The Late Night Shower Appreciation Society

I just wanted to write a little post of recommendation about late night showers in the dark (I recommend candles or spa lights for those with balance problems*)

Nothing beats them for having a bit of "me-time" and soothing away the ache in the shoulder from holding a pencil all day!

Try it...you know you want to



*I can not be held responsible for people who fall over/hit their heads/do this whilst drunk/ or naturally have a lack of control of the limbs.

Advent Calendars

Another productive day in the borough...not!

I'm behind on my major project, but all I seem to do is work - I wonder if Facebook is ruining my productivity...

A special thank you goes to Kate who bought me an advent calendar coz my Mummy never let me have one!

I'm now looking forward to mingling with all the poor Third years on Friday at our course social.
I can't wait to see everyone costumes (and rather hoping I'm not the only one dressed up!)
It should be a laugh! *rubs hands together gleefully*

Until then, I need to work...concept generation here I come...

Think I'll break for Neighbours first...

I know where you live....

Little do you readers suspect...but I am a stalker.

Yes I know where you live...each and everyone one of you.

So a big hello goes out to the people who keep coming back who live in...(you can say hello back and make me feel like I have some friends if you want...)

St Helen's Staffordshire
Bracknell
Egham/Slough (I have a feeling that might be a loverly girl called Nat)
Lambeth (London)
Reading
Bletchley, Milton Keynes

ok, ok if you are really freaked out, you can actually have a look at the info yourself.

If you click on the counter at the every bottom of the page you can see all the details about the visitors to the site!

**I'm not a stalker, honest, although I'm aware that is what all stalkers say...**

The Christmas Tree Fairy

The last few days have been a bit hectic, I've been running around trying to achieve about 4 billion things at once and seemingly getting nowhere!

I'm so sick of being a student, I'm missing out on getting paid, boy, I can't wait to leave Lufbra!

She's been good to me, but I've outgrown her now, I need to move onwards and upwards.
I have a lot to offer people but I just don't feel I can do all that here - its too incestuous and everyone knows too much.
I've always been the same - at about this point in school I was so chomping at the bit to get out so I'm kinda excited about it too. I spoke to an old mate this morning tho, and he's still looking for a job and has down graded his hopes to a Project management job, it sucks!

Hence why I can't wait to get away and meet new people

Well I've done zero work today - I've been busy sorting out my fancy dress costume for Friday night...Christmas Tree Fairy, here I come...!

I wonder if I should have a small Christmas Tree attached to my bum...

xx

A Man about a Dog

**Firstly, hello to anyone who has seen this blog on my MSN name, its boring, but feel free to have a read ;)...I have deleted one post as it reveals too much about other people!**

Well its another new day in the Big L and I'm not feeling too great.

Struggling with the workload as usual, I have a "date" with Mazim the (Iraqi) electronics guy.
I have a feeling I'm going to have to let him touch my leg in return for some help - Yes I really will pimp my body for the sake of my degree - I call it Dedication.

I'm also going to see a man about a dog...*ahem*...wind turbine - but I don't know what I'm going to ask him... :S

I was sending out some emails yesterday but no-one told me that one of our tutors (that we all find a little difficult) had been CCed in - how glad am I that I didn't call him by his (rather unflattering) nickname...its was a close shave...!

Right off to the labs for more heated blanket fun!

**saw this and was reminded how cheeky (ex)students can be...**

Witty

I've started to feel like I'm not as witty as I could be on here and its giving me a lack in confidence...

**Normal service resumed soon**

Busy Bee

This is just a quick post for today - my old housemate Hayley is coming to visit for the evening which will probably mean copious amounts of drinking (lemonade for me), flirting and staying out late!

I've got to get a bit of work done before she arrives tho, and I have to go into town to get a few bits and pieces - oooo what a fun like I lead ;) oh yeah and the cement...

better crack on

xx

A Brand New Day, or is it....

Another bright new day has dawned and it really doesn't feel bright so I'm wondering if its really new too - maybe its a second hand day...

I'm sat in my room waiting for some people to come and see round the house - it's that time of year again when all the little freshers have to find houses for the next academic year - yes we're on the ball here in the big L and do things a little before the rest of the world!

I've bought a couple of heated car seats off the internet/eBay - I'm going to bastardise them for parts for the heated seat, but I need a few to see which one will be best and run tests on them with concrete slabs - which Kate has kindly agreed to help me with in the form of giving me a lift to B&Q...I know I'm strong, but I don't think I'll manage 2 miles carrying a 25Kg bag of cement....

I have my first "free" day since starting Uni 4 years ago, today...I actually have no more lectures scheduled for Fridays.

This is the first time its happened to me - I seem to be the unlucky one who always got the awkward schedule of 1 hour here, and 2 hours there and never had a day "off", whereas Isabelle has had Wednesdays and Fridays off since the start of this term and is now down to just going in on Mondays and Tuesdays! The cheek!

I'm also finally going to start designing today or tomorrow.

So far this term we've all been running around doing research and trying to get the RSA finished (which we didn't exactly have much designing on) that none of us have actually done any design! I have a bit of documentation to finish (and some flash interfacing) and then I'll be let loose on the designing! WOOOOOOO

I also found out for the submission after Christmas, that I don't need to do engineering drawings of my chosen concept, but I do have to have a range of ideas, filtered down to a final 3 or 4, then have a chosen concept that is pretty much fully developed with CAD models, 3D models and sketch models

(CAD are the computerised models, 3D models can be made out of blue foam and are little mini models that give you an idea of form and help visualise...they only take about half a day to knock out and you can do loads all the way through the design process, so you know where you're at, and sketch models can be the foam models, or made of card showing working parts and proving the mechanics)

I will also need to have computer modeled circuit diagrams that illustrate the circuit and prove that it works theoretically.

Not much to do, so I'd better not stand here and chat...

xx

Nomad

Today has been an odd day - in some ways I got a lot done - firming up in my mind what i need to complete for my major project, but in other ways it feels like I did nothing - it seems like I spent hours wandering around today - walking to and from lectures, labs, home, friends houses. I feel a little nomadic today.

I really want to travel at some point in my life, I know I will only ever resent whatever it is that prevents me doing so. A job, a man, children. So I think realistically I should travel sooner rather than later, as I'm less likely to have those ties. I feel held back here.

But on days when all I crave is my own home, I worry that I'll never enjoy travelling.

I remember when I used to travel with work, on my own in a hotel room in Belgium, and each trip would feel endlessly enduring, even though it may have been no more than 36 hours door to door.

I hated hotel loneliness, and I hated not being able to speak the language, and having to muddle my way through the customs on my own. When I travel alone nothing feels fun anymore - a faux pas made with friends can be laughed off all the way to the next destination and can become an "in joke".

Made on your own and it becomes a cringeworthy reminder of your ineptitude.

So its days like today that I just want to hide back in my own little corner of the world, and days like these that panic me into thinking I'll hate every minute of my future travels.


**On a brighter note, the artiste formerly known as "David" has started a blog at my encouragement...**

Infected

I think I'm getting an eye infection - I had one earlier on this term.

I wonder if it's to do with wearing eyeliner, then late at night when I am still working but haven't taken my makeup off, that rubbing my eyes is making it bad?

(that was the worst English ever!)

**On an upside, I have finished the website part of my "Internet and Interface" module - just have to do a flash tutorial on how to use an Opel's in-car entertainment system...**

I also finally installed our internet at the house - 2 months after moving in, so I have scored yet more Housemate Points, as they finally have a stable (non piggybacked) connection!

I scored a fair few Housemate Points at the weekend going to watch Kate play hockey in the freezing cold - then a girl got hit in the face with a stick - ended up with a huge pool of blood, and flesh hanging off her face - needless to say it must have brightened up the Ambulance Service's Saturday morning, as at one point there were 7 of them on the scene...

50 stitches and 3 hours of surgery later and apparently the hardest thing about it is that she can't eat bread...it gets stuck, apparently...

sweet dreams
xx

"The Dark Side"

I went to see Bond last night, and I was tempted to come back and write a post immediately...

**I will try not to spoil it for people who haven't seen it**

I loved it, it was gritty, vulnerable, almost real, and I did think in parts the cinematography was almost French Arthouse (one of my favourite genres of film) - I'm thinking the black and white beginning with flashbacks, and the point when Bond is vulnerable half way through the film you see it from inside his mind, it really made you believe it and get a lot more involved than the previous films.

I was also suitably impressed that they used the creator of Parkour, Sebastien Foucan, in the opening chase scene, proving that this film really has it's finger on the pulse of popular culture - I've loved watching all the Parkour films, since I first discovered them on their website about 5 years ago.

Was I also imagining style references to CSI?...I mean the flow, style of the storyline - it was almost a murder mystery with twists etc.

The baddies were bad, but where they really bad, or just the "intermediately" bad? The goodies were good, or were they?

It really got me guessing, and I was on the edge of my seat most of the film, but...

**there's always a but**

The problem with Bond films, and this one in particular, I come out of the cinema and I strut, I get all "bad-ass" and the "dark-side" of my personality comes out, I stop taking shit, and I become a bit distant and moody.

Laugh all you want - but I end up imagining I'm Bond.

This was all fairly embarrassing and I wouldn't have admitted it until Kate and Sam came home from seeing a later viewing...

Kate crawled through the back gate and jumped into the house singing the original Bond theme tune with her hands in a pistol shape, strutting around the house shooting Sam and I.

Sam then informed me she'd done that all the way home, hiding behind trees etc. He looked embarrassed to be seen with her

At least I didn't take it that far...


**Only spotted 7 product placements, I had been warned that it was a complete sell out to commercialisation, but I was happy to see Bond had my Sony Ericsson phone (although he had a groovy silver one...I WANT IT)**

As Promised...

...here are the images from my RSA Wellbeing project

Its a wall installation (plus glowing remote) that emits gentle light and aroma to distract the user from the pain of their allergies, while their medication comes into effect, thus relaxing them and getting them back off to sleep quicker.

I need to rework the renderings, I'm not happy with them, but they'll do for now!

© ERA


© ERA

Actions and Consequences

We went out last night to celebrate handing in RSA, not the best night I've had in a while - mostly due to the fact that the cash point rather flatly but firmly told me to p*ss off, therefore equaling little opportunity to actually enjoy myself...

...that little situation may have something to do with the beautiful new shoes I bought...

...which, although beautiful, had the nasty side-effect of killing my feet, so much so that I swapped my shoes with one of the guys from my course (who has worryingly small feet for a man, and enjoyed prancing round the bar in glittery 4 inch stilettos just that little bit too much...)

So today I was a little hungover, not much but mostly just knackered. I had to walk up to Engineering to hand in some coursework, so thats now 16 credits down, 104 to go before I complete my degree...every little helps!
The stroll was nice, breezy as ever in the Big L, but also the colours on the trees were just beautiful. It's the first time I've noticed them this year, maybe because I've had my head down working so hard, but it cheered me up immensely!

I've also decided that I want to be a demolishon worker - they're knocking down a building at uni with a big ball on a chain, hanging from a crane - real old school, but talk about a fantastic way to relieve stress!

I'm also very excited, I'm going to see the new Bond movie tonight, I'm going on my own and it should be fantastic! I love going to the movies on my own - it means that I can have a bit of metime which I need at the moment, I'm just so tired, and also a bit pissed off with someone.

This person has really wound me up. Yesterday at hand in, he was running late, so myself and Terry ushered him in, I started pinning up his display boards, Terry filled out the paperwork, and he just stood there and sulked, didn't say thank you and then walked off without even a hint of appreciation for the effort we'd made to help out a mate - I could quite easily have just left him to struggle along and miss the deadline - which is weighted enough to mean that a failed submission would fail the module...thus ruining your degree.

I need a few days to cool off on that I think!

I will post the images of my RSA in another post...

Nap Time

It seems like an age since I last posted even though it has only been 3 days.

Let me tell you why. I have just handed in my RSA Wellbeing project.

Previous to this from Sunday to Tuesday...
I had 6 hours sleep
I drank 43 cups of tea
I had no showers
I didn't brush my teeth
I had one meal
I wore the same clothes
I sat in the same seat, for 20 hours straight at some stages
I couldn't have any music because my iPod ran out of battery and my computer couldn't do more than 1 thing at once
I had no internet

This is why it felt so long.

I'm pleased to report that I was ready for hand in 16 hours before the deadline, and since finishing, I have showered, ate, washed, brushed changed clothes and slept.

I'm still shattered and seem to have taken on the thousand yard stare, I am assured this will subside with time

Now I am going to eat, watch Neighbours, have a nap and then Isabelle and I are going into town for a bit of clothes shopping, before heading out tonight for a few drinks - I know I'll need a bit more sleep if I'm going to last past 9pm

I will post images of my boards tomorrow I think, for now I never want to see that project again!

*nap time*

"That were crap"

Hello hello

How are you this morning? (feel free to reply into the comments box - it would be nice to think that someone reads this...!)

CAD is going ok, only I can't perform a couple of functions which has screwed my work - I bet if I ask Mark (when he eventually wakes up) he'll be able to tell me in 3 seconds, and that will be another half day wasted, stuck against a brick wall.

I hate having to rely on people to help me out at the moment, but I'm learning new software so I can't really manage on my own!
Mark pointed out yesterday that he doesn't want to help people coz he wants a good degree, I pointed out he was helping me, and he let slip that he doesn't see me as a threat.

Great. Even my mates think I'm crap.

I think I'll be ace once I've had a year in industry, learnt the ropes a bit better and improved my design process - maybe milk drinks were a bad idea...??

I'm fairly stoical about it, I will get there in the end, and I know that eventually I'll have the confidence to feel that I can hold my own, although I'm not sure if it will be in design.

Accenture here I come...

It's looking cold and windy out, I don't want to go to my lecture...

*Sigh*

Crisis over

:D

Weee

Still no sign of her ever finishing...

*jumping up and down*

Wee

Argh,

Kate is in the shower, and I need a wee

*Crosses legs*

What is CAD?

hmmm Sunday morning. My favourite :D

I've started cooking and baking on Sunday mornings instead of work, I get up and clean the house too, and I actually really enjoy it, I know it sounds like work, but its my one morning a week that I set aside not to work.

I still have loads to do, but not just right now.

I'm downloading Lost too, I can't do that when I'm CADing as my computer needs full memory for the mathematical computations (long word on a Sunday morning...)

I'm going to pop to Sainsburys and pick up all the ingredients for a chocolate and stout cake, I'm making one for Mark, coz he's helping with the Rhino/3D StudioMax, and one for Terry who is providing more Rhino help.

Tip of the Week: Bake for people - it guilt-trips them into helping you

For the non designers out there....

Rhino is a 3D CAD (computer aided design) package, that you make your product in 3D, in layman's terms, its like getting a big lump of plasticine and making a little model out of it, of what you want your product to look like, only on the computer.

3D StudioMax is what companies like Pixar use to animate their movies. You add colour to the models and then render them, which is producing high definition images or Jpegs, that you can then present.

It sounds like such a waste - all that work for 1 picture, but of course once you've modeled it, you can have infinite images in a few clicks of a mouse, change colours around - you can't do that with a drawing.

The 3D models also helps clients and non-designers visualise what it will look like, as they can spin it round etc - otherwise they can find it difficult to understand shape and form with only 2D hand drawn sketches.

Well the cake needs a baking woop!

smell yas laters aligators

Monsoon Skirts

I've just bought this skirt off eBay - a bargainous £35.28, instead of the £75 it was in the Monsoon shop - plus its limited edition, and pure silk - oh I'm happy now!

I just need to find an excuse to wear it - I'm thinking next week for the hand in - weather dependant!

I should curb my Monsoon addiction!

Back to the CAD....

Fact of the Post: I don't know if I can be bothered to "Fact of the Post" anymore...