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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Char's LiveJournal:
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| Thursday, July 16th, 2009 | | 9:47 pm |
| | 9:44 pm |
| | Monday, July 6th, 2009 | | 7:34 am |
| | Friday, June 19th, 2009 | | 4:06 pm |
Well, today is results day. I don't feel like broadcasting to the internet what degree I got, but feel free to ask me if I don't tell you myself. It's not a secret, it's just not something I feel is for LJ. The result itself is unimportant, what really matters here is: - I'm finally graduated from uni. I've never been any good at expressing myself in writing, but this entry is going to attempt to jot down what is going on in my head today. I could write a bunch of empty words about how it feels but I'm not going to because I don't think I could do it justice. Obviously I'm extremely happy, pleased, elated, but those emotions don't really express much so it's not really worth writing about them. Between fucking up my final year and retaking it, and then having an accident in the final week of my retake year, graduating has always felt like something that's just around the corner but at the same time never going to actually happen. Now it has happened! The thing that has hit me more than anything is how I'm now officially Out Of Education. There is nothing now between me and the rest of my life. I know where I want to be in a year's time, and I know where I am right now, it's the transition from one to the other that's giving me problems. For a start, I'm living with my parents and basically existing off their kindness. I'd like to move out but I couldn't afford my own place without a job. I don't want to live in Lancashire which means finding a job and a house down south. Unfortunately while I am making progress with my leg it still needs to be taken into consideration, not just in terms of mobility at home/work/in town but also in terms of the medical care I'm currently getting, all of which is based in the north-west. I'm also worried that the amount of time I've spent laid up combined with only being a graduate in the first place has atrophied my programming skills and will affect how employable I am. I know that graduate positions don't expect a vast programming knowledge right off the bat but the economy isn't great at the moment which doesn't help. I'm terrified I'll apply for the perfect job that would kickstart my life again and I'll not get it in place of some graduate who went straight from uni->work, who knows all his shit and who doesn't have a dodgy leg. I'm trying very hard not to ramble here but also to express what's on my mind. I think the main thing is that when I had my accident I sort of felt like there was going to be a point in the future where I'd be "better". I'm realising now that this will never happen. Instead, it's a gradual improvement. I'm better this week than I was last week, but there will never be a point where I was disabled yesterday but perfectly fine today. This matters because I've been thinking about going back to work "when I'm better", but I realise now that there is no magical green traffic light that I'm waiting for. There's only me and my unemployed ass the needs to get a job. That's really what this all comes down to. Hopefully I've made some sense in this confusing, rambling entry. I woke up this morning expecting to pass the time like I do every morning, but instead I've found myself thinking long and hard about the future. It's not all doom and gloom and I didn't mean to imply that, I'm going to get on with fixing up my CV, starting driving lessons and talking to the job centre about my future options. It's time to put away the student chapter of my life and start thinking about what I'm doing for the rest of my life. EDIT: Okay, I have thought about a good way to summarise how I feel. Right now I'm worrying about the future, but at least I have a future to be worrying about. Yesterday I had no worries but also no future, no plans beyond staying in and watching TV. I have a lot to think about and a lot of stuff I need to sort out, but at least it's all working towards going somewhere with my life, which I'm happy about :) | | Sunday, June 14th, 2009 | | 3:53 am |
| | Saturday, June 13th, 2009 | | 7:16 pm |
I've been talking about cycling for a few posts now, but this week I've finally got on my bike (HA HA HA KILL ME). My Grandad heard I was planning on going to Halfords and gave me a bike he's had in the shed for years and not used. It's a pretty basic mountain bike with no suspension but it's a decent quality Raleigh model, even if it is a few years old. The gears and saddle are decent quality, so as a simple starter bike you can't really fault it. Today I went up to this "Mountain Bike centre" they build at an old quarry near my house. A bunch of off-road trails and trials areas for serious bikers, this isn't the usual crappy council-built facilities. I barely made my way around it. It's way up the moors overlooking my area which means that by the time you get there you're completely shattered, but on the other hand you get some amazing views (and radio reception!). I spent about 30 minutes just chilling out up there listening to some music, checking out the view and recovering from the motherfucker of a walk to actually get there. My area is perfect for mountain biking with moors and trails and paths all over the place. At the moment my stamina's pretty crap owing to a recent lifestyle involving sleeping and pies but I'm fairly confident that with regular exercise I'll improve. The main thing is that I'm having fun. Jogging is exercise that I can tolerate doing regularly, but I really enjoy cycling and fucking around on a bike. The exercise benefits are secondary. I'm hoping to keep up with it as a regular thing. It's also worth mentioning that I am still not 100% with my walking due to ankle flexibility, but my leg strength is fine, so I can cycle like I could before the accident which is a nice feeling. There's a local bridleway which takes a 47 mile long loop around the surrounding hills and villages. It's no gentle stroll even for experienced bikers but then horses can do it so it's not exactly riding up Ben Nevis. It would be nice to ride it before the summer is over, but I'm not setting myself any goals or anything. For now I'm just enjoying the weather outdoors on my bike. | | Friday, June 5th, 2009 | | 3:05 pm |
trip report: buying a netbook laptop while drunk | | Thursday, May 28th, 2009 | | 11:12 am |
Graduation ceremony in a month (assuming i passed :P), i should probably lay off the chips and kebabs for a while. | | Sunday, May 24th, 2009 | | 12:32 pm |
Where do you even buy DDR mats from in 2009 :I | | Friday, May 22nd, 2009 | | 12:34 pm |
Bah, I was going to go cycle into town and back but it's pissing it down. Forecast for tomorrow is sunny so I guess I'll go then. Backup plan: dossing! | | 10:18 am |
Well, I'm back. First of all I went to give my FYP demo, which I think went OK. Not much of a reaction from the lecturers but they are the sort I wouldn't expect a reaction from if a bomb went off. I remembered everything I wanted to say and they didn't ask any horrible questions I coulsn't answer, so I'm happy enough. Also went down and stayed with Dav and my former housemates in Stafford, that was a fun time as usual, chilling out, watching TV, chatting about bollocks. Was nice and relaxing and I'd like to go down again at somr point. After that I moved to London for Eurovision fun and frolics. Saw a lot of people I've not seen in too long, including Lap, Tyma and Roy to name a few. Was awesome to see everybody though, I've never been to a Eurovision party before and it was a good laugh. I suspect there's gonna be flickr photos telling the whole story, which is handy as I was too drunk to remember a lot of it. Highlights include plans to smuggle reefs out of pub since they don't sell them in shops, and getting drunk in a Tesco car park listening to Goldie Looking Chain. Now that I'm back I've got an entire summer to waste. I've got an idea for a website project that I want to start work on partly to refresh my programming skillz and partly to show off when it's done. Once that kicks off I'll post more details here. I'm also thinking of going to Halfords or somewhere and buying a bike. I used to ride mine a lot when I was a kid and I'd ride all over the valley when I had nothing better to do. It would help me get around a little and give me some exercise. I had planned on sleeping and drinking all summer, but I think if push comes to shove I'd rather be outside or something something useful instead. | | Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 | | 1:12 am |
It's done. I'll be back some time after 11am Tuesday~ | | Sunday, May 10th, 2009 | | 1:44 am |
My FYP is finally nearing completion. I got a demo to do and nothing is gonna stop me. I got a PDA with my project on it ready to demo as soon as I take it out my pocket. If (heaven forbid) something happens to that, I have a PDA emulator on my laptop with a copy of the project. If anything happens to the PDA and my laptop I've got a copy of the emulator on my pen drive ready to use on my lecturer's PC. If the PDA dies, my laptop sets on fire AND the pendrive gets lost, I've uploaded the pendrive's contents to the internet. That's right, bitches, to stop this demo you're gonna have to take out a PDA, a laptop, a USB drive and THE INTERNET. That ain't gonna happen so I am gonna demonstrate the FUCK out of this project. | | Friday, May 8th, 2009 | | 5:52 am |
Freemasons - Rain Down Love This video is great. I like to imagine the director said "Hey uh we need a music video. For this tune. It's a club track nobody gives a fuck. Uh what was that one beep boop track with the dudes dancing on some steps. Yeah whatever let's do that." Maybe some guy was like "Um I think in that video the dancers were choreographed to represent..." and the director's all "Yeah fuck it whatever just get some women in ballerina shit dancing." | | Thursday, May 7th, 2009 | | 5:13 pm |
I bought a slap chop! I am going to dice the shit out of some vegetables. I'll post a review when it arrives. Yesterday I made radish and spring onion mash, it was lovely. If somehow you've not seen it by now, it's one of these things: | | Tuesday, May 5th, 2009 | | 5:17 pm |
I'm sitting in my bedroom working on a presentation which needs to be finished kind of soon. I'm hoping I can beat the deadline (even though I still don't know exactly when it is) but I'm happy because once this is handed in I'll be 100% finished with uni work and can finally graduate. It's funny because I remember sitting in this exact same room on a PC in the exact same position, bashing out the final presentation I needed to finish college and move on to university. I probably moaned about that on LiveJournal too. | | Saturday, May 2nd, 2009 | | 8:05 pm |
I am rereading some of the code that I handed in with my Final Year Project this time last year. // DEBUG static Checkpoint butts; static TextWriter dongs = new StreamWriter("c:\\tracklog.txt"); static DateTime started = DateTime.Now; // END DEBUG Oops. | | Saturday, April 25th, 2009 | | 2:15 pm |
Writer's Block: LiveJournal Book Club
American Gods, by Neil Gaiman It's about the confrontation between the old gods, the products of the beliefs and religions of the many cultures that came to America, and the new gods, corporate icons, the media, the internet. An ex-con is recruited by a mysterious figure to help him in the struggle. I'd recommend this book because it's a great example of what can be done with good characters. The locations in the book are almost by definition boring and plain, so the story doesn't revolve around exotic locations and exciting stunts. It's a good read with a lot of depth but at the same time it's not so heavy as to make reading it a chore. Real locations and beliefs and folklore are woven into the book, which is fantastically written. It's perhaps not my favourite book of all time, but it's one that I think people who like reading should read if they haven't already. BONUS: The book you should NEVER EVER EVER read is Digital Fortress, by Dan Brown. This book is to computers as The Da Vinci Code is to religious study. That's not a compliment. I could put my nerd hat on and complain about the many MANY technical inaccuracies in this book. I could complain that it's near unreadable to anybody with a basic grasp of technology or computing because you have to forget everything you know and wrap your head around Dan Brown's crazy idiot logic. Luckily I don't have to, because even if this book were about beekeeping it would still be moronic thanks to the cardboard characters and boring, contrived plotline. The main character is a young, devastatingly beautiful NSA code cracker. She has an IQ of 170 and a body that supermodels would envy. Her boyfriend is a young, handsome professor with the body of a world tennis champion and the ability to speak 10 languages fluently in whatever accent he chooses. Speaking korean like a northern Spaniard? You got it! The final act of Digital Fortress involves a riddle so complex that the best minds at the NSA race to figure it out before it's too late. I solved the riddle as soon as I heard it, leaving me with multiple agonising chapters of these dimwits fruitlessly trying to figure it out. I honestly wondered if it was a bait-and-switch, but nope, my original answer was the correct one. Eventually the clunky and moronic characters lumbered to the correct conclusion as the clunky and moronic plot lumbered to its conclusion. This book is terrible, and you shouldn't even read it for a laugh. It's not so bad it's good, it's completely irredeemable through and through. | | Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 | | 7:42 pm |
Today I got bored and made pretzel rolls, bavarian style. I'm trying to replicate the breakfast buns they served every morning when I was in Germany. Cut in half and buttered they were delicious. Waiting for the dough to rise as I type. If it goes well I might make them every few days. Obviously I've got some German beer to go with them, but I've started on that before the dough has gone in the oven. Oh well! Edit:  They came out pretty nicely, if I do say so myself! Got a few ideas on how to tweak them for next time I make them, which I will definitely be doing soon. | | Saturday, April 11th, 2009 | | 2:31 pm |
Way back when I was in college a few of my friends were into the band Sepultura. I remember downloading a bit of their stuff and deciding that it was way too heavy for me to listen to and enjoy. I was trying to get into it, but it was too heavy and impenetrable, it just sounded like a bunch of noise and some clown yelling. A similar thing happened in the first year of university when Adrian bought a Will Haven DVD. This time it was even more noise, and while I didn't say anything at the time I didn't get how anybody could even hear anything musical in there, let alone enjoy it. They might as well have been banging on pans and screaming. Skip forward to 2008 and I've been living with a bunch of metalheads listening to their stuff all the time, and now the exact same songs that once sounded like static noise suddenly seem relatively tame and melodic. Weird how things change over time. |
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