Thursday, December 31, 2009

Special Post #27: Music of 2009

This list is compiled by last.fm using my most played songs in the last 12 months. These are the songs that I listened to most in 2009.

#10: Taylor Swift – You Belong With Me

#9: Lazlo Bane – Superman

  • Started Listening: Beginning of the year
  • Reminds Me Of: Scrubs :)
  • Play Count: 46

#8: The Fray - Never Say Never

  • Started Listening: Easter
  • Reminds Me Of: Being alone in Cathedral Court for a week
  • Play Count: 47

#7: The Killers – Mr. Brightside

  • Started Listening: Last year
  • Reminds Me Of: All the good times in the union with mates
  • Play Count: 48

#6: Smash Mouth – All Star

  • Started Listening: Start of the year
  • Reminds Me Of: This used to be josh’s ringtone, so it reminds me of laughing with Josh.
  • Play Count: 52

#5: Smokie Norful – Nothing Without You

#4: Nickelback – Rockstar

  • Started Listening: Summer
  • Reminds Me Of: Moving into the house
  • Play Count: 59

#3: The Fratellis – Whistle For The Choir

  • Started Listening: Summer
  • Reminds Me Of: Moving into the house
  • Play Count: 70

#2: Jason Mraz – I’m Yours

  • Started Listening: Start of Easter
  • Reminds Me Of: Time spent with my brother over Easter
  • Play Count: 124

#1: The King Blues – I Got Love

  • Started Listening: End of Easter
  • Reminds Me Of: Guilfest… and just a great 2009
  • Play Count: 125

So there you go! I would like to briefly mention a couple special songs/artists that didn’t make this list. David Place, an artist I saw at The Bedford who plays great acoustic music. And I’m On A Boat, for the great memories of the boat trip. Long may life continue to deal me the best hand…

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Special Post #26: Still Charles

This last year I have learnt so much about myself that I thought it worth wile sharing a few gems…

  • Alcohol. This year saw me get drunk on a few occasions. I think it’s fair to say I have now become a typical student, and it’s all thanks to cider!
  • Confidence. I have definitely become a more confident person this year, and I put it all down to my wonderful friends who are there to support me through everything. People are good really, so why worry about what they think about you?
  • Friends. Leading from the last point. This year has been the year of friends is so many ways, but it’s great to be able to know so many people and hang out with different groups of people. Housemates, ex-housemates, stage crew, MAD TV, course mates, mates from home, family… the list goes on.
  • Independence. Going to university kind of throws you in the deep end some what and this year I found my sea legs.
  • House. I’m living in a house! Enough said.
  • Birthday Success. My birthday party had so many of my friends there and I genuinely had one of the best times of my life so far. It’s how every birthday should be spent: with the people you want to get older with.
  • GuilFest Responsibility. Being given a stage to changeover for 3 days was a big challenge and I loved every minute of it.
  • Trust. Being given committee positions on Stage Crew and MAD TV meant a lot to me.
  • Not Enough Time. Seriously, there were not enough hours in the day this year. It’s all that trust I tell you…
  • Stress. You’ve got to learn to deal with it. I’m managing it so far, but being given so much to do can really get you at times…
  • Girls. I’ve hidden this in the middle so no-one sees it :P
  • Go With The Flow. Gone are the days when I needed to know every intricate detail of what I was doing, I’m much happier now to roll with it. Sure I still plan my days, but that’s a necessity to keep me on track.
  • Less OCD. A lot less. I used to obsess about little details, but when time is against you, you learn what is essential and what is a waste of time. I still obsess over a few things, like my calendar and  having to have volume in multiples of 5.
  • Delegating. With all this trust, I’ve had to trust others with the work I’ve been given. I delegate things I previously would have done myself. Especially for MAD TV where I’m relying on a whole team of people to get the job done.
  • Phone. Over the last year I’ve got to using my phone a lot more. Where previously £5 of credit would last me 3 months, I now have a £10 a month contract that just about gets me by. How did I ever live without this I don’t know!

Who knows what I’ll  learn in the next year, but whatever it is, I’m looking forward to finding out!

  • Happiness. 7 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 2 out of 5
  • Workload. 8 out of 10 (but not for now…)
  • Last Meal. Sugar Puffs
  • Song of the day. Ke$ha – Tik Toc
  • Thought for the day. Bring your own lampshade...
  • What I’m Doing Now. Waiting for the New Years party!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Special Post #25: Top 40 Moments 2009, Part 4

This is part 4 in a mini-series of posts that looks into the best year of my life, two thousand and nine. This is the gripping finale to the countdown of the top 40 moments of the year. These are my top 10 moments of 2009…

Before reading any more, make sure you’re up to date with 40 down to 11 by looking at the last 3 posts.

Right, here goes nothing!

#10: 10 Days Of Consecutive Drinking During Fresher’s Week

This year’s Fresher’s week laughs in the face of last years! Not only did I mange to make this one last 10 whole days, but I avoided the awkwardness of being a fresher while still meeting new people and having a great time. Not only was a great end to the summer, but it was a great way to get back into uni life!

#9: Becky Making A Surprise Appearance At My 20th

My entire 20th birthday was too brilliant for words. I love my friends, and there is no better way to celebrate turning twenteen than having a big BBQ!

#8: Sophie Helping Me Buy A New Wardrobe On Oxford Street

That day was lots of fun. I learnt that girls know what they’re doing when they go shopping!

#7: A specific 10 seconds of Sunday 1st November

I was waiting for my train at Greenwich train station. Never has a train arrived two minutes early in my life! Typical, exactly when you want it to be late…

#6: The MAD TV Social

Another great night to add to the portfolio. Nandos for dinner, then off to Bar Med, Wetherspoons, Flares and finally Dusk. I didn’t have too much to drink, just enjoyed the night.

#5: Seeing My Sister Getting Married

Truly a great day! If you told me a year ago that this was going to happen this year, I wouldn’t have believed you. But yet, there it is.

#4: Drinking With Jake At Becky’s Birthday

What a night! I can comfortably say that my sister should turn 30 more often!

#3: Wednesday Night On The Boat With Phil, Jake & All The Cider

What happens when 3 guys decide that all the cider has got to go? Hilarity ensues… Highlights of this evening were cheesecake in Jakes face, Jake failing at climbing a ladder and ask Jake about the other one :D

Since this is the last boat memory in this list, I thought now would be a good time to point to “the boat video”, enjoy it if you haven’t already :)

#2: Somerset House With Sophie

I have a love for London, and exploring the sights such as Covent Garden, Somerset House, Tate Modern, Southbank and more all in one day was overload! And on top of that Sophie and I had some great conversations. Combining my two favourite things in life, London and conversation, is what made this day second to none. Well, second only to…

#1: The Longest Conversation Ever With Josh In April

I had come down to Guildford a week early after the Easter break to get a head start on revision (because it wasn’t getting done at home). Josh thought this whole revision lark could be useful too so he came and joined me for two days. At 1pm on the first day Josh came over to go to Tesco. At 2am we we’re still talking… We talked about everything: girls, parents, university, the course, cooking, getting old, our pasts and god knows what else. I’ve always felt this conversation is what makes me and Josh such good friends even today. We do spend surprisingly little time with each other considering we live together and are on the same course. But all I can hope is that we continue to be friends for a long time to come…

So that concludes my top 40 moments of 2009. While you’ve been reading this you may have noticed some glaring omissions (such as getting my results), but there will always be some gaps. There are only 40 in this list after all, and 2009 was littered with memories that any other year would have made number 1…

Monday, December 28, 2009

Special Post #24: Top 40 Moments 2009, Part 3

This is part 3 in a mini-series of posts that looks into the best year of my life, two thousand and nine. This part continues to countdown the top 40 moments of the year. We’re at number 20, so lets go!

If you haven’t, be sure to check out the first 2 parts of this countdown before you continue!

#20: The Boat Breaking In Rugby

On the first part of the boat trip, while Ben, Kevin & I were on board, the boat broke. We’d already spent a day in Rugby to celebrate Ben’s 19th Birthday, and we woke up early the next morning to pull a long day to make up the time we lost by not moving. However, the boat usually does something when you put it in gear…

A call to the 4th emergency service, Steven, and it transpires a part had broken on the drive shaft. So now what do we do? Go to McDonalds and abuse their free wi-fi of course!

Steve managed to fix the boat in record time, and that evening we were off. And we didn’t stop until midnight! There’s nothing like a spot of night-time boating!

#19: Juggling Changeovers & The King Blues At Guilfest

Guilfest was an amazing week. I learnt a lot and loved moving all the equipment for each band on Stage 3.

The other best part of Guilfest was seeing The King Blues. They are definitely one of my favourite bands of 2009 (number 3 according to last.fm)

#18: Apocalypse With Jordan & Barry

So funny standing at the top of Apocalypse, when Barry has been trying to persuade Jordan to go on it for ages, and seeing him drop one in his pants! Laugher ensued for ages!

#17: Queuing Hours For SAW At Thorpe Park

This was such a good day with my mates. I’ve been wanting to have a big trip to Thorpe Park for ages, but every time I organise it people let me down. Not this time.

10 of us in total, and we had a great time! Fright Nights at Thorpe Park have always been a father and son affair, but this year I branched out and it was fantastic. Even the 3 hour queue for SAW at 11pm at night was fun with Anne, Viv, Phil, Lauren, Heather, Ben, Kevin, Murat and Sophie for company :)

#16: First MAD TV Studio Session

Setting up the studio was a great experience, even if it took hours to get none of it working! And then filming with Yasna and Mike couldn’t have been funnier!

#15: Showcasing A Video I Edited To 200 People

The Fresher’s Angel Health & Safety was shown to 200 students at the briefing. It was the biggest audience I’d ever had, and it went down really well :)

#14: Standing on the back of the boat in the rain with Becky

In fact, standing on the back of the boat with Becky, full stop. I love talking to my sister. And where better to do it than watching the English countryside slowly pass you by and without a care in the world…

#13: Anne Arriving At The House… Our First Proper Conversation

This is a good one. I went back to Guildford a week early to get myself sorted. On the second night, who turns up but Anne! Just stopping over on her way to Birmingham to see Viv, but that didn’t stop us having a good natter. It was one of those impromptu moments that got better and better. I came away so happy that I was living with Anne, and looking forward to the year even more!

My housemates…. an anagram for “a thyme mousse” (it’s true!)

#12: That Late-Night Talk With Barry About Life

Barry and I often have these epic conversations these days. And when I say about life, that only really means one thing: Girls. This one can be picked out because the hours just melted away and I’d been waiting for it for a while.

#11: Last Day At University 2009

The most recent moment in this list doesn’t quite make it into the top 10. It was a great night and I can only hope for many more in the future!

Only 10 to go, and they’re the best 10. I don’t want to give away too much, but from now on they’re all really close, and it was a real toss up to the number 1. But don’t worry, I haven’t copped out, there is a number 1, and it’s definitely the best moment of the year! Come back tomorrow at 4pm for the answer!

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Special Post #23: Top 40 Moments 2009, Part 2

This is part 2 in a mini-series of posts that looks into the best year of my life, two thousand and nine. I’m continuing to look into the best moments.

Make sure you’ve checked out the first part which covers numbers 40 to 31 before you continue reading.

#30: Taking The Adventurous Route Under The M5 On The Boat

Kicking off this 10 is another moment from the boat trip. Becky and I decided to take the alternative route to Merry Hill from Birmingham. It’s another 6 locks, but the canal plays chicken with the M5, which makes for some very arty shots.

#29: Snow Day!

Realising all lectures were cancelled on snow day and joining in a massive snowball fight. One of the best things was just how unexpected and impromptu the whole thing was.

#28: Waves On The River Thames Boat Trip

This was such an amazing day. Seeing all the best sights in London in a very short space of time and from a completely unique view all while fearing for your life! But seriously, it made me realise just how compact London really is.

#27: Drinking Too Much At Jongleurs The Day Before My 20th

A good night of comedy and getting a lot of my friends in one place for the first time. I couldn’t have asked for anything more, except maybe paracetamol in the morning! And the train home was not the best experience thanks to the people sat behind us (people who were there will know what I’m on about!)

#26: Getting Sun Burnt At Wimbledon (And Queuing!)

One of the few times I’ve spent with my mum this year. Such a great thing to do and despite being burnt to high heaven, it was great to watch professional tennis at the best tennis championship in the world!

#25: Royal Ascot With Josh And The Pink Bench Picture

I had such a great week, and I remember coming away from it with a new found respect for checkout staff and people who liaise with the public.

#24: Phil, Julie & I Standing At The Back Of The Boat In The Rain

I don’t know why. I guess you had to be there.

#23: All the dingy fun in Henley

This was comedy beyond belief. Good times like this don’t come along very often, but then they do they can knock you back and make you appreciate just how great your friends are. This was one of those moments.

#22: Phil Almost Falling In At The Lock

As we entered the lock Phil had the job of putting the front rope around the bollard. Phil had had plenty of practice at this, he knew that as the boat crept in I would line him up so he could throw the rope over the bollard.  I’d then put the boat into reverse to stop it, and this would pull the front of the boat away from the side, but because Phil had the rope around the bollard, he could hold the front in.

All was going well, Phil had managed to get the rope around the bollard, but as the boat crept away from the side, he lost the end of the rope. Phil being the man he is doesn’t give up easily, so lent over to get the rope. In this motion, the boat got further away from the side, leaving Phil no option but to jump for the side of the lock. Phil was now precariously positioned hanging from the side of the lock.

Luckily the man on the boat in front had spotted Phil so came running over quickly. But instead of helping Phil out of his predicament, he preceded to grab he dangling rope and help pull the boat back to the side of the lock. Phil’s extreme upper-body strength saved him until I could give him a hand getting up, but let this be a lesson to you – always have large abs!

#21: Seeing My Name In The Credits Of The Fallow Field

Being a Foley Artist for The Fallow Field always seems to skip my mind when I think of things I’ve done this year. It was a great experience and I loved being part of an independent film production.

That concludes the first half of this countdown to my favourite moment of 2009! Come back at 4pm tomorrow to read about queuing, crying and THE END OF THE WORLD!

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Special Post #22: Top 40 Moments 2009, Part 1

This is part 1 in a mini-series of posts that looks into the best year of my life, two thousand and nine. In this part I start to go back a remember the moments that have stuck with me.

For the first few posts in this series I’m going to be counting down my top 40 moments of 2009. I’ve put a lot of thought into this list because it’s something I want to get right. But what is a ‘moment’?

I’m seeing a moment as a very short space of time. I don’t want any of this “the boat trip was amazing”, that’s too vague (although it was). I want to talk about specific events, small fractions of time, that define the moods we have and the time we call “the best times”. So lets get started:

#40: Building Josh’s Computer

I’m kicking off the list with one of the many great moments of summer. I went to Josh’s house to help him build his computer. It was a geeky evening, but we had a good time slotting everything in and I think I managed to teach Josh a thing or two about how a computer works

#39: Getting My Files Back

You may remember my post back in January about losing all my files. Well it was more than a relief when I managed to get them all back!

#38: Sunday Night Live

Back in February I ran video for a gig in Rubix. We had a total of 10 cameras and 6 people operating. It was definitely the most successful video rig I’ve ever ran and it was amazing fun. There are plans to do another one of these next year, which I’m really looking forward to.

#37: That Afternoon With Three Cakes

The afternoon where Phil and I baked three cakes between us while watching the Grand Prix. Simpler times…

#36: Pimms Next To The Thames With Heather & Lauren

Drinking a pitcher of Pimms with Heather & Lauren at my favourite pub next to the Thames.

#35: Southbank With Lauren After Avenue Q

I love walking down Southbank at night, and it was great to share that Lauren.

#34: Walking Into The House & Knowing I Live There

This is a bit of a weird one, because it happens almost every day. I just love that feeling. And the first time I put the key in the door was magic.

#33: Being At Merry Hill With Sam, Matthew, Kevin & Ben

This is the first moment from the boat trip, believe me there are plenty more to come! This was right at the humble beginnings, the first day, when we went to the cinema to see The Hangover and had a meal, a brilliant film.

#32: Climbing The Trees In Sam’s Garden In Scotland

The first time I’d seen Sam in literally years! So great to catch up.

#31: Messing With Chairs With Josh While We Were ‘Revising’

Wheelie chairs can provide a good distraction from revision, especially when you’ve been revising for over 5 hours straight!

Come back tomorrow for the 30-21 greatest moments, including many more boat memories, snow and a pink bench :O

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Back to the sofa…

It’s holistic to mention that I’m spending Christmas with my sister again this year. I love it here. Sure, it’s hectic, but that’s the appeal! At home it feels like there are 100 things going on, but all I can do is stay out the way. At Becky’s I can help, and I love helping.

The last few days have given me the chance to chill. A chance I’ve been needing for months now. I shouldn’t necessarily be relaxed, but then when are you allowed to relax really? I’m going back to uni a week early to get work done, so now could be for relaxing. So let’s do it.

This year I’m looking forward to new year more than Christmas. That’s definitely due to organising a party at new year that most of my friends are coming to!

Hope you are all having a brilliant Christmas! and come back on boxing day for the start of something I’ve been working on called “My Top 40 Moments of 2009”. Who knows, YOU might just be number 1!

May I wish you all a very Merry Christmas as much as that worn phrase possibly could!

  • Happiness. 8 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 3 out of 5 (me and Barry’s conversations are worth it though)
  • Workload. 8 out of 10 (but not for now…)
  • Last Meal. Sausage sandwiches!
  • Song of the day. Iyaz – Replay
  • Thought for the day. I may be an idiot, but I'm not stupid.
  • What I’m Doing Now. Watching Dora the Explorer

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Those 9 Days: Part 3 – Scene Missing

Wednesday 16th December

2 morning lectures to start the day, more things to look over later. Then me and Josh went off into town to do a spot of Christmas shopping. And it started to snow :)

In the afternoon I ended up wrapping presents. Then at 5pm it was MAD TV time. Committee meeting and then the general meeting. Lots of good ideas were put forward. One I really like is a report on international students, how they find surrey,what facilities are available and we plan to get statistics and interviews with people in charge of international societies and applications.

Thursday 17th December

More lectures and more wrapping presents. Then in the evening was the MADsoc Christmas dinner at a local pub. 3 courses for £9.95 spelt a good night :) Another one of those good natured nights just chatting, but the conversation was more lively than crew dinner, probably due to most people being actors.

Friday 18th December

A full day of labs is not a fun way to end the year, but then it had to be done. Fortunately the practical side of the project was mostly done so I spent my time planning the write up and our presentation. Few bits of documentation here and finding out who would do what over Christmas.

At 5pm it was time to leave, and time for the celebrations to begin. At 5pm exactly I had been invited for drinks with other media engineers by our course organiser. Only about 5 people turned up, but it was a good laugh for an hour or so anyway. After that I cycled home for a quick change of clothes before meeting up with Phil, Malcolm and Rob for a Chinese meal in town.

We’d been there once before last year and Lauren and I made the mistake of not ordering the set meal and having to watch as lashings of gorgeous food poured onto the table for Phil and Rob, none of which we could touch. Until eventually 2 small dishes emerged, they were ours… Needless to say this was not a mistake to be repeated, so this time I had the set meal with Malcolm, A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

After the meal I went over to Sophie’s and Julie’s for a spot of cider (Kopparberg to be precise) before heading out to Rubix for the Xmas party!

We arrived at about 10:45pm and went straight to the bar. It was a good night in all, at least what I remember of it, which to be honest is very little. I learnt that Goldschlager is an amazing shot, but takes you away to the fairies in no time!

So that’s pretty much it for the end of term, I had the time of my life and couldn’t imagine spending it any other way or with anybody different.

In the next few posts I’m going to be looking back at the last 365 days, and seeing what made it the best year of my life (so far…)

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Those 9 Days: Part 2 – Snow White

Sunday 13th December

MADsoc, Surrey’s Music & Drama Society, which, incidentally, MAD TV is a part of, we’re hosting a pantomime version of Snow White for the Christmas holidays. I was asked to film the performances so there was a record of it happening (and possibly for later sale). I turned up at about 2pm on Sunday when they were supposedly having a tech rehearsal. Unfortunately they were running behind schedule, about 5 hours to be exact. So instead I did some other filming on campus with Ankur for a MAD TV project titled “Assemble”. After doing that I went back to the union where the tech rehearsal still hadn’t started. I ended up helping stage crew set up talkback and rigged a security camera feed into the dressing room so the actors backstage could see what was happening on the stage. After that I left homeward bound.

Monday 14th December

Josh and I went to the programming labs to get some of our coursework out the way. Managed to get a fair chunk done, just still have lots to do before the deadline on the 12th January…

In the afternoon I spent several hours setting up for Snow White, sorting out the camera and more bits and bobs. Went home for dinner before dashing back in time for the stage crew meeting at 6pm. Every day of the last few weeks has had to be planned like a military operation in order to do everything. But it also needs to be flexible for those last minute additions that people like to throw at you. Monday’s curveball was a stage crew committee meeting. My plan was to go and watch the play at  7:30 with a friend, and I had since I had no intention of missing it, I had to leave the committee meeting early. Ah well. The play was amazing, and since I knew most of the cast, it added extra giggles.

Tuesday 15th December

OK, so no lectures :) good start. But still had Snow White to film, again. But this time I was also going to a dance show in the evening because Sophie had a choreography in it. But Snow White and the Dance show clash, obviously. So more running around and planning things to the second. I also made some progress on the lab project we have to complete, which suddenly took shape with huge thanks to one of my lab partners.

We’re almost there folks, and the best is yet to come. We still have shopping, Christmas dinner number 2 and the last night of the year to go!

Monday, December 21, 2009

Those 9 days: Part 1

The last 9 days have been hectic in more ways than possible to describe here, but hell, lets give it a go!

Friday 11th December

It all starts a week and a half ago. A full day of labs where we finished the experiment early and got full marks. That put me in a good mood to go shopping at Tesco. While I was in Tesco there was a power cut, meaning I had to wait ages before the checkouts started working again… on my way back home all the street lights were off, it was very strange. Just as well I’d bought some bike lights from Halfords 2 days prior! Once I got back home I invited a friend over for stroganoff!

Later in the evening I went to Rubix, largely to see 2 of Sophie’s best friends from back home who had come to visit for the weekend. Sophie always talks about Ana and Carina, and they came over last Christmas for a day or two, but with labs and stage crew I didn’t ever get to see them. It was one of those times when I felt like we were friends before we’d even met, and it was great to finally put faces to names and get to know each other. All in all, it was a great night. Sophie’s friends were genuinely such nice people I was taken aback at first and then annoyed at myself that I didn’t find time to see them last year!

Saturday 12th December

After getting no more than 3 hours sleep I was up for a MAD TV meeting to discuss a website that we plan to build over Christmas as a central place to hold all our content. It was an interesting discussion, but had to be cut short because one of the guys had to leave. So I went home and went back to sleep. That evening I went back over to Sophie’s to see her friends again before they left on Sunday morning. Ana baked some cakes and I ate some cakes…

I left there at about 6pm to go to the stage crew Christmas dinner. It was a black tie event, and all of stage crew pretty much go. I don’t have much to say about the dinner, apart from it was a really good night for a few reasons: the food was good, I was bought a lot of drinks, half price drinks in the union was amazing, managed to get to subway before it closed at 3am…

It’s interesting to compare this year’s stage crew dinner to last. Last year I didn’t drink alcohol at all, and I had a good time. But this year was very alcohol-fuelled, and I loved it! It’s not just the alcohol, but when everyone else is drinking and you’re not, it’s never as fun, and I hate to say it but you don’t feel as included in everything. Crew dinner was one of the first times I’ve been out this year and just sat in a bar and talked to people, for literally hours, and that’s what I really liked about it.

There’s loads more to talk about… we’ve got Snow White, dancing, shopping, cake, parties and lots more still to come! Part 2 coming soon!

Stay tuned

I haven’t forgotten about you, on the contrary I have an interesting plan for this blog over the next few weeks. I’ve finished uni now for the year, and I have lots to talk about both past, present and future! It’s all exciting stuff so I want to talk about it…

  • Happiness. 8 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 4 out of 5
  • Workload. 8 out of 10
  • Last Meal. Sandwiches stolen from choir party :P
  • Song of the day. Gwen Stefani – The Sweet Escape
  • Thought for the day. If you love life, life will love you back
  • What I’m Doing Now. Mainly planning my New Years Party!!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

None of the above

Once again I’ve found myself having the time of my life, having experiences I will carry through the rough times and learning more about myself every single day.

MAD TV has got it’s knickers in a twist over how to distribute it’s content and the best way to produce high quality, relevant and informative reports with the limited equipment and small team we currently have. It was a stark realisation today when Mike and I were looking at Exeter University’s Television Station, XTV, which is run by 160 students and produces over 100 hours of content a year, that MAD TV has a huge potential and a long way to go! The last 2 months have been a sort of “proof of concept” and now we need to re-asses what we know, where we’re heading and how we can most effectively get there. I love having such a big input into what could potentially be a lasting legacy on Surrey, which in years to come I can be proud to say I had a big part in making a reality. It’s all really exciting stuff!

Anyway, that’s enough about MAD TV (until the next paragraph :D). I want to mention a bit about Stage Crew. I filmed a live music night on Monday, which was the first time I’ve used stage crew equipment for a month or so now, and I realised just how old it is. After doing Winter Happenings on Saturday with proper cameras and a professional setup, it seemed like going back to nursery and playing with the building blocks with letters on. I still enjoyed it, and want to do it again for the experience of live mixing, but I’m going to need to talk to the Technical Manager about possibly upgrading equipment in the future. It sounds like a MAD TV and Stage Crew collaboration might be on the cards…

MAD TV does seem to be creating a stir around the union offices, as a lot of people see it as filling a hole in the union’s media outlets and also potentially providing an invaluable service to societies and other groups of students who have an interest in getting events filmed. This is the 21st century after all, and not having a video service/TV station just seems archaic.

But the last 4 days haven’t just been MAD TV, although over 15 hours of MAD TV meetings in 3 days might make it sound like it has. Monday started in the now usual way of going to the media labs and spending 3 hours working. I had Maths coursework and Lab prep as my main workloads this week, and I’ve managed to get them both done!

Apart from work, and lectures, and MAD TV, and Stage Crew, there was also my life to lead this week. It seems like my life requires a lot of my time as well, so I can’t just put it on hold. But that’s a good thing because I’m enjoying my life at the moment, I just wish I had more time to dedicate to it. It’s not that I don’t consider MAD TV and all that as part of my life, because it is and without it my life wouldn’t be half as great as it is, but I just feel sometimes I need to have time I can spend how I please, with the people I please. And I bring this up a lot, but for me the most important thing right now is people. I want to spend time with people, learn from people and be able to relax and enjoy being me, in my comfort zone, without being pressured or pushing my boundaries…

In a world where all I want to do is learn and better myself, it’s the time spent making other people smile that makes my life complete.

  • Happiness. 8 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 3 out of 5, only had 4 hours of sleep last night :'(
  • Workload. 8 out of 10, feel on top of it, but still have to organise my placement!
  • Last Meal. Steak & Ale pie with loads a’ chips!
  • Song of the day. Three Days Grace – Pain
  • Thought for the day. “Can’t we just borrow a bit of the film…”
  • What I’m Doing Now. Organising things and catching up on what’s happening

Cute thing 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bmhjf0rKe8

Cute thing 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErMWX--UJZ4

Sunday, December 6, 2009

MAD week

The past with its pleasures, its rewards, its foolishness and its punishments, is there for each of us forever, and it should be.

My most recent past shows a lot of MAD TV work. This week our latest episode was released. The Mento’s and Coke report is my baby, that was my Tuesday night, but it was time well spent.

So that alone doesn’t make it a MAD TV week, but there’s been a lot happening this week. I knew it was going to be one of those busy weeks so on Monday and Tuesday I took the liberty of doing lots of work, which made me feel much better about the amount of work I have on at the moment.

Thursday was all about Student Parliament. A event held by the union to give students a place to raise issues and opinions they have. As it happens this was a lot considering the day before one member of the Exec committee motioned a vote of no confidence to the rest of the committee! Made for a very heated debate about the constitution and the role of the Exec in interpreting it. Although the mass-debate was not my cup of tea, and filming for 2 hours was not a perfect evening, it could’ve been a lot worse.

On Saturday I spent the whole day setting up and filming the Winter Happenings dance show in the hall. MAD TV were commissioned to film the event and produce a DVD for sale. Should make an interesting project and it was interesting to organise.

Looking forward to Christmas, but it’s only 2 weeks away and I have so much to do!

  • Happiness. 8 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 2 out of 5 (13 hours sleep last night!)
  • Workload. 9 out of 10 (About to go to uni early to crack on!)
  • Last Meal. Full English breakfast! (oh yea!)
  • Song of the day. Sean Kingston – Fire Burning
  • Thought for the day. Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.
  • What I’m Doing Now. Thinking… stand back :)

Monday, November 30, 2009

Becky’s 30th

I had such a brilliant time celebrating my sister’s 30th birthday at the church this weekend.

I’m looking forward to spending Christmas at my sisters again, and having a great new year with my friends at home.

Check out the pictures from this weekend: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044410&id=1293892814&l=84de197dcb

And I’ll talk to you all soon :)

  • Happiness. 7 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 2 out of 5 (Had one of the best nights sleep ever!)
  • Workload. 9 out of 10 (About to go to uni early to crack on!)
  • Last Meal. Dry cereal (note: buy milk!)
  • Song of the day. You can have two since I forgot to put one last time…
  • Thought for the day. “I am drunak?”
  • What I’m Doing Now. About to have a very productive morning…… *fingers crossed*

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Where did that go?

Another crazy week.

Lectures went well, I only fell asleep in one! As for the work, I’ve done some, but not as much as I should have and still lots to do!

MAD TV is ticking along nicely. The next episode is due out on Wednesday and I have to edit a report for it. I worked on some of the editing on Thursday, so I’ve done some of it.

On Tuesday evening I went round to Sophie’s for dinner. Very nice, always love spending time with Sophie. Wednesday evening was MAD TV. We had 2 meetings then the studio filming for the latest episode. Busy, busy…

Very much so looking forward to today and seeing my big sis :D. Love her lots and I’m so glad I get to be there to celebrate her 30th! Happy birthday!

  • Happiness. 8 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 4 out of 5 (Please lord let me sleep…)
  • Workload. 9 out of 10 (Please lord give me less…)
  • Last Meal. Spaghetti Bolognaise
  • Song of the day. T2 Ft Jodie – Heartbroken (been a good song for a month or two now, just never put it on here)
  • Thought for the day. The queen has an iPlayer (Alan’s infinite wisdom of all things technological, almost as good as mum :P)
  • What I’m Doing Now. Wishing for sleep to take over……

PS MORE PICTURES

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

I Don’t Do Me Any Good

I can be up, and I can be down. At the moment, I’m both.

Work is getting me down. It’s hard, there’s a lot of it and there’s not a lot of help when I need it. I feel really lost sometimes, wondering why I’m even on this course and what the point is of all this. But then work isn’t the only reason I’m here.

University is far more than the sum of it’s parts. To tell people what university is like and what experience they can gain from it would be like taking a blind man to an art gallery – while you can appreciate the wonderful works and collect amazing inspiration, they can only imagine (and wrongly) just how special, unique and touching it all is.

I love people. People are my life. I can talk until the cows come home. And at the moment, right now, I talk to some amazing people. Have fun times just sharing ice-cream with my housemates, or revising with Josh, or talking about lecturers in a maths tutorial, or talking about life with people I couldn’t live without, or having a father-son talk in the car. All the small things really do make a big difference in my life at the moment, especially when all the big things are very stressful.

I loved going home on Sunday, it was a brilliant meal for starters, and seeing everyone again after what seems ages was so comforting.

I don’t really know what to conclude from all this, except I really should do some work…

  • Happiness. 7 out of 10 (see workload)
  • Tiredness. 2 out of 5 (Sleep is my new 2nd favourite thing to do)
  • Workload. 9 out of 10 (I wish I could just do some of it…)
  • Last Meal. Bacon & eggs in pitta bread (mmm… protein)
  • Song of the day. T2 Ft Jodie – Heartbroken (been a good song for a month or two now, just never put it on here)
  • Thought for the day. Time is just the time it takes for you to talk
  • What I’m Doing Now. Been MAD TV-ing it up, about to go and film another report for the latest episode!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Apple Cake

Just a quick one to say that I really enjoyed working the last two days and I’m looking forward to going home tomorrow for dinner!

  • Happiness. 7.5 out of 10 (see workload)
  • Tiredness. 2 out of 5 (which is annoying considering the time)
  • Workload. 9 out of 10 (I keep remembering things to do!)
  • Last Meal. Jacket potatoes with cheesy beans!
  • Song of the day. Avril Lavigne - Innocence
  • Thought for the day. I wish I could play guitar…
  • What I’m Doing Now. Getting an early night :S

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Reading Week

I will say that this week has been a good week. The fact I haven’t had any lectures alone make it a good week, but there are other reasons too! In total there are #5 reasons this is a good week, but lets start from the beginning…

Since I wrote my last blog post lots has happened that I don’t want to talk about. Some of it was bad, and some of it was good. You can’t get more vague than that! I think my week started getting better on Monday. So lets start there…

#1 , Talking to Josh… Monday was productive in a couple of senses. Josh and I took to going to the Media Labs in the mornings to do work. Josh had some coursework to do for another module and I needed to get to grips with transistors and the like. So that worked for an hour or two. We tend to work really well together, but recently we’ve realised we do spend a lot of time talking and not getting any work done. And that’s the first thing I’ve liked about this week.

#2, Maths! Monday afternoon we did Maths work, and boy do we have a lot of maths work to do. It’s good because I feel like we’re making progress and understanding Fourier transforms more, but there are still lots of questions we can’t answer. So reason number two is that Maths is clearer (if only slightly)

#3, MAD TV social. Monday evening was wicked. The MAD TV team went to Nandos and then proceeded to several bars/clubs in Guildford. It was a fantastic night, I loved hanging out with everyone outside of a meeting or film shoot, and can’t wait for the next one!

#4, MAD TV episode. Tuesday morning was a write off. Tuesday afternoon was more Maths, and in the evening I did some more editing for the next MAD TV episode. Then there’s MAD Wednesday. Aptly named because it’s the day I try and finish the episode before the deadline of 11pm that day. I met up with Ankur, our most active editor, to look over two reports for the episode. Then I spent the afternoon frantically compiling everything into a nice, succinct episode for you to enjoy :)

So there you have it. Many more fun times to come I hope. I’m once again working at Ascot tomorrow and Saturday, which I am actually looking forward to. Shame it does take up the whole day though, because I could do with more studying time (as if a week wasn’t enough!) And then on Sunday I will be going home for the afternoon to see everyone and have a wonderful Sunday dinner cooked by the best chef in the world, mum :)

See you all soon,

Charles xxxx

  • Happiness. 8 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 2 out of 5
  • Workload. 8.5 out of 10
  • Last Meal. Just about to have pie and chips :P
  • Song of the day. Avril Lavigne - These Things I’ll Never Say
  • Thought for the day. “Basically” lool
  • What I’m Doing Now. Smelling pie & chips, tasty time!

PS There are probably more pictures for you to see

PPS I can count!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

No Warranty

I could bore you with what I’ve been up to in the last two weeks, but I'm not going to.

In the last two weeks I have been frustrated with my course slightly because of the lack of digital media related stuff I'm doing. It’s turned into an Electronic Engineering degree which is not what I wanted to do! I wanted to play with video camera, learn how to animate 3D graphics and perform complex digital processing in cool ways. All I end up doing is op-amps, transistors and Fourier series. I don’t want to protest too much because I understand that it’s all valuable to know. But I spent all of last year tolerating it in the knowledge that I would do more media topics this year. All I ask for is a balance of electronics and media. not 100% electronics.

In a couple weeks time we start a 3 week media lab on microphone response, I’m looking forward to that 6 hours a week where the title of my course may actually bear some relevance to the content...

But it’s ok, because I’ve been making my own course. Thanks to MAD TV I get my fix of filming and editing. Our 2 week schedule of news is very tight and I end up finding myself organising things on a daily basis. Editing is very time-consuming also and I'm slightly concerned I’m not spending enough time working.

The problem is I love MAD TV too much, so I end up spending my time working on that. And I don’t see it as a waste of time because it’s all things that need to be done. But I have several piles of course-related work that I should dedicate more time to, but because it doesn’t have such a strict timeframe, I end up pushing it to the back of the queue. I need to start prioritising MAD TV things less. I have a technical team of 10 or so that do a lot of work for me, but they require organising and that takes time too.

Then there is stage crew. I’ve neglected stage crew recently in favour of MAD TV because stage crew has a large enough in-take of fresher’s to handle itself and there are enough experienced crew around to take control. And also as VEO, there haven’t been any band nights for the last 2 weeks to get involved. I know I shouldn’t only do video, but I don’t want to turn up for a gig that already has enough crew when I could be spending my time more effectively elsewhere. Saying that I will be helping with laser quest on Tuesday after the fun we had last year I’m really looking forward to it again :)

  • Happiness. 7 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 2 out of 5
  • Workload. 8.5 out of 10
  • Last Meal. Cereal
  • Song of the day. Linkin Park – Bleed It Out
  • Thought for the day. “They’ll come in without a warranty and take it away!”
  • What I’m Doing Now. Sitting my my pyjamas :P

PS: Your chances of losing the lottery are: 99.999992848876%

Friday, November 13, 2009

Thanks for stopping by…

I could give 100 reasons why it’s been a whole week since my last post, life is manic in these parts, but I haven’t forgotten about you… You can expect a post very soon, but for now check out the latest episode of MAD TV University of Surrey Student News and the out-takes!

Episode November 2009:

Out-takes from October 2009:

Stay classy,

Charles x

Thursday, November 5, 2009

200

This is the 200th post on this blog. To commemorate this momentous occasion, I will share with you all a poem I wrote a few months ago now about my last year at university… enjoy :)

New Sunrise

Near a cathedral there once was a court

Where Adam stole furniture and never was caught

A chav called Lauren never ate a banana

And a Portuguese girl they called Mariana

You’d never see Chris cus he’s always out

And Sophie, the cleanest one without doubt

That just leaves Charles, you’d meet people meaner

Oh, that reminds me, there’s also the cleaner!

 

Once the year had begun, good times were ahead

There were days in the snow, and many in bed

Club nights, comedy nights, film nights and more

And nights doing nothing weren’t even a bore!

But Charles wasn’t drinking as much as he could,

And Soph took more pictures than she probably should.

Lauren certainly knew how to make a horse wriggle,

And Mariana was there to make them all giggle.

 

But with Mariana gone, they began to believe

That sooner or later they’d all have to leave

And before you knew it the days were all gone

And all who was left was Soph, Joy & Don

Then all the rooms emptied, with no-one about

There was no-one to smile, laugh, tickle or shout

The sun set on court, leaving dark cloudy skies

And the six went in search of a new sunrise...

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Special Post #21: Accommodation, Part 9 – 1 Month In

So I haven’t done a special post in a while, so enjoy this one. Funnily enough this is the 10th post in this multi-part series-now-more-of-a-category set of posts about living in my first ever house!

I feel like me and my housemates have come a long way since the start of this journey. It’s a tough task just finding housemates to start with, but I can see now that it couldn’t have worked out better.

We all moved in at the start of October, give a take a day or two. And for the first week we weren't all seen in the same room at the same time. Fresher’s week was like that. So lets meet the gang:

  • Anne. The resident Doctor Who fanatic. No seriously, you’d be hard pushed to find anyone as enthusiastic about Doctor Who as Anne. But to say that this tells you anything about Anne would be very wrong. Sure, she’s into comics and films a bit more than the average female, but she’s also very focused on work and very caring towards everyone. If you can’t get on with Anne then there’s something wrong with you, she really is Momma Anne…
  • Viv. Completes the line-up of girls in the house. I have to be disappointingly honest when I say that I haven’t spent that much time with Viv. This isn’t by any means an active decision because Viv is a great housemate. She has an slight addiction to Mafia Wars, but she’s a great laugh all the time.
  • Will. President of the Chemistry Society, which not only makes him a very busy man, but also means I get to meet lots of Chemistry people I never knew before! He loves electro-dance music and walks in the rain (I made that last part up).
  • Josh. The one on my course, the one I knew before and the one I call my best friend…. whatever you want to call Josh he’s a great guy. Very active member of the Christian Union, which takes up a lot of his time, but also plays Rugby and Football in his spare time. We go to lectures together and help each other with work.

How do I get so lucky with my housemates!

As for the other things you worry about when you live in a house, they’re all happening well so far. Rent has all been paid on time using our joint bank account, and once bills start coming in we should be good to go for paying them.

We turned the heating on for the first time last week. It was me who caved, but I was really cold! It comes on in the evenings and hot water is set for the mornings and tends to stay hot for the rest of the day.

Getting to uni is great. Josh, Will and I have bikes that we use to cycle in, it takes me about 4 minutes now from door-to-bike rack. It’s good times, except when I get a puncture which has happened twice now…

It seems that we’re all quite busy so we don’t tend to all be in of an evening very often. But there are occasion when we end up sitting in the living room with our dinners and catch up with what each other has been up to.

Shall I compare thee to last year? It’s hard to because they’re very different experiences. Living in halls was very sociable because everyone was so close, and I got on so well with my housemates that we would just spend hours and hours talking (I’m largely referring to Sophie there…) I’m really enjoying this year, going to other people’s houses and meeting up with friends for lunch, it’s a very different feel to last year but in a good way. Last year was what it was and this year so far is even better!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Wedding, Labs & A First Meeting…

My first ever wedding went great! I loved it. Very personal and cosy, with only 20 or so people there it felt very intimate, which was really great. I filmed it and I’m really looking forward to editing it in the next week.

Thursday was just another one of those days where I had work to do and sleep to get.

On Friday I had labs, which actually went really well. I finished the exercise about 2 hours before the end and just sat around with the Lab demonstrator who was trying to make the last part of the tutorial work. In the end he gave up and let me go early :)

Saturday was another day working at Ascot racecourse. I took 412 sales in 1 day, which is by far the most I've ever done in 1 day. It was amazing fun and I got £7.20 in tips which isn’t bad. And I balanced. Yes, yes I rock…

Sunday was a great day, but since I haven’t been keeping the blog up-to-date with that aspect of my life recently, I don’t think now is the time to elaborate.

  • Happiness. 8 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 3 out of 5
  • Workload. 8 out of 10
  • Last Meal. Chicken & Bacon Sandwich for lunch
  • Song of the day. George Michael - Faith
  • Thought for the day. 10 seconds of Sunday…
  • What I’m Doing Now. About to finish my CV!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Life is a rollercoaster

Sometimes it seems that everything is against you, here’s why…

  • Monday Fail #1: Being ill but still needing to get up at 7:30am for filming
  • Monday Fail #2: Not understanding a single thing in my second lecture
  • Monday Fail #3: Not getting any students to talk on camera about the recent exec elections
  • Monday Fail #4: Only having one short battery for the camera and needing to charge it constantly
  • Monday Fail #5: Not getting the studio equipment working again
  • Monday Fail #6: Not getting to sleep until 5am

But then again, doesn’t it all pay off?

  • Access to Jamie Oliver’s new restaurant before it opens to interview the head chef
  • Getting all the filming for MAD TV’s next episode done (pretty much)
  • Having a laugh in the studio

And then there was Tuesday…

  • Waking up after only 3 hours sleep
  • Getting ripped off on the train
  • Finding out mum and dad have food poisoning
  • Finding out I don’t have a lift back to London on Wednesday

But then there are the jewels:

  • Getting to see my parents and brother again
  • Getting to see my sister, NIL, Alastair and Jordan again

I get so confused on days like this, but you’ve just got to roll with the punches that life serves……

  • Happiness. 8 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 1 out of 5
  • Workload. 8 out of 10
  • Last Meal. Coco pops!
  • Song of the day. I’m Getting Married In The Morning - Alfie
  • Thought for the day. Wedding time!
  • What I’m Doing Now. Getting ready for the wedding!!!!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Things I forgot from: Shall We?

I have put up lots of pictures from my adventures at university so far this year, which include: Mike’s birthday party, Thorpe Park and Cranium Night.

I said I was going to start putting my old videos on YouTube, well I wasn’t lying. I’ve put quite a few on now:

You can also enjoy all the MAD TV episodes and out-takes to see what it’s all about

Enjoy :) x

Shall we?

I have a lot to talk about. The last week has been really crazy in terms of work and getting stuff done.

Lectures are ok. I’m finding it hard to stay awake in all of them, but that’s something I’ll have to work on. In terms of difficulty they could be a lot worse, there are a couple I wouldn’t say are great, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

The house. I’m getting on really well with all my housemates, but we’re all a busy bunch and I’ve haven’t seen them as often as I would like. Especially Josh who is a very busy person. Sometimes it’s nice to sit down and talk to people and that’s what a busy house doesn’t let you do.

Food. Since being back at uni this year I’ve not been bothering with cooking proper meals as much as last year. Mainly because I just don’t have the time to. I’ve been having oven food such as kievs, fish, pies and pizza. I’m not sure if that’s acceptable, but it keeps me fed.

MAD TV. We had a review session on Wednesday and I think everyone got a lot out of it. We’re currently filming for the next episode, which is due out next Sunday.

I’m keeping in touch with my friends when I can and Cranium night on Tuesday was great fun. Friday I had lunch with some chemistry friends and then went out in the evening with more chemistry friends.

I’m battling a bit of a flu today, but I’m hoping it’ll get better before the week starts up because this week is going to be BIG.

  • Monday. MAD TV filming between my lectures.
  • Tuesday. To London to get a lift to Chesterfield with my parents
  • Wednesday. My sister’s wedding. Never been to a wedding before, really looking forward to it!
  • Thursday. Back in Guildford. Probably catch up on work and do some editing.
  • Friday. Labs, then in the evening either do work or go on a pub crawl, depends how much I need to do.
  • Saturday. Working at Ascot for Tote.
  • Sunday. Who knows!?

Next week should be the last of these crazy weeks. I’m hoping life will be a bit more sensible after this week…

  • Happiness. 5 out of 10 (undecided)
  • Tiredness. 3 out of 5 (the flu isn’t helping…but the clocks did)
  • Workload. 8 out of 10 (undecided)
  • Last Meal. Chicken (to help me swallow ibuprofen)
  • Song of the day. Smokie Norful – Nothing Without You
  • Thought for the day. Hope I feel better soon
  • What I’m Doing Now. Talking to Becky on the phone :P xxxx

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Fun & Funner

Since the last post…

  • Filming for MAD TV’s first news episode of the new academic year! Watch the first episode here!
  • More lectures…
  • Friday labs are going better than last year’s labs, but are still not how I’d like to spend my Fridays…
  • Went to Thorpe Park with my housemates Anne and Viv, my friends from uni Heather, Lauren, Sophie and Phil, and my friends from sixth form, Ben, Kevin and Murat. It was a beyond brilliant day. We had so much fun and as you can imagine the queue’s provided us with plenty of time to catch up on what’s been going on in each other’s lives. As for Thorpe Park itself, the scare mazes lived up to their high expectations and riding SAW in the dark was well worth the freezing 2 hour queue at 11pm…
  • Sunday was chill day (for the second week in a row now) and I got nothing done. Other than we had a MAD TV committee meeting and finished the first episode :)
  • Monday I did video in the union for Reverend & The Makers, got some brilliant shots thanks to the fresher’s who didn’t mind operating the cameras :P

This week:

  • Cranium night on Tuesday
  • MAD TV meeting on Wednesday
  • Climbing on Thursday (for the first time in too long)
  • Nothing planned for the weekend yet other than lots of work, this is catch up weekend in preparation for CRAZY “DO EVERYTHING IN 1 WEEK” WEEK next week! Fun times are ahead everyone…

Sorry for another brief bullet point post, but it’s too hard to construct sentences this early in the morning…

  • Happiness. 8 out of 10 (is there a point where I’m doing to much fun?)
  • Tiredness. 4 out of 5
  • Workload. 7.5 out of 10 (depends what you mean by ‘workload’)
  • Last Meal. Channies burger and chips
  • Song of the day. Maroon 5 – Makes Me Wonder
  • Thought for the day. Need to write my CV…
  • What I’m Doing Now. Going to bed, literally in the next 20 seconds…

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Butt-Scratcher!

I feel a lot more on top of work today. Still plenty to do (and that’s an understatement) but it’s nothing I can’t handle (so far…)

The last few days have been good for getting work done and doing things for MAD TV. It’s really exciting to be part of a new society and be there when it starts up. I’m getting a lot of input as to how the thing actually works and its all showing a lot of potential.

I thought I’d stop talking about the past for this post and give you a low down as to what’s going on in my life in the next few days and weeks:

  • 14th Oct: MAD TV filming for the news
  • 17th Oct: Thorpe Park Fright Nights Trip (~14 people going)
  • 19th Oct: Reverend & The Makers Gig in Rubix, doing lots of video things
  • 28th Oct: My Sister’s Wedding!
  • 31st Oct: Working at Ascot
  • 1st Nov: :)
  • 13th Nov: University fireworks night
  • 16th Nov to 22nd Nov: READING WEEK! NO LECTURES!
  • 28th Nov: Sister’s Birthday Party in Balham
  • 12th Dec: Stage Crew Christmas Dinner

That’ll give you a good idea as to what I’m up to.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

More Days Work

Sorry for the long gap between posts, I literally haven’t stopped this week.

Tuesday: A very lazy day in terms of lectures, I only had 1 hour. I spent the rest of my time editing the out-takes for the Fresher’s Angel Health & Safety Video, they’re coming along nicely…

In the evening I had two meetings, stage crew committee meeting and a MAD TV meeting. Stage Crew is coming along, we have lots of fresher's, about 40, and we have to train them all in basic health & safety so they can actually do work. As for MAD TV, it’s gone from 0 to 1 million miles an hour in 1 week. We’ve gone from a team of 3 people, to a team of 25! We’re working hard on filming the next news episode, and if all goes to plan it’ll be on the airwaves by this time next week!

Wednesday was probably my first real day of lectures. The course so far seems reasonable, much like last year, but with different stuff. I’m not really sure how the workload is going to do itself right now, but I’m working on it…

In the afternoon, we did some filming for MAD TV, a segment called “What you think” where we ask students for their opinions on a certain topic, this time it was the changes that have happened on campus over summer. We got some funny responses and it should turn into a good segment.

In the evening it was more MAD TV, we had a 3 hour workshop discussing how we wanted to go about each episode. A 2 week turnaround is very tight and is going to require everyone in the team to pull their weight. Looking forward to seeing how it all turns out!

Thursday can be summed up as follows: tiring. After 5 hours of non-stop lectures I was ready to die. I’ve got lots of reading up to do before next week, which is only tomorrow! I’ll admit I’m slightly concerned as to where I’m fitting in work between Stage Crew, MAD TV, eating and looking after the house, but once I’ve got into a routine I’ll be fine… hopefully.

Friday is now my lab day. It was the start of a 6 week project to build a stereo amplifier. Pressure is on!

In the evening I helped set up for flirt with Stage Crew before coming home and sleeping.

Saturday, up at 8am to get in to uni and set up for the Stage Crew fresher’s training. Got lots of the video equipment out to show off to fresher’s and I think it all went remarkably well. While that was going on a few of our new MAD TV crew were filming a report for the next episode. I had to go and assist them a couple of times, basically because I wanted to help too because it’s fun!

Saturday evening I went into town and celebrated Mike’s 21st birthday with him, pictures tell the story

Today the only thing I have planned is climbing with Phil this evening. Other than that I have to decide which of the 100 things I have to do before tomorrow I should do…

  • Happiness. 7 out of 10 (if it wasn’t for the work…)
  • Tiredness. 2 out of 5 (the lie-in this morning helped)
  • Workload. 7 out of 10 (the return of the workload!)
  • Last Meal. Cereal (but it’s time for more food…)
  • Song of the day. Paloma Faith – New York
  • Thought for the day. I can be who you want me to be, but do you want me?
  • What I’m Doing Now. Thinking about work, MAD TV, Stage Crew, climbing, my CV, placements, labs, girls…

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

First day back? If that’s what you want to call it…

Beth arrived on Saturday! Took her on a very long route back to the house via other people’s houses for breaks. In the evening we went out to Old Orleans restaurant for dinner. There were 9 of us in total and we had a great time. After dinner we went for drinks in town and I got to finally go in Fahrenheit 55, which is a really nice bar in Guildford. Will definitely go there again, it had a great atmosphere.

On Sunday Beth and I chilled in the house in the morning before taking Beth back to the train station. In the evening it was time for Monopoly.

If you remember back to last fresher’s week we can take this except from my blog:

“In the evening, we had a big game of Monopoly in the kitchen. Needless to say it went on for about 3 hours before we gave up and went to bed.” (27/09/08)

So this is now officially a tradition. This time we upped the anti from 11 people to 18. But we had a bigger room this time. It was good fun. We had Chinese and maybe cheated a little…

Either way it was a good night. Looking forward to our next games night, Cranium!

Monday was my first day of lectures. Now officially a second year student! Yay!

Only had one lecture, but I did a lot of reading about the course and what I’ll be studying this year. Most of it sounds really interesting, so we’ll see how long that lasts…

Sorry I’m being quite brief today, but I have so much to say being vague is the best way to go!

Finished off the day with the Stage Crew Fresher’s Meeting, got about 30 fresher’s this year, so all looks good!

Tomorrow I only have 1 short tutorial and I’m free the rest of the day. Love these slow starts… eases me in slowly.

MAD TV stuff is boiling over in the background too, got that on the go when I can.

  • Happiness. 8 out of 10 (which is good considering…)
  • Tiredness. 4 out of 5
  • Last Meal. Chicken Kievs & chips, and leftover chilli!
  • Song of the day. Hansen - Mmmbop
  • Thought for the day. Life goes on…
  • What I’m Doing Now. Wondering if I should get up in the morning and do work before my lecture…

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Ice skating on Thursday was fun. About 20 of us went in the end. I was the only non-chemist there, but then that’s what you get when you gate-crash a ChemSoc event! After skating we went to Nando’s and I claimed a free 1/4 chicken! I ate very well that day :)

After Nando’s I broke from gate-crashing with ChemSoc to gate-crash someone’s birthday in Channies. I don’t know them as such, but pretty much everyone I know knows him, so I think it’s justified. To be honest, I didn’t have a good time. There were lots of people there who I didn’t really know and I had a lot of “stuff” on my mind. I left at about 11:30 with Mike and walked home.

Once home me and Josh took it upon ourselves to undertake the mammoth task of washing up… everything. 2 hours later we’d finished. If nothing else it was fantastic to talk to Josh and catch up.

Yesterday was very cool. I had a meeting with MAD TV in the afternoon about filming our next episode and stuff, which made me realise how crazy busy I’m going to have to work this year…

After that Josh and I went to Wetherspoons in town to claim a beer and a burger with chips for £3.99. That’s all the convincing we needed. After chocolate fudge cake for dessert we headed over to Channies for another pint (because we could, and, technically, it was on our way home…)

Josh left me on my own to go to foam party. I was nervous about not meeting anyone in there, but that was shot when I bumped into Nick and Ollie as soon as I walked in. Then I met Laurie, Chris, Joy, Vicky, Adam, Becky, Jack and Emma and I knew I was sticking around. All in all a very, very, very good night.

  • Happiness. 10 out of 10 (lets bring the scale back to normality)
  • Tiredness. 4 out of 5 (I couldn’t sleep)
  • Last Meal. Burger, chips and chocolate fudge cake
  • Song of the day. Fragma - Toca's Miracle
  • Thought for the day. Sorry?
  • What I’m Doing Now. About to have a shower to 1) wake me up and 2) rid me of foam.

PS PICTURES! (I might need to start screening and vetting these soon…)

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Water problems, free pizza & the craziest night of the year (so far…)

Sozies, lets crack that whip and let you peeps know what I’ve been using my time doing the last 3 days.

Monday can be summed up in 2 words: Stage Crew. I worked all day setting up an elaborate video rig for the DJ night that evening. We had 2 pit cams and 3 other cameras. It was crazy fun and I hope to do it again soon.

Tuesday was a completely different kettle of fish. After being awoken only a few hours into my precious sleep by a text I was quite tired the whole day. Went to the library with Sophie to help her buy internets for her house. After bumping into Lauren and talking to her for a bit I headed off to Tesco with Phil. Stocked up on cider :)

When I got back I got to speak to Josh for the first time in ages while I made my dinner (tuna pasta if you must know) and then had to dash off to go to comedy night in Channies (remember, student bar, yea). That was a good night, the comperé was a bit weird but the acts were good.

On Wednesday (once again after getting ridiculously small amounts of sleep, mainly my fault for talking on the phone too long) I went in to help Stage Crew setup for Fresher’s Fayre and Calvin Harris in the union that night.

Turns out that there had been a water leak to the main feed that supplies campus and the whole east side of campus was without water. This meant that unless the problem was fixed, the union would not be able to open that night for the gig. Not keen on the idea of setting up for a gig that might not happen, and one that I hadn’t signed up to do either, I met up with a load of people at Fresher’s Fayre and wandered around there for an hour or two.

Then we went back to Sophie’s house, because it’s just off campus, and had tea! One of the things we got at the fayre was a free 7” pizza from dominoes. So we went. You can imagine the queue was quite big and we had to wait a while to get our pizza’s. But when something's free, you have to expect a mass of students to appear.

After that went back home to get changed and then headed back to Sophie’s and headed off to Channies with Sophie, Phil and Julie. After a drink in there we went to the union for the Calvin Harris. I was quite excited about this one…

To summize, the night went very well. Calvin’s set was a bit meh, but the rest of the music really made up for it. I saw L.O.A.D.S of people I knew and got talking a bit more to a few people I’d met from the last few days. It was a great night and I’m glad I didn’t miss out by doing stage crew.

To top it all off I had a good nights sleep last night. Feel very refreshed and ready for a new day! Ice skating this afternoon with ChemSoc :)

Speak to you all soon. Loves, Charles

  • Happiness. 13 out of 10 (just because it has to be higher than last time)
  • Tiredness. 2 out of 5
  • Last Meal. Breakfast!
  • Song of the day. Calvin Harris – Ready for the Weekend
  • Thought for the day. When am I getting my timetable!?
  • What I’m Doing Now. Should tidy my room and have a shower before I have to leave in an hour :S

PS plenty of pictures are on there way, don’t worry :)

Monday, September 28, 2009

The One And Only!

And so it begins…

after a day working at Ascot on Saturday, in the evening Julie and Sophie came to my house for dinner. It was a good laugh.

Then yesterday I spent the morning being a fresher’s angel and got to move lots of tiny fresher’s into their rooms, it was really exciting!

In the afternoon I setup video in the union of the big opening night. Didn’t go exactly as planned because their weren’t a lot of people to help out. During the gig I was only needed for a small part of it, so I spent most time with my various groups of friends clubbing. I had such a good time, and it felt sooooo good to be back in the union again. I love it! And seeing everyone again! And hearing all the summer anthems bring played! Such a contrast to the awkwardness I remember from last years first night for me.

Spent way to long packing down the gig once it had finished and then got very little sleep. And here I am. Ready to do it all again today. More video to setup and more people to meet. It’s going to be the craziest week of my life. No doubt. And I'm loving every millisecond of it!!!!

  • Happiness. 12 out of 10 (those things annoying me seem like they can wait a week…)
  • Tiredness. 5 out of 5 (and it’s only going to get worse…)
  • Last Meal. Just had breakfast cereal… but don’t have anything to drink :(
  • Song of the day. Jim Jamison – I’m Always Here (Baywatch Theme)
  • Thought for the day. Wot’s Occurin?! (Thanks Criddle!)
  • What I’m Doing Now. Not sleeping or working :(