I know, I know, I'm just too damn loquacious up in here. I need to post less, right?

...

Ha.

Anyway! Hello LJ! How are we all? Good? Good.

Since my last update I have:

Been to Novacon! It was ok! We only really went for one day of the con, and I think it's probably better if you know more people there? It was interesting though, and I'm glad we went! I got to see johncoxon's movember stache, which was impressive! (And gave me to opportunity to say 'stachetastic' which is sadly not an opportunity oft afforded to me)

Turned 24! That's right, on the 25th of November, I officially became a year older. I still live at home, haven't got my degree yet and have yet to find another human being to connect with on a romantic level, but that's ok. I'm doing pretty good, I think.

Gotten a job! That's right, on the 26th of November, I officially became employed! (Third time this year, here's hoping it's the charm!) So I now work at Screwfix, which is a bit like Argos for Trade/DIY, if you don't know it. It's actually a really good job so far, the first two weeks were training/store filling. Store filling is basically labelling shelves/drawers, filling said shelves/drawers and then counting the things in the shelves/drawers. A bit tedious, but I think everyone takes care of the shop better because we all put the work into getting it set up.

The shop opened a couple of weeks ago, and I've been enjoying it! The customers are mostly friendly (although what is up with people walking in with a single, tiny screw and asking for one exactly the same [or the same but in metric]?? I'm not a fucking... manufacturer of screws? How should I know what size it is on sight?? I know we're called Screwfix, but jeeeez) and the whole team seems to get on really well. OTOH I do now say things like, "The team" which makes me feel like a blue-sky thinking middle-manager BUT I DON'T CARE. They pay me and I don't hate them, I'll sound like a corporate spiel spouting shmuck if they keep that up, haha.

Started a new course on the OU - I completed my first course (intro to Arts and Humanities, got a 67 overall, I think), and now I'm working through Ancient Greek Lit and Lang. I'm going to be taking the Language pathway, and I'm enjoying it! I've sent in two assignments and got a 98% and a 72%. Preeeeetty damn proud of myself, NGL.

Started a new night course - Supporting and Teaching Learning in Schools. This is basically teacher assistant training, and I'm doing it with a friend. We both seem to be enjoying it a lot, but neither of us have had much luck finding a placement yet... That kind of sucks, but I'm sure I'll get something in the new year!

Saw The Hobbit! OH MY GOSH, YOU GUYS, IT'S AWESOME! I know some people are underwhelmed? BUT I AM NOT ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE. TOTALLY IN LOOOOOOVE! I did enjoy LotR? But I SUPER hate Frodo, so having a Tolkien film without him in is kind of wonderful. Obviously I love Gandalf, because who doesn't, right? And Bilbo is great (despite Martin Freeman playing him - as a person, he's such a dick, but he is also a really great actor ;a;). BUT the dwarves were a revelation, ok? I didn't really rate them in the book, but just. Give me all dwarves. All the time. They are the beeeeest ;3;! And yes, I know they were positioning Aiden Turner as Kili as the hot one? WELL they succeeded. I would also like to swoon over Fili and Thorin just turned me into a puddle of goo. HE IS SO MAJESTIC. *_*

( And now, an art dump and some photos!Collapse )

So that's you up to date on me, Flist. Was it worth the wait? lol.

Anyway, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE~~

Have a seasonally appropriate Spidey (who also happens to be my new icon!)



Posted over at dreamwidth, comment here or there, or everywhere!

Tags: art, education, films, job, life

Browne urges there to be no limit on student tuition fees.

This makes me so, so, so angry! I can't even properly express just how awful I think those plans are. Education is so important and so necessary that to make it so only a few can really access it is completely disgusting.

As was pointed out in the article, the rich can afford it and the poor will apparently get help, but what about those in the middle? Most people aren't rich, and most people won't fall into the categories where they get the financial help they need - so what are you meant to do? Yes you could get a job, but I really think that it shouldn't be a necessity!

[on loans] "'If you choose to go into a job which doesn't pay very much or if you choose to go out of the workforce to build a family, you won't have to pay it back.'"

And everyone that gets a degree is guaranteed a high paying job, right? Anyone that has a degree only chooses to be unemployed or a low earner. That's nothing at all to do with an oversaturated job market or the fact that no one wants to fucking employ you!


I am sure that there must be changes in the way education is given out - the idea of degrees for everyone seems to act mostly to devalue a degree and make it so that the people who really want to gain an education in a particular field are surrounded by people doing it only for job opportunities, but I really don't think the way to do it is to price every fucker out of a degree.

So uh, got a letter from the OU today. "Sorry, your form is wrong and you can't get it in for the deadline, wanna pay us £650? Y/Y 8D?"

*siiiiiigh*

Well, I'll just reapply for the January course, but I'm bleeding out of my lady areas, I have an awful goddamn cold, I hate my hair and wardrobe, and it's MY fault that the form isn't right so it's MY fault I'm not starting this October and just....

UGH.

I'll be alright tomorrow, but I wish today were better =(

Stillllll. I sewed a really cool Iron Maiden patch (...by patch read logo-from-t-shirt) onto a vest and made a pretty cool skull cut out on a top. I'll take pics later, I think.


FINALLY.

Want a letter or a postcard? Please message me your address T_T

Or if you don't wanna message me, email me: absynthearray [at] aol [dot] com

I really have a craving to send out postcards or letters, and I pretty much want to send one to like, my entire FList, and I've lost everyone's addresses... DO YOU SEE MY DILEMMA?

So I've been kind of neglecting LJ for a bit, sort of a case of lethargy and nothing to say. Life's been carrying on as normal, the days are bright and sunny, I have a serious lack of money, I'm totally addicted to Stargate Atlantis...

I have made one note-worthy decision anyway - I'm not going to go back to Lampeter next year, instead I'm gonna stay here and start over with the Open University. I feel a lot better having made this decision, and I'm quite excited about the possibilities it opens up.

Yeah, my life is so interesting right now. Bet you're all glad you have ME on your FList ;D

Firstly a meme:( Gakked from seagreenishCollapse )

Blah, looking at modules for next year, failing to find any housing and remembering all the other things I'd love to study make finding motivation to come back to Lampeter next year very difficult.

It feels kinda like I'm going through the motions of being at Uni, and I'm not sure I want to spend so much money and time on it when I can't honestly say if I even care that much about getting this degree.

Maybe I'm expecting too much of this experience?

So, in case we forgot, I'm at uni, right? Which probably means I should be doing some sort of work...

One of my assignments is a Reflective (why do I keep typing reflexive??? THIS IS NOT A PRONOUN) Journal, which is 4000 words about 3 fieldtrips. I'm trying to do a little research on my least favourite of the trips, and JSTOR hasn't got an awful lot up, but then again it's a small-ish estate in mid-Wales, so what did I expect?

Anyway, what JSTOR does have is mostly about the Picturesque movement, which interests me. And I kind of want to go,

"HAFOD: A small estate, although it's clear the Forestry Commission has had a major effect on the landscape, its pitcturesque beginnings do show through. SPEAKING OF THE PICTURESQUE: I REALLY LIKE REV. GILPIN. LET ME TELL YOU WHY." And then I would quote bits about how you should plant trees and how it's beneficial to have nice big rocks in streams, and that one's viewing points should not be too elevated, as the view is then incorrect, and one doesn't get the variation that one does at ground level.

*sigh* Tomorrow shall be dedicated to this! I can hopefully get the majority of my research done, and write out a few notes about each place.

I should probably also start looking at my Ovid assignment, but then again, it's just a commentary, and that's hardly difficult. "OOOH, look, Ovid's being humorous! Before he was being melodramatic and v. v. v. serious, but here he's comparing the spurting blood to a leaky pipe! WHAT LULZ."