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To conclude the post Happiness: reducing at the thought of having to be back at work next week. Workload: low at present but due to rise significantly. Photos taken: 1075 Thought for the day: Awwgh; must it end!

Back on the outside?

It is now 12:20am Sunday and we have arrived back in Sydney from our adventure into the the interior of Oz. On Monday we flew to Alice Springs and the delight of 38 deg's; which is quite warm. On Tuesday we were taken by coach to see some big rocks and the big red rock in the middle of the desert know as Uluru which is actually quite spectacular. On Wednesday we flew to Cairns. Thursday we snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef which is stunningly stunning Friday we caught the narrow gauge train to Kuranda and the cable car back. Saturday we sent around Cairns before flying Sydney and the delights of an Eagles Concert in the Olympic Park. In the morning our great Oz adventure will end as we make our way back to good'ol UK for Monday morning. Happiness:

Busy is the word

It’s been busier than Hollywood since I last posted.

Friday I ended up spending a lot of time working on the project to (again) make little progress. Hopefully something can be sorted this week. (It needs to be done by next Thursday)

The weekend was all about stage crew training. On Saturday I learnt about patching lights and using sound effects to improve how a band sounds.

On Sunday I setup and ran video for the gig. We had 10 cameras in the end and 6 people helping operate cameras. It was brilliant fun and definitely the most successful video I’ve ever done for a gig.

Monday was nothing special. I met up with my housemates for next year (don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about the special post) and we looked at the university’s housing list. I’m really excited about living with them next year, it’s gonna be really great.

Today I think all the commotion caught up with me. I’ve been really, really tired all day, which hasn’t been good. Sophie made everyone pancakes which we’re really tasty! Tonight I’m off to comedy night (I’d never miss that!) and then straight to bed.

The week in brief:

• Wednesday. Maths lecture, programming, media lab club.
• Thursday. Lost, work
• Friday. Don’t know
• Weekend. ???

The thing is that at the moment there are a few things up in the air about this week and I need to see how much work I get/get done before I decide whether I’ll go or not.

• Happiness: 7/10
• Workload: 7/10
• Last meal: PANCAKES!!!! (thanks Sophie!)
• Thought for the day: Looking forward to Laser Quest next Tuesday

It's not normally like this!

Hi again from Oz. We are back in Sydney after our holiday from the holiday so have time for a quick post before heading off into the great wide interior tomorrow. It is currently 8:45pm on Sunday here on the day that Australia held a Day Of Mourning for the victims of the Victoria Bush Fires on what they are calling Black Monday. Not surprising the dreadful news has dominated the news agenda whilst we have been here. It has been insightful to read the news reports and articles about the horrendous experiences that individuals have had. Of course we have not been directly affected as we have gone about our business of being tourists. On Thursday we went for a walk around the local bay before assisting Ken in collecting his daughter and family from the airport, before we headed off for a last visit into Sydney with a walk across the Harbour Bridge (at road level). A quick meal in the local Italian and then it was a three hour drive north to Forster arriving at about 1am. Friday we had a walk along 1 mile beach before tking the boat out onto the ocal sea lake for a trip. Great ful weaving between the oyster beds. Saturday it was off in the boat again this time on the fresh water lake off to Sandy Beach which turned out to be flooded as the water level was 1metre higher than normal (that will be the rain we had) or as K+K said letting us know 'it's not normally like this'. A lovely and relaxing spot only accessible by boat. Toady we journeyed back via the Hunter Valley and a number of the wineries to sample their delights. Off to Alice tomorrow and the start of week 2 of the great Oz adventure. Happiness: 12/10 Workload: -7/10 Photos taken: 576 Thought for the day: I don't think my insurance covers me for that!

Busy Week: Friday

Well, I wasnt’ wrong when I said it would be a busy week. Here’s the consensus:

Monday. The stage crew AGM was brilliant. Not only as I was elected VEO, but that the rest of the committee are people I know will be dedicated to getting things done. Not to mention the curry afterwards, that was the best curry I’ve had in ages (probably because I didn’t have to do the washing up!)

Tuesday. I finished my programming assignment and submitted it. Did my laundry. The MAD TV meeting had a sparse turnout, but I’m confident the interest will pick up when the show had been publically launched.

It turned out I didn’t have time to go climbing this week because I instead finally met up with my housemates for next year. We got on really well and seem to all have similar interests (my next special post will hopefully be about the whole house situation and the story so far)

Wednesday. Tried to do work on my project, but failed. Will try again today after doing a bit more research. Got some free safety boots from stage crew. Steel-toed, pretty suave.

Thursday. Me and James had a brilliant time together. James cooked us both a great green curry and then we went for a short walk to the cathedral and back. Went to the student bar to listen to some artists at open mic night then finished off by going to one of my friend’s parties. I really enjoyed myself and it looked like James did too.

Friday. Today I have to make some headway with my project work. Then tonight I’m going over to Josh’s to help him replace his hard drive. Who said I didn’t know how to have fun?

• Happiness: 7.5/10
• Workload: 7/10
• Last meal: Cereal
• Thought for the day: “If you ever need a dancing crow, you know who to call”

A view from the downside

It is Wednesday evening here in Oz. This will probably be the last post as we are off to Forster tomorrow evening. We will return late on Sunday in time to set off into the interior on Monday morning. On Tuesday we continued to do battle with the rain. We caught the ferry to Manly on the other side of the harbour and enjoyed a long walk along the waterfront path to Spit Bridge before returning for fish and chips on the beach. A quick ferry trip back and a walk down to Paddy's Market to find it closed before heading back for tea and a trip to the pub. Last night it rained loads, parts of NSW are flooded, but sadly it does not seem to be raining in Victoria where they could do with it. Undeterred this morning we stuck with the plan and headed off to Coogee for the coastal walk to Bondi Beach. Pretty good walk it was too especially when as we turned the headland into Bondi the sun came out at long last. A quick paddle and bus ride later saw us at Paddys Market again to find it still closed but this time we found the sign that says ot opens on Thursday's Friday's and Saturday's. We ambled around a bit as we made our way to explore the delights of Darling Harbour and Cockle Bay where had a few beers and dinner then watched all the lights come after sunset before we made our journey back to the tram and Lilyfield. It was great to finally feel that Oz sunshine. Just in time me thinks before we head off into the heat of Alice next week. (Sorry no pics in the posting as how to do that was not in my training!) Happiness: 9.5/10 Workload: -5/10 Photos taken: 426 Thought for the day: It's just the one Stella tonight please!

Video Equipment Officer

I have been elected as the Stage Crew Video Equipment Officer (VEO)!

I’m really excited about being VEO because it means that I have not only been recognised by the crew as being competent with video equipment, but I also become part of the Stage Crew committee. This means I can contribute largely to how stage crew is operated and run, and can get really involved with all aspects of crewing.

I thought I needed to share that with you, so there you go! YAY!

• Happiness: 8/10
• Workload: 8/10
• Last meal: Curry at a restaurant in Guildford
• Thought for the day: I’ve already done one

Note: Aren’t you lucky, 3 posts in 1 day!

Busy Week: Monday

Looks like I’m in for a busy one this week. Here’s the lowdown:

• Monday: Stage Crew AGM. I’m going to go for the post of Video Equipment Officer. I’ll tell you how it goes.
• Tuesday: MAD TV meeting. Looks like I’m going to start helping out with the University’s own video channel, as a technical helper of course. Video editing and filming, post-production and stuff. Looking forward to it.
• Tuesday: Can’t forget the usual climbing!
• Wednesday: Plan the epic 3 week project that I have to start work on next week!
• Wednesday: Media labs. A new club where media engineers get together and play with the cool equipment the uni has!
• Thursday: My favourite brother is in town!
• Friday: I guess this is the day I have to catch up on the work I should have done during the week.
• Saturday & Sunday: A whole weekend of Stage Crew Training, learning how to do loads of things and organising an entire gig from the ground up.

All of this and the usual lectures and assignments to boot! I love being busy!

• Happiness: 7/10
• Workload: 8/10
• Last meal: Soup and baguette for lunch (not a whole baguette, that would be crazy!)
• Thought for the day: Why is texting so hard?

A word from the sponsor

The journey to Oz was uneventful with us arriving pretty much as planned on Saturday morning. Our friends Karen and Ken met us the airport then took us immediately on a whistle-stop tour of Sydney before getting to their house for breakfast. A quick tour of the house, a walk around the neighbourhood of Lilyfield a trip to the beach and a visit to the Olympic Park for a concert saw out the day and it was time for our first night in a bed since Wednesday night. As Karen (our host) has to work during the week we opted for a day out in the Blue Mountains together on Sunday so it was off in the car to enjoy the magnificent sights of the mountains fully covered in mist. Undeterred we did the mandatory bush walk, marvelled at waterfalls and generally were soaked in the rain. Monday promised more of the same but was much better weather as we explored the delights of Sydney proper with a wander around the Opera House, Harbour and George Street. The boys at the Met are saying that we will, have rain again tomorrow before the normal summer will return. I think we may be ready for it by then. Happiness: 9/10 Workload: 0/10 photos: 258 Thought for the day: Just when will it stop raining?

SPECIAL POST #2: Cookery 101

Experimentation in the kitchen is the theme of this week’s special post. I know that last week was food as well, but who doesn’t love food.

Chilli con carnie is the food of God’s, loving it!

This week I had chilli con carnie with rice on Thursday and chilli con carnie with baked potato on Friday. Why am I telling you this? I have no idea.

Today (well yesterday by the time I finish writing this) I tried my hand at making a chocolate cake. And not just any chocolate cake, the biggest chocolate cake you’ve ever seen!

Hungry yet? I know I am. And I’ve still got half of it left to eat.

30 seconds later…

YUM!

Happiness: 8/10

Workload: 7/10

Last meal: Baked potato with baked beans and tuna. Then CAKE!

Thought for the day: If you ever want to make women happy, make them a chocolate cake!

Video: Comin’ Atcha!

G’day! Here I am, in the northern hemisphere without any parents…

Sorry for not posting sooner, it’s been the usual hectic few days. Programming is coming on and labs went OK today.

Tuesday was, obviously, comedy night and it was really good. One act was a magician/comedian who was particularly funny. Also got a bit of climbing done on Tuesday, managed to do a fairly hard wall which was great.

On Wednesday, I Stage Crewed for Cleopatra. I did video, as usual, and it was really good. They’re really nice people and they asked me if I could record the video for them to have a copy. They seemed to like it, and it was good to see their reactions to how the video looked. I can now add that video to my collection (currently only S Club 3 and Cleopatra).

Also on Wednesday I went to the first of what is going to be an on-going thing where first year media engineers (like myself) can spend Wednesday afternoon in the media labs. I got shown round and got to play with some of the equipment, it was so great to finally get to touch some of the equipment I’d heard so much about. This is something that should happen every Wednesday, and I will definitely be making an effort to go.

Today was a bit of a blur. I have 7 hours of lectures on Thursday’s, and this time I’d only had 4 hours sleep.

What’s happening in the days to come:

• Heroes episode to watch
• Programming assignment to do
• Chilli con carne
• Assessment questions
• Stage Crew Annual General Meeting (I’m going to try and be elected as Video Equipment Officer)

Brief-o-meter:

• Happiness: 8/10
• Workload: 7/10
• Last meal: Soup (for lunch!)
• Thought for the day:

Programming & Viva La Vida

You may have noticed (in the playlist on the right) that I seem to like Viva La Vida by Coldplay at the moment, it’s just a good song.

Yesterday was the usual busy Monday, nothing I couldn’t handle, actually I quite enjoyed having lectures on a Monday for a change. I’ve started my first programming assignment which it actually really fun to do.

Today is 3 hours of lectures (starting now!) and then programming this afternoon. comedy night awaits this evening, and I’m thinking about joining a new society that has started its own “TV channel” on campus (it’s just one video at the moment).

Got to go, speak to you soon!

Being Home

This weekend I took a trip back through time to the place where I used to sleep. It wasn’t the first time back, not at all, but it was different.

When you go home it’s amazing how quickly you fall back into your pattern. As soon as I walked in James said “Hi Charles” just as if I’d got back from school. It takes you back for a moment.

Getting breakfast just like I used to. Everyone is still the same. It’s like a small time capsule I can go to, it’s nice to know it’s there.

I’m sounding as if I miss home, but that isn’t the case (sorry mum). Why did no-one tell me how great university was, I mean, what is there not to like? It’s so great to always be slightly outside you’re comfort zone, to meet new people, to do things you’ve always wanted to do… feel so great.

I love what’s happening to me. I can only hope that this is only the tip of the iceberg, the start of the journey and the face of things to come.

I don’t really know what’s brought this on, but I thought I’d share that with you. Share the smile. Go on, you know you want to.

• Happiness: 8/10
• Workload: 7/10
• Last meal: Tuna pasta (ole student favourite)
• Thought for the day: Cock up your beaver!

SPECIAL POST #1 : Lunch

This is the first of what I hope to be many “special posts” where I can focus on particular thing I’m thinking about or something I want to share with you all.

One of my “new year’s resolutions” is to have a different thing for lunch each week. Last semester I just had “… on toast” every day. This was good for a while because it was cheap, quick, easy and tasty. But it wasn’t exactly variety:

• Monday:      beans on toast
• Tuesday: spaghetti on toast
• Wednesday:    jam on toast
• Thursday:    beans on toast
• Friday:    spaghetti on toast
• and so on…

So this year I thought it would be a good idea to try something different. Specifically, try something different every week.

So far I’ve tried a few things:

• Week 1: Sandwiches
• with cucumber, ham, coronation chicken, lettuce
• Week 2: Wraps
• with cucumber, ham, coronation chicken, lettuce, carrots
• Week 3: Pita Bread
• with cucumber, ham, tuna & sweetcorn,  lettuce, carrots

OK, so not that much variety, but still in a different shape!

But, I need some ideas for the future. Here are some ideas I’ve had:

• Soups (this week)
• Baguettes
• Omelettes (I’ve never made an omelette before!)
• Ciabatta

What do you think? Have you got any ideas?

• Happiness: 7/10
• Workload: 7/10
• Last meal: Cereal (that’s enough of the jokes now)
• Thought for the day: Being home is getting weirder every time

It’s Friday!

I don’t have long so I’m going to make this as brief as I can.

Back to lectures on Wednesday, although I still only had one. I went climbing in the afternoon after doing some work in the morning.

Yesterday it was time for Labs. This week it’s Video Media and it’s just as good as the Audio last week. We’re looking at PAL signals and today we’ll design our own test card.

Talking of today, I am going to be in London this weekend.

• Happiness: 7/10
• Workload: 7/10
• Last meal: Toast for breakfast
• Thought for the day: Why is there always lab prep to do?

Snow Day: Reloaded

So it was another no show for lectures today. Gave me and Josh another chance to do some work. Not that we took full advantage of that chance. We may have played a bit of online gaming, listened to music and slept. But there was a bit of work in all that al well.

After all, it’s not everyday you get to be so blasé about snow!

The mood was good. I got some laundry done, although I didn’t think a 38 minute cycle would take an hour!

The best part is that on Wednesday’s I only have a 1 hour Maths lecture all day. So is that a 2 day week?

Anyway, there were some casualties: climbing club was cancelled due to the lack of an open climbing wall. I’ll probably go tomorrow.

Teaser: I might be coming down to London at the weekend.

• Happiness: 9/10 (I can’t make it 10, that’s just bragging)
• Workload: 6/10 (probably 10, but I haven’t been given it yet, hence the high happiness rating)
• Last meal: Josh made lasagne (well, heated lasagne)
• Thought for the day: More snow on Friday, anyone?

The week with 3 days…

So first things first, Sorry. I know, I know. I’ve been a bit busy the last few days. First lets do a little recap then we’ll get to the good stuff:

Friday: A rush to get my answer sheet submitted on time. Finished my brilliant audio labs for the week and got an ‘S’ (above an A).

Saturday: Spent the morning with Josh doing lab prep (and maybe talking a bit too). Helped out with Stage Crew for Greek Night. It was really bad. Won’t be doing that again…

Sunday: Spent the afternoon doing lab prep with a friend (known from now on in the blog by his real name, Faizan) in the library. As you gathered from my previous post, it was upon leaving the library at 8:30pm that it appeared it had been snowing.

So that’s the deal. So to today:

Woke up (always a good start). Got dressed. Opened the window. Dropped jaw. Phone rings. It’s Josh. He’s just opened the window to.

Have cucumber for breakfast (it’s all I had: no milk, bread, etc.)

Dredge a path to Josh’s room. We go to our first lecture. After waiting 10 minutes for a lecturer we abandon ship.

At about 10am I get an email from the union president saying that all lectures have been cancelled for the day.

Me and Josh decide to do some lab prep (this is different to the one above) while keeping in touch with the weather situation on BBC News 24 and local radio.

At 12pm, we go to the main field in the university to, well I think this speaks for itself:

I hope I’m not going to fast, but there’s a bit to get through. So next we went to Tesco (yes, sounds stupid, but as said earlier I had no food).

Got back and had lunch, then went to Josh’s to do some more work.

At 6pm I went to the stage crew meeting, the usual.

At about 8pm I cooked me and Josh Spag Bol for dinner (because I now had food)

I think that pretty much covers the whole day. It’s been so surreal and great fun. Managed to do some work as well which good.

It looks like tomorrow will also be void of lectures, as they seem to be cancelled too. Well, I’m not setting my alarm now so I’m not going to the first few, even if they become “un-cancelled”.

How was your snow day? I guess Mum didn’t manage to get to Manchester. Becky sent me this picture of Daisy in the garden:

And this came from home:

I’ll try to keep you posted, but I have managed to keep myself quite busy recently. How about I promise another post by Wednesday night at the latest?

SNOW!

Last night coming out of the library. It wasn’t like that when I went in!

This morning, the window view…

Needless to say people were having fun…

The view from the lecture theatre we were meant to have our lecture in…

Josh enjoying hot chocolate in the snow…

YAY! Snow!