All Hallow's Eve (Eve)

Saturday 30th October 2010

So while not technically Halloween this evening my martial arts club went out part-ay-ing dressed to, urh, scary perfection.

I went as a Merlotte's waitress from True Blood who'd been beaten up/eaten by a vampire. I also did the make up for my friend (not in the photo - he was a Blue Brother zombie) and my two housemates who are in the picture - one vampire and one dead thing. It was a great night.

Earlier my sister and I had had a drag queen movieathon - Kinky Boots followed by the fabulous Priscilla Queen of the Desert!

Quote of the Day:

"A desert holiday, let's pack the drag away. You take the lunch and tea, I'll take the ecstasy. Fuck off you silly queer, I'm getting out of here. A desert holiday, hip hip hip hip hooray!" - Felicia aka. the wonderful Guy Pearce, Priscilla Queen of the Desert (1994)

Lecture of Fail

Friday 29th October 2010

Today's photo is of my lecture notes from a really dull and useless lecture on library skills. I've been a student now for three years. I know how to use the library and online resources! We skipped out half way through and went for coffee. It seemed right.

The uni computers were messing up though so doing any work (studying archaeological computing so we kinda need them) was frustrating and irritating.

But went for dinner round my friends house, watch half of the A-Team and played Cranium board game which was really funny.

Quote of the Day:

"Kill me. Kill me now. A quick death would be far less painful than this pointless lecture." - my facebook status updated via phone from the lecture of fail.

Lightwave 3D

Thursday 28th October 2010

Today's photo is of my new toy - Lightwave 3D. A very very powerful and shiny modelling program... that I have no idea how to use. I made a sphere. I then made that sphere bounce. I was proud.

My degree program at the moment is in archaeological computing, specifically in 3D modelling and something called 'Virtual Pasts' so I thought I'd give this a go. Unfortunately Lightwave is actually really complicated to use (who knew?!) and given my computer modelling experience and background is 0 I felt rather lost. Hopefully with the help of a few online tutorials and practice in some other modelling programs I may be able to make progress.

But not any time soon.

Did a self-defence course also at training tonight which was good fun and we had lots of people there! Given the disaster of the club last year it's really wonderful and positive to see so many new faces, and so many people enjoying it!

Quote of the Day:

"Murder begins where self-defence ends." - Georg Buchner

"Legitimate use of violence can only be that which is required in self-defence." - Ron Paul

Neck of a Doll

Wednesday 27th October 2010

Today's photo is of my neck with a necklace one of my friends made me years ago. I thought it looked quite doll-like and unreal.

I went around my sister's for dinner tonight which made a change and was lovely. We had rice and ice cream (though not together!) and she made chocolate muffins. Yum yum. We also watched Kick Ass :-D Ahh, love that film.

Quote of the Day:

"Aww dude, that is one gay looking taser." - Hit Girl, Kick Ass (2010)

Nom nom nom

Tuesday 26th October 2010

Today's photo is dinner. I cooked for me and my friend while we watched more True Blood (she hasn't seen it before so we're working our way through the series').

Chicken with chilli and garlic sauce. In the lovely bowls my sister got me for Christmas with the beautiful chopsticks I picked up in Vietnam. Yummy.

Quote of the Day:

Sophie-Anne: "Maenads are sad, silly things... relics who believe in the God who comes."

Bill: "Does he ever come?"

Sophie-Anne: "Of course not. Gods only exist in humans' minds, like money, or morality." - True Blood 211

Here subbie subbie subbie

Monday 25th October 2010

Had a sleepy day today. Went to work, my last lecture of the day was cancelled so just hung out at home with housemate for a few hours before training. His neck was hurting him today. Funny that.

Ended up sitting on the stairs for some reason, hence the photo looking up at the window. Nothing exciting.

Quote of the Day:

"You are totally a submissive. Subbie subbie subbie. Make the tea." - me, to my housemate after a rather bizarre conversation about him being a submissive... Oh dear.

UFC = Bad Idea

Sunday 24th October 2010

Was a quiet sort of day today. Nothing too exciting. Went training in the morning and then watched the UFC 122 in the afternoon.

Then attempted to try some of the mma stuff out on each other. Fun times. Perhaps with hindsight I shouldn't be allowed to watch the UFC. Putting a headlock on my housemate managed to crank his neck. In my defence, he not only told me to do it he told me how to do it. I plead 'not guilty'. I do have lovely carpet burns on my elbows now.

Quote of the Day:

"When I started, I used to go off just instincts. Then they took head butts away, so I had to learn some skills" - Mark Coleman

"A black belt only covers two inches of your ass. You have to cover the rest" - Royce Gracie

No Power in the 'Verse Can Stop Me

Saturday 23rd October 2010

Had a lovely day with good friends, yummy homemade cakes and the awesomeness that is Firefly. Best show in the world!

Finished it up late in the evening by watching the Swedish vampire film, "Let the Right One In" which was also very good.

Quote of the Day:

"You're afraid we're going to run our of air, that we'll die gasping. But we won't. That's not going to happen...

...We'll freeze to death first." - River, Firefly

Kitteh!

Friday 22nd October 2010

Today's photo is of a beautiful cat that followed my around my campus for a little bit. So cute! I wanted to steal, but resisted the urge.

Had a successful day today in that I got two sets of XML Schema working. So very very happy. Now I just need to start on the assignment. And my group now has a presentation title, "Innovative Applications of Augmented Reality in the Heritage Sector". Oh goodies. Now I just need to figure out what the hell I'm meant to be doing!!!

Plans for an early night today as am absolutely shattered but need to get up and do stuff tomorrow. Ie, baking in the morning in preparation for my marathon Firefly afternoon :-D

Quote of the Day:

Tyler: "Chuck, we got a problem. These girls want to take us upstairs and do despicable things to us."

Chuck: "Tyler, Tyler that's not such a great idea."

Tyler: "All the best nights of my life have begun with that very sentence." - Chuck 2.11

My Street

Thursday 21st October 2010

Today's photo is a view down my street. The weather was beautiful today, if cold, and I really liked the way the telephone wires stood out against the sky. Also, some clever students have decided their gatepost needs a hat, in the form of a traffic cone. So funny.

Quote of the Day:

Sookie: "He's your maker, isn't he?"
Eric: "Don't use words you don't understand."
Sookie: "You have a lot of love for him."

Eric: "Don't use words I don't understand." - True Blood 208

Black Eyes and Split Lips

Wednesday 20th October 2010

No, before anyone panics I haven't been beaten up. It's just make up. Honest. Though I did freak out my housemate and my parents when I spoke to them online.

Why did I want to look like I've been smashed repeatedly in the face? For Halloween of course! I was practising. I went shopping for the last few bits I needed for my costume so felt inspired to give it a go. Works pretty well.

In other news went to the orthodontist for x-rays and moulds to be made of my teeth. Have to have my wisdom teeth out so waiting to hear back about the where and when for that! Ugh.

Quote of the Day:

“When lip service to some mysterious deity permits bestiality on Wednesday and absolution on Sunday, cash me out.” - Frank Sinatra

Desk

Tuesday 19th October 2010

Today's photo is really lazy sadly. It's my desk, taken from a funny angle. I left it really last minute after feeling quite ill today.

But I was well enough this evening to cook burgers (filled with cheese) and potato wedges for two of my friends to celebrate one of them getting a new job. And watched a whole heap of True Blood. Good times.

Quote of the Day:

"I don't know what you heard, but those were screams of pleasure" - Hoyt, True Blood 208

Aahh Tchoo!

Monday 18th October 2010

Today's photo shows my lovely Buddha statue that sits next to me on my desk as well as the most important thing for me today: a box of tissues. Because I am all snotty and nasty. I dislike this a lot.

Busy day, made it to all my lectures, tutorial, meeting with possible project person (modelling the Roman fort of Babylon in Old Cairo - shiny!), training, pub dinner with friend and her parents... After tea and Buffy with housemate I am now very sleepy and slightly grumpy thanks to my nose. Stupid thing. Thought I was over my cold but apparently not.

Grrrr. Arrrgh.

Quote of the Day:
In reference to the werewolf in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: "It looks like a mechanical bunny"... [housemate laughs]... "Not a rabbit!!!!"

More hole than denim

Sunday 17th October 2010

After three hours training this morning followed by a pub lunch I was absolutely exhausted by the time I got home. So had an afternoon chilling out with my housemate drinking tea in front of the tv. Made him watch the Rocky Horror Picture Show (which I love but he... didn't) and Kick Ass (which we both agreed was awesome). I also used the time to continue patching up my favourite pair of jeans that are sadly now more hole than denim.

But! with the crafty use of a pair of old board shorts found in my conservatory I have patched up the worst of the holes so (from the knee up at least) they are 'almost' decent again!!! It may be easier to get rid of them but I'd never be able to replace them so I'm determined to keep fixing them for as long as is possible.


Quote of the Day:
"Give yourself over to absolute pleasure. Swim the warm waters of sins of the flesh - erotic nightmares beyond any measure, and sensual daydreams to treasure forever. Can't you just see it? Don't dream it, be it." - Frank (Rocky Horror Picture Show, 1975)

Diner Fight Guy: "The fuck is wrong with you, man? You'd rather die for some piece of shit that you don't even fucking know?"
Dave Lizewski: "The three assholes, laying into one guy while everybody else watches? And you wanna know what's wrong with me? Yeah, I'd rather die... so bring it on!" - Kick Ass (2010)

Butterfly cakes for the knock out

Saturday 16th October 2010

Went around my friend's house where a group of us watched the UFC 120 (live at London's O2 Arena). Pretty good fight night. I made butterfly cakes with real butter icing and also some flapjacks that didn't go so good. Flapjacks never work out for me.

Earlier my free Saturday was spent with my housemate tackling the mess of brambles that was our back garden. It looks much better now, though my arms and legs are a covered in cuts. Stupid brambles.


Quote of the Day:
Commentator: "What went wrong?"
Dan Hardy: "I got punched in the face". - UFC 120

XML

Friday 15th October 2010

Ok, so today's picture isn't exactly a photo. More a screen capture showing my first ever attempt at XML coding for my archaeology masters. It's not working. The pink bits at the bottom? Should be green. And I have no idea why they aren't. Even the lecturer didn't seem to know. It's fried my brain.

And I thought I was doing so well!

Quote of the Day:

Last year I punched a shop-assistant over the duvet tog-rating system and went berserk over a mince pie. I am stung by accusations that I over-react. - Rhod Gilbert

Friend Love

Thursday 14th October

Today's photo is me, taken at around 11:30pm after spending the evening in the pub with my friends from training. One of them drew on my arm. She is lovely.

The rest of the day was fairly productive - lectures (though one student didn't show), scanning books into pdf files, organising folders, making timetables, training, chatting with my friend until late. Sleep now methinks. It's almost midnight. *yawn*


Quote of the Day:
"Out of the twenty thousand students at this university, you have to be the note taker for my ex" - my housemate after finding out I'm his ex-girlfriend's learning support.

Hat hijacking

Wednesday 13th October 2010

Today's photo is of my housemate's hat which I stole after him and his girlfriend ran into my room wearing their hats and with blue blankets over their heads making woo noises. Strange I know. Anyway, I wore this for pretty much the rest of the day/evening and left two little notes inside the two pockets on the ear flaps for when I eventually give it back. At the moment I still have it. It's a nice hat.

In other news my brain was fried by the mere mention of XML coding (first uni assignment - yikes!) and had a lovely evening with my friend watching True Blood and eating chicken, rice and sweet'n'sour sauce :-)

Quote of the Day:
"You should try the chicken fried steak. It's like a chicken and a steak got together and made a baby. A delicious, crispy baby" - Hoyt, True Blood 203

W(kgm2s-2) = a volcano

Tuesday 12th October 2010

Today's photo is from one of my note-taking lectures. This class is meant to be 'basic' maths for students who didn't take maths at A-level, or got below a C grade. The class is part lecture, part practical and having taken the notes I decided to try and give some of the questions a go myself.

I failed.

So I gave up and drew a volcano instead. It seemed right. The question was about a volcano anyway! I haven't done proper maths in almost seven years. Not since GCSE (and a few brief weeks at AS-level where I just got confused and annoyed). Owchies.

Quote of the Day:
"Machete don't text" - Danny Trejo, 'Machete' (2010)

00:14

Monday 11th October 2010

Left taking a photo a bit late this evening - in fact just before bed. So the photo is of my phone showing the time I was calling it a night! Having had a busy day (up since 7am, working to 6pm, training until 7.30pm, pub, chatting with best friend) by the time I got to bed I was shattered!

Quote of the Day:
Listening to two Freshers on the bus having a [serious] discussion about a zombie apocalypse: "It's the eternal question isn't it: Which are more effective, fast zombies or slow zombies?" !!!!

Surfing

Sunday 10th October 2010

Today was a special day - and not just because it was 10-10-10! It was also my sister's 20th birthday so we headed out with the university surf club for an afternoon on the beach catching some waves. I've surfed before, in Australia, but it was my first time the cold UK waters, and my sister's first time ever!

We both had a brilliant time. Lots of fun even if we did get a little chilly once the BBQ/bonfire on the beach died down. Afterwards finally got home and housemates had cooked a lovely roast dinner (complete with chocolate fudge cake!) which was well received.

Quote of the Day:
Had to Google a couple of surfing quotes for today but these two really stood out for me as what surfing is all about:

Surfing soothes me, it's always been a kind of Zen experience for me. The ocean is so magnificent, peaceful, and awesome. The rest of the world disappears for me when I'm on a wave. - Paul Walker

Surfing is such an amazing concept. You're taking on Nature with a little stick and saying, 'I'm gonna ride you!' And a lot of times Nature says, 'No you're not!' and crashes you to the bottom. - Jolene Blalock

Cunning Hats and Rabbits in Waistcoats

Saturday 9th October 2010

Today's photo shows the aim of today - to complete my sister's birthday present. I have knitted her a cunning hat (Firefly fans should know what I'm talking about!). It's neatly wrapped along with her other present - an opal necklace I brought back from Australia. Hope she likes it.

I am still voiceless, which scuppered my plans for the evening as I wasn't going to anywhere where I had to speak. No Winchester pubs and no dodgy 80s nightclub with my sister and (worryingly) my housemates. Instead a nice quiet evening in watching "Alice in Wonderland".

Quote of the Day:

"Have I gone mad? "

"I'm afraid so. You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret... All the best people are."

- Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Two for the Day

Friday 8th October 2010

Ohh two photos for today! Is this cheating? Perhaps but I couldn't really decide between them. They both represent two very important parts of today.

The first one was taken as I walked home from work/university. I left my house at 9:20am this morning and got in just before 8pm. Talk about owch. But it was a good day, even if very very VERY busy.

The second photo represents the fact that I have lost my voice. Almost completely. It comes and goes but is either a whisper, a croak, or not there at all! Quite entertaining - for everyone else.

And a new section:

Quote of the Day
When my lecturer asked the what the difference was between the Internet and the World Wide Web I croaked out: "The World Wide Web has www dot in front of it".

Judging by the laughter that was the wrong answer.

Lulworth Cove

Thursday 7th October 2010

Today's photo is of the beautiful Lulworth Cove on the Devon coast. I was sent there as part of my job and it was lovely. Nice to get out of the city for a bit and enjoy some fresh country air and spend a couple of hours on the beach (working of course!).

Student Again

Wednesday 6th October 2010

My first day back in lectures - I am officially a student again. Especially as I finally got my brand new shiny student ID. And that's what today's photo is of. Me and my ID. Very happy.

My course is looking good/interesting/very difficult and I am glad I'm doing it part-time. It's full and proper title is "Archaeological Computing: Virtual Pasts" (which does sound very intellectual so I'll have to see how I do :-D )

I perhaps should have put a photo up today of the hole in our kitchen floor under the washing machine but this is a happier thing. Plus the landlord's promised the bathroom will be fixed in two/three weeks!

What's in my bag?

Tuesday 5th October 2010

Ok, so I confess I almost forgot about this today but I was very busy and more than slightly ill. So today's picture is a photo of all the stuff I've been carrying around in my bag today.

Namely:
- notepad for my notetaking duties
- pens (of various colours), highlighters and a checklist in a nice organised case
- flyers for my martial art
- Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead" for reading while waiting for people
- umbrella (for just in case)
- purse
- housekeys
- throat sweets
- tissue
- another pen
- diary
- lipbalm

So not much then...

Waiting

Monday 4th October 2010

Today's photo is taken inside the Student Services Building on my campus having finally managed to pay the first instalment of my fees for the year. Woo! The glass ceiling of the building is covered in solar panels and is a really nice, modern building. Very light.

Also in the news today - I actually started my job properly as a note taker for disabled students. I met three of the four I'll be working with for this semester and attended lectures in geology, history and politics. Fun times.

Sunshine through the Rain

Sunday 3rd October 2010

I had quite a few choices for photos today (martial arts demo, old friend visiting) but this picture was taken looking out the window in the pub. It was an odd day for weather today. Rain and sun at the same time. And it was taken in the last few moments spent with a good friend that's leaving. Mind you... they were all watching the football so that might explain why I was looking out the window!

Reflections

Saturday 2nd October 2010

So the question of what exactly I'm going to take photos of during the next 365 days has been on my mind a lot. Some days important things happen. Nights out, events, travels etc. but for the most part my days are pretty much the same. Not too exciting. Perhaps, dare I say it, a little dull. So what do I photograph on those days?

Well, I don't have an SLR so my attempts at fancy art-shots will probably be very far from the mark as today's entry shows, but I like trying. And you never know, perhaps by the end of the year I'll be able to get some really nice photos using my lil' old camera! Practice makes perfect after all.

I called this one reflections, and not only for the obvious reason. This is me, my room, reflected in the top of one of my favourite perfume bottles. Today has in some ways been about reflection so it seemed apt.

First Photo

Friday 1st October 2010

Ok, so my first entry may not look like anything more than a few friends on a night out, but this photograph is very special.

Taken at my friend's leaving party, this is the last time we're all going to be together for a very long time. Who knows when we might see each other again. We have all been really close for the past four/five years and sadly it is coming to an end.

I suppose it's quite a poetic way to start the challenge - with an ending. But after all, an ending is a beginning.

Beginnings

While I was travelling for the fist half of this year, I met a woman who told me about something called the '365 Day Challenge'. Started by Taylor McKnight back in 2004, his aim was to take one photo a day for a year. It documented a year in his life and was a lovely way to look back and remember all the things that you may forget during that time.

This made me wonder what a year in my life would look like.

So starting from today (well, technically yesterday as I didn't have time to write this yesterday!) I will do the same.

Why am I embarking on this rather odd challenge?

Well, many reasons. I guess most importantly now is a time of change in my life. I graduated university and then spent the last year working and travelling around the world. Now I am returning to university to begin a Masters degree and so the next twelve months are going to be new and exciting. I want a record of this. We are only young once. We are only here one. After these 365 days are over we cannot get them back. And as much as we'd like to return to those perfect moments in life where we feel truly happy, we can only look forward to creating new ones.

And I'm rubbish at keeping a diary!

So this is my challenge. Easy to take a photo every day? Well, I know what I'm like. I may start this with all the enthusiasm in the world, but maybe in a week, a month life will start intruding. I will get lazy and the urge to finish this will depart. I won't let it! After coming up with many hare-brained schemes over the years and never really seeing any of them through, I WILL do this.

So feel free to yell, bitch, poke, abuse me if I seem to be slacking at all. For the next 365 days my camera is going to be my constant companion.

One photo, every day, for a year. Let's begin!