That was quick!

I have a house for when I start my PhD! After only a few short days of looking for houses around Guildford Will, Anna and I have found the perfect abode! Let me show you round…

It’s a 3-bedroom place, all the rooms are big enough for double beds, the kitchen is modern and it has a dishwasher! Luxury R’ Us! It’s not far away from my house with the girls last year, except a bit nearer university if anything. Same local pub though :D

I’m snatching up one of the biggest rooms, and since the place is unfurnished I can’t wait to put my stamp on the room and make it mine! Geeky posters and computer parts everywhere!

It’s so exciting to finally have a place sorted, it means I can really get my head straight about how the next few months before my PhD starts are going to play out, and it looks pretty awesome!

• 26th May. First exam
• 1st June. Last exam ever
• 11th June. Project Viva, and the end of university
• 15th June. Big party
• 17th June. Boat trip with housemates
• 25th June. Start summer job at Sony
• 8th July. Move out of my current house :(
• 17th July. Graduate
• 20th July. Graduation Ball
• 25th July. AMERICA!
• 15th August. Move in to new place :)
• 1st October. Start PhD at University of Surrey

And with producing the Fresher’s videos for the student television station and designing a new website for my local church I don’t think I’ll be bored! I can’t wait!

• Happiness. 7 out of 10
• Tiredness. 1 out of 5
• Workload. 7 out of 10 (lots of revision)
• Last Meal. Good ol’ fish and chips
• Song of the day. Lenny Kravitz – Fly Away
• Thought for the day. The meaning of life is to give life a meaning.
• What I’m Doing Now. In disbelief that I’ll have to leave this house in 7 weeks time… I might cry.

New Kindlings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pause for thought

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

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

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

Experimenting with banana and choc ice milkshakes.

Doing some terrible singing at the aforementioned piano bar.

 

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

Been on a treasure hunt around Weymouth.

Gone Ape!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Progress is progress…

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

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

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

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

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

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

The final semester begins…

My last semester of lectures started last week and because of my cunning plan to front load my module choices for final year I only have two modules and my project work to do. While I regretted that decision in January, having to sit 4 exams, coursework and write a report for my project it all seems worth it now.

I’ve got a couple of marks back for coursework already, and they are both firsts, so with any luck I should still be on track. I’ll get my exam results before the end of the month and that will be a really good indicator of how I’m doing since I’ve now completed over 70% of my degree…

My new timetable is only 7 hours a week! 3 hours on Tuesday, 3 hours on Thursday and an hour on Friday. This gives me loads of time to work on my project witch is going really well (thanks for asking :P)

My project, ELROND, can now do lots of the things I explained in this diagram a while ago, and there’s still plenty of time for refinements and improvements which should give me lots to talk about in my final report. This makes me happy :)

At the moment my housemates Will and Mike are attempting to eat for a month on only £1 of food a day. I’m helping make a weekly video diary for MADTV:

That’s my voice in the intro :P

What else has been going on? Well I’m starting to think more seriously about life after uni, what to do, where to live, whether to go travelling for a while before starting work and so on… So far I’m planning a couple of weeks in California with Charlotte before starting work for the rest of my life. I’d also like to go on holiday with my housemates, but that’s just an idea at the moment.

It’s all exciting times, and Charlotte and I are off to London this weekend to see Mr Scruff play at Koko. I went last year with Julie and it was AMAZING! I’m really looking forward to round 2!

• Happiness. 8 out of 10
• Tiredness. 1 out of 5
• Workload. 3 out of 10
• Last Meal. Kung Pao Chicken!
• Song of the day. Ed Sheeran’s Plus Album, it’s all good :)
• Thought for the day. I was there when this happened!
• What I’m Doing Now. Thinking about buying a Linode…

Acting Debut & The FUTURE!

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

Rum and Coke, Myfanwy

Hello all,

Yes I am still alive… very much alive in fact. I’m back to normality now after 4 weeks at university. Lectures and coursework and not a flight to Switzerland in sight! I still haven’t spent two consecutive weeks sleeping in the same bed yet this year! It might happen before the years out!

Other than that I’ve been keeping myself to myself and taking things as they come. Last weekend I was up in Cardiff to see Jake for his girlfriend’s birthday… much fun and rum was had by all :D

Getting involved in MADTV once again…

Celebrating Halloween in style tonight for the first time ever! And then the house is having a private ‘invite only’ cocktail party tomorrow. Good times are ahead :)

• Happiness. 7 out of 10
• Tiredness. 5 out of 5 (sleep is a struggle…)
• Workload. 6 out of 10 (but it’s all really interesting at the moment)
• Last Meal. Fish fingers and chips (i know! 2 posts in a row!)
• Song of the day. Ellie Goulding – Lights (Bassnectar Remix)
• Thought for the day. I could be a pilot!
• What I’m Doing Now. At Sony for a day to catch up with people :)

October: The Best Moment

Ok, so October. I managed to make a big mess of October. Between readying myself for my trip to Switzerland and working lots of overtime other aspects of life suffered.

MADTV and house things fell by the wayside and it’s purely because work required a lot of my attention. And in my spare evenings I wanted to catch up with friends or sleep. By alas, life goes on…

There were 3 big events for me in October:

The first was Freshers’ Fayre with MADTV. I took a day off work and we went out in force to get freshers interested in their Student Television station. It was great to see so many people who had heard about MADTV and even already seen older videos! And we got loads of people signed up. The first meeting had over 50 people! It’s so great to see MADTV going places…

The second was Go Karting with work mates! Pedal to the metal and all out on the track was a great stress reliever, and getting to know more people at work was a bonus. The indoor track was huge and got plenty of laps in. Our team came 7 out of 8, but it’s the taking part that counts :P Hopefully doing this again soon :)

But the best moment of October, and my a far wack it has to be said, was Fright Nights at Thorpe Park! The yearly tradition got even better this year! A small group of us went and it was great to chill out and chat in the queues. But luckily the queues weren’t as bad as we expected and we managed to go in most of the mazes. This year, the horror mazes seemed to be much better than previously. And one maze in particular scared the bejesus out of me, something of a rarity these days. The company was a brilliant laugh, as expected when Heather, Lauren, Anne, Viv and Luke are involved. And I can’t really mention fright nights without saying that the Waffles and Ice-cream was the icing on the proverbial cake :D

So there you have it! November is going to be full of Switzerland banter I’m sure :D

Love you all,

Charles xx

Swiss Musings

Note: This post is filled with random pictures, un-associated with the text.

Finally back in Guildford for the weekend after being in Switzerland since Monday. I’ve said this before and I will surely say it again: Sony is an amazing place to work. Since I started working there in July I can safely say that every day I go into work with a smile, looking forward to what it has in store.

^ Blood Brothers: James came to Guildford a couple weeks ago. It was really great to see him! This will have to happen again!

Working in a large company such as Sony means there is always something to do, and the work I’ve been doing has not only been varied, but also relevant to my degree. In week 3 of placement I was given the opportunity to work on this project that would entail a trip to Switzerland… now that’s not a standard request! While the trip has been postponed several times, it’s finally happening. For me, it’s not so much the fact that I get to go to Switzerland, or the fact that I was asked to go; it’s the realisation that in the last few weeks I have become a part of the project team, not just a tag-along. And it’s that integration and appreciation that I’m most grateful for.

^ A couple of pictures from the “goodbye” meal I had last weekend before I left for Switzerland.

I’ve realised recently that, as a person, I strive to be part of a team, and for my input to be valued and appreciated. If I can be my own psychiatrist for a minute, I think this all stems from secondary school where I often felt alone. I know, cue the violin, but it’s given me a new perspective on a few things. For example, I never fully felt part of Stage Crew, and because video was always considered an afterthought, I didn’t see my opinions being taken seriously. That’s probably why I don’t do it anymore.

^ Halloween… ‘nuf said

I don’t know whether it’s a sign of weakness that I only feel motivated when I know someone will appreciate my work, but I do know that I have immense pride in my work (such as videos, websites, reports, etc.) and while I appreciate constructive criticism, I can often take it more personally than intended.

^ Back in England. Did someone say party? (yes actually. Julie :P)

With MADTV recently, I’ve seen a divide between the committee and the team… And I know that last year’s team certainly felt that sometimes their effort wasn’t appreciated when reports were released late or not given as much promotion and care over as reports that committee were working on, even when it was. And I can see now how we could have communicated better, and I don’t want this years MADTV to go the same way. MADTV has had a brilliant start to the year, and it’s only going to get better and better. I just hope that the success of MADTV doesn’t jeopardise the team’s chance to learn through experimentation and have as much fun as we used to!

• Happiness. 6 out of 10 (I have my reasons…)
• Tiredness. 0 out of 5 (Woohoo! Enlightenment!)
• Free Time. 0 out of 5 (And I don’t care :P)
• Last Meal. Erm… Cereal :S
• Song of the day. Duck Sauce - Barbra Streisand
• Thought for the day. The Earth’s equator is so big that if you laid it out flat, it would circle the Earth approximately one time.
• What I’m Doing Now. Waiting until Monday, when I can go back to Switzerland :D

I can count to 21!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time… Charles x

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

August: The Best Moment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Orpington & MADTV

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

This week has so far been about MADTV.

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

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

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

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

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

One of those weeks…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I Predict The Past

This is a good opportunity to look at a ‘typical’ week since I’ve started placement. I say typical because every week is invariably different, but still serves as an example in itself.

Last week started with climbing on Monday evening. I think I’ve already said that I want to get back into climbing this year, and part of that is my goal of going climbing every week. It’s difficult at the moment because my climbing partners (Jonsey and Lauren) are not in Guildford, so I’ve been climbing on my own the first two times. It’s been a good way to ease into it, but I’m glad I’ve found a climbing buddy to go with this week :D

Tuesday was a crazy day. I spent the day at work making labels for jack fields on the OB truck (and if you didn’t understand that sentence you’ll understand why I’m not talking about what I’m doing on placement in much detail on the blog…) Then I went from work straight to my favourite restaurant, Wagamammas. A few friends and I had a meal then went ice skating at the Guildford Spectrum. Definitely something I need to find time to do more often, and I realised that my friend Katherine is amazing at figure skating!

On Wednesday I was sent to the Emirates stadium again to configure, install and troubleshoot more TV’s. Then, in the evening, I made the most of being in London and went to visit the folks. We went to Victoria’s for a spot of cider and a mini-celebration about my good news.

My good news was about work. I’m going to Switzerland for a few weeks for Sony. I’ve been assigned to an exciting project designing, installing, testing and maintaining a system for a Swiss broadcaster. I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to say without breaking an NDA, but needless to say it’s quite exciting and an opportunity I wasn’t about to let pass me by!

On Thursday, work was a bit slow for the first time in days. While that sounds like a good thing, you should know I love being busy, and I’m itching to get started on the Swiss project. So I did a lot of research and generally kept myself busy. In the evening, Ben came over and we did some MAD TV editing.

That brings us to the weekend, which was far from typical and requires a whole post of it’s own! Mum had organised a family gathering for her dad’s 80th and everyone came along. Oh, and we were camping in a barn :P

See you all, maybe tomorrow, for that story :)

• Happiness. 10 out of 10
• Tiredness. 5 out of 5 (I knew I would be)
• Free Time. 0 out of 5 (which is a bit overkill, but I do love it)
• Last Meal. Strudel. How many times is that now?
• Song of the day. The Kooks – Inside In/Inside Out Album
• Thought for the day. If public transport fails from a single signal failure, bring on the Olympics :D
• What I’m Doing Now. Finishing the latest MAD TV report with Ben and Claire, look out for it on www.madtvsurrey.co.uk tomorrow…

100% Of The Time, I Get 75.2% All The Time

I haven’t really figured out what I’m doing with this blog while I’m on placement. It’s not like I have anything less to say, I just have less time to word it. If you have any ideas for what I can do while I’m on placement, then I’m all ears.

First thing to talk about is those results. I got them a couple weeks ago now, and my estimate of 76% wasn’t far off. I got 75.2% :)

That’s another first. My highest mark was 87% for programming. That’s not really a surprise when you factor in the 98% for the coursework. My lowest mark was Electronics 6, only 59%. I said on here that would be the hardest exam, and it definitely was. I’m really happy with my 77% in Computer Vision, that’s the one where I played with teapots. A little confused about how I only got 69% in labs, because the media project went really well…

Ah well, a first is a first. Although I do have to say I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t get over 80%, but if you look at the year as a whole, with MAD TV and Sony, I think I can live with my decisions.

There’s so much more to talk about, we’re a good 2 weeks behind. On Friday 19th Frankie and I went to Grad Ball with the MAD TV camera to film the occasion. It was a brilliant night and makes me look forward to graduating! Not long now :S

Frankie and I having a great evening gate crashing grad ball and eating lots of strawberries and chocolate :P

You may have noticed that I’ve changed my hair slightly, it more… ‘up’ now. I was getting bored of having short hair and I thought placement was a good opportunity to try something new. So far I’m loving it, can’t believe I never tried this before!

We’ll leave it there for today, but we’ve still got lots to include such as the bank I love to hate, The King Blues live (again) and then everything I did last week!

Phew! I would just do a bullet point list, but some recent events we’re too good for that.

Try and see you tomorrow!

• Happiness. 10 out of 10
• Tiredness. 3 out of 5
• Free Time. 1 out of 5
• Last Meal. Bacon sandwiches (roast tomorrow!)
• Song of the day. John Mayer – Gravity
• Thought for the day. At the end of the day, all you have is tomorrow morning
• What I’m Doing Now. Being very happy :o)

PS pictures from this weekend :)

PPS I also have some very exciting news about work coming up…

Just My Luck

• Monday. My first day at Sony. Nnaoma and I had a tour of the office, as well as the obligatory training on how to lift a box and climb a ladder. Then we were shown around production floor where there are currently three OB trucks. To finish off the day we saw a 3D test setup that is being worked on. In the evening I went to a friend’s BBQ.
• Tuesday. Nnaoma and I packed away 24 production cameras for two Egyptian trucks. At one point, while carrying a very heavy lens we were told it was worth £250,000! On later research it appears the lens is only worth £150,000, so it didn’t really matter if we dropped it… In the evening I went to a friends house to play board games and eat strudel :)
• Wednesday. We were assigned onto a project for Arsenal Emirates football stadium, which requires configuring 120 Sony TV’s to work on the content distribution system in the stadium. It was good fun, but tiring work. In the evening we had a MAD TV meeting :)
• Thursday. You didn’t think we configured all 120 screens in one day do you? A full day of configuring, followed by some admin.
• Friday. We went to Arsenal Emirates to configure some more TV’s. Shown around the players lounge, Diamond club and (personally my favourite part) the TV gallery where the video feeds are directed and edited to some 500 screens around the stadium, including the 2 big screens at the corners of the pitch.

Nnaoma and I outside Emirates after finishing early on Friday

All in all a very good first week. And by very good, I mean it was too good for words! On more than one occasion I found myself just smiling at the realisation that I was working for Sony, and that this was only the beginning!

So that was the good part of the week. However, my evenings tell a different story…

My bike has become the bane of my measly existence since last Sunday. It’s had it’s brakes replaces, tyres changed and new inner tubes and how does it repay me? 4 punctures. In two days!! Grr.

Also Natwest continue to amaze me at their definition of “bank” but seem to fit perfectly into the definition of “arseholes”. They seem to have ‘lost’ (for want of a better word) three signatures from the account we have with them. HOW CAN SOMEONE BE A SIGNATORY ON AN ACCOUNT IF THEY DON’T HAVE A SINGNATURE! And at what point did closing a bank account mean “oh yea, don’t worry about it. I’ve only asked you to close it every time you tell me I have one because it’s international opposite day” If I ever manage to get into the campus Natwest when it is open between half past unhelpful and quarter to piss off then they’re going to wish they weren’t born. Apologies for the expletives used in the last paragraph, they were unavoidable.

So that’s the deal so far, sorry about not posting all week, time gets away with you when you only have four hours in a day to yourself, I’ll endeavour to post more next week! I’ve got lots to look forward to including Guilfest at the weekend!

• Happiness. 8 out of 10 (now my bike is fixed…)
• Tiredness. 2 out of 5 (Sunday was invented for lie-ins)
• Free Time. 1 out of 5 (Thought I’d replace workload)
• Last Meal. Does pitta bread count?
• Song of the day. Mario – Let Me Love You
• Thought for the day. Engineering, like maths, but LOUDER
• What I’m Doing Now. Healing my hands after going climbing for the first time in ages

Special Post #36: Accommodation, Part 13 – Come In

A new chapter in my life started last week. I moved in to my new house 10 minutes walk from my old house. Come in and take a look around…

My room is on the ground floor with a big window looking out over the street. My room is much bigger than last year, it has a double bed (!) and a fireplace (!!). I’d put up some pictures, but it looks like a tip since I haven’t fully unpacked yet. Part of making the room a home has been putting up posters and a new cork wall above the fireplace.

The cork wall is about 1m by 1m and I’m planning on filling it with lots of pictures, ticket stubs, receipts and quotes from the last two years. I owe this idea to Sophie Dean :) Much like I did for my summer last year, but on a bigger scale. I’m really looking forward to creating it and having something to affirm my identity and all the good times I’ve had at university the last two years :)

My room shares a wall with the lounge which has a couple of sofas and a TV. Unlike last year in ZION, I can imagine spending a lot of my time in the lounge this year because it’s so cosy and used by everyone.

At the back of the house is the kitchen. It’s smaller than last year, but then it could hardly have been bigger. All the usual things you’d find are in there, even the kitchen sink :P

Upstairs is 3 bedrooms and the bathroom, and on the top floor is the largest room with an en-suite.

This year I’m living with 4 girls: Frankie, Claire, Sophie and Tamsin. Frankie studies Maths, Claire and Sophie study English and Tamsin studies Politics.

I know Frankie and Claire from MAD TV because they both present stories and have positions on the new committee. Claire is actually the new President of MAD TV next year and Frankie is the Treasurer, so I’m going to be very much in the loop as to what’s happening. I’m really excited to be in a position to join in with MAD TV, not as much as last year, but definitely in a helpful capacity.

Left to right: Claire, me, Frankie (mar ‘10)

Sophie Jones and I are good friends from first year, I can’t exactly remember how we met, but she’s a good friend and a great laugh to be around. She came on the recent boat trip at Easter and was the source of much amusement :D

Sophie winding a paddle on the boat trip (mar ‘10)

Tamsin is someone I didn’t really know until I moved in last week. She’s studying Politics and about to go into her final year, as are the other girls. We’ve got on really well in the last few days and seem to have a similar sense of humour.

I’m really looking forward to this year, it has the potential to be a completely different experience to university so far, but still really interesting and fun.

I’m the only one in the house going on placement, while the girls are going to be in their final year. I’m not sure how that’s going to affect things in the house, but we’re all going to be pretty busy so I can’t see it being a problem.

Talking about placement, I have my first day tomorrow! I know! Kept that one quiet didn’t I :P So you can guess what tomorrow’s post is going to be about. See you then :D

May: The Best Moment

May, a month of two halves. It all started with Jake coming to visit….

It was such a great few days. We went to Rubix, had a BBQ and went to town… and there was non-stop banter all weekend.

After Jake left there was the small matter of coursework to attend to. I spent the next two weeks working very hard on two bits of coursework and finishing off a third. Come the 24th of May I was a free man… well, expect for those exams looming, but we prefer not to mention those…

Only a couple moment’s really stand out for me from May since Jake left, but that’s not because life has been boring, it’s just because it’s at such a high all the time the great moments blend in and it’s only the extraordinary that makes a lasing impact.

So what made the lasting impact this month? The runner-up is the Student Awards. MAD TV won best Special Interest Society of the Year, Mike Frazer won Best Student Media and MadSoc won Best Society. Everyone had such a brilliant evening and no-one was as impressed as I was with the ‘MAD umbrella’ walking away with so many awards!

I guess the reason this night doesn’t make number one is because I didn’t win Student Trainer of the Year award. That would’ve been the icing on the cake, but alas, the best man won, and congratulations to Matt Clifford.

So the best moment of the month was in fact Frankie and Mike’s joint birthday BBQ. Last Saturday was such a lovely day for a BBQ and it was brilliant to spend it with loads of friends in the garden soaking up the sunshine.

As a consequence of conversations that happened that evening, my plans for the summer could be changing quite drastically. Once the tenancy finishes on my current house at the end of June, I planned to live at home for 6 weeks before moving into the new house in mid-august. But, Frankie and Claire, the left two girls in the above picture, may have a spare room for me at their house. That’ll make it a lot easier to commute to Basingstoke and I won’t have to worry about moving all my stuff back home and back again. I’ll hopefully find out in the next few days what is happening, but I’m really excited about the possibility :D

It is customary for me to ‘pre-hash’ the coming month at this point in these posts, but since June is exam month, I’d rather not. Instead, here’s a picture I took on Saturday of a regular sight in our house… tickle time.

Speak to you soon :) x

5 Days of Jolly Japes

What a week! I had such a great last week of lectures and I’ve taken it to be my last chance of fun before the hard work starts today.

On Tuesday I went to see Little Shop of Horrors being performed by MADsoc. It was genuinely amazing and laugh out loud funny. It’s great to see so many of your friends in one production, especially since they’ve worked so hard to make it so good! After the show I went out into town to meet up with a few friends for a few drinks. Very funny conversations ensued and it was a great night (as always).

On Wednesday evening Josh bought some weights and he’s now got me on a bi-daily workout schedule. It’s tiring, but really fun at the same time. Not sure how long it’s going to last, but it’s definitely about time I got some muscle :D

After the work out I went to Sophie’s house party. I’ve been campaigning for Sophie to have a house party all year, and it was great for her to finally have one!

Thursday evening was the student awards! MAD TV and MADsoc had been nominated for 13 awards, and we walked away with six! Including MAD TV as Special Interest Society Of The Year!

And Mike Frazer as Best Media. This was obviously cause for celebration…

On Friday I went out to the union, why not! It was Fetish night, which essentially means people are dressed up in the most revealing outfits they can find/make. I enjoyed dancing the night away…

On Saturday (and I swear this is the last one) I went to Frankie and Mike’s Birthday BBQ. It was such a perfect day and I loved chilling in the garden for many, many hours…

I don’t know where those 5 days came from, but I can assure you that the alcohol tap is sealed for the next 4 weeks. I have no plans to distract me from the task at hand and I know I can do it.

Check out the photos from here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31306494&l=353b22f158&id=1293892814

Hope you are all enjoying the sunshine as much as I am :)

• Happiness. 9 out of 10
• Tiredness. 2 out of 5
• Workload. 9.7 out of 10
• Last Meal. Birthday Cake!
• Song of the day. The King Blues – Headbutt (new single :D)
• Thought for the day. Nothing that's worthwhile is ever easy
• What I’m Doing Now. Coursework.

A Fine Frenzy

The weekend was a time to make lots of progress on my programming project and get it finished. Instead it turned out to be a lot of catching up on sleep, the grand prix, walks and my brother.

On Friday evening I did a quick edit for MAD TV’s latest report on the line up for the End Of Year Show.

James, my brother, came over on Saturday and we had a great walk around town. I felt like it was a great time to see James again since we haven’t really sat down and caught up in what seems like years. And with the promise of another outing in my direction this Saturday, I couldn’t be happier.

I also went for a walk with Anne on Saturday evening just to get outside of the four walls that have been home to so much programming the last week.

I went for another walk on Sunday down by the River. Such a beautiful stroll to do and I know I’ll be doing it again sooner rather than later. It was a far more relaxing way to de-stress than spending a few hours on Facebook or going to a party. And the weather was just right to not intrude on my musings.

What was I musing? Who knows what the mind thinks of when it’s unleashed. But I enjoyed the journey it took me on and I feel much better for getting some space to myself.

I know a lot of my friends are busy revising for exams at the moment, so if you’re feeling stressed out, just go for a little walk. You’ll be surprised. And don’t take your iPod or whatever with you either :)

• Happiness. 9 out of 10
• Tiredness. 1 out of 5
• Workload. 9.7 out of 10
• Last Meal. Probably strudel...
• Song of the day. A Fine Frenzy – Ashes and Wine
• Thought for the day. The best feelings are those that have no words to describe them
• What I’m Doing Now. Lab marking tomorrow where Josh and I give a presentation on our Media Project…