My blog at Uni

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Housedom

Sunday, September 30, 2007
Today, I have demonstrated how house-wifey I am. Having worked through the required reading for next week (except the full books, which we just won't go into) and the house being empty, I decided the best thing for me to do would be to clean my room. The hoover is absolutely impossible to use, and I think it's been designed for a 5 year old to use, because the attachment hoovery bit is so short that you have to stoop whenever you use it :( However, after stuggling with hoover demons and with a little bit of help from my friends (aka Mr Sheen and Mr Duster) I got by.

On the way down the stairs to take the hoover back to the creepy creepy cellar, I realised the bathroom hadn't been cleaned either. I couldn't plug the hoover in (what a shame) because the nearest plug point was in Isa's room and she was out, but instead I broke out the bathroom cleaners and washed out the sink, the bath, the shower, wiped over the mirrors and cleaned the toilet (which, trust me, needed doing :/).

I continued downstairs with the hoover and realised that the lounge floor had loads of bits all over it. So, back to the "trusty" (ahem) hoover, and 10 minutes later, the floors and mat were clean, the sofas were tidied and the room generally made nicer.

Getting closer to the cellar, I realised the kitchen floor was dirty too. Out came the hoover again and the floor was cleaned. I then realised the sink area and hob needed going over, so they got cleaned as well.

You think that would be enough, wouldn't you? Well, noticing a pile of my washing on the table, I decided to iron all of that as well.
I really am a bit sad, aren't I?

And you know what, I think this confirms it:



Not only did I notice it, I AM able to read it. I think this speaks volumes :'(

The fish send their regards. They say:
"Today, we were swimming about happily, and then suddenly that person who keeps giving us food swirled this weird stick around in our water. We tried to get a look in but she made sure that we couldn't get near it. It really sucked. And then later on, we had this weird liquidy stuff put in our water as well. Smelt a bit funky, but not as funky as our water (but it's cool, we like it). Apart from that, not much else going on today. We weren't able to get up to much because the Feeder was in all day, but tomorrow we're planning some crazy shizzle. Hope we get fed soon! xxx"






Treck No. 2

Saturday, September 29, 2007
Since today was a Saturday, and Saturday is the day of general slobbishness for the unemployed, I took my slothy butt out for a walk to Morrissons.


Looks like a bit of a treck, but it actually only took me 20 minutes (have to admit, I was a little disappointed since I wanted a proper, long and rejuvenating - ha! - stroll). However, I did lengthen the treck up and down the isles trying to find some Soy Sauce. I thought about asking one of the shop floor people, but they all looked younger than me and far too stressed for their age, so I thought I'd carry on my quest alone. Eventually I found it with the noodles, and, after grabbing a tasty-looking loaf of granary bread, some cereal, too many carrots and some sesame oil, I trecked home again. I actually saw some interesting places that I'd like to go exploring, but they're not the kind of places you'd really go alone. Unless you're asking someone to stalk you and bury you later in the bushes.

To add to the continuing saga of the house, I gave up being scared of the mouldering washing machine and decided to wash my clothes today. This would have been fine and dandy if the washing machine actually spun your clothes. However, it doesn't seem to have a spin cycle, and it doesn't really seem to do much whirly stuff during the cycle you set it on, so, consequentially, I have some very soggy clothes that aren't going to be dry for about a week. But hey, that's ok, because that's when I'll be doing my next lot of washing :)

I have to show this off:


This was my rather tasty salad I had for dinner yesterday. Just looking at the picture makes me want to have salad again. THAT is how good that salad was.

In fish news, Kai seems to have injured himself somehow (he has a scrape on his back). I got a bit worried that it was something more serious, since he looked a bit under the weather compared to Pips (but hey, Pips is always hyper, so it can't be hard to look knackered next to him), but I'm keeping an eye on it, and as long as it doesn't get infected, he'll be back to his old self soon. Both fishes seem to be deciding to finally live up to their names (they're Comets) and seem to enjoy zooming about their tank now, which is very funny to watch.
Today's cute fish picture:






Appreciation

Friday, September 28, 2007
I'd just like to take a moment to show my appreciation for the highly reasonable shop that is..


Seriously, this place is awesome. Everything is priced in pennies (that is to say, I didn't find much over £1, unless it was like major brand stuffs), and although it looks like a Pet Shop from the outside, it isn't (I consider the Pet-Shop-Lookalike factor to be an advantage - who doesn't want to go grocery shopping in a store that looks like it caters for your pet dog?). I went to Netto in my desperation to do something half creative with a pack of mince that, left much longer, would have been festering in the fridge. I came out with a tin of tomatoes, a tube of tomato puree and a can of kidney beans, and the whole lot cost under 50p. You have to admit, that's pretty awesome.
What's even awesomer (there needs to be a word for that) is that with a small pack of mince, a tin of chopped tomatoes, half a can of kidney beans, a small pack of mushrooms and a few squirts of tomato puree, I made 5 meals. Woo me.

Carrying on with the good news, today our Landlord came to visit the house to check the comments we had made on the inventory. I was actually terrified that I'd be left with a note saying "deal with the fish" since, technically, we're not supposed to have pets, but actually the prognosis for our troublesome house is good. The fridge is getting a new seal, we're getting a burglar alarm and a step ladder (woo!! no more shortness issues!) and.. i'm getting a new mattress. No news on the washing machine (or should we say, festering mould farm), and some slightly confused news about damp in a room upstairs (I wasn't about, so I got all the info second hand), but two new mattresses, an alarm and a step ladder is a pretty good haul for a day's work.

Other funniness got my through the day with my first Staging Histories class. This could have been really un-funny, since on the timetable it's scheduled to run until 11:30, and on arrival we were told it was actually going to last until 12. This wouldn't normally be such an issue, but I had that interview scheduled for 1 and I'd planned on going home in between to get changed and half presentable. So there I sat, in possibly my baggiest pair of jeans and a hoodie thinking, "crap". Another reason for potential unfunniness is that Fiona, a tutor I encountered on my Stage Management module last year, is teaching the class, and although she's really lovely and incredibly full of knowledge, she does have the tendency to ramble a bit. However, in the correct, sleep deprived state, this can become very funny. Hence the hilarity that seems a little misplaced.
The truly great part of this lesson was not, however, supposed to be in the lesson (which isn't really unusual, I'm sure). No, after our 20 minutes break (which, technically, we're not supposed to have, thanks Fiona), we returned to the room full of dread, since we'd already sat through an hour and half of rambling about Theatre History when we were told that wasn't what we were going to learn about. Instead of the expected continued rambling, she opened a kind of forum for us to discuss. And boy did we discuss. The hot topic of today was "the majority of theatre that theatre students and people studying the art produce is not suitable for the general public, as nine times out of ten they don't get it". Sounds funny? Not really, no. HOWEVER, what was hilarious was that while the people in each camp getting more and more frustrated with each other to the point where they were shouting across the room, Fiona was standing in the middle of the room looking from one side to the other like she was in a tennis match. A very scary one.
Ever heard the word "luvvie" used in anger? I have now, and my goodness it's funny.

On the job interview, I wasn't able to go in the end, so I rang up to apologise and reschedule. Unfortunately, they weren't willing to offer me another one, so I've missed out there. If any one's been talking to me about this job, they'll know that I was a bit dubious about the offer, so this is probably a blessing in disguise anyway. Here's hoping I'll hear from somewhere else soon, eh?

In fish news, I'm not feeding them lettuce any more. I've spent about an hour trying to fish all of the left over bits out of the tank, so they're not getting any more. There's lots of seaweedy stuff in their food anyway, so I'm sure they'll be fine. Pips doesn't seem to be quite so crazy any more, and both fishies seem to have got used to their environment and aren't even scared of the light any more! They even recognise me to the point they know I mean food, and they get all excited when they see me now - so cute!
Today's cute fish picture:






Noice...

Thursday, September 27, 2007
Just thought I'd share with you something that has been terrorising me in the bathroom since this morning...


Yes, it's a toilet roll. And no, I don't know what it's doing in the bath.
What facinates (and, let's be honest here, repluses) me is that we haven't even lived here for a week and look how disgusting the roll is... I mean, it's pretty clear that someone knocked it into the bath, but that's where all recognisable logic ends. I mean, why wasn't it taken out of the bath? And why is it soaking wet, since we only ever have had showers? And why, oh why, is it yellow round the edges?
I don't know the answers to any of these questions, but I definately didn't do the knocking of the roll into the creepy bath, so I certainly won't be removing it in all of it's creepiness.

In slightly less creepy (but only slightly *shudder*) news, I have an interview for a job tomorrow at Internacionale. If you know what shop that is, you'll know why it's creepy. But hey, I need a job, so I thought I'd go along. This of course does not stop me hoping that Body Shop will ring and offer me an interview too so I'm not left with this ominous interview opportunity.

Pips and Kai send their regards - no photos at the moment because one of them is currently having what we would call a "Mad Five Minutes" if we were talking about Tom - except it's more like a mad five plus five plus five plus five hours. Hopefully Pips will calm down a bit and I can show off some more pictures (like the proud Mummy I am) soon :D






Awesome.. and not so awesome

Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Before I start, I'd like to give a big "woo!" to Norwich for being so darn awesome (and Leeds for being mediocre in comparison).

Above is Exhibit A, the new UK Monopoly Board. Note how Leeds has not made it past those oh-so-cheap sludgy brown ones, and how Norwich (the superior city) is up, in prime place at Trafalgar Square. This is not to say that I dislike Leeds or anything, just that Norwich is way better (and hey, a nation of people who vote online to make their city seem popular can't be wrong) :D

Anyway, in today's news, my common module officially smells. Not only is it NOTHING to do with drama in particular, it doesn't make any sense whatsoever. It is called "Strategies for Research", and that is pretty much what it is, except there are three assignments set in and the whole thing is worth 20 precious credits. You'd think a module about researching would require you to write about your research, wouldn't you? This one doesn't - they want you to write about (or so I gather, I sincerely hope I've gathered wrong) is HOW you researched. In 3000 words, none the less. Words cannot express my frustration at being given such a wishy-washy module in my SECOND year. I mean, it would have been quite useful at the beginning of the course, showing you how to research for all of your work in the following years, but why let us muddle through for a year, and then do a module on the bloody thing that contributes to the final grade of my degree???

Also on the less awesome front, we have my job hunting. Now, when I came home in the summer, job hunting was actually quite fun (although I do suspect this was something to do with the fact that I know I would have been bored out of my skull had I not been distracted with my impending employment). There were lots of jobs available, and people in the shops seemed quite friendly. Job hunting in Leeds simply does not compare. All the people in the shops are terrifying, and they do as much as possible to deter you from applying for the jobs that they are advertsing. They also (which I guess doesn't just apply to Leeds) are all currently recruiting people for Christmas, with rather a lot of emphasis being put on CHRISTMAS. A bit too much. Basically meaning that unless I'm willing to stay in an empty house for Christmas (including Christmas day), I haven't really got a hope in hell with the majority of vacancies about at the moment.
Having said that, there is a job at the Body Shop going, and it wasn't advertised as Christmas work, so maybe I've got a chance there. Oh, and there's always Primark...






A great adventure

Monday, September 24, 2007
This is the route to the uni that we took today:



Our house is at the top, and the Uni is at the bottom.
As you can see, it's a bit of a treck. However, Isa told us that it would take about 45 minutes, when it actually took 35, so it's not too bad a walk really. It was raining though, which was a bit bleugh.

Anyway, today we went to the University campus to go to our first lecture for POP3. The lecture in itself seemed pretty pointless, since only a quarter of it (15 minutes) applied to each person, but, that said, after hearing what my module was going to be about, I'm am SO excited! Basically, I'm doing Applied Theatre: Theatre in Education. This means that, as a class, we get to put together our own Theatre in Education companies and then work with a school (either primary or secondary) to create a piece for the children to watch, workshops (which are usually in the performance), the build-up and follow-up work, teachers packs, stage design and everything. Basically, it looks awesome.

I didn't go looking for jobs today because it's been raining really heavily, but bad weather or no bad weather, tomorrow morning I WILL go into Leeds and jobhunt! We're also going to see Don Quixote tomorrow night, which should be good :D






A New Home

Sunday, September 23, 2007
Phil and my Mum have gone home now, so I thought I'd come and tell you a bit about our new house! The journey up here wasn't too bad, although it was very slow and we ended up arriving 2 hours later than we had planned, but at least we got here in the end! It did mean that poor Phil was left waiting at the train station for a while, but he had been able to travel up in First Class on the train, so he didn't seem too annoyed that he got to sit about in the comfy Leeds Train Station and read for a while afterwards :)
Yesterday we went to York, or rather, we went to the outskirts of York to go to its' Designer Outlet. I have never seen such a massive place in the UK before in my life! They also had this rather weird Viking theme going...


Phil didn't take a picture of the massive ships (complete with oars, might I add) that were suspended from the ceiling around the place, but you get the idea. Suitably looted up we went to the slightly downmarket shopping options and tried to find things for my room in Argos and a QD-like place. Unfortunately Argos was closed, but Pets at Home wasn't - so we went and chose my fish. Introducing....

Pips...

and Kai!

The water is a little cloudy at the moment because the Nitrogen Cycle is starting up, but I should be able to get some clearer pictures in a week :)
As promised, here are some photos of my new room:

My bed - note the groovy fairy lights there ^^

Good ol' Putey (and Jigglypuff creeping in too)


My new fish tank (next to the wardrobe and chest of drawers)
Below: not a good picture, but this is my new mirror!


I think that's about it for now. I'm off into the city tomorrow to go to a lecture in the afternoon, so navigating my way from the house to the university campus for the first time should be pretty... interesting, to say the least, And then it's off to try and find any job vacancies - what a day :(


Oh go on, have another cute fish picture :D






A summery summary

Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Phil has been berating me for my lack of updates over the summer, so, with just 10 days left before I move back to uni, I'll let you know what I've been doing since I last updated you (In April :s)!

Big News
If you don't know already, where have you been? Me and Phil got engaged over the summer on our 4th anniversary on the 30th June. We're not planning on getting married for the next few years, since I've got a BA and Phil has a MA to get out of the way, but thank you to everyone for our lovely cards and presents - we hope everyone who was able to come enjoyed our party.

Assessments and the Like
I completed assessments in POP2 practicals, POP2 written assessments, Collab practicals and Collab assessments (that's the dreaded portfolio and Critical Evaluation) before I came home at the end of May, so for people who I didn't tell (or rather, offload on) about what happened, here are the relevant marks and, er, experiences.

POP2 Practical - This was the piece I was rehearsing for when I last updated, and, unfortunately, after a positive start, the group experienced an awful lot of problems to the point where we had to devise and finish the whole piece the day before it was due to be assessed. The structure of the group changed twice during the devising process, which held us back a little, and which meant that a piece that was supposed to be 20 minutes long (5 minutes per person), had to be lengthened to 35 minutes. Since we weren't able to produce that amount of material in a day, we were worried that we may get marked down for our "efforts", but the marks weren't that bad after all:

Conceptual Development: B
Content: C
Skills and Techniques: B

All comments: Overall, this was an intelligent piece which found two good sources to weave together: the Surrendered wife and the Roald Dahl story: Lamb to the Slaughter. You used the space and selected props effectively to explore the issues arising out of these sources and were careful to transform the uses of, for example, the washing line, so that it became a dynamic sign on stage. Your playing style was appropriate to critique the ideas represented in the surrendered wife section and there were some strong and committed performances within the group. There were, however, some failings which arose from a lack of balance and overall coherence in the performance score. Whilst your written sources were rich and had great potential, you did not research these well enough to exploit them fully. The Roald Dahl line through the piece was reduced to a gesture of beef pounding until the revelatory ending and this needed more careful thought so that juxtaposing testimony from surrendered wives with the radical act of murder had real purpose. In addition, there were some individual scores and texts which were more fully developed than others. Individually, your performance was strong and well integrated into the piece.

Overall mark: 63%

So, not too bad overall, but I'm really hoping for some higher marks this year, as I haven't managed to achieve a 1:1 in a practical piece yet.

POP2 Critical Evaluation - When I wrote this I wasn't particularly happy with it, and I had to rush it because I had several deadlines around the same date, so, to be honest, I probably deserve the comments the lovely PhD student made about my work. However (and there's always one where he's concerned), I'm not sure about his reference to a "reading list", since we were never given one... but meh, never mind.

Investigation/Research: C
Coverage: C/B
Analysis: C/B
Presentation: B

Comments: You proffer some interesting arguments in this essay but your tone is a little too conversational to be adequately incisive. There is a tendency to make sweeping generalisations without proper support. The essay also lacks analysis as it is more descriptive than critical, it is important that you always interrogate the arguments you set up rather than simply writing a diary of the process. It would have been interesting to see
you relate theoretical arguments on the implications of this type of performance back into the process you went through in reaching your performance. More extensive reading will help you to both focus your ideas and will encourage you to integrate theory and argument more full. Try to expand your reading outside the given reading lists. Overall, this piece of work shows potential but is substantially underdeveloped.

Overall mark: 60%

Collaborative Processes Practical: Where to start on this one? Collab was one lengthy period of frustration and sitting about not doing very much. Our group really only started working the week before we were due to be assessed, and stronger people within the group eventually took over, which meant that everyone else had very little to do (and therefore not much to be marked on). Our actual performance was disturbed because, after we managed to get everyone into the auditorium with several people on stage holding freezes for about 15 minutes, someone called out to turn the lights up, the music off, and proceeded to pick people out of the audience since they had allowed too many people into the auditiorium. It was an absolute mess and completely spoiled the atmosphere and the set up of the piece, and by the time we had finished, everyone seemed a bit down but relieved it was over. Below are the marks for the whole group (we didn't get individual marks for this one):

Conceptual Development: B
Creativity: C
Content: C
Skills/Techniques: C/B
Investigation/Research: C

Comments: You were a pleasant and articulate group to be working with, and I enjoyed seeing your piece develop. I feel that you were particularly creative in response to the stimuli, and things that were generated from it, such as the very strong image provided by Libby and ideas arising from excursions and workshops. In a process like this, there is always a transitional period between the ideas and the pragmatic (“only 2 weeks left – what can we realistically do?”) stages. While you managed to transfer some concepts and images, I feel that some strong ideas got lost due to technical restraints, compromise and lack of attendance or time input. Again, the balance between creativity and feasibility is a difficult one to negotiate, and the short get in and tech time is certainly taken into consideration here. In terms of communication, every group struggles to make every member’s voice heard, and your process was no different. Although I could detect certain authority struggles, you kept it together when it really mattered, and were always checking that you were contributing to the project as professionally as possible, and not so much concentrating on personal relationships. That is a very good learning outcome. Performance day was a big challenge, and it is to your credit that concentration and energy were largely maintained in difficult circumstances. I do, however, think that you could have invested more time developing the piece, and that its shortcomings are not down to lack of creativity, but to late decision making and in some cases lack of commitment. You had a tight rehearsal schedule over the last few days, but had the sense of urgency kicked in earlier, the quality of the work would have profited.
Re the audience chaos at the beginning: I realise it was too late to supply additional seating by the time you had rigged and set up, but you could maybe have done something about it early in the day. Not a marking-related point, but it would have been nice to get all your year group in.
I feel the piece was at the penultimate draft stage by the time it reached performance, for reasons outlined above. The connections between the scenes were functional, but not as dramaturgically meaningful as they might have been, and it could have done with more content, co-ordination and polish overall. I really liked the idea of the double ‘Sam’ (a lot of research connections come to mind – Artaud, CG Jung etc etc), but feel it could have been established much more strongly in the opening scene. It wasn’t until the fight scene that I got a satisfactory sense of the duality. The performance has left me (and colleagues) with some very strong images (the umbrellas, the weatherman gradually being stripped of status and turned into a torture victim, the speeding up office, the significance of water etc…) and some very good sound work, live, as well as recorded (the latter of a professional standard). While I was not necessarily looking for the linear, and while you inserted some sense of the cyclical, the piece was a bit short on context. The images and scenarios certainly all connect to the overall notions of ‘water’ and ‘war’, but stop short of making proper points at times, and could have developed much further – just think of where the umbrella scene might have gone after such a strong initial image! The dance, although dynamic and imaginative, could have been contextualized much better. Strobe was used in to inflationary a way, and the costumes, although striking, were out of kilter with the rest of the visual style (I do realise they were inspired by the candles, but that was not very obvious semiotically). So, an interesting, but fragmented piece, where the notion of fragmentation could have been exploited in a more performative way, and as a choice that could have come across as more deliberate.
Well done to all of you for performing it with energy and commitment, and I hope you can profit from the huge collaborative learning achievement you have created.

Overall Mark: 59%

Collaborative Processes Written: Ah, the dreaded logbook and critical evaluation. The bain of my existance since Easter, and the cause of many sleepness nights. And what did Kara have to say about it? That my writing was too small. I did feel inclined to tell her to get her eyes tested and to equip her with a magnifying glass, but, after hours of work, I seemed to lose my gutsiness by the time it got to the end of the year.

Investigation/Research: B
Coverage: B
Presentation: C/B
Analysis: B

Comments: While tidy, organised and very detailed indeed, your portfolio is very difficult to read, as the writing is very small. Your visual resources are well chosen and very relevant, but sometimes there are too few to integrate with the very wordy resource.
Your critical evaluation sets up an interesting question about the nature of collaboration at the start – a useful thing to do, especially as you then use other sources such as Belbin to continue the discussion of group behaviour. You are also analytical and honest about evaluating your own input; this is promising. It is worth paying a bit more attention to the piece, its narrative and its dramaturgy.

Overall mark: 65%

I can't believe she gave me a C/B because of my writing for presentation!

Overall, I got a 2:1 for the whole year (and I found out that I got a 2:1 for the summer exam as well), which is pretty good, so hopefully I can improve on that next year!

Work at Home
Since I couldn't sit about at home for 4 months, I decided to look for a job to occupy my time so I didn't go bonkers. All in all, I applied for about 11 jobs, and was given 4 interviews: Dorothy Perkins, Superdrug, Past Times and Monsoon. Although I didn't get offered jobs at DP and Past Times, Monsoon, Superdrug and Mothercare offered me work, so I decided, since I've always wanted to work for them, to go with Monsoon. After the initial thrill of getting a job, I soon came down to earth with a bump when I realised that they were only offering me work for a month, something they didn't tell me in the interview. As I had already turned down the job with Superdrug, I had to keep with Monsoon, but was still incredibly worried about how I was going to make enough money to cover two lots of summer rent and September's rent on a month's work of work at 8 hours a week. Luckily, I was actually working for about 6 weeks and I ended up working pretty much every day for several of those weeks, and I was even told that they would try to sort me out a job up in Leeds.
Ok, so you can't have everything your way. They didn't do anything about a job in Leeds for me, and they didn't want me to come and work for a bit after our holiday either, but they DID pay me holiday pay, even though I wasn't entitled to it, so I can't complain too much! And the boss there is willing to act as a referee for me when I start applying for jobs next week, and since I managed to open 3 accounts (quite a feat, I'll tell you), hopefully she'll have some good things to say about me!

Our Holiday
After working away solidly for 6 weeks, our holiday in Spain was lovely! Here are some photos, since they explain more than writing:



House News
We've had several issues with things in the house, from internet problems, TV licence issues to confusing messages to and from landlords, but I think we're all sorted now and ready for the big move in on Friday next week. If you don't have my new address, please ask me for it - DO NOT send anything to my previous uni address, as they are not forwarding my mail! I'll put some photos on here once we're moved in so you can see our new house!

Fish News
As some of you know, I am getting fish to accompany me in my next two years of uni, and Phil and I have been researching for the last week into all the relevant equipment, etc. Hopefully I'll have bought everything I need/want to get by the end of the weekend, and I'm off searching for a stand/table thing for the tank today. The fish are being introduced on the weekend I move up, so I'll have some more fishy updates and pictures then!