100 Awesome Things

So I've come to the realisation that I moan far too much. *Gasp* So, in light of this new discovery, I've decided to become more grateful for the little things in life. In order to do that, I've compiled my own personal list of 100 Awesome Things. This week is 1-10 and I will update now and again, perhaps with an unrelated back-to-normal-bitch-and-moan post.

1. The sense of acomplishment after exercising
So I've been trying to get back into my routine of doing Wii Fit and Just Dance to try and get fitter, and I haven't been doing it long enough to see any results. However, I used the freestyle jogging game and managed to run 2 miles the other day. The most I've ran in one go. EVER. You have no idea how proud I felt. For me, that's a huge achievement as I was always the girl in PE who could never run, never catch or throw a ball etc, I was more of a bully toy. Bitches.

2. Krispy Kreme doughnuts

I lost my KK virginity about a month ago and it was one of the most orgasmic things I have ever eaten. The nearest one is 45 minutes in Milton Keynes, and the only thing stopping me? A fear of driving somewhere I have no idea where to get to.

3. Getting an unexpected parcel or unexpected post
I love seeing a letter on the doormat addressed to me. Not that it's ever anything interesting, but I do love the small thrill you get when you see something's for you. Even when you know you've got a parcel coming, there's still the excitement of opening it.

4. Texts from someone you haven't spoken to in a while
What's better than getting a text from someone who you thought no longer gives a crap? It's a lovely pleasant surprise and it restores the fact that they probably still care.  

5. A big glass of Coke

Not cheap coke, not Pepsi, not "cola" - coke. Proper, full fat coke, no diet or that zero crap. Full fat coke is the way to go. Nothing better than a nice cool glass of coke when you really fancy it. Not from taps or hoses in pubs though.

6. The smell of fresh washing
I genuinely can't stop smelling every item that comes out of my washing machine after it's finished. Bras especially smell good.   

7. Hugs
Not just when you feel like crap, but just all the time. A hug can just make everything better, or it can put you in an even better mood. What can also be nice is a hug from someone who rarely does it. Like on New Year's Eve where everyone hugs everyone. Obviously under the influence of alcohol, but still, it's nice.

8. Getting into bed with freshly changed sheets

Just everything. The softness, the smell, the fact that things just feel so much more cosy when they're clean. Even more awesome when you're tired and going to bed is the one thing you want. 

9. Starting a brand new notepad
I just love starting a new notepad - you always use your best handwriting and take extra care to make sure you don't make mistakes, but by the time you get to the end, it all goes to shit. As does your university course...

10. Hearing a song that you instantly love
Only happens on occasion for me, but I love when it happens. You hear a song, you just love it straight away and then you can't stop listening to it. Then you forget about it for a while, then you listen to it a few months later and it's still as awesome as it was before.

Desperate Housewives: S8 Conspiracy theories.

So, you may not know, but I'm quite the fan of Desperate Housewives. Nothing like doing the ironing or eating my Pot Noodle whilst watching Dave Williams attempt to his insanity, Susan freaking out over Mike and Katherine, Lynette having problems with her son, Bree battling with her future son in law and Gabrielle persuading Carlos to take a job that'd leave them rolling in money again. I'm on Season 5, in case you haven't guessed. Not only that, but once a week I look forward to a new episode from S8 not only online but also now (albeit slightly behind) on E4. However, I'm incredibly gutted that S8 is DH's last. Season 8 is not my favourite season from what I've seen so far, for a number of reasons:

1. I get that getting all four of the 'wives involved in the big season mystery is a good thing to do for the final season, but jeez, for the first couple of episodes, it felt like it was going to be a hideously depressing season.
2. Susan Delfino - For God's sake woman, get a grip! The way she's been acting up until the last episode I've seen (not yet been shown over here) has been driving me nuts. I get she feels guilty and all that, but her behaviour just continuously wound me up. What the hell would she have been like if she killed Gaby's stepfather?
3. Bree's sudden change of character -  Not entirely sure why Bree's turned all Edie Britt on herself all of a sudden, not entirely sure where it's going either.
4. Lynette and Tom - The one thing I loved about Tom and Lynette was the fact they were they only couple on the show that never split up...until the end of the last season. Again, not sure what's going on there either, but the fact they haven't actually gotten divorced makes me wonder whether they'll get back together before the end.
One thing any regular DH fan will agree on is the fact that anything can happen on Wisteria Lane. Hell, we've had suicides, terrorism, murders, kidnapping, hostages, fires, natural disasters, plane crashes - you name it, it's happened. So, I'm trying to come up with some theories as to how the show will end, which I thought I'd share. Although I'd like to make a disclaimer by saying that these are just ideas. I'd be very shocked if one of these things happened.

1. The last scene of the final episode cuts back to Mary Alice holding the gun to her head and it turns out everything that happened throughout the last 8 years (well, 13 if you include the 5 year leap) was a 'what if' thing. That'll either lead to her pulling the trigger with it ending, or putting the gun down and going to spill everything to the girls.

2. Things will come out about the murder the four leads covered up, which will perhaps lead to some sort of messy suicide pact. The final episode will end depressingly with all four leads ending their lives just as Mary Alice did - and maybe see them all meeting up for coffee in the afterlife. (Probably the most unlikely to happen, seeing as Marc Cherry has reportedly said there's no plans to kill off any of the four leading ladies).

3. All four leads will 'move on' in some way - most likely by leaving Wisteria Lane for one reason or another.

Judging by things I've read on various websites, I think these all seem pretty unlikely. According to a site I read earlier, a major character will die - if Marc Cherry has stated the four leads won't die, then my money is on a husband - maybe Tom Scavo? Think about it, perhaps there'll be an indication of him and Lynette getting back together, and it'll end badly. Who knows. Although, another spoiler reveals that Mrs McCluskey's cancer returns, although she's not really a major character, she's still a regular and personally, I think she's quite a good character.
There's also still the issue of who sent the "I know what you did..." note. My money's on Felicia Tillman if I'm honest - yes, I know she crashed her car into a truck at the end of S7, but it was never actually confirmed that she was dead. She would have knew about the original note - so maybe...although that doesn't explain why she'd have beef with Bree and the others.

Only one way to find out I guess...

The impossibility of finding a psychology career when you hate people, early starts and working in teams.

Remember in September when I said something about university misery bingo? Well, put it this way, I've given up on that concept given the fact that most of those things, I've lost count of how many times I've done them. Particularly the quitting thing.

I'm trying so hard to keep reiterating the fact that it's 18 months to go, if that. And also, take comfort in the fact that most students say the second year is the hardest. I fricking hope so. It all started once I went back after Christmas, I think just being at home for 2 weeks really put into perspective for me how unhappy I am at university. Anyway, the first few weeks, I couldn't care less. I did the bare minimum of course, but as for turning up to lectures...pah, not worth the time. I've been trying to take it slow the last couple of weeks, gradually building up to trying to get back into a full routine again. Someone in my counselling lecture actually said to me when I told her that just a day off once a week would make things so much easier: "why not just have a day off?" So I did. I think I did quite well this week, aside from today, but in my defence, that 7am alarm is just horribly depressing.

Anyway, what I've discovered lately is that I'm probably not the best person to become a counsellor. Not at the moment anyway. I discovered this last year, but I gradually got round to thinking that after just a few things I could work my way into a career from it - now, I'm absolutely 100% sure it's not for me. Mainly for the same reasons I talked about before, but also for a reason that I've discovered quite recently.

Basically, my counselling class is at 9am on a Wednesday morning. 9 till 11. I have work at 12, so by the time I get home, there's about 10-20 minutes I've got free, and most of that time is spent getting changed and sorting my stuff out. Then I work till 5.40, usually home by 6, and by the time you've had dinner and all that crap, the day is over. That's a lot to cram in for one day, and before you give me a mental slap round the face and yell at me that I need to grow up because that's what the real world's like, but when you're as miserable as I am at uni, you value pretty much any free time you have.

So, sometimes, it's nice not to go in, not because I have a lie in or anything (although the fact it's cold, dark and horrible out and your bed isn't), but because it's just nice to have a spare couple of hours before I have to go to work where it gets quite busy and stressful.

Not only that, but (now I don't know if this is just me not being a morning person, or my personality, or if this happens with everyone) I've noticed, at 9am in the morning, I don't want to talk to anyone. A hello and a quick chat with your classmates and the people you're friends with, fine, but when they want you to do skills work, just...no.

Not only do I not want to get into stuff that's fairly personal (or think up something that I've repressed or whatever, depends on events of the previous week), but I don't particularly have the energy to be attentive either. I can sit there and nod and stuff, but as a counsellor you're supposed to paraphrase and what not, and that requires actually listening.

I don't know if I'm just at a point again where I have no idea what I want to do. Every psychology career at the moment just seems like it's not for me. Research jobs - they usually involve you working with groups, I hate group work. Counselling - self explanatory. Clinical settings - I've been told I'm too timid. Yes, really. Most people think it, but they never have the courage to say it to my face, so kudos for that at the very least.

Anyone have any career ideas when I finally recieve my degree after three sordid years? Answers on a postcard.

2011: A Review

It's NYE so in keeping up with last year and trying to build a tradition, I give you, my personal experiences of 2011. I'm not going to touch on what actually happened in the real world this year, as some of it, I don't care about - mainly the politics stuff - and if you think that makes me an idiot, that's your decision to make.

1. Got a job - Nearly 4 years after losing my job at Woolworths I finally got myself another job to ease the financial burden that is university. So far I'm enjoying it and have met some rather nice people. And endured some rude ones on the phone, but that comes with the job I guess.
2. First ride in an ambulance - I mentioned the incident that caused this to happen in my previous post, I won't mention it again. Although I'm secretly gutted that I was unconscious for my first ride in an ambulance.
3. Gained a Step-Dad - October saw my Mum and Rob getting married, again, mentioned in a previous post. A nice day overall.
4. Started my second year of university - Despite continuously saying I'd do my first year and then quit, here I am, nearly half way through my second year. I won't lie, I regret that decision. But, I may as well get a degree and better job prospects (in theory) out of my unhappiness.
5. Saw Lee Evans at the NIA in Birmingham - A brilliant night, Lee Evans is just amazing. What I love about him is that he is so genuine. At the beginning and end of the show and at the beginning and end of the interval, he was just so appreciative of people for coming and he kept saying "thank you for giving me a chance," and at the end he spend ages signing stuff and shaking hands, and even posing for pictures with people in the front row - he just seems like such a lovely, lovely person. I'm gutted we never got to meet him, but at a venue that big, we wouldn't have had a chance. Even the parking ticket we got and the fact that Birmingham is a complete bitch to drive around didn't spoil that night...
6. Passed my driving test - It was my fourth attempt, but I don't care - that was the ONE thing, if any, that I wanted to do this year, and I finally did it. One week before my theory test expired.
7. Saw Avenue Q - Something that I had originally requested to do for my 16th birthday, I finally got to do for my 19th, thanks to Liam. Originally, the show was based in London, but it went on tour and luckily, came to Northampton. Came out with a lovely sense of optimism.
8. Beach trip - During one of our summer trips home, we all took a brilliant trip to Bournemouth beach. It was one of the hottest days this year and it was awesome. Although the sunburn I ended up with afterwards was not.
9. Celebrated my 19th birthday - A reasonably uneventful birthday unfortunately. Not much happened which was a little sad. Still, I got some lovely presents and had a fairly quiet day.
10. Saw Ed Byrne - Bought the tickets for Liam for his birthday and we had a great night out seeing him. He was brilliantly funny, and he was even nice enough to stick around after the show to meet people and pose for pictures.
11. Met Sooty - My Mum decided to get another cat at the beginning of the year, which saw the introduction of Sooty to the family. At first a very naughty kitten, but he's turned into a nice, cuddly kitty since they've moved house.
12. Celebrated 2 year anniversary with Liam. With roses :)
13. Russell Howard - One of my favourite moments in 2011, my first ever arena gig, travelling to the LG Arena in Birmingham and seeing Russell Howard. He was fricking hilarious, especially at the end where he rapped Vanilla Ice because it was someone's birthday in the audience. We stuck around for a while at the end trying to meet him, but no such luck. I later realised at an arena tour you probably don't have much hope in meeting the act afterwards.
14. Brought in the year 2011 still reasonably sober by dancing in The Tavern after a pretty uneventful night. Still turned out well though.

2012 is looking alright at the moment. I'm looking forward to the following:
1. 3 year anniversary with Liam.
2. Seeing Jimmy Carr in April.
3. 20th Birthday and becoming half way to 40 - or officially an adult. I'm getting annoyed with being informed that technically I'm still a teenager because my age has 'teen' in it. I no longer live at home, I pay rent, I have a job, I can drive), oh, and I'm 18 - the age when you are legally considered an adult. Although that was a pretty childish rant...
4. Finishing Year 2 of that bloody evil place. No point quitting after that when there's one year to go though.

In terms of resolutions, I'm not bothering to make any official ones. Just the usual kerbing of my swearing, stop biting my nails and try and eat healthier. I also really need to get a motorway lesson.

Christmas and other mildly related incidents.

It's sad to say, but Christmas is now over. I genuinely am not a fan of the duration between Boxing Day and New Year's Eve, as it's that depressing stage where the decorations are still up, but that lovely warm Christmassy feeling is gone. I'm not genuinely a fan of New Year's Eve either, but 9 times out of 10, it's an excuse to dress up and look nice. I won't be drinking after unfortunate events landed me in A&E covered in vomit a few weeks ago.

Personally, I think my drink was spiked, as there's 3-4 hours worth of that evening that I can't remember. And a vomit phobic like myself usually remembers such kind of incident - or would have been more careful to aim for the toilet rather than every item of clothing I was wearing (I spent hardly any money that night and considered it the cheapest night ever - ironic, as it ended up costing me £40 as I had to replace my pebble-dashed jeans, and also my boots). Either that, or mixing Rosé, Pinot Grigio, Jagerbombs and shots of apple sours and sambuca does not agree with me. The sheer amnesia of the situation points me towards the conclusion that my drink was spiked by an asshole. I mean, who doesn't like seeing the moderately unattractive and already pissed anyway speccy girl puke everywhere and pass out resulting in an ambulance being called? Gave the paramedics a laugh at the very least. No, seriously. I was informed they looked at the humourous side of the situation. But either way, a big thankyou to the two lovely people who I went out with in the first place for taking care of me, they know who they are. And also to Liam for looking after me the next day and sitting with me while I moaned like a small child whilst in hospital.

So, after that incident, this Christmas has been a moderately alcohol free one. Not completely, but since being at home from the 21st, I've had 2 drinks in total. NYE may be a different story, but rest assured, I will not be going ot A&E for a second time.

So not very Christmassy to start off with, but anyway, not much happened this Christmas. I actually enjoy it more now that I'm at uni and come home for it. I had two Christmas lunches which was genrally just awesome. As we did last year, Liam and I spent Christmas morning with Rob and my mum, and later on my grandparents, had a small lunch, and then went off to Liam's uncles' and had a proper massive one later in the evening. Both of which were lush. I have never eaten so much. Ever.

Presents were highly penguin related - penguin book, penguin poster, penguin socks, penguin pajamas, penguin microwave heat pack, penguin hot water bottle, chocolate penguin, cuddly penguin, Christmas singing penguin, squeezy Pingu toy that talks (in Pingu's language, of course) and some white chocolate penguins. Also had a few cat things too, cat calender, cat diary, cat book.

Got some lovely presents from Liam too, some of which more practical than others :P Some heart shaped silicon cake cases, a massive frame, a penguin poster for the massive frame, a whiteboard, a FRICKING ANGRY BIRDS CHARM BRACELET (words cannot describe how awesome), a yard of Jaffa Cakes, and best of all an eReader (a pink one xD), not only that, but a very romantic sentiment was that he'd put a handful of my books on there, including the textbooks I had to keep getting out of the library because publishers are stupidly extortionate.

We also had a pre-Christmas celebration once we came home with friends too. Including some rather dodgy, but purely brilliant, presents. I recieved a sleep mask with 'fuck off' written on it, and a notepad that you can draw cocks on, while Liam recieved a novelty apron with inflatable tits. Other presents that others recieved included nipple clamps (seriously), a heigh chart, a toast stamp, a bubble gun, fluffy dice, a solar system sticker book, a bike horn, a game called "Pin the Cucumber on the Hunk" and an alphabet book of various disgusting sex acts. Telling that to strangers makes it sound so much weirder than what it was. Although rest assured, they were fairly normal gifts for our group of friends.

Boxing day was spent doing the usual. Eating crap and watching DVDs. I recieved a nice awray of stand up DVDs: Alan Carr, Sarah Millican, Russell Kane, Rufus Hound, and the two Liam and I saw earlier this year, Ed Byrne and Lee Evans. All of which were pretty good, I was especially impressed with Sarah Millican, who was just brilliant. The Lee Evans DVD just brought back brilliant memories of when we saw him in Birmingham, the stage, the jokes, the music and the musical skit at the end, which was brilliant to see up close. Even though it was amazing live, it was great to watch it on the DVD so you could see what was going on even more. Although, after the song when we saw him, he did his brilliant interpretation of Bohemian Rhapsody. What I liked to see was that the audience actually stayed on their asses on the DVD during his musical number. Most in our area started getting up at that point, which I thought was just rude. If you buy tickets to see one of the most amazing comedians there is, why leave before it ends? Fans of Lee Evans will know that that's his thing at the end of his shows, and you wouldn't pay a lot of money for a ticket unless you're a fan of his. Although considering the que we sat in in the car park afterwards, maybe their reason for leaving was justified. Either way, it was still a little rude.

Wow, this blog post went off on one a bit. Not that anyone's interested, but I'll be reviewing my experiences of 2011 in my end of year blog on New Year's Eve. Till then.

Why everything annoys me

In my opinion, there's 2 kinds of people in the world:
1. The kind of people who are generally happy most of the time, with the occasional day where they're a bit down, but nothing that a cup of tea and some Big Bang Theory (or whatever American sitcom takes your fancy) can't cure.
2. The kind of people who are annoyed by everything and everyone and call inanimate objects 'wankers' when they drop them on the floor, and who have an occasional happy day, which doesn't last long.

In case you haven't realised, I fall into the second category.

Recently I've noticed a pattern emerging in my hatred for everything. Usually it peaks at the start of the week, and by the weekend I've slowly gone back down to being a normal human being that isn't easily wound up. Sometimes. This week's been a particularly hatey one though. And yes, I know it's only Tuesday. I think the main reason for it revolves around a certain lesson I have once a week, every Monday for 2 hours. That lesson is statistics.

Statistics is the one thing (okay, maybe not the one thing but very high on my list along with parking, buses and just genuinely having no time) I hate about my course. Unfortunately - and God knows why - it's an important part of any psychology degree. Don't get me wrong, a correlation and some descriptives showing the mean and all that, fine, that's understandable, but when you go into all the shit we've been going into lately, you just stop and think "fuck off. I really don't care anymore." To be honest, somewhere there probably is a logical reason that explains fully why they make it so complicated, but I've been doing stats for over a year now, and I do not see that reason one little bit, other than to fuck with my head.

It's actually now come to the point where I have been considering withdrawing from my course completely just so I don't have to deal with it. I know the common sense thing to do would be to tell someone and ask for help, but in all honesty, I know it won't do any good. Why? Because statistics is boring. It's one of the most boring things on earth, and not only do I not have the motivation to go to a help session or see a tutor about it, I also know for a fact, I wouldn't pay attention to it, because it's so incredibly dull.

I am aware that if I quit uni just because of some numbers (and that's really all they are at the end of the day) I will be taking a massive step towards a huge debt, a permanent career in Poundland and loss of respect from several people, so it's probably not the wisest thing to do, I really do see that. I'll probably just end up winging it like last year. At least there's no exam this year.

So having established why my mood fluctuates at the beginning of every week, it's clear that anyone who knows me would do their best not to annoy me. However, for strangers, this is not the case. And I am talking about those who share my bus journeys with me.

Before people jump down my throat about me being anti-social, let me just point this out - yes, I am aware that these people are complete strangers and don't know what kind of day I'm having, or the fact that I don't like people and wish to be left alone on the bus etc etc etc, but it's downright annoying, and I'm sure there's lots of people who will back that up.

Anyway, there were 2 incidents this week that spurred to mind, one of which will probably make me sound like a horrible, anti-social, ignorant bitch (yes, I know this blog in general makes me come off that way), it certainly made me feel like one. The other, just a minor annoyance that I'm sure would have pissed anyone off.

Okay so the first happened on Monday. Mondays I now like to call "Statistics-misery-wanting-to-cry-the-moment-you-step-off-the-bus-Mondays." Basically, I came out of stats in that usual mood, pushed my way to the front of the bus que (hardly a que, more like a crowd) and managed to get a seat pretty much straight away. I sat in one of the priority seats because I wanted to be close to the door, as I could see the bus would be full, and when it's full it gets very claustrophobic which makes me feel a bit panicky, and I always feel better if I'm near the door.

Anyway, people got on the bus, as they do and it drove off, after a couple of minutes, several people at the front were tossing me dirty looks. I thought nothing of it, as I'm not a smiley person and I sometimes give off dirty looks without realising, I thought they were just reciperocating them. Anyway, I carried on with my daydreaming and such, then this stuck up girl suddenly looks directly at me and says "it's disgusting the way society is these days." I wondered what the hell was going on, but still, I took no notice.

When I finally reached my stop I noticed why I'd seemed to be the most hated person on the bus. The stuck up girl's friend was pregnant and I hadn't given up my seat. To be fair, no one else in the priority seats had, but for some reason all the anger seemed to be directed at me, as if I was sat in the 'pregnancy seat.'

First of all, let me just say that I honestly did not notice this girl was pregnant until I got up to get off the bus. Had I noticed she was pregnant sooner, I would have given her my seat. If she had asked, I would have given her my seat. Had her bitchy friend asked, I would have given up my seat. But no one asked and I was oblivious the the fact she had a bump, so I stayed put.

What upset me though was that the pregnant girl's friend was the one bad mouthing me - it'd be understandable if it was the other way around, but it wasn't. The pregnant girl was actually quite friendly, chatting to the bus driver and what not, but her friend just seemed so bitchy. To be fair, yes, she was probably just a good person standing up for her friend, but surely the decent thing to do would have been to come up to me and politely say "excuse me, do you mind giving up your seat for my friend as she's pregnant and wants to sit down?" but no, instead she gave a bitchy comment to a bus full of strangers.

At first I felt like a really horrible person, but then I realised, at the end of the day, if this girl wanted to sit down that badly, she could have asked. After all, if you don't ask, you don't get. I wasn't the only one on the bus in a priority seat, and the fact I didn't know she was pregnant was an honest mistake. For most of the journey she had her back to me while she was talking to the bus driver anyway so I couldn't see the bump anyway. I probably shouldn't have been in the priority seat, but someone would have sat in it anyway if I didn't. And in my defence, I'd had a shitty day, I just wanted to get on the bus and go home as quickly as possible, and for that reason, I didn't think it was compulsory to be checking every single passenger for a baby bump or a walking aid.

I do realise I sound like a horrible person saying that, but let me reassure you, if you're ever pregnant and unlucky enough to share a bus with me, I will give up my seat for you. And if I don't, I probably haven't noticed, so just ask.

Wow, what normally would have took me about 20 minutes or so took me about an hour to write. That's what chatting on Facebook does.

Moving on, the general bus annoyance today was this. I sat at the front of the bus (priority seat again, but only about 8 people got on today) and when the bus stopped at Asda, a couple got on laden with carrier bags. The bloke sits in the seat opposite me, while the girl sits next to me and then they both dumped their bags around my feet.

Again, I was annoyed because I wanted to be left alone. But also because it would making getting off, a reasonably easy task, quite a difficult one, as I would have to clamber all over their shopping. There's also a designated area on the bus for people to put luggage and shopping etc, which they could have used as opposed to scattering it all over my feet. Not to mention the fact there were 2 seats on the other side of the bus they could have had, which would have allowed them to be all lovey with each other without me feeling like I was caught in their romantic fuck pie.

I find it hard to believe I started this blog post at around 5.30. It's now 9.07pm. In that time however I have been chatting on Facebook about various things such as the dire state of the NHS, uni, kids, jobs and the situation with the pregnant girl on the bus. I've also had my dinner, watched the latest How I Met Your Mother and an episode of The IT Crowd and done the washing up, which can I just add, was like a distressing game of Jenga.

That's it from me you'll be pleased to know. Sorry this blog didn't have more of an interesting subject. More from me next time.

Changes

I think when I look back on this year, it will probably be a year where everything changed. Big time. I mean, everything tends to change over time, but this year so much has happened and I don't tend to cope well with it at all, so I'm quite surprised at how I've managed to not make a scene or just generally cry at everything.

I won't go into everything, as that's what my end of year blog will be for, as I did last year. These last few months have been the most prominent though.

It all started in September. The first thing that happened at the time I thought was a good change, in that I passed my driving test. After 2 and a half years of pure misery at my failures, the lovely lovely man who examined me was kind enough to pass me - a week before my theory test ran out and I would have had to start all over again. All was going well with my driving provided that you didn't include the parking. I had some nice drives around on my own, particularly to my Mum's new place which was a 15 minute drive from where we were staying, but after I stopped at Asda on the way home, one bitch decided it was necessary to yell at me about my parking and basically took a shit on every ounce of confidence I had built up over the last few days.

I basically ended up dangerously close to her car as I was reversing out (note I said close, not actually touching it) and I pulled back in because she was stood there watching me, which I'm sure many people will agree with me is terribly offputting. She then comes up to the window where I politely apologise and say that I've just passed my test and I'm not very good at parking yet. Instead I get the following:

Bitch: "Did you hit it?"
Me: "No I didn't."
Bitch: "Did you hit my car?"
Me: "I didn't, I swear I didn't hit it. I'm really sorry, I've just passed my test, I'm not so good at parking."
Bitch: "Well you need to look at the way you're fucking parking love, that's crap."

This was followed by a few more "did you hit it?" type quotes, until she eventually drove off. I tried reversing out again and by this point the woman on the other side of me had come back and was watching. Cue her coming up to my window and me bursting into tears about what this absolute cow had just said to me. Then the man sorting the trolleys comes over. I was incredibly lucky in what happened next, this lady offered to reverse out for me, but was worried about hitting her car, so the trolley man very kindly pulled out of the space and straightened the car up for me. When I told them about what this bitch had said they both sympathised and said she shouldn't have done it and that it'll get easier with time.

To the nice lady and the trolley man: thank you very much for being so nice to me and helping me out.
To the bitch who had a go at me: fuck you.

It's just over a month since that happened and my parking has slightly improved, but I wouldn't go as far as saying it's good. Oh, and I got a parking ticket too, but I won't go into that, mainly because it'll set me off on a rant about my university's parking.


Another thing that happened was my mum moved house. Not necessarily a change for me personally, but it was quite daunting at the time, given the fact that the place where she moved to was an absolute shit hole until they decorated it a few weeks ago.

Seriously, I'm talking a stench of marijuana filling the rooms, yellow walls from smoke fumes, dog shit all over the patio etc etc. Still, they've done it all up nice now and you honestly wouldn't think it was previously a shithole if you saw it now.

I felt I had been evicted from my room, as the spare room in this new place is so small it doesn't even fit a proper bed. Well, it would, but nothing else really. We do still stay there when we go home though, just on an air matress which is...nice.

As you can see, Sooty took the move very well.

Speaking of my Mum, she also got married this week. So I now have a step-dad. And a very nice one at that. It did mean having to take a day off of uni and endure 5 hours of travelling within about 36 hours, but it was still worth it to be able to go to the wedding and see them get married.

I also started my second year of uni this month which is...nice. Most of my current modules are all coursework based which is good news, unfortunately, all of my summer modules are not. Which sucks. Another unfortunate thing is the amount of textbooks I've been told to buy. Frankly, I don't have the money and even if I did I don't think I could physically and mentally manage to spend what would probably be about £250 on books that I'm only going to use for one term. I spent £40 on one book last year that I was told would last for the whole 3 years, but on starting this year, I was told not to use it when writing essays as I need to be using a more broad range of sources. Great. So this year is involving lots of trips to the library and spending endless time doing reading so that I have some reasonably okay notes for when I have to write assignmetns. I did that at the beginning of last year. That habit ended after about a month, so we'll see.

You'd think given the fact that I can now drive, and that most of my rants were based on having to endure a bus journey most days would lessen the amount of complaints I have, but lets just say, I can only drive to uni 2 days a week due to the fact that these are both 9am starts, and you are only able to get a parking space before 9am. 14 car parks. I have access to one of them. Super.

Looking at them in writing, it doesn't actually seem that much has changed to be honest. Still, it killed half an hour while I wrote this. Unfortunately you may have lost however long it took you to read it and probably won't get that back. My apologies. I will try and make sure my next blog is worth reading. Still, if you did read it, I thank you.