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Happy Pancake Day!

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Well, Happy Pancake Day everyone!
Me and Phil have been creating in the kitchen for what eventually totalled just under two hours, and the results were rather tasty... (i'd like to mention that we had two different types of pancakes, chickeny savoury ones and your usual lemony and sugary ones, and that we seemed to be the only people in the kitchen who were able to cook pancakes..) Unfortunately, I did not have the foresight to bring my camera down to document this momentous occasion, but, take it from me, they were quite impressive :D

So anyway, I'm aware I haven't updated in a while.. this is because the last week has been rather busy, what with my birthday (thank you to everyone who sent me pressies and/or cards), visiting relatives and boyfriend and general business. So...

My Mum and Tor came to visit on Friday and were up here until Sunday afternoon.
We went exploring Castleford on Friday night in an attempt to find the Cineworld there because it was showing a film we wanted to watch at a better time than the one in Wakefield. However, I have never been to Castleford before, Tor can't read maps (and I am a bit shaky) and it was rather dark, so it took several wrong turns and multiple rides round roundabouts until we found the complex the cinema was situated on. It took a bit longer to find the actual cinema, but we got there just in time for the beginning of the film (we even missed most of the trailers - bonus!). The film (Music and Lyrics) was good, by the way :)
On Saturday we went shopping in Leeds, since I couldn't think of anything other than clothes that I wanted/needed for my birthday. Tor seemed rather impressed with the large range of shops that Leeds has to offer, and was also horrified at the cost of the contents of Vivienne Westwood (but at least she got to see the clothes!). My mum seemed impressed with the size of the Marks and Spencers, and managed to take a good 25 minutes to find the toilets (although she DID confess to browsing the lingerie selection, but still denies taking 25 minutes..). I came home with some lovely clothes to fill my wardrobe, but we left Leeds without a pair of jeans for me (which I'm in desperate need for, since one pair is so baggy even a belt struggles to keep them up, and the other is almost crotchless due to over-wearage). Luckily however, ASDA came in handy as, even though a multitude of designer shops were unable to provide me with a well-fitting pair, our favourite local supermarket was. For £12, nevertheless.
On Sunday, I took them for a stroll around the grounds of Bretton...


A rather nicely composed photo of the mansion


(You don't want to know how many tries it took to get this one...)

Tor and the mansion :D
and
My sister, the poser


And then just under two hours after they left for the drive home, Phil arrived!
My birthday was a mix of boring and fun. I had to get up at 7am so I could get ready to catch the bus for my 9am lecture (*groans*), which, actually, wasn't that bad. I decided to come home a bit after my seminar since I was hungry and only had a small smoothie (an Innocent kiddies one, I'd like to add) in my bag, and picked up my birthday post (ha Mags, I DO get mail!!). I went back to Bretton in the afternoon for a self-directed session, but I was the only one in the whole class who'd actually done the work properly, and it looked like no-one was planning to do anything other than sit around and gossip. Thinking of the birthday and boyfriend waiting at home situation, I decided, after asking people whether we were ACTUALLY going to do something, to go and get the next bus home. I had been at Bretton for just under an hour, and had completely wasted my time going to campus... but at least I had a Phil waiting back at the Lodge.
In the evening, we went out for a meal at The Walnut Tree, which actually turned out to be a lot nicer than we had originally thought after going there with my Mum after we travelled up here after Christmas. Photos...

Me and Phil in the restuarant

I did NOT eat this whole sundae on my own, but it was absolutely MASSIVE.. and rather tasty too!






Stage Management marks

Wednesday, February 07, 2007
I found out I could go and collect my portfolio and marks for Stage Management yesterday, and after a slightly confusing trek up to Victor Pasmore (a building I wasn't quite sure how to find), I found the office of the course leader and picked up my file. Marks for the people who are interested as follows:

Investigation/Research: A
Conceptual Frameworks: A/B
Selection and Organisation of Material: A
Structure and Management of Material: A
Skills and Techniques: B

Comments: A thoughtful and clear file, with excellent use of example and very focused reflection on it - comprehensive. Shows keen involvement in the "whys" of different tasks rather than just "hows" - well presented. Sample prompt copy clear and workable. Well done.

Overall mark: 73%

A bit happier with this one, to say the least :D

A brief idea of what we've been up to recently:






Helpful-Looking Librarians

Friday, February 02, 2007
First, a plea to anyone who can help:
I am trying to track down a copy of Bertolt Brecht's poem "On Everyday Theatre".

Yes, I have looked online, and the only copies I have found so far have been missing quite a large chunk. Now, unluckily for me, I studied this poem at A-Level, so I know that there is a section missing. For the blissfully unaware majority of my class who had never heard of the poem, they will search online for it, find the incomplete version and be happy with it. For me, it's like cheating, because I KNOW that there is something missing, which doesn't really give me an excuse for not doing the proper research.
So, several frustrating hours of searching the internet later, I resorted to the slightly more reliable medium of books. This is where the first story of today "The Tale of the Incompetent Librarians" begins. From my extensive research online I found a number of books that could include a complete original version of the sought-after poem. I decided that a book of poems (sounds good, eh?) would be my best bet, and looked it up on the Leeds Library Catalogue website. Unfortunately, the library didn't seem to have the book, so, after reading through lists and lists of German books, I found a promising-looking poems book that had been translated to English. After a quick catalogue search, I found the book to be available in the library. Classmark noted (German, N58-BRE), I equipped myself for a library search the following afternoon.

Oh I wish I hadn't bothered.

Since I didn't have a clue where the German section was, I approached a friendly-looking librarian at the help desk and asked her to point me in the correct direction. She did so, and, ever the intrepid explorer, I set off with my faithful companion Sri, up a flight of stairs into a previously unexplored area of the library. Walking though the door, we first saw the "English section". After the "English section", we found the "French section", and, intelligently knowing my alphabet, I expected to see the "German section" after the French. But what did I find? A load of empty shelves. Slightly confused but not in the least deterred, I set off up and down the rows of shelves, looking for the lost German section. After a few minutes, we found a "German Language section". Strangely, there didn't seem to be any sign of "N58-BRE".
Confused, we trekked downstairs to the help desk, and asked the librarian for more precise directions, sure that we'd missed the section somewhere during our travels. Helpfully, the librarian told us that we should find the German section after the English and French ones. Explaining that we'd already tried this, she looked up my classmark on her computer and told me that "N58" was the code for Brecht, and that we would find him upstairs in the German Language section. Determined, we set off up the stairs again.
Looking through the German Language section, it became apparent that Mr Brecht was never going to be found there. And why was this clear? Because all of the books were categorised by numbers. Not a letter in sight. Slightly annoyed, I set off up and down the shelves again, looking for something that resembled N58. What I found was a classmark converter (lucky me!), where I found that my N58 translated into "282" in the Bretton Campus library system. Boosted with confidence, I tracked down the "28" numbers until I came across "281". After "281" came "283". No sign of "282". Now very annoyed, I left for my lesson.

Three hours later, we returned to the library and approached the help desk once more, where we found another helpful-looking librarian. I explained to the new librarian that I had found out the section that my book of Brechty poems was supposed to be in, but that the section seemed to be missing. Looking confused, she told me to wait aside while she helped the people behind us. Adding to the hilarity (?) of the situation, the people behind us were also looking for a section that had apparently upped and walked out of where it should have been. This prompted a snort from me and Sri.
Confused people assuringly made more confused, the not-so-helpful librarian went to find YET ANOTHER librarian, who then came and asked me what the problem was. I explained that I was looking for section 282, and that it didn't seem to be between sections 281 and 283. With a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders, he matter-of-a-factly told us that section 282 was downstairs with all of the other drama books, and led us to the lesser-spotted-section-282. Confused but relieved, I bent down and began flicking through the books on the shelves. My book didn't seem to be there.
At that precise moment, another helpful-looking (ah, but they don't fool me any more!!) librarian walked up to me and asked if everything was alright. Slightly hysterically, I explained my quest for Brecht's Book of Poems to her, and she kindly told me that it could be one of those books that has disappeared into the limbo of the library. She then walked off.

So, after a LONG library search, a LENGTHY online search and an aggrieved phonecall to my sister, I should hopefully be getting a copy from my ever-reliable High School drama teacher. Mrs Wickham, you saint.

The moral of this tale? Don't use the library. Oh, and librarians are never helpful.

I mentioned that this was the "first" tale of the day. After such a lengthy explanation, I'm sure you will have read enough for one day, so I will save "The Tale of the Cursing PHd Student" for another time. Toodles!