Santa hats and tinsel and cheesy music!

Today I am recovering from a weekend of much clarinetting, much fast food (oh my god I've just realised I've had a McDonald's hamburger, a KFC and a Pizza Hut pizza in the space of two days :-P but only because I've had nowhere else to get food from) and much Christmasiness. It has left me all warm and glowing, despite not being pregnant.

I only have one morning of labs tomorrow then my work for this term is finished! It's so nice to be able to relax now - in fact I don't think I've relaxed at all this term really, there are always forms I haven't filled in and people I've put off calling and stuff. It's not like I've not had time to do these things but you will probably know I'm a putter-offer. And Christmas is coming too!

I am all alone in the house at the minute because Alex has gone home and Ciaran and Phil are at conference in Leicester (without me, sob) but it's not all bad. I'm not sure why but it's quite relaxing to have the whole house to myself for a couple of days, although it will be nice when they come back tonight - I miss them greatly and it is the only thing that will fill this dreadful hole in my heart. I am rocking backwards and forwards as I write this (I got myself out of that one well didn't I ;-)). But being here with lots of time on my hands has driven me to memorise the Llama song (see link below). Expect to hear it frequently on walks back from Bows in the future.

Amusement #2

Yes I am bored.

Amusement

Heeheeheeheeheehee!

Froggy frog frog FROG!

I have just been playing with frogs! They are my friends. We got some eggs from a bucket containing a biiig she-frog and fertilised them and watched them divide into embryos. But we aren't allowed to let them grow into frogs because it's against Home Office regulations, the spoilsports. Hehe the frog was very ugly and had tiny eyes compared to its body size, and it kept trying to jump out of the bucket. But I would like to publically thank Mrs Frogworth for the kind donation of many, many eggs today - she worked hard in the name of science. And will probably die in the name of science :-( we will remember her! I'm tired now, so to Xananas I go for drinks with gay people followed by Wind Orchestra cheese!

The badgers did it

I'm back from the Weekend of Fun, twas fabulous naturally and Sarah McLachlan was tres tres bon and sparkly things were plentiful and Helen and Bev were there. Hurray hurray. We found no Orlando Bloom (except in Troy, which I have just realised is "Tory" if you mistype it hohoho) and no badgers, but Red Leicester cheese graced us with its presence, which was nice.

Tomorrow is the start of the week of playing with frogs. I've just read the manual and it says "we will also remove testes from several males to provide sperm." I'm assuming they mean frog males, not human males. That would be fun. Actually removing frog testes will not be fun. I'm sure they make us do this stuff just so they can laugh on the sidelines - previous experiments have included pulling live maggots apart while watching their internal organs spill out under the microscope, and completely opening up live locusts, pinning their outer layers down so they stay open and watching them try to jump while open. Which sometimes worked. I suppose if I was a locust one of the things I would miss most when faced with death would be jumping, so I would try and get as much in as possible before I was passed on to the locust deity in the sky. Ah animal guts, how I will miss them.

Beddibyes now, need to be ready for a week of full-time labs. Yaaay(!)

I am craving cheese

Red Leicester cheese. Mmmmm I would love a Red Leicester toastie right now. I haven't bought proper cheese for a while though because it is fattening and bad and I need to be more healthy. I have a new-found podge (well newish, it's several months old I think) which I am not liking and I put it down to eating what I feel like eating more often, and eating on campus more often - what's going on with the complete lack of anything remotely healthy for off-campusers except in South Central, which is only open till 3 and only on weekdays?! Also my not joining any exercise-related societies this year like I was going to probably hasn't helped.

I am considering swapping to Warwick Blogs - I have been browsing the site recently and the whole Warwick community thing looks rather jolly. Although... I don't know how easy it is to change the template etc - I've had enough trouble with this one - just look at the colour of my site description! It's a nasty coral colour! Also there may be implications with the partychicken.co.uk URL and whether I can change it to a new blog. Will have to consult Philbertina.

Ooh the Sarah McLachlan weekend of fun tomorrow! We are going to hunt down Orlando Bloom (well, hope he comes to the concert) and try sparkly things on in Monsoon with no intention of buying them and do generally fabulous stuff! But first I must finish my essay and hand it in before 2pm tomorrow. Incidentally did you know Sonic hedgehog is a gene/protein involved in the anteroposterior (thumb - little finger) development of the vertebrate limb? It is true! Am I not the most knowledgable person you know?

I had a dream about cats and the Coliseum and ghosts. I think maybe it was The Grudge-inspired. Which, if you haven't seen it, is The Ring with no plot.

Hurrah for Top B and Christmas cheese!

Yes, I just got back from Top Banana. It was better than I thought it would be. I was a little stressed because of my essay (I have to hand it in on Friday and I have made very little progress) so I thought maybe I wouldn't enjoy it, but in the end I did. Maybe the obvious thing to do in that situation would be to avoid going and work instead, but hey it worked. It's strange how that happens, when I'm not in the mood to go out I end up enjoying it and when I am, I usually don't. It helped me to take my mind off things. Yay for that.

Oh and also I had a good Wind Orchestra rehearsal - we did a competition yesterday so the music's been serious until now, but all we have left is the Christmas concert (Friday Week 9, Leamington Town Hall, 7:30pm, you know you want to) so today's music was all Christmas cheese. Also Pirates of the Caribbean, which is also tres bon - download download download! Or buy buy buy depending on where your loyalties lie. That rhymes, hmmm. I would be a poet, if I was any good at writing poems, but I'm not.

I really don't know why I bother writing a blog - it clearly hasn't been read for many a day and the only people who occasionally read it live with me, so I already tell them anything of importance that crops up here. Well I'm not going to stop writing anyway, it gives me something to do when I'm bored/avoiding work. My lip hurts. I ran out of Rizla papers in the second half of today's Wind Orch rehearsal so I had no lip protection. Mneh. Nighty night xxx

Update: My social life

As you might have guessed, I have thrown caution to the wind and decided to go to Bows tonight after all. BUT I will not be drinking alcohol, oh no, I will be staying downstairs with a diet coke, so don't even think about suggesting that I come upstairs to dance - I will not be best pleased. I will be very, very sober. Actually I may just be quite sober, I can drink what alcohol I have here before I go out. But still not enough to dance. This is all part of my plan to save, save, save. I worked out I have to live on £30 a week for four weeks! But even less than that, other things like Christmas/birthday presents need to be taken into account. Oh and also I still won't be going to Nightingales. The only place I will be spending money on alcohol will be the Coliseum. Isn't the third year reduced loan fabulous?

I have had a very productive day (discounting my lecture-skiving :-S let's just gloss over that shall we). I did several things I've been putting off for a while. Hoorah and hooray. I am going to be a Science and Engineering Ambassador in schools, if I remember to fill in the application form. It sounds tres tres bon. Oh and I phoned the Open Schools Programme about working in a school for a day for experience, and they said the nearest place they could give me was Hinckley! This is 12 miles away in Leicestershire. Not good. Far away. I'll have to spend yet more money on trains. The PGCE application form costs about £12/13 to fill in and send, such a cheek - how much do they want teachers, really?! Everything costs loads of money at the minute.

Fooooooooooooooooooooooooood! Bye.

Brrrrrr

It's getting cold now isn't it, as the old lady at the Sainsbury's bus stop commented. I went to Sainsbury's after my Sausage Factory meeting this morning and they had a plethora (I've never really understood what that word means) of goodies on sale because their use by date was today. I got very excited as you can imagine, and bought a lovely chargrilled chicken and bacon pizza for £1.50, half price! Wahey. The day is looking up already. Actually I have just realised just how much my trip to Sainsbury's resembled an old lady's trip to Sainsbury's. I banter-ed with the delicatessen lady, and the checkout lady, and then I bought a poppy on the way out while banter-ing with the war veteran man. Then at the bus stop I banter-ed with the old lady I mentioned above. Is banter a verb? Who knows? I know I can't be bothered to look.

Why are trains so damn expensive? I need to book three trains, one Cov - London Euston, one London King's Cross - Cambridge, and one Cambridge - Cov, for my weekend of super-duperness with Sarah McLachlan on Helen's birthday, and altogether it'll cost me about £40! That's just travelling, then I'll have to pay £30-ish for the concert ticket. Mneh. I really need a job now. As a result I will try my very very hardest not to go to Bows or Nightingales this week, or next week for that matter. Hmm how shall I do that... I may ask my dad to take me home this weekend, then I will be free of temptation and might get a bit of free food too. Interesting.

Time for pre-huuuuuuuuuge clarinetting sleep.

Go me

I got my essay back today - I got a high IIi! Aren't I good? Maybe my tutor isn't such a bitch after all. Oh and also I did an assessed presentation thing and it went ok, I didn't manage to tell my tutor that I didn't read a paper that was assigned to me because it looked too hard for me to bother with, like I did last time, and I got my loan! So today has been generally good. Although looking at the glaring whiteness of this screen isn't helping my headache much, but then the other options are sleep (not tired) and read, watch tv or work, which will all do nothing to rid me of this crippling, excruciating, pounding pain in my left eye. Ok I've been moaning too much lately haven't I? So I'm going to put my headache to the back of my mind and write about something else...

Right, time for Blog Ideas I think...

"What is something scientists need to invent?"

it says. Well, I came up with this idea while struggling to cope with a tricky page-turn during a Wind Orchestra rehearsal a few months ago - the Electronic Music Stand Thing(TM).

Ever missed out on an all-important passage while trying to turn pages during a windy outdoor concert? Ever successfully turned a music page only for it to blow onto the floor because of excessive air conditioning/someone removing it and putting it on the floor/a racoon? Ever tried to play in a tropical hurricane? You need Electronic Music Stand Thing(TM)! Electronic Music Stand Thing(TM) is a computer-monitor-thing displaying a double page of sheet music - no more paper blowing off stands (excuse the innuendo). When you need a page turn, Electronic Music Stand Thing(TM) will detect where you are in the music in time to change the page for you! It even comes with its own adjustable stand for the taller or shorter musician, and is self-illuminating for those dark, dark concert halls/outdoor gazebo thingies. Electronic Music Stand Thing(TM) comes in a range of colours and sizes to suit all tastes. Electronic Music Stand Thing(TM): buy it NOW!

I believe Electronic Music Stand Thing(TM) is the future - someone will steal the idea and it'll be in the shops soon. Or at least it would if anyone in a position to use the idea read my blog.

You will notice a new poll (if I managed to think of an idea for one, which I will have done, as I am super). Musings on Mice has probably been forgotten or not seen by some people, so the present polls aren't really appropriate. Therefore I have decided to create a new poll every couple of weeks. Voila.

I'm bad

Ok ok, I was bad and went to town today to buy a gold Glitterbug, but my thinking is I've got Christmas and other types of parties to go to, and if I waited till Christmas Day I would only get to use it on New Year's Eve. Now that would be a waste, wouldn't it? So yes, I gave in to temptation and used all the Lush testers I could get my hands on, then bought the glitteriest of gold Glitterbugs for the bargain price of £2.95 or something with two free soap samples thrown in - one smells of badger wee, but the other smells of lemons and all things lovely. Lush is the best place ever.

I'm thinking of having a slight image overhaul, although one which doesn't involve buying new clothes as I can't afford to - any suggestions on what I should wear more of/ask for for Christmas/wear less of? I'm thinking more accessories, maybe from cheap places like H&M, to enhance my pre-existing wardrobe and make me look vaguely super-duper. And I intend to grovel to my mum and dad and see if one of them will consider buying me a dark green velvet jacket. But yes, the thinking is accessorise, accessorise, accessorise and less ill-fitting clothes from my not-quite-so-podgy days. Some of you may say less glitter and sequins too but to that I say no. No no no.

FROGS! frogggggs...zzzzzzzzzzzzz

- a summary of this afteroon's lecture.

I went to bed relatively early last night in an effort to rid myself of a slightly annoying headache. Then I woke up at 3am with the evillest, most scream-worthy of headaches. It took me ages to get back to sleep - I had to leave my head with the right side of my face against the pillow (so to speak) and keep my fingers pressed against the top of my nose, and even that didn't work so I had to take some paracetamol. Which is bad, as I think I have taken paracetamol three days in a row now. Pity me! It's still there a bit but I've got used to it.

I went to Lush when I was at home last weekend, and guess what? They have a new Glitterbug!

You know, the sparkly soap stuff I have probably attacked you with at some point? They brought out pink and blue ones last year, but now they have a gold one too! I may just have to put it on my Christmas list. I'll have to try hard not to buy it for myself before then, but I'm not sure I have enough willpower. Thinking about it, I think I'll use my Glitterbug for Bows tonight. With my hair glitter. And maybe a glittery top. Yay.

It's touch and go my friends

I think I might be dying. Yes, I know everyone is dying really as we'll all die one day but I feel too hot and shivery at the same time, and I keep getting headaches. If I didn't know better I'd say I've just eaten too much, but I do know better and these symptoms don't come from not eating too much. Even though I have eaten too much. I better not have been poisoned by evil bacteria. Damn bacteria. They are pointless and small and uninteresting and downright rude. When did I say they could live on my skin and in my mouth and in my small intestine? It's a good job my stomach acid's there to kill most of them off. Never trust a microbiologist. I can say that now, my options as far as possible don't involve the study of bacteria, so I'm not linked in any way to microbiology. Ish. Oh and never trust an academic who studies frog embryos for fun. They are always bitches.

Well, what a fun day I've had - I had a meeting from 10-11am and decided to stay on campus till 3:30pm for clarinet choir. In my wanderings around campus between work I had to endure the Cheerleaders' "Sponsored Annoyathon" every time I passed the Piazza. According to a leaflet I found in Rococco, they're cheerleading 9am-9pm today to raise money so they can become champions of one competition thing or another. Let's just hope it rains heavily between now and 9pm.

Help me, Blog Ideas!

Now I know I want to blog, but I can't think of what to blog about. I've just looked at the Blog Ideas site for, erm, blog ideas, and it says to talk about TV shows I never miss. As if you don't know already. Well, here they are...

1. Knightmare - well I would never miss it if I had access to it over here, especially for the stunning graphics ("state of the art" according to the ntl guide), the goblins and their lethal dance and of course Pickle with all his elfy prancing. Actually I just found this page of what the Knightmare actors looked like in everyday life - it is quite surprising - just look at Lord Fear! He looks silly with a beard! And I am liking Treguard's lovely red jumper fashion.

2. Most Haunted - I mainly watch this for Derek. The best episode was I think in the Jamaica Inn, where he threw a lamp at one of the crew during one of his "possessions". Dawn French was very good at being him in French and Saunders on Friday. But I suppose you have to be a viewer to appreciate me rambling on like this.

3. Harry Hill's TV Burp

4. Shooting Stars

5. Neeeeighbours - For the theme tune obviously, and for the Susan/Tom the priest storyline. I'm still very impressed by my telepathy that day ("Susan, I'm leaving the priesthood!").

6. Father Ted - Particularly the plastic cow sketch: "Ok one more time. These cows are small. The ones outside are far away." etc. Hohoho.

I'm getting tired now and I have the feeling I'm rambling on and not being very interesting at all, so I'll be off. My lip hurts. From too much clarinetting, before you think of (I'm sure hilarious) innuendos. Ow.