them for at least a couple of months.

What else has happened? I’ve bought a new amplifier for my speaker system. It didn’t come cheap, but the idea is that I can eventually buy new speakers and then have a pretty cool sound-system for whatever abode I end up in after university. I have dreams of a cinema projector, blackout curtains and a big comfy sofa… the day will come.

In other news, I have presented another MADTV video! This year we are producing a weekly news show to summarise the interesting goings-on on campus, and I present the 4th episode!

Listen out for my sign off at the end of the video :P

Last weekend Charlotte and I went to Bath, as in the place in Somerset. Despite the bitter cold and occasional snowfall, I fell in love with Bath. It’s such a small city, but packs a lot of character. And the rooftop pool at the Thermae Spa is ideal for washing your stress away after a busy few weeks of exams!

Today is the start of a new semester, in fact my last ever semester! Only two modules and a dissertation left and then I’m a free man… I’m already planning a holiday once all this university malarkey is over, and after that the world is my oyster :)

• Happiness. 9 out of 10
• Tiredness. 1 out of 5
• Workload. 3 out of 10
• Last Meal. Soup and fish
• Song of the day. Civil Sound – More Than I Could Say
• Thought for the day. Nostalgic times…
• What I’m Doing Now. Getting food, because I have none :(

InterRail video!

Travelling around Europe by train, summer 2011. Sophie and I visited Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Split, Dubrovnik, Rome and Venice in a month!

I know I’ve been all up on the radio silence recently, exam season is upon us! I have devised my top 40 moments of 2011 that we have to count down together when these exams are over, and start talking about my final semester at university! It’s the beginning of the end!!!

Acting Debut & The FUTURE!

I’ve been part of the University of Surrey’s Student Television Station since it began a few years ago, but I’ve always focused on the technical aspects such as filming and editing… but this week, in a bizarre role-reversal between Mike and I, I presented and he edited. So I present to you my first (who knows their may be more…) foray into news presenting…

Charles Gray uncovers plans for the old bookshop to become a strip club after it's refurbishment... or at least it should according to one student. In a MADTV EXCLUSIVE we tell you what is actually to become of our once loved book shop.

In other news, that I haven’t presented to camera, I went to London last weekend and saw some mates from way back when in Sixth form. Brought together with our love for Nando’s free whole chicken, we sat, gobbled and gobbed for hours. It’s always interesting to stay in touch and see what all your old friends have achieved with their lives. Ben, who has already graduated from an Accounting degree, has found himself working in the Pensions department at Wandsworth Council… I wonder where I’ll be in a years time? Back at Sony? Another broadcast company? McDonalds? the street? Like recycling, the possibilities are endless…

But that’s a while away yet, what about the immediate future? Well I’m off to W-hey-mouth this weekend to see the lovely Charlotte :D After that?

• 4th December. My parents come to Guildford for Christmas dinner cooked by my housemates and I.
• 15th December. Going to see Matthew Bourne’s Nutcraker in London!
• 22nd December. The usual trick for Christmas commences… up to my sisters in Chesterfield for the festivities and prevailing jokes.
• 29th December. The usual trick for New Year… Jake and I hit up London for a ‘small’ party with friends while the parents are away…
• January. Exams, coursework, projects… back to normality, for my last year at University!!!

Some of you may have heard that I made a new years resolution for 2011 to not buy any chocolate for the whole year, and those people will also know how impossible this challenge should prove to be… well I’m still at it, but the going is getting tough with just 6 weeks to go! I started the year with a chocolate stash (below) to get me through, but this week that stash was depleted to zero. So now, as Boyzone once said, the going gets tough…

 

• Happiness. 8 out of 10
• Tiredness. 1 out of 5
• Workload. 6.5 out of 10
• Last Meal. A hobnob. 
• Song of the day. Ed Sheeran – The A Team
• Thought for the day. I thought love was only true in fairy-tales, meant for someone else but not for me…
• What I’m Doing Now. Packing for the weekend

You Forgot The Blueberries

Another week has been and gone, but more importantly… so has another weekend!

So far there have been 5 weekends in 2011, and they just seem to be getting better and better!

This last weekend was crazy Cardiff weekend. I went to visit Jake for fun times and that’s exactly what happened. Needless to say lots of Rum was consumed (it deserves a capital letter :P), and lots of catching up was had. Jake’s university halls are pretty damn small, and when I invaded with my Swiss suitcase full of stuff (but not chocolate this time) it did get a bit messy :S

Jake has come to visit me in Guildford a couple of times before, so it was great to finally switch roles. I swear Jake is so lucky with his housemates, they all seem really cool, and we got on straight away. Besides being badly conned in a drinking game designed to stitch me up, all the banter was brilliant :P

On Friday I arrived at about 10pm after quite an epic journey straight from work in Switzerland:

• I left work at 2pm (1pm GMT)
• 30 minute drive from the office to the Airport
• Fly to Zurich airport, arriving at about 4pm
• Fly from Zurich to London Heathrow (flight delayed by 30 minutes meant we arrived at 6:30pm)
• Luckily I have perfected the art of wizzing through the airport, and got in the taxi 15 minutes later…
• The taxi then drove me to Reading train station where I was to get the 7:48pm train…
• After traffic on the M3, I got there with just 15 minutes to spare
• Then I got on a very packed train to Cardiff, arriving at 9:30pm
• At Cardiff Jake was there to greet me!
• A 30 minute walk to his halls got us there just after 10pm… and then it was time to start the night!

I’m not going to lie, I was pretty shattered, considering I’d also got up at 7am (6am GMT) for work. But once the first drinking game was in full swing, the Friday bug kicked in and kept me going until 4am!

Saturday was a bit more civilised, which just about balances out the weekend nicely. Then on Sunday it was back on the train to Reading, taxi to Heathrow and to Zurich. A total of 27 hours travelling for 31 hours in Cardiff…. and it was worth every minute! Next time it’s Jake’s turn to visit :D

This week I’m back in Switzerland for work,  but already looking forward to next weekend!

• Happiness. 11 out of 10
• Tiredness. 5 out of 5 (sleeeeeeppzzzzzzzz) 
• Free Time. 0 out of 5 (but who needs it when you’re having this much fun anyway!) 
• Last Meal. Sausage rolls from Cardiff train station!
• Song of the day. Joshua Radin – I’d Rather Be With You
• Thought for the day. Toffee Apple Pie is pretty damn good! Thanks Becky! 
• What I’m Doing Now. In Zurich Airport, sleeping in a dayroom. Walking around a deserted airport is quite creepy…

PS there’ve been a few advancements in the world of Inter-railing and accommodation for my final year, so I’ll update you on those soon

PPS You forgot the blueberries, skip to 55 seconds if you absolutely can’t wait, but it is worth it! Thanks for this one Jake :)

No Socks Days

this post was written on Sunday 9th January

Some of the long-time readers of this blog may know about the “no socks phenomenon”. No socks days are those days that are so relaxing that you don’t even need socks. This weekend was one of those. It’s very rare I have a weekend doing nothing, so I took the chance to work on my cork wall, which due to the recent cold spell had decided to take a trip to the floor :( but it has now been restored to it’s former glory!

I spent the rest of the weekend working on a couple of websites I try to manage in my spare time (I can almost say ‘spare time’ with a straight face..)

I’ve found a few hilarious YouTube videos I want to share with you lovely people. Think of it as a late Christmas present…

For the technology enthusiasts out there.

I showed this to my sister at Christmas, and… well this emoticon sums it up nicely :O

You next babysitter will be “Rastaman Vibration”

I’m still yet to watch this without crying with laughter

Inception meets barbershop quartet. BRRRAAAAMMM!!

For more YouTube goodness, check out the YouTube Favourites section to the right of this page, all of these videos have been on there at some point. Or follow me on YouTube :)

• Happiness. 7 out of 10
• Tiredness. 0 out of 5 (but my body clock will need to adjust to Swiss time on Tuesday :P)
• Free Time. 4 out of 5 (ahhhhhh!)
• Last Meal. Sausage and bacon sandwich
• Song of the day. Paolo Nutini – New Shoes
• Thought for the day. A new poem :) called These Four Walls
• What I’m Doing Now. wearing socks… the floor’s just too cold!