Wear Sunscreen

Every day should be started out thinking 'Today is going to be a better day'
Even if the signs suggest it wont be, we should always be optomistic, faith that things will turn out alright in the end, because what do we have if we dont have faith?

Don't worry about whats been or whats to come, or worry but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum, the real troubles in your life are apt to be things that will never cross your worried mind, the kind of thing that blind sights you at 4pm on some idle tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you, eat a toad for breakfast, get it out of the way and watch how wonderful the world looks for the rest of the day in comparison.

Autumn Wonderland

Hello dear friends!
Last night it snowed, not very much (a couple of cm's worth max) but it snowed none the less, which made pretty much every student in Hatfield very happy, there was much frolicking going on outside as Liam and I went to investigate whether it would snow enough for his practical to be cancelled (it hadnt). What a wonderful thing snow is, everyone wears silly woollen hats and mittens, throwing frozen water at people is suddenly acceptable and however rubbish your snowman, is people think you are cool for taking the time and frostbite to attempt it!

It also makes people slow down a bit, whether its to take the time to run about and play with your fellow crazy people or just to walk or drive slower to where you are going, I stopped to say "good morning" to an old gentleman who was extremely well wrapped up and he wished me a good morning back, what a difference a slightly colder rain makes. So now i am snug and warm in the LRC, with a perfect view out of the front over the snow covered car park, which is unsurprisingly quite empty, people just look so happy, how wonderful it is.

Bliss

I am supposed to be napping (shhh dont tell Kayleigh)
Instead i have turned on the heating, turned up my music and am sitting in a ray of sunshine directed on my bedroom floor, the house is empty for once, it is bliss.
I dont think i ever want to leave this spot.

Happy Birthdays

Today would have been my dads 52nd birthday and my great uncle Kenny's 86th (? - lets see my mums 51 and nan was 21 when she had her and uncle ken was 14 years older than nan so 86 right?)

Happy Birthday daddy!

I have a headache

This would be the good day!

Lol, geez how awesome is God?! That was a really quick answer to prayer.

I just got back from a 'Study abroad' meeting.
During induction week i somehow got tricked into doing a talk to all of the second years about studying abroad, it was quick and made up on the spot because Areles specifically said it was a Q&A not a talk but sprung it on us when we got in there. Anyway i think i made my point about how awesome it was.
I am the only bioscience student to have studied in another country for at least 5 years (its quite possibly more than that, its one of those since the records began scenerios) so Areles wanted to show me off like a dancing monkey. Today Julia asked us to come along and chat informally with students who had got interested in the scheme since the talk, i wasnt particularly looking forward to it, but i went because i really do believe in the scheme and i want to encourage more people to get involved. I got chatting to a few students and then stumbled across a few biology types little by little, i dont know that i counted them all but i spoke to at least 9 or 10 people that had heard what i had had to say during the induction week and thought that it sounds like something they wanted to be a part of. It was pretty awesome to have people asking loads of questions and being able to give them insight and help. And it was so encouraging to see that people actually listened to what i said and that inspired them to do something new, how cool is that! Totally made my day.

Day five

Eurgh
I could really do with a good day

Day four (and a bit)

Okay i just counted and give or take a day or two (depending on when final exams are and stuff) there are 80 days in uni in total (thats a full monday, occasionally a lab on thursday morning, and evening class on friday and then lab days in the lab 9 - 5)

so 4 down 76 to go ....

Day four

ARGHHHH!!!!!!

How many days are there left? I think i might lose my voice if i have to scream for too long.

Anyone for tea?

Day two is over and gone and day three is just beginning. Today i awoke at 6am (which is actually a wonderful nights sleep considering i fell asleep at 9.30pm) The reason for this was not my alarm clock (which was set for 7, even though classes dont start until 3) it was also not whoever was walking about downstairs, it was a combination of needing the bathroom and having a great internal philosophical debate about the likelyhood of evolution, stemming from a conversation with Jon a long time ago where his soul arguement was "well you wouldnt want to come out of a monkeys butt would you?" which infuriated me so much at the multitude of things wrong with the statement that my mind has only just been able to think about it again, but lets not get into metaphysics. The theme of my blog is something much more mundane, a cup of tea. Having got up, put on two jumpers (we are still refusing to put the heaters on even though it was around 5 degree C this morning, 40 degrees F), my boots and glasses and heading downstairs to get some breakfast i decided that the only thing that would warm me up (i was at that stage where you have a cold nose and theres not an awful lot of things you can wear to warm up your nose) was a cup of tea, which of course meant that my breakfast should be crumpets. So i am now sitting at my desk writing this blog and checking my schedule for the day drinking potentially the worlds greatest cup of tea, i am wondering if my lack of tea drinking has made this cup taste even better than usual because it is surely a wonderful thing, a marvel in its time, i would save it and preserve it for all to taste but then it would get cold and noone appreciates a cold cup of tea so i have drunk it all, for the good of the nations, we cant have people being demoralised by the promise of great tea not being realised. Anyway enough with this waffle, i think you can tell that it was a mighty cup of tea, which makes me think about the tea drinking nation we are, there is very little a cup of tea cant solve, a marriage is in ruins - the first thing anybody says is "ill go put the kettle on shall i?" (of course its a retorical question, nobody would ever say no - imagine the outrage "no Margret i dont want another blooming cup of tea my life is in ruins! wheres the alcohol?!"), a person dies and the bereaved have a very strong brew thrust into there hands before their tears hit the floor, some kind of urinary infection? the answer will probably be that the warm water will be good for you. Tea can do a lot, or maybe just the thought that tea can do a lot gives tea the reigns to do a lot (psychologically i mean .... not that tea could go conquer the world or anything) It is a great stress reliever, lowering the heart rate also eleviating emotional stress (but that could be a social thing because who doesnt sit with a group of friends and drink there tea and chat about life) The biggest energy surge seen all year round on the national grid tends to be after England get kicked out of the Football World Cup, normally to some substandard team which we should have beaten easily, and of course every person in the country is watching (the surge doesnt come from the tv usage, its from when penalties are over, the game is lost and someone says "oh well .... who wants a cuppa?", the national grid watch the power surge as everyone simultaneously switches on the kettle)
So, tea is rather special is all im saying really

Day one

No need to blog lets leave this at an

ARGGGGHHH!!

James McAvoy and Maids of Honour

The joys of having sisters are too great to list, Amy is in Hatfield visiting Alice (and me by default) so i invited myself round (one of the joys being you are allowed to invite yourself to things and they generally dont mind, in fact they tend to give you food and a hug). After laughing our heads off at the x factor we watched Becoming Jane, a movie about the life of Jane Austen (which was all very depressing and didnt have a happy ending, as is real life i guess). I don't know why people always love the dark mysterious guy so much, Amy and Alice were so disappointed that Jane and whoever James McAvoy's character was didnt get married in the end (possibly because they both love James McAvoy so much) but he wasnt really that great!! (not that anyone listened) i was sitting there from the beginning saying 'she didnt even give poor Mr Wisley a chance!' and he seemed so sweet as well, it was crazy i would have married the nice guy, not the one who runs off with someone else because they have means. To which the retort was 'Soph you would make a terrible romance novalist, Jane gets married to Mr Wisley because he seems like a nice guy who would treat her well and she would probably grow to like him more than Lefroy' Of course the lack of heartache and lonely loveless life would have meant that pride and prejudice and other great novels wouldnt have been written but theres another place where its a bit messed up, am i the only person in the world who though Mr Darcy although very good looking wasnt that great?? Pretentious and snooty come to mind. Mr Bingley on the other hand was so lovely, i guess i would have had to be Jane Bennet and marry the kind man. Sure Darcy had hidden depths but why would you want to be married to somebody who was horrible to people until they earnt his respect? Well anyway this discussion (along with a list of jobs i wouldnt be particularly good at - namely romance novalist and hairdresser - Liam currently has patchy pink hair) lead on to Amy telling Alice to get married soon so she could be her bridesmaid, and then asking us both to be her bridesmaids if she ever gets married, which of course i objected to, because i look very awkward in bridesmaids dresses. Amy of course was very offended and said i didnt get a say in the matter and that if i wasnt bridesmaid i would have to do something very silly like a talk or a limerick and that she expected to be bridesmaid at my wedding even though i protested that i only really wanted little girls as bridesmaids not my old maid of a sister, im surprised i didnt get hit round the head at this point. Well this is pretty much when it all got rather silly. But the take home message is, if you ever wondered what women talk about when guys arent around it might be something along the lines of this - James McAvoy and who gets to be the maid of honour at their wedding.

Here's your OAP card the line for the free bus pass is over there

Last night i found out i am officially too old to go to the Font. Okay well there isnt an age limit, and i am still only 22 but i guess it dawned on me that i feel too matured to be there anymore. We went last night (Barry, Liam and myself) after Liam dyed his hair pink and maybe it was because its the first time i've been there when i havent been drunk but everyone just seemed so young (it is still freshers week, the freshers are pretty much living at the Font and ele house at the moment) and silly. I was standing there with my glass of coke watching some crazy 18 year olds do some crazy dancing and then head off to the toilets to throw up and a girl who had had way too much to drink flirting with every guy around her and then go back to the drink she'd left unattended for a good 20 minutes and i thought 'why on earth did i pay to get in here??'. Trying to wriggle out of conversations with drunken guys throwing alcohol at me really just isnt fun. I am officially a grumpy old person, but im going to embrace this fact, because it seems to me like its quite a wonderful thing never to have to go to the Font again, think of the money ill save, think of how great ill feel each morning i dont wake up with a hangover, think of all the people i wont have to avoid who chatted me up the night before and i had to go hide from, think of the terrible pictures that wont be posted on facebook, think of the clearing up the staff wont have to do when i get brought drinks all night by strangers but dont drink them because they might have been spiked.
So Cheers to this wonderful new existence! *raises a pint of water* and thank you Lord for saving me from something i didnt realise i needed saving from.