They said it'd be like this.

They said, enjoy university whilst it lasts. It never lasts as long as you think it will.

By the end of tomorrow (it's Thursday now) I would have completed my first semester of university. It's been pretty smooth for me. Moving out wasn't as liberating as it was for most of my flatmates so I've been laid back (sometimes a little bit too laid back). I've missed more lectures than i'd like, although mostly due to illness.

So my Christmas 'break' starts this weekend. I'm going to Leeds for the weekend as it's Maz's Mum's birthday and they put up their Christmas decorations then also. I should get the rest of my Christmas gifts whilst i'm up there also. I have no lectures until the end of January, however i have exams starting on the 11th of January and finishing on the 23rd.

And now i will bitch a lil bit, but tbh i haven't got something more productive lined up instead.

My Christmas break will involve doing 3 pieces of coursework due in immediately after exams, another piece of coursework due in in February, and then revision for 5 exams. If i get my arse into gear, i will hopefully get the bulk of the coursework done before Christmas, leaving me free to be merry and happy with my family and my girlfriend. After the new year, i will start hitting the books for revision. I'm not going to like having to say, i gotta go to my flat in Nottingham and study instead of be with Maz, but i really want to get good grades in these exams. Not just because i'd be happy to get a good performance grant next year (which i doubt i'd get as i'm not good enough, but it's good to try) but because i'd like to take at least some stress off of the summer exams. (as if that will work)


It is that time of year though! For those who've read my blog for a while, or have trawled through my archives, you will know i like to do a good end of year blog post that rounds up what i've done over the year and how it's gone, and what i expect for the year ahead. I'm going to start working on that soon. Last year i did a different kind of format of end of year post. Instead of boring you with a wall of text, i had it almost completely photo based. I might do that again as it got a pretty good reception and, well, photos are awesome.

If you'd like to have a look, end of 2007 can be found here.

and the end of 2008 can be found here.

Tags: uni, update
Current Location: broadgate park, beeston, uk
Current Mood: calm

Last weeks results in my quest to a healthier lifestyle.


Quite a mix of results. On Friday i was having an especially long day. I viewed some houses with some friends (for them, not for me) and went to Birmingham to see Maz later that evening. The result is the highest value since i kept record. The equivalent of approximately 14km which is approaching 9 miles. Depressingly, i used to walk that far in a single shift at work when i worked full time, and now it takes what is considered a very busy day to get close to it. No wonder office workers can struggle with their health.

In better news, the average of steps per week is getting better, with week 1 being 5753, week 2 7350, and this week a grand spanking 10875. The first time i've got over the 10k barrier just to be considered doing a 'healthy amount of walking' a day. This average helped no doubt by the mid week activities.
Now to improve on it this week. That will be difficult. So far i had 12320 on Monday, 5494 on Tuesday, 7064 on Wednesday. I'm going to Leeds this weekend. That might help a bit.

Tags: exercise, steps
Current Location: broadgate park, beeston, uk

I've been continuing in my quest for better health and statistics fetish. Below is a plot of the amount of walking i did last week.


As you can see, it's still up and downs, however the week average is now a grand spanking: 7350 steps. Possibly dragged up somewhat by the fact i had no entries under 1000 (like the 80 value i had before.)

Tags: exercise, steps
Current Location: broadgate park, beeston, uk
Current Mood: calm

From katsuninken

The rules are thus:

1.) Put your music player on shuffle (or use a music engine – no pre-programmed play list)
2.) Press forward for each question.
3.) Use that song title as the answer.
4.) NO CHEATING!!! What you get is what you get!
5.) Respond with your own thoughts on the Psychic Radio predictions.





1.) How am I feeling today?
Psychic Radio Says: "Autosuggestion" by Joy division

2.) What is the best thing about me?
Psychic Radio Says: "Mitigate" by Cave In

3.) How is today going to be?
Psychic Radio Says: "Am I Sexy" by Lords of Acid
Uhhhhh..

4.) What is in store for this weekend?
Psychic Radio Says: "Remanufacture (demanufacture)" by Fear Factory


5.) What song describes my family?
Psychic Radio Says: "Father" by Funker Vogt
My family arent very industrious, or German.

6.) How is my life going?
Psychic Radio Says: "Faith in the future" by Uberzone.
Mmm, suitable. If i didn't have this, i'd probably go off on an unstable tangent.

7.) What song will they play at my funeral?
Psychic Radio Says: "Negative One To Ten" by Tsunami Bomb
*shrugs*

8.) How does the world see me?
Psychic Radio Says: "Glass Houses" by Skinny Puppy
Again with the angry Germans.

9.) What do my friends really think of me?
Psychic Radio Says: "The Bastard Sons" by the Amen
:/ great.

10.) Do people secretly lust after me?
Psychic Radio Says: "AA XXX" by Peaches
Lmao. Lmao. lmao. lmao lmao. Take a bite out of the peach tonight.

11.) How can I make myself happy?
Psychic Radio Says: "Mysterons" by Portishead
Not sure how to read into that. I like certainty in my life, but i like an adventure and not to be tied down much in a way that prevents me from doing so.

12.) What should I do with my life?
Psychic Radio Says: "Sex on the beach" by Tantric, mixed by Steve Lawler
I've never done it, but i imagine sand is NOT YOUR FRIEND on a beach when it comes to lovings, so i might not heed this advice.

13) What is some good advice?
Psychic Radio Says: "Dai The Flu" by Deftones

14.) What do I think my current theme song is?
Psychic Radio Says: "Sunlight Theory" by Svenson
Energetic and intense. Can't argue with that.

15.) What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
Psychic Radio Says: "Weathered Stone" by Aphex twin
Slow, pacing, grimey. cool.

16.) What is my best friend's theme song?
Psychic Radio Says: Some kind of Wizard" by Biffy Clyro
This would be good, cept i'm unsure if i have a best friend atm. not saying i haven't any good friends, i just dunno that's all :)

17.) What type of men/women do you like?
Psychic Radio Says: "Truly(signum club mix)" by Delerium
I like people who show their true selves rather than hide behind personas or sheets of make-up and styles.

18.) What is my love life like?
Psychic Radio Says: "People All Around" by Andy C w/Various artists
O_O maybe i am having orgies as i sleep and waking up with no knowledge of them?

19.) What are my dreams?
Psychic Radio Says: "When tomorrow comes" by Eurythmics
About right. Bring on tomorrow so i can get on with life

20.) Will my dreams come true?
Psychic Radio Says: "Money, Success, Fame, Glamour" by Chloe Sevigny/Felix da Housecat/Macaulay Culkin/Seth Green/The Pop Tarts.
Money, success i'll take. I'd like to do it glamourously. I'm never much after fame. i like making things happen, but not actually do them as it were.

21.) How do you live your life?
Psychic Radio Says: "Gareth Brown Says" by Mclusky
First couple lines of lyrics:
"All of your friends are Cunts, your mother is a ballpoint pen thief."
Charming.

Tags: meme
Current Location: broadgate park, beeston, uk
Current Mood: tired

( 1 image )

So, last week in this entry I was saying i just got a pedometer and was going to see if whether my walks to and from lectures was going to be enough to keep fit. I've now completed 7 days worth of data, and it's not great really!

They say a rough guide is 10,000 steps a day, 13,000-15000 to lose weight.

Here's a graph of what the results are so far.


Monday i only got the pedometer, so the value that day is a bit of a dud. Tuesday was a weird day with not enough sleeping at the right times. Wednesday and Thursday are a good demonstration of a typical day. Friday i went out port tasting, which was fabulous btw. Saturday's results is a bit skewed as we were out late on Friday and some of the values carried over to the next day. Sunday is very accurate. We had a very lazy day.

Now to work on raising the averages from the week 1 average of 5752.

Tags: exercise, steps
Current Location: broadgate park, beeston, uk

Since I've been at uni, I've struggled to eat healthily. Partially because the wealth of late night pizza delivery places and a really good Chinese place is very tempting when you're tired after lectures, but also because i dont like having to shop very regulary, which means if i do buy fresh fruit or veg, i have only enough for the first part of the week before it goes bad. Couple this with the fact that i no longer work at weekends, I'm developing a lil pudge.

This surprised me as i thought the long walk to and from lectures would be enough to keep me relatively healthy, but apparently not.

I bought a pedometer/step counter the other day, and have only just started wearing it today. It's pretty accurate, and only starts counting after 4 seconds of 'steps' so it doesn't get triggered by you shuffling in your chair etc.. It also has a 7 day memory, so you can compare how far/how many steps you've walked in a day. I hope to note these down so i can plot graphically how lazy (or not) i am.

Today is the first day I've worn it. It's not the end of the day yet, and today has not been a typical day at all. Firstly, i was up all night doing maths coursework. I took a break at 5am and went for a run, which is something i have not done in a long while, and it felt that way too. I ran about 1mile and it was painful :/. I went to my first lecture, but bailed after that after i realised i was too tired to do anything that day, no matter how much coffee i consume. Even with a mile long run, and a walk to and from campus, i have currently only done 7726 steps. You're supposed to be around the 10k mark to stay healthy, 13-15k for fitness/weight loss. I hope to have a 'typical' result later this week.

No amount of step counting is going to help if i still eat like crap, so i had a big shop, and bought a mix of unhealthy stuff, and lots of healthy stuff. For example, my dinner's so far this week have been:
Thai prawn fish cakes (which are hot but tasty) and various salad bits.
Chicken escalope with more assorted salad bits.

Being a student i cant afford to vary my diet too vastly as i don't have the storage space, or the time, to have vastly different foods all the time. I know many fellow students who will go the entire week eating nothing but pasta and tomato sauce. Tbh, i could do that, my taste buds will hate me, but i could do that.

I will post the first graph next Monday in regards to steps/day. I'm actually quite interested what the results will be

Tags: exercise, food, pictures, uni
Current Location: broadgate park, beeston, uk
Current Mood: tired
Current Music: 28 Days Later Soundtrack - An Ending (Ascent) (By Brian Eno)

YEAH i'm hyper. I drink far too much caffeine, but i love this feeling, so long may it continue, until i have a heart attack.

Stuff i've done? I brought my camera from home, i bought a new graphics card, i've been ill in one way or another for the last 2 and a half weeks, which was right after i said how impressed i was that i hadn't gotten ill yet. Sods law eh?

I have handed in 2 reports already, i have another report, a mini project and some coursework on the go. I missed a week of lectures from being unwell, i've completely screwed my sleeping patterns at least half a dozen times also.

Been lucky enough to spend a lot of time with pixiepanic lately which makes me happy, even though one of us is usually ill lately :/.

Last week on Thursday, i had thought i had adequately recovered from my current bout of illness (swollen throat/sorethroat, evil cough), so i went out with the wines and spirits society for a social night. We usually have a wine tasting each week, but as it was Guy Fawkes night, it was excused. The plan was, go to Forest Fields to watch the Nottingham Council's fireworks, then get the tram back into Nottingham, and go to a variety of places for cocktails. The committee organised with 4 bars some special offers for us on cocktails which were much welcome as cocktails are generally bloody expensive, however if you consider the price against the cost of single shots of spirits, they're a bargain really.

( The night )

I have brought my camera from home, but haven't taken many photos yet. I have taken a few around the flat, and hope to get out onto campus and take some photos once i get some decent weather. Unfortunately I've missed out on all the chances to get nice photos of autumnal trees (which did look really pretty for all of 3 days a few weeks ago).

( Here's some photos from my flat. )

Tags: drink, pictures, uni, wine
Current Location: broadgate park, beeston, uk
Current Mood: hyper
Current Music: Symphonie of Soul (Original Mix) - Headstrong feat Tiff Lacey

Was browsing flickr and came across this picture. It has made me realise how much i've missed a proper autumn this year. If you remember last year, i was in Italy for a week where i was really impressed by what autumn can be like. Some photos from that trip are on my Picasa (from before i switched fully to flickr) here: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Garethness/Italy08Autumn?authkey=Gv1sRgCJGGyK-j84OfPg&feat=directlink

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net


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Tags: webcomics
Current Location: broadgate park, beeston, uk
Current Mood: amused