WHY?!

I set myself the challenge of starting something new come the start of the academic year.

So why, for the love of all things holy did I decide to take up a sport involving water?!

(And no, not anything seedy before you comment you filthy minded bunch!)

I am shit scared of deep water. I hate it, I'm not an amazingly confident swimmer, and going underwater scares the crap out of me.

Yet I decided it would be fun to give myself a new challenge.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, I am now a paid up member of the canoeing club... and bricking it.

Stress, headaches and financial gain

Blimey, third year has certainly started with a bang!

I feel totally bogged down already, and it's only the second week.
The work has built up, but financially, I feel more stable already.

As well as a bar pay rise, I discovered through chance that I'm due a payrise from the staff bank. Meaning I go from £6.22 an hour to £6.90 an hour plus antisocial allowances. And, they backdate it from June.

I also got a tax rebate, although I'm sure they've messed up somewhere. Apparently I earned £1800 from my old university bar job in the past academic year. Considering I haven't worked there since Summer 2006, I fail to see how they've worked this out. I mean, I don't mind being taxed on it if I've earned it in the first place you know?!

A fresh start

The usual apologies for absences apply.

The new academic year has started with a bang, and things are going fine so far.

We've had the usual teething problems with the new start - lecturers forgetting to turn up for their relevant seminars and the students applying the usual 'if he's not here by quarter past we're doing a runner' rule*

Otherwise it's all cool. I like my PBL group, my GP surgery placement and my tutors.

On the plus side, I've also had a promotion in my bar job, and have been made a bar supervisor. It means more pay, more guaranteed hours and more CV enhancing skills.

Even better, it pays weekly.

On the whole, everything is going a lot better this year than this time last year. But I'm sure I will have just gone and jinxed that one now...

 

*Does this apply to other students at other universities too?

New Year

So it has begun.

Third year. A place I was never sure I was meant to reach.

It actually seems more achievable now.

Change

Oh yeah, and I passed the resit by the way. 

Third year here I come, rock on and all that malarkey.

So you're going to university then?

Daunting and exciting isn't it!

I remember the feeling well. Parents taking me cross country to a strange and new place full of equally terrified looking people.

I'm going to impart some of my knowledge onto you lot, since I did fresher's week twice. Feel free to ignore it!

• My admissions tutor the first time round imparted an amazing piece of knowledge onto me. He explained that the people you meet while drunk in fresher's week will be the people you want rid of in the second week. How right he was. Be careful how you choose your friends. You may well be haunted for 3 years.
• DO NOT PACK YOUR ENTIRE HOME! Half of the fun of university is realising you've forgotten something and having to introduce yourself to someone else to ask to borrow their hairbrush/bottle opener*/tin opener**. A bottle of washiing up liquid and some biscuits are a good starting point for freshers week.
• Your room in halls will look like a hole. Unless you're lucky, your room will resemble a prison cell. For the love of your own sanity, take some photographs and bluetac to make it look more friendly
• Shared launderettes are fine for most things. If you're a girl and it's rugby team initiation time, your underwear may well go missing from the dryers. For this purpose I reccommend a bucket for the purpose of washing underwear and delicates by hand in your room. Nothing is worse than seeing a 6ft tall and wide boy in your best M&S bra on facebook from a night out.
• Equally, a bucket is a much better place to puke than your bin. Your bin will leak by the morning, a bucket will not.
• A glass of warm water thrown out a darkened window followed by the words 'shut up' is a very effective deterrent against drunken couples/gangs etc.
• Enjoy yourself. Don't hole yourself up in your room and be antisocial. Life is for living. Live hard, play hard, work hard.
• And remember, if you come in drunk at 4AM and you don't have lectures in the morning, some people do. Karma is a bitch and will come back and kick you in the arse.

* seriously, don't forget this one. You'll be stuffed.
**and if you've forgotten this one you may well starve.

You can study chemical terminology when taking the medical coding certification.

A change is gonna come

Well, the resit results came out and it's all change.

Farewell to the old ways, and perhaps a chance to try something new.

Indestructable

Or so I thought.

My poor Samsung phone has had numerous tragedies befall it. Least of all having a catheter bag emptied down my trousers while it was sat in the pocket (hence it was always inside a glove when at work).

It's survived being dropped, knocked and generally abused at the outdoor centre.

Sadly, it doesn't seem to like exploding cans of Sainsbury's diet pineapple and grapefruit canned drink.

Funnily enough, it now won't work.

Thankfully, I had insurance, but sadly there's a £50 excess. It's cheaper for a well known phone company to buy me out of my contract than claim on the insurance, as they told me today.

On the down side, if you had my number before, can you please text me yours again. I have lost all numbers but maintained my SIM card.

PS: apologies for the number of advert links that are appearing on the site, but needs must.
Do as you see fit with them, if you get my drift.

PPS: can anyone reccommend a decent mobile phone handset that I can use online well and on Vodafone?