Saturday, May 17
For Crying Out Loud!
How do I always injure myself on big nights out? I woke up today (at 2.30pm, very hungover) with a badly sprained thumb. I can barely bend it, which makes it difficult to do anything, especially since it is on my good hand. Not good at all.
What makes it worthwhile is that yesterday was such a wicked day. The exam in the morning went fairly well, I think I've done OK on 3 of the 4 questions I answered. What followed was much better. Beer. And lots of it. We started in the Waterfront, which is the name of the Student Union bar at King's. A fair few were downed there, before some of us walked over Waterloo Bridge to their flats on Stamford Street. More consumption of beer followed, along with watching Mr Deeds, which is a very funny film. Adam Sandler has starred in some great films.
Anyway, after that it was back to the Waterfront (about 8pm by this time), where I met a load of people from my floor, which was a pleasant surprise. Chris, the fool, let the side down by losing at pool, but we'll cope. Then it was upstairs to Tutu's, officially the world's worst nightclub for some more drunken debauchery. Too many black sambucas went down the throat, which led to a killer hangover today.
It was all worth it though, because it was such a brilliant day / night, even if I have very little recollection of how I got home. Think I might take the rest of the weekend off alcohol, my body can't recover as quickly as it used to be able to.
I'm so glad that I've finished my exams, last week was such a crap time for me, working all day and having to get up early every day. Not any more! Lie-ins every day, playing on Championship Manager 4 for hours on end, and just living it up, to be honest. Those are my plans for the next 3 weeks. You've got to love it. Unfortunately, most of my friends who I live with don't finish their exams for a while yet, which makes partying a little difficult, but I'll figure it out.
Cheers people.
Underworld - Rez / Cowgirl
POD - Youth of the Nation
Flash - The Day After
Satyricon - Part III Mother North (Possibly the stupidest song name ever)
Thursday, May 15
Xenophobia
Go look it up.
Today was my European Law exam, which went quite well. The questions I wanted came up, and I think I did pretty well with the answers. We'll see, we'll see.
Apologies for no post yesterday, I was busy revising all day. Which is exactly what I should be doing right now. Quite proud of myself for the amount of work I did yesterday, and it was justified by the fact that most of the stuff I revised came up in the exam. Result.
Don't expect a post tomorrow, I've got my final exam, followed by a very, very long drinking session. If I get to a computer in my drunken state, I might just be able to throw together a few coherent words, but no promises.
Underworld - Something Like A Mama
Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence
L'il Kim - Revolution
Metallica - Whiskey In The Jar
"Scuzzhole" Teehee
Wednesday, May 14
Insert Witty Title Here
Ok, so today was my Criminal Law exam. Criminal is my favourite of the 4 subjects I do, so it got the most attention revision-wise. The exam went a whole lot better than yesterday's, which isn't particularly difficult. There was no chaos at the start, and everything seemed to go smoothly. I even had a couple of questions on the topics I'd looked at in great detail. Result. I think I've done quite well in this one, which generally is a cue for my results in it to be awful. Find out in July, faithful readers...
Seeing as I have a day off from exams tomorrow, I felt justified in popping up to the Student Union Bar (Waterfront) for a quick bevvy. Just the one pint, I'm impressed with my willpower. Then I was chatting to Cara on the tube going home, mostly about any plans we had regarding where to live next year. I like talking to Cara, she's very attentive and a good listener. Plus she has some great little insights into life and everything. And she used the word "Scuzzhole" to describe her home town, which I'm very impressed with. "Scuzzhole." Tee-Hee
I was just about to go into Sainsbury's earlier (a supermarket, or "grocery store" for you linguistically awkward Americans), when I almost burst out laughing. A couple of young kids (a boy and a girl) were playing at the bottom of the escalators, doing the classic thing of trying to make it stop by pushing the handrail back up, failing miserably. As I came off the escalator and turned to go into Sainsbury's, a woman (who looked as rough as you like) shouted "Angel, you're grounded when you get home!" It made me laugh on the inside so much that these rough parents, who talk with a really common, cockney accent, name their kids things like Angel, or Petal. You know the types. Made me smile, at any rate.
Caught the bus home from the supermarket, and as I went to get off, I noticed Wednesday Morning / Holly Valance girl. This is a long story, which I will explain someday, but suffice it to say that she's the most beautiful person you could ever hope to see. It was all I could do to stop staring at her whilst we walked back to our halls. She lives in the same building I do, but I have no idea who she is. I followed her up a couple of flights of stairs, but didn't dare once look at her bum. I always, always have at least a glance if I'm following a pretty lady up the stairs, but in this case I was petrified she'd catch me. Mmmmmm, Wednesday Morning / Holly Valance girl.....
As a parting note, a quick "buenos dias, que tal?" to the reader who translated this page into Spanish. My stats tell me everything, you know. Mwahahaha (That was an evil cackle, not my hands having a convulsion on the keyboard)
Mark B & Blade - Don't See The Signs
Cosmic Gate - Somewhere Over The Rainbow
PPK - Resurection
Storm - Huri-Khan
"Scuzzhole" Tee-Hee
This Or That?
1. Packrat or minimalist? Minimalist
2. Computer: desktop or laptop? Desktop
3. Seashore or mountains? Seashore. Girls in bikinis, duhh
4. Carpeting or bare floors? Bare Floor, and Barefoot
5. Drinking water: bottled or tap? Tap, it's cheaper
6. Shopping websites: eBay or Amazon? Both
7. Cute little kitties or big scary tigers? Big scary tigers. Refraining myself from a pussy joke...
8. Front door or back door? Front
9. Lots of jewelry, or little/none? None, I don't wear any at all
10. Thought-provoking question of the week: At the last minute, you obtain tickets to an event you're dying to attend. However, you have to work that day! Do you ask the boss for the time off, or just call in sick? Call in sick. Not even a moment's hesitation
Herbert - It's Only
White Stripes - 7 Nation Army
Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up
Evanescence - Bring Me To Life
Monday, May 12
FUCK
I wanted to write that title because it just sums up the day I've had so far. Everything that could go wrong has. It started last night with an overwhelming attack of insomnia. I seem to be averaging one completely sleepless night per month at the moment, and this one was the night before my first exam. Not good. I thought I'd get an early night in, what with having to get up at 8am, which is about 3 hours earlier than I've got used to. Could I get to sleep? Could I hell. I was tossing and turning for ages, and I reckon that it was gone 3am before I got to sleep. I was knackered when I got up.
I almost forgot, my crap 24 hours began just before that. I'd been revising Contract Law for the past couple of days, and thought I'd finished everything by about 9pm last night. Ohhhhhh, no. Not a chance. Turns out I'd missed an entire term's work. We get given the lecture handouts each term for each subject, so I've got 2 for each of the 4 subjects that I study. But contract had to be different and have 3 handouts. I'd completely forgotten about the 3rd one, so I had to cram that entire term's work into 1 hour of revision before I went to bed. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.
Got to the exam this morning, not a problem. Except that when I'm at all nervous, I have to go to the loo constantly. That's the only way that I show nervousness, so it isn't overly apparent that I get nervous about anything. Anyway, got into the exam room, found my table, no worries. Then the fun started.
The handouts I mentioned above are essentially just lists of case names in broad topic areas, without a hint of what each case was about, or the principle it defined. Contract Law is so completely case-based that the list is over 100 cases. Through revising, you know the general principles of most cases, and a basic understanding of the facts of the most important ones, but it is nigh-on impossible to remember the case names themselves. They are always really obscure names, Hong Kong Fir Shipping Co v Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha being a prime example. Attached to the Contract Law exam paper is this list of case names, just so you can reference to them in your answers.
Let me rephrase that: Supposedly attached to the Contract Law exam paper is the list of case names.
I was in a room with 60 other students, and we had 2 (!) copies of the handout between us. It was quite comical when they explained this before the exam started, and told everyone to put their hand up when they needed to look at the list. Instantly, every single hand in the room shot up. There was a stunned silence for a couple of seconds, then a whole lot of angry voices. Eventually, the academic who set the exam had to come into the room. He got a mouthful of abuse from everybody, but stood his ground. We could sit the exam in these conditions, or we could leave. So, we started the exam. About an hour into it (being a 3 hour exam), he came back in with a bundle of hastily photocopied case lists, which were distributed amongst us. One each, thank God. We even got an extra half-hour of time for our troubles. So it wasn't all bad.
The exam itself was a pleasant surprise. 3 hours (3 and a half it eventually turned out) may sound like a lot of time to answer just 3 questions, but it flies by. The first problem question was easy to answer once you got into it. The second problem question involved a bit more planning, and was difficult to start off with. Once I got flowing in the writing the answer, I kept getting moments of inspiration and was able to write reams on the subject. The problematic question was the essay one which I answered. The other problem questions looked too difficult. The essay question didn't give you a whole lot of room to maneouvre, but I managed to bring in some other material and extend my answer to a reasonable length.
But no more Contract Law, ever! Unless I've screwed up this exam completely and need to resit this summer. If it wasn't for that possibility, however slight, I would probably be burning all of my textbooks right now. Oh well, on with some European Law revision...
Tupac & Dr Dre - California Love
Future Breeze - Another Day
Blur - Out Of Time
Limp Bizkit - Rearranged
1984 = Scary
No, not the year itself, even though it was the year in which I learned to speak. And look how far that's got me. Usually it's my big drunken mouth which gets me into trouble. I say the biggest amount of crap when I'm drunk.
Nope, I'm talking about the book by George Orwell. I've just finished reading it for the umpteenth time, and it still scares the crap out of me every time I pick it up. There isn't anything in particular which scares me, but the overall picture it paints of society is a very worrying future. Who knows how much of it is true already? We already have CCTV, and totalitarianism is rife in many countries across the globe. What worries me most is the way in which history is rewritten in order to suit the present.
"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."
This is already happening, to some extent. I remember reading that in German history textbooks, the holocaust and much of the Anti-Semitism prevalent in the Nazi Party in WW II, and the decade immediately preceding it, is glossed over. How can this be? Millions of people died in those concentration camps, purely because they were different to the rulers of their country. How can this simply be glossed over and accorded a minimum of respect and acknowledgement. It's just wrong. Oh, and any Britons reading this can stop feeling smug. We invented concentration camps in the Boer War.
There is one passage in 1984 which makes me genuinely jump. I'd completely and utterly forgotten how Winston and Julia get captured when they do. Winston and Julia have read parts of Goldstein's book, and are watching a prole woman from out of their window. Winston has come to the conclusion that whatever they do, eventually the Thought Police will catch up with them and kill both of them.
"We are the dead," he said.
"We are the dead," echoed Julia dutifully.
"You are the dead," said an iron voice behind them.
This genuinely made me physically jump, because I'd forgotten it was coming, and had totally immersed myself in the book whilst I had been reading it. If you haven't read this book already, go do it now. Immediately. My next book? Porno, by Irvine Welsh. It's the sequel to Trainspotting, which is one of my favourite books of all time. Also one of my favourite films, and one of my favourite film soundtrack CDs.
Soulfly - Flyhigh
Paul Oakenfold - Atlantis
Cypress Hill - Trouble
Nas & Ginuwine - You Owe Me
Sunset
Thought I'd share with you the view I get of every sunset from the window in my kitchen. It casts a gorgeous orange glow into the kitchen, which is such a refreshing change from the harsh, artificial white light that usually prevails. The bottom picture is the view from the window of my room. as you can see, not a whole lot going on right now, because of the big tree that grows right there. On the plus side, the shade from the tree keeps the light out of for a bit during the morning (I have an east-facing room), which means it doesn't subconsciously wake me up. Did you know that if you see daylight after being up all night, it is nigh-on impossible to go to sleep? Odd fact of the day Number 1.
I've been very busy since I got back from my exam (see above), which means an update on the Lists Page. 'll get round to doing my dislikes soon, but I've cheered up somewhat since this morning, so my likes it was... Oh, and these posts are in a weird order because I wanted the bit about my exam at the top.
Jurassic 5 - Concrete Schoolyard
Korn - Somebody Someone
Ec8or - I Don't Want To Be A Part Of This
Veracocha - Carte Blanche
Sunday, May 11
Wish Me Luck...
...for tomorrow I start a week's worth of exams. I'm already looking forward to Wednesday (no exam that day) and Friday afternoon, which will be one hell of a drinking session. After the midsessionals in January, I was in the student union before the bar opened, and didn't leave until they kicked us out after closing time. Don't worry, I wasn't by myself, there was 3 of us getting completely wasted. I can't drink by myself, I'm a very social drinker. This is why I'm not an alcoholic. That, and I don't go to meetings.
I'm fairly sure that I've done enough revision, but just to make sure, I'm going to do some more this evening. After eating of course. Mmmmm, philly cheese steak sandwiches. My speciality. An early night as well, because getting up at 8am is going to kill me. Stupid administrators scheduling exams for the morning. What were they thinking? We're students!
Disturbed - Numb
Dio - I Sleep At Night
Moby - Machete
The Clash - Should I Stay Or Should I Go?
