Vita ante mortem

Friday 25th February 2011

Today's photo is of the tattoo I want to get. I wrote it on my arm in pen to see what it would look like. While I love the words and the meaning, I am unsure where I want to get it. Nowhere obvious! I liked the idea of it on my arm, but after having it on there it's just too 'in the way'.

Spent the day reading silly stuff online and went to Tesco in the evening with my friend, her boyfriend, my other friend and my sister to pick up supplies for the weekend (and also dinner for me and the sister!).

Packed a bag for the training seminar and made plans for the early start required in the morning, then got an early night!

The tattoo, by the way, is in Latin. I need to get the grammar checked properly but, in full, it should say:

Vita ante mortem

Itineri ante destinatio

[Life before Death

Journey before Destination]

Sunshine from my Window...

... makes me happy :-D

Thursday 24th February 2011

Long day in labs learning more AutoCAD stuff. Today it was very simple - learning about text and exporting files.

Went training in the evening which was fun - gearing up for the full two days of training ahead this weekend. Sat in the pub for a bit and then headed home for food.

Grazing

Wednesday 23rd February 2011

Student didn't turn up for the 10am again (grrr) so headed home via the library to get some stuff sorted for another student. My graze box arrived today - lots of lovely snacks. I got olives, 'himalayas and beyond' (macadamia nuts, goji berries and dried pineapple) cheese and onion focaccia, and spicy maize crackers. Om nom nom.

Had hoped to go around a friends in the evening but plans fell through so crashed out at home.

Tickets

Tuesday 22nd February 2011

A looooong day in labs today, learning more 3ds Max fun. It's going ok. Just so much to learn and the feeling it's going in one ear and straight out the other as soon as I've completed the practical. Gah!

Went to yoga with my sister this evening and then made food in the evening. My housemate got back from cat-sitting and our tickets to see Rush in May at London's O2 Arena have arrived so got very excited.

Busy Bee

Monday 21st Feburary 2011

It was a busy day today, even though my 8:45am student didn't show. After lunch I headed down to the NOC for my afternoon lecture, then up to my campus for a workshop in PTM (polynomial texture mapping) run by a Californian company called Cultural Heritage Imaging (C-H-I). Was quite interesting. From there I stuck my nose in a Kempo before running off to ballet.

Very good session. My thighs were actually trembling afterwards! Spent some time in the pub before slinking off home to cook. Today's photo is another hamster one. She was being curious and cute!

Retail Therapy

Saturday 19th February 2011

Went shopping in town today with my sister and friend. Wasn't really looking for much, but I did come across two beautiful photo albums on offer which I'm going to use when I have the money to print off the photographs I took whilst travelling.

Am breaking them down into five categories: South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand & the Cook Islands, and finally California. These two albums will be for Asia (the pale cream and pink one) and New Zealand/Cook Islands (because the blue is actually really bright and reminded me of the colour of the sea!). 200 photos per album... that sounds like a lot but considering how many I actually took while travelling I'm going to have to be VERY picky!

Sister and I cooked in the evening and chilled out with The Mentalist. Good series so far.

Fashion Fox-Paz

Friday 18th February 2011

This evening we all went out to celebrate my friends 20-something birthday (hint: she's now only a couple of years off the big 3-0!). The theme was fashion faux pas so we all turned up in various mismatches of clothes and headed to an 80's bar for a night of dancing.

The photo is of my friend and her boyfriend wearing a 'Texas Tuxedo' - denim jacket, jeans and, at one point at least, a denim waistcoat. Also, as the photo shows, red lipstick. It was mine. He let me put it on him. Why, I'm not entirely sure but it gave us all a giggle.

Peek-a-boo

Thursday 17th February 2011

Today's photo show's Mindy-hamster poking her nose out of her house to investigate whatever it was I was doing in my room.

I spent the day in labs learning some more AutoCAD, and was too tired to train because of it.

Fort-in-Progress

Wednesday 16th February 2011

After my student didn't show up for this morning's lecture, I played around in 3ds Max and created the basics of my project - 'reconstructing' the Roman fort of Babylon in Cairo. For a rough first draft, it's not too bad.

Another Day in Labs

Tuesday 15th February 2011

Kicked sister out of bed this morning and then pottered around the house a bit until I headed to labs early to attempt to get some of the 3ds Max practicals out of the way. Had a lecture on landscape simulation and the program Vue (used for the film 'Avatar' amongst a huge number of movies!), which was fascinating.

Sadly yoga was cancelled so I trailed home through the rain to a nasty house - still no talking with housemates. They can make the first move. I'm sick of it. Cleaned the kitchen and made dinner, as today's photo shows - chicken, mash potato, peas and gravy. Yum yum.

Spent the rest of the evening in my room, watching comedy on iPlayer and 4oD. Oh what an exciting life I lead!

Valentine's Ballet

Monday 14th February 2011

Valentine's Day.

Today's post isn't, like some single women, going to be a lament that I am *alone*, nor is it going to be a girl power, who needs men, rant. Truth be told, I don't care about it either way! But some people do, as today's photo shows. My best (female) friend stuck this through my door and after all the rubbish to do with my housemates (another day of silence!), it made me smile.

My morning lectures were cancelled again, but at least I was told in advance this time! Went to my afternoon one and stopped in at the council on the way home to try and sort out tax stuff. Grr. Phone my Granny as it was her birthday today. She'd been to the beach so sounded happy.

In the evening I went to my first ballet lesson in over 15 years! One of the girls on my course goes and it was great fun, even if I wasn't exactly brilliant. Will definitely be going back. Really really loved it, and it worked certain areas of my body (*ahem*arse*ahem*) that really need working! Met up with some friend's in the pub afterwards and my sister and friend came back to watch "A Knight's Tale" with the wonderful, late Heath Ledger. Sister ended up crashing at mine because it was raining and she didn't want to walk the 300-or-so metres back to her house!

Quote of the Day

From "A Knight's Tale", an appropriately romantic quote for today!

"It is strange to thing, I haven't seen you since a month. I have seen the new moon, but not you. I have seen sunsets and sunrises, but nothing of your beautiful face. The pieces of my broken heart are so small that they could be passed through the eye of a needle. I miss you like the sun misses the flower; like the sun missed the flower in the depths of winter. Instead of beauty to direct its light to, the heart hardens like the frozen world your absences has banished me to. I next compete in the city of Paris. I will find it empty and in the winter if you are not there. Hope is what guides me, that is what gets me through the day and especially the night. The hope that after you're gone from my sight, it will not be the last time I look upon you. I remain yours, A Knight of Your Heart."

- William Thatcher (A Knight's Tale, 2001)

Boxing Black Eye

Sunday 13th February 2011

Well turns out I do have quite a few injuries from yesterday. Mostly aching muscles and bruises on my arms, though if you look closely at today's photo you can see faint bruising around my eye (towards the bottom outside corner). Almost a black eye!

Went training for three hours this morning and then went home to shower and make lunch while everyone else went to the pub. Still angry at housemates and that hasn't gone away. My sister came over to watch Ireland vs. France at the rugby (France won 25-22, mostly because of penalties due to an undisciplined Irish side. A shame.) and then I got a back massage due to hugely aching muscles and I gave her legs a Thai massage.

Friend's knew how out of sorts I was with housemates so they picked me up and took them around their house for dinner and film - "Days of Thunder" with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. I'd never seen it before and quite enjoyed it. Had to walk home in the rain though.

Got in to discover parents had left me an msn message. They'd tried phoning the house but no one had picked up, despite both housemate's rooms being next to the phone. They never answer it. It just made me even more annoyed at them >.< Grrrrrr!

Quote of the Day

"I'm more afraid of bein' nothing than I am of being hurt"

- Cole Trickle (Days of Thunder, 1990)

England thrashes Italy

Saturday 12th February 2011

Had a fantastic morning training session where we all put on boxing gloves and mouth guards and tried to hit each other! I got hit in the face numerous times. Luckily, very little damage done. I hope. Will have to see in the morning!

My sister came over in the afternoon and we watched the Six Nations rugby. First up: England vs. Italy. Given that the final score was 59 (yes, you read that right) to England, 13 to Italy, you could say we won. Just a little! Ashton scored four tries, out of the 8 in total for England. Couldn't believe it! Don't know whether it was us playing exceedingly well, or Italy playing very very poorly, or a mixture of both. But fantastic result!

Second game was Scotland vs. Wales. Not such a thrilling game. Final score Wales 24, Scotland 6. Watched Michelle Rodriguez' 'Girl fight' after a pasta dinner.

Tried talking to my housemate but he appears to be sulking at me (no idea why) so I'm returning the favour. My sister had to clean up the spilled hot chocolate from last night as I refused to do it and my housemate's clearly weren't going to. GAHHHH!

Quote of the Day

Two from 'Girlfight':

Adrian: "My life with you is war."

Diana: "Maybe. Maybe life is just war, period."

...

Hector: "Inside, you know yourself?"

Diana: "Yeah. I do."

Hector: "The that's all you need."

Don't Cry for Me, Argentina

Friday 11th February 2011

After this late afternoon's work lecture my sister came over and we made pancakes for dinner, painted our nails (such a rare occurrence for me that they are today's photo!) , did face masks and watched 'Evita' - yes, the one with Madonna, Jonathon Pryce and Antonio Banderas. I hadn't seen it before. It *only* came out in 1996, took me long enough! But I really enjoyed it.

It would have been a nice evening if not for my two housemates, who both managed to wind me up. Firstly, I thought they would be out as we'd all been invited to another friend's house for an Indiana Jones night. They appeared to be going... until I said I wasn't. Then when I was making a cup of hot chocolate one of them tried to stop me leaving the kitchen and (to cut a long story short) some of the drink was spilt and I refused to clean it up. As far as I know, it's still there.

Gah! Irritation!

Quote of the Day:

Two quotes to day, the first a *real* Eva Peron quote, the second a quote from 'Evita'.

"I have one thing that counts, and that is my heart; it burns my soul, it aches my flesh, and it ignites my nerves: that is my love for the people and Peron."

"What is the good of the strongest heart in a body that's falling apart? A serious flaw."

End of a Trilogy

Thursday 10th February 2011

After another loooong session learning AutoCAD (trench diagrams today, thrilling!) got home and decided to finish the last book in Brandon Sanderson's 'Mistborn' trilogy, "Hero of Ages". While I will say I predicted who the Hero of Ages would be, I had no idea how Sanderson would get there. I laughed, I was amazed, shocked, in fear, stunned and in the end sobbed my eyes out. Such a fantastic series, a fitting (if brutal and sad) ending. Absolutely loved the series. Cannot rave any less about it!

The photo for today also shows my new photo box, which is beautiful.

Quote of the Day:

Two from "Hero of Ages" by Brandon Sanderson.

Haddek: "It sounds to me, young one, that you are searching for something that cannot be found."

Sazed: "The truth?"

Haddek: "No. A religion that requires no faith of its believers."

...

Elend: "Each moment you fight is a gift to those in this cavern. Each second we fight is a second longer that thousands of people can draw breath. Each stroke of the sword, each koloss felled, each breath earned is another victory! It is person protected for a moment longer, a life extended, an enemy frustrated!

In the end, they shall kill us. But first they shall fear us!"

John Wayne's "Tomorrow"

Wednesday 9th February 2011

After *all* my lectures today (one - the other was cancelled) I spent the afternoon playing around with some new fonts I'd downloaded. Using Adobe Photoshop and some of my travel photos I had a very fun, though unproductive, afternoon.

Today's photo is one I took travelling across Australia by train (in this case on The Ghan from Adelaide to Alice Springs). I was awake before dawn and found a quiet place on the train to take some pictures of the sunrise. This one used a beautiful font called 'Taibaijan'.

Quote of the Day:

Just to clarify the quote from the photo. It's by John Wayne and I think it's beautiful.

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life.

Comes in to us at midnight very clean.

It's perfect when it arrives, and it puts itself in our hands.

It hopes we've learned something from yesterday."

Virtual Wineglass

Tuesday 8th February 2011

Went into labs early today so could finish off all my practical work before today's lecture. Then I spend the rest of the time modelling this beautiful 3d wineglass. Shame there was no virtual wine to go in it! It's not perfect, but it's a start.

Went to yoga straight after labs which was well-needed! Mmmm relaxation.

Drinking the Results!

Monday 7th February 2011

Went to my 9am lecture this morning only my student didn't show up and I didn't get a phone call from my boss until 11am to say she wasn't coming it. I'd worked it out by then! Luckily I had work I could get on with and my afternoon lecture was fine.

Went to training in the evening and the results of yesterday's gradings were in...

Everyone passed! So they got their new belts (in a funny belt-changing ceremony) and in the pub afterwards they had the now-traditional shot ceremony (yes, our club has a lot of ceremony's!). Whatever grade you get, you have to have shots that correspond with their belt colour. So if they've gone from white to yellow they have to do a shot of vodka/white sambuca and a shot of tequila.

The photo shows my friend's shots lined up - she got her brown belt so had to do a white shot (sambuca), yellow shot (tequila), green shot (apple sour), blue shot (blue Corkey's) and a brown shot (Jagermeister). Fun times.

Gradings

Sunday 6th February 2011

Today was the beginner's first exam for my martial arts club. Six of the white belts took their yellow belt exam, as well as one yellow belt going for green and one blue belt going for brown.

I watched and took photos. The photo selected for today is my sister putting a pin on her poor grading partner. The look on his face says it all!

That evening went around my friends to watch last night's UFC (126). Love Forrest Griffin :-D

Two for Joy

Saturday 5th February 2011

Spent the day baking today. Made vanilla cupcakes and oat&raisin cookies. That evening went around a friend's for pizza, chatting, crisps+dip... and my cookies! Nice, quiet evening. Though housemates were both told off during the course of the evening and went home early sulking.

Photo was taken this morning from my bedroom window - signs of a good day ahead?!

Quote of the Day:

The magpie rhyme, for those who haven't heard it!

"One for sorrow

Two for joy

Three for a girl

Four for a boy

Five for silver

Six for gold

Seven for a secret,

Never to be told."

Tea for One

Friday 4th February 2011

Today's photo shows the lovely teapot/cup that my sister got me. I felt very posh having 'tea for one' after this evening!

Cooked after a good training session. We had chicken and mushrooms cooked in the oven, with broccoli, green beans and mash potato and gravy! Om nom nom.

AutoCAD

Thursday 3rd February 2011

Started learning Autodesk's AutoCAD in lectures today. It seems a lot harder than 3ds Max, which surprised me. I did manage to model my mobile phone though, as above's photo shows!!!

Training this evening and then just chilled out afterwards. Been watching 'The Mentalist'. I really like it, apart from sadly like almost every American show it lacks integrity. Why do I say this? Well in every science-y/logical drama where you have an faithless/reasonable/thinking main character who denies the existence of the 'supernatural', there is always one episode where they hint that it is "possible" for this stuff to exist. 'House' did it, 'Grey's Anatomy'.... It irritates the hell out me!

Chinese New Year

Wednesday 2nd February 2011

Gung hoi fat choi!!!! Year of the Rabbit!

It we celebrated Chinese New Year this evening our friends' house (they both have Chinese mothers: one is Swiss-Chinese and the other is Scottish-Chinese) to make proper Chinese food.

I helped make the dumplings and wontons. Well, I say helped... I dropped quite a few and made a bit of a mess so my friend handed me his wonderful digital SLR to play with, hence the above photo! I was quite happy messing around with the aperture settings.

We a little (read: a lot) of wine and food and sort of watched Shanghai Soccer (but were really chatting and laughing around). Good evening.

3ds Max

Tuesday 1st February 2011

So today I started learning Autodesk's 3ds Max graphics program. I need to get good at this if I want any chance of getting a job once my course has finished. I'm studying 3d and 'virtual' applications of technology for archaeology and I'll be working on a 'reconstruction' (though the term is misleading it's the easiest one to use!) of a Roman fort in Cairo. Fun times!

Mess mess mess

Monday 31st January 2011

First day of Semester two today. Had lectures all day - two Spanish ones in the morning and an afternoon geology one. Didn't want to train this evening so had a nosey around town after the geology one (as I was down there already). Bought some tights but that was it.

Wandered up to the pub to meet up with everyone after training. Very sleepy! Photo shows the mess my room is today. Apparently we have people coming around to view the house tomorrow so it needs cleaning urgently!

Another Lazy Sunday

Sunday 30th January 2011

Training this morning followed by pub as usual. Sister came over afterwards for food and tv. Cleaned out hamster cage this evening. Mindy is better (friendlier) but still very skittish.

Hoodie

Saturday 29th January 2011

Went training this morning (shockingly - I don't normally do Saturday mornings!). It was quite fun but I am severely lacking in motivation at the moment. A group of people came back to mine afterwards and we had American-style pancakes with bacon and golden syrup (couldn't get a hold of any maple syrup sadly).

It was a miserable day so I am wearing a warm hoodie to try and keep warm. Though there was a little bit of sunshine so not all bad!

Sister cooked pasta in the evening for a group of us. Yum yum.

Purple Sky at Night

Friday 28th January 2011

Today's photo shows the sunset sky from my bedroom window. It was very purple and sort of eerie this evening.

Quote of the Day:

"A man can only lead when others accept him as their leader, and he only has as much authority as his subjects give to him. All the brilliant ideas in the world cannot save your kingdom if no one will listen to them."

- from Brandon Sanderson's "The Well of Ascension"

Well of Ascension

Thursday 27th January 2011

Managed training this evening, although I wasn't over happy. Have been lent the second book in Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy: "The Well of Ascension". Loving it already!

Quote of the Day:

"It's easy to believe in something when you win all the time... The losses are what define a man's faith."

- from Brandon Sanderson's "The Well of Ascension"

Drag-Queen Bratwursts

Wednesday 26th January 2011

Walked to the local Aldi to pick up some German food for this evening - cooking around my friends house. We ended up making Bratwursts with beef and onion sauce, Frikadellen, green beans and Swiss Spatzie, with Baklava to finish. Very yummy, with lots of wine! Also watched "Priscilla: Queen of the Desert"! Love that movie.

Exam Scribing

Tuesday 25th January 2011

Had an exam to scribe for this afternoon down at the NOC. It went ok, with minimum amount of confusion! Went to yoga in the evening which was lovely to relax.

Bookshelf

Monday 24th January 2011

Today's photo shows my bookshelf. A motley collection of books, folders, notebooks, photo albums and other bits.

Didn't train tonight. Just sort of sulked at home (still not well - grrr at times I hate being a woman!)

Meercat

Sunday 23rd January 2011

Watched training this morning. It was at one of the local senior Senseis dojos and everyone enjoyed it! Went to the pub afterwards, via the petshop so I could pick up some chew sticks and treats for Mindy-hamster and then had a quiet afternoon at home.

Today's photo is Mindy doing her meetcat impression in her wheel!

Photo Memories

Saturday 22nd January 2011

Today's photo is off my wardrobe, that is covered in photos! Some are from my travels and some are from university. I love having pictures up around my room, so many good memories!

Had noodles for dinner tonight. Yum yum.