raise your glass

Can I just take a moment to say how happy I am that I'm not doing law this year? I was curious and took a look at what modules I was assigned this year; and only one of them was a module I actually wanted. They gave me Law, Family and Society (and if there's one thing I learned doing this degree is that "society" in the name of modules does not stand for "how society nowadays works", it stands for "how philosophers think society works"; you're stuck learning a bunch of legal theories that you will then have to describe for the exam, which in my case is boring because I've already studied philosophy in school, only difference is, my school teacher made philosophy way more interesting than my university lecturer), Private International Law and International Law (which I really did not want to do, because from what I understand, you basically study a list of international cases that you have to know for the exam and that's it). They're all modules that I seriously couldn't want to do less. So happy I don't have to put up with this crap anymore.

I exchanged emails with the lecturer of the web design course for a few days, asking all kinds of questions about the course. I must say, I already like the guy. He took the time to answer all my questions and was very patient with me. He even wrote "wee bit" (I love Scottish dialect/words) and once he even put a smiley face in one of his emails. He just seems like such a nice guy! :D I'm so happy he's going to be the one to teach this course. He basically said not to worry about the application form, that it was merely a formality and basically he would accept me into the course. So I'm "unofficially" in; all I need is for the college to get back to me about my application and let me know that I'm in. I'm so excited! :D

Also, when comparing the willingness and helpfulness of this guy to that of my advisor of studies, she seems really disinterested and lazy. I sent her an email two days ago, asking if she had heard back from the Committee regarding my liability for termination of studies, since I haven't heard back (and I was supposed to hear back on September 5)... but has she replied to my email, by any chance? Nope. I have no other way to contact her either. The university has completely left me in the dark about what is going to happen to me this year and what I am to do. It's just... irritating. I'll wait until next week and if I don't hear back from anyone, then I'm emailing the secretary of the law school. Someone must reply to me.

I don't know what came over me exactly, but yesterday I sent an email to a magazine here in the UK which is about anime/manga/video games/Japan in general, which, as you know, are huge interests of mine. The magazine is called Neo, in case anyone in my f-list who is from the UK wants to know. They do a "reader review" every issue and I asked what the topic of the next reader review was going to be about. It would be an amazing opportunity to get something written by me published in an actual magazine and it would look good on my personal statement if I applied for a Journlism degree. I also very boldly asked if/when they were going to hire new writers for their magazine and if they required any qualifications; I said I would love to work for their magazine and that I could send them samples of my writing. I felt so pumped when I sent them that email, so happy to be going for something that I would love to do... Andrew said it was great to see me really go for it and be so excited about something. I don't think he had ever seen me that happy... and I can't recall the last time I had been that happy in the last couple of years. They're all a blur of stress, tears and general "ugh" and "blah". I'm so excited and happy about this, too.

In minor news, today I made myself a new shiny Europass CV to give to employers. Can't wait to add my web design qualification to it (although I did put I'm doing the web design course).

So at the moment I'm currently waiting for emails from 7 different people. Two from possible employers (still hoping that Waterstones contacts me first), one from the renting place (I'm waiting for an email from them saying they found a replacement. I also asked a girl I know from my class if she could spread the word about the room, since I'm not in Dundee and cannot ask people myself about it; also I don't know anyone who would want the room), one from Perth College (about my application), two from my university (from my advisor of studies and the Committee) and one from Neo magazine about the reader review and the job as a magazine writer. I am trying to wait patiently for all of these emails... but they're all so important and I'm so excited/nervous about them! I might do a meme in the next few days just to keep my mind off things while I'm waiting for people to contact me. Keeping all my fingers crossed!

I've been having very weird dreams recently. ( dreams )

As you know, I had a session with my physiotherapist two days ago. It was painful. My muscles were so tense and I had accumulated so much stress in the past few months. When she pushed down on my left psoas, a lot of the stress got released. My head started pulsing, I had to drink some water and lie down on my side until I was feeling better. It was a very intense session and one that I really needed. When I went back to Andrew's house, I had dinner, a hot bath and then just went straight to bed. I am feeling better now and my psoas muscles definitely don't hurt as much anymore. I am very glad I had this session.

I downloaded a bunch of web design/programming books yesterday. They're mostly about HTML5, CSS3, PHP and MySQL, plus a few on Photoshop. I already know HTML and CSS, and can already use Photoshop well enough to make layouts for my websites, but I really want to expand my knowledge. If I have to be honest, I'm not sure if I want to become a web designer. I enjoy designing websites and coding them, sure. But would I be able to do it as a job? Also, my biggest fear is having a creative block and not being able to come up with a design. I have creative blocks randomly with my own websites and sometimes I just can't come up with a layout for various months. And will I be able to come up with a creative design for every website I'll have to work on?

At the moment I'm very torn between a computing course in Perth (where they teach programming and that kind of stuff) or a Journalism degree. I think the latter would be safer and possibly the one I would need the most if I decided to become a writer for a magazine; while for web design, even if you're self-taught, the only thing that really matters is having a good portfolio to show off your skills. A degree helps, of course, but if you show what you can do, then not having a degree would not play at your disadvantage so much. Technically I wouldn't need a degree to become a writer either, but it would be just safer to have it for that particular field. At least that's what I think.

I will write an entry on what I'm reading/playing next time. Right now I feel like I've written enough. Thanks for all your replies on my fandom discussion post! That was fun. :)

I am in a very good mood today. :D I just applied for a job as a bookseller in Waterstones in Perth. Working in a bookshop would actually be a fantastic job, given my big love for reading! In the application for the job I described my love for reading in great detail - I mentioned I had an ereader which allows me to carry more than 200 books on it (and my list of books is continuously growing) and that I love to read Japanese manga as well, so hopefully that will count in my favour. I think I wrote a pretty good application for this job and the website said I was a good candidate for the job based on my answers to their questions... which means I'll be super-crushed if they don't hire me for it. /sarcasm... sort of The ad for this job was posted today as well, so that means I'm one of the first people to apply for it, which hopefully makes me look good in their eyes. Keeping all my fingers crossed here!

I was a little bummed this morning because I applied yesterday for a job at H&M and they replied today saying I didn't get the job. Which was... a very quick response and obviously not what I was hoping for. But whatever, I like Waterstones better anyway. As for the job as a spa receptionist, I'm still waiting for a response on that one. I sent an email today and they said to wait until next Wednesday for a reply to my application. So basically all I need to do now is wait. I really hope I can get a job at either of them!

In university news, I received an email last week from the law school saying I am liable for termination of studies. Basically, because I haven't passed a subject before the second anniversary of the year following the date of first matriculation, my studies are liable for termination. The options for me at this point are: a) to repeat the current year of study if I want to still attend university; b) to take a year out, redo the examinations and then resume the degree the following year; or c) to terminate my studies now.

So I replied that I had discussed what I wanted to do with my advisor of studies and that I was going to take the year out and redo semester 1/second year exams in December. This situation has come up because I haven't passed a first year subject (Criminal Law) and I should have retaken the exam for that this year, but I didn't since nobody freaking told me. I'm an international student, I didn't know that's how universities in the UK worked - how was I supposed to know I had to retake that exam when no one told me? So yeah, I'm a bit ticked off at the university for this. I did ask, however, if I could retake the Criminal Law exam as well, since I can't get my Diploma if I don't pass that subject. Ugh, university, why are you making dropping out and getting a Diploma so hard? So now I'm waiting for the Committee to meet tomorrow and they will let me know what they decide on Thursday.

And lastly, as for the renting place, they still haven't found anyone to rent my room. They haven't requested any money, but I noticed yesterday that they haven't given me back my deposit of £250, which they said they would give back in full. And that was a week ago. So I emailed them about it and the girl said she would pass the message on to her colleague who takes care of deposits. I checked again this morning and the deposit is still not back. I've decided that I'll wait one more day and if my deposit is not back by tomorrow, I'll email them again. I'm really not sorry for pestering them like this - the money should have been given back to me a week ago, when I cancelled the room. They've had more than a week to give me back the money and they haven't. They're taking their sweet time and I won't stand for it. It's like they're ticking me off on purpose.

Andrew's sister's husband is a lawyer, so Andrew's father sent him an email explaining my situation and asking if I'd have a case. I've re-read their contract terms and the special condition of the contract is that the tenant must remain a student in full-time education. So it would follow that, if I'm not a student anymore, I don't fulfil the condition of the contract, therefore it must be void or at least voidable. I mean, a contract is made of an offer, an acceptance and, most important of all, consideration (which is, to put it simply, 'I do something for you, you do something for me') - that's the very basis of contract law. It's just so strange that they can tell me I have to pay for something that I am ultimately not using. There's no consideration in that - I'm not getting anything from the contract, while they are still getting my money. That can't be right. It definitely seems very unfair to me. So I'm waiting for a reply on this matter as well.

In health news, I took 10mg of medicine this morning instead of 20mg. So far, so good. :D

Anyway, that's about it for real life. I hope everything goes well, especially with the job applications!