raise your glass

this post is full of little snippets of life

Fri, 12 Jun 2015 14:55:27 GMT

Hello, journal!

This is a bit of a catch-up post and a bit of a “present” post, so hopefully I can start posting about what’s going on in the present in future entries without the need for any more catch-up posts.

First of all, work situation! After being unemployed since last January (special thanks to my mother, who, by forcing me to stay in Italy for three months more than I expected last year, had shafted any chance of me getting a summer job and as a result my CV suffered immensely because of it and I think that’s the main reason I didn’t get any jobs), I finally found a job at the end of March!

I work as a Digital Marketing Intern in a small company in Perth. The job is pretty standard — it’s an office job, 9 to 5 and my work consists into scheduling posts on Facebook, retweeting stuff on Twitter, finding promotions and events to put into the company’s CMS… so yeah, nothing too exciting. BUT it pays living wage (£7.85 per hour)! I was super happy when I got it. It really helped me pull through the debt that I had with the university.

I got into debt with the university around December. My dad, like the idiot that he is, made me get a room at the university accommodation. I told my dad repeatedly that SAAS (the agency responsible for student loans in Scotland) wouldn’t be funding me during the year and that I might not be able to afford the room there. His reply basically was: “Get it anyway, we’ll see if we can pay it later.” And that was truly a dumbass thing to do.

But it got even worse: I was in a double room with a French girl. I thought it was okay, I could make a friend and have help me with French. Well, not only was she the most unfriendly person I’ve ever met in my entire life (seriously, when I was in the room, she would take her laptop and go into the kitchen for hours; she never talked to me, spent all of her time on the phone with either her parents or her friends and she just wouldn’t talk to me. Like, I get that maybe you don’t want to be in a double room, but can you at least make an effort to be nice to your roommate? Geez), but she. Freaking. SNORED.

Seriously, the first night I slept in the room and she snored, I knew I was fucked. The first night she woke me up at 2 in the morning and she just wouldn’t stop snoring. That night I had to go and sleep in another campus room, because I was so sleep-deprived that I was picking fights with everybody and I was seriously pissed off.

The campus staff was, if I have to be honest, completely and totally unhelpful. When I told them that my roommate was keeping me up at night, their suggestions were:
a) Try to make friends with her and tell her about her snoring problem. Wow, guys, great idea. I’ll just tell this big French girl who doesn’t want to spend time with me and who I do not know at all and am in no comfortable relationship with to tell her something as personal as the fact that she snores. I’ll just bring it up while I’m trying to make awkward small talk, I’m sure it won’t make either of us incredibly uncomfortable. Top advice, guys.
b) Sleep on the couch in the kitchen. So, let me get this straight: I am paying around £400 a month for a room just so I can sleep on the fucking couch? Again, amazing help.
(I bought earplugs by the way, tried listening to music while she snored and all that jazz, but nothing helped.)

They were not sympathetic and they would not help me at all. I told them many, many times about the fact that I was being deprived of sleep, but they did nothing — they din’t talk to my roommate, they didn’t care if I was getting enough sleep, just nothing at all. I got really fed up with them. And, of course, I was locked by contract to pay for the room. They wouldn’t help me find a solution for my roommate, but they were more than happy to request payments for a room that I was effectively not using.

So I relocated to Auchterarder again, which wasn’t ideal, but it was necessity — if I didn’t sleep, I was going to completely fail my course. And, you know, I’m studying Computing, I kinda need my brain for that and I need some good rest to understand code. (My roommate was studying Music, by the way. She was almost never in class. She had lectures like two days a week, then nothing for the rest of the week. And she would sleep, a lot. Once she didn’t get up until 2-3pm and another time, when I had been out since 9am because of lectures, I came into the room at 5 in the afternoon and she was STILL SLEEPING — the curtains were still shut and everything. How the hell can a human being sleep so much?? She was my age as well (23), it’s not like she was a teenager or anything… She was weird.)

So I lived in Auchterarder until the end of February and during that time I was basically paying for the room and the travelling costs. It was ridiculous. To be honest, I am very tempted to file in a formal complain to the college. You can’t have double rooms on your campus and then offer NO HELP at all when someone has trouble with their roommate!

But I guess some of my bad luck must have rubbed off my roommate, because she was forced to go back to France after the Christmas holidays… and THANK GOD that happened. So I moved back into my room, this time with Kirsty, Andrew’s sister, who I have become pretty close to this year.

But see, even if I didn’t have my roommate, I still would have had the problem that after November I had no money to pay for the room. My dad had no money, he was sending me very little every month, just about enough to scrape by and I became indebted with the university. They even threatened to not let me go on to do my HND if I didn’t pay off my debt to them, even though I was one of the best students in class. So yeah, I went through an incredibly stressful period, thanks to the university staff. For a while it looked like I had to go to the citizen advice bureau for some help. This all thanks to my dad, who was a complete twat.

Thankfully, Andrew’s parents came to my rescue. They paid off most of the debt and I managed to pay off about half on my own, thanks to the living wage job that I had found. I’m obviously going to repay them, but at least for now I can go onto my HND and I don’t have to deal with university accommodation ever again. It did mean though that I couldn’t save any money from my job as 90% of it went to the debt every month.

So this is my last month of internship — it was a 3 months contract and I’m contracted to work until the 28th of June. After that, I’ll be starting another job — I’ll be Vice President of the Students’ Association of my college! I got elected in May, there was another girl running for it as well, but I won! I will be working 10 hours a week and I will be paid living wage too, so hopefully I can save up a nice sum. Right now I’m working 3 days a week (22.5 hours), one more day than what I’m contracted to do and they have to pay me holiday pay as well, so I’ll be saving a nice sum from this job as well. :D

In addition to this, I have applied for a web design job at a small company in Perth and the people there said they’d be happy to take me on as their web designer! They need a site made and they said they’d like to start part-time and it could lead up to a full-time position! So now I’m just waiting for an email from them saying when they want to meet up and have a chant about the job. They even said they could be me a PC! It wouldn’t be my own PC, just a company PC that I would use for the job, but still! That’s pretty promising! :D The pay is minimum wage, which kind of sucks, but it’s good experience and if they like me and want to keep me on, I will definitely try to negotiate a better pay!

Also, Peter, Kirsty and I want to get a flat together. We saw a gorgeous flat on Gumtree and we went to see it on Wednesday. And guys, it’s absolutely stunning. It’s one of the most beautiful flats I’ve ever seen, it looked even better in real life than it did in the photos! Just in case you’re curious, this is the flat: http://www.gumtree.com/p/3-bedrooms-rent/gorgeous-3-bedroom-open-plan-flat-to-rent/1118664070. The current tenant is moving out at the end of August, which is perfect for us, because we really needed one for the start of September. The landlord seems like a good guy as well — he’s not in it to make money and he seems like he cares about the tenants and wants to make the flat affordable — and the price is really cheap for us! And he said he’d be okay with pets, so we could even have a cat or a couple of rats in the flat! :D

So yeah, it’s the perfect flat and we really, really want it. I emailed the landlord the next day saying we want it and that we’d be happy to discuss with him if there’s anything we can do to secure the flat (he was showing it to other people as well). But we’re the first ones who saw it and the first ones to say we want it. So I’m really crossing my fingers and hoping he lets us have it!

What else… oh, I passed my HNC, obviously! And I was really pleased to get an A on my Graded Unit exam! 87%, not a bad mark. :D And this should help my application for a £1000 scholarship I applied for in May, which will be given to the best students at my university. So I’m crossing my fingers for that one too!

Oh, and I’m planning on starting my societies this year — the Sci-fi & Fantasy society and the Japanese Culture society — and a university newspaper! I’m just waiting for emails from the university Students’ Association, hopefully they’ll reply to me soon.

So yeah, this is pretty much what has happened in the past few months in a nutshell and what is happening right now. I will reply to your comments soon, it’s just that I haven’t had time yet! I hope everything is going well for you guys and I will hopefully be posting more often in the future and keeping you updated on all these things that are happening in my life right now! Until next time! :D

P.S. I was very sad when I found out Christopher Lee died yesterday. May he rest in peace now that he’s with Tolkien and his friends in a better place.

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back from a busy period

Sat, 30 May 2015 14:38:01 GMT

Hello, journal!

It's incredible that half a year has passed already. I have been so incredibly busy these past few months. I had university and a job! Which I am really happy I found, but that has limited my free time (and my university time) quite a bit. But I will talk about that in the next entries.

For now I just want to write that I am finished with university, at least for this year! I passed all my modules, got an A - an A! - in my Graded Unit and summer has officially started for me, which means I have more free time! (I'll still have my job, but being part-time, it will leave me some free time.)

I shall write the last of my catch-up posts soon, then try to write more often after that. :)

Hope you guys are doing okay! Till the next entry!

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guess who's back?

Sun, 25 Jan 2015 18:38:05 GMT

Hello DW, hello wonderful people and hello journal! I hope you've all had some great holidays and Happy Belated New Year to everyone!

I cannot believe how long I've disappeared from DW. Every time I disappear, I go through a very bad vicious cycle. First, I write a huge catch-up post which burns me out from writing for a while (which is why I don't reply to comments – I really want to, but I'm just too tired and can't come up with replies to all of them – please don't take it offensively or personally). Then, because I'm burned out, I can't find the energy to write more entries. Then more and more stuff happens and I get super busy. Because I'm busy, I forget to post entries here. More and more stuff happens. Time passes without me even noticing. Eventually whole months pass without me even writing a single entry (which is what happened recently). I feel bad about neglecting my journal and not keeping up with people's journals. So I feel like I can't come back because of my long hiatus. I feel guilty so I keep away. More and more stuff happens, which would mean I'd have to write more huge catch-up entries. I get overwhelmed by it all and I don't post.

So I've decided to try a different approach. This is not a catch-up entry. I will write catch-up entries in the next days. But for now, I'll just write this post to say that I'm back, so there's not a lot of pressure on me to write everything that's happened to me in these months.

Also, there will be a small change in the way I treat this journal. As time passed, I've realised that I really missed writing here and that having a journal and writing things down is very therapeutic for me. This is the place where I can rant, vent, write my thoughts and my worries down instead of keeping them in my head, and once they're down, they don't haunt me anymore. It really helps me in many ways. So I've decided to go back to this little journal and keep updating it as much and as often as I can. But it will be mostly for myself, to keep me sane and healthy. I don't know how much time I'll have to read your entries and keep up with your lives, I might not comment much on your journals and I'm sorry about it. I will try, but if I don't reply to your entries and comments, please don't take it offensively or personally. I like all of you and I care about all of you – I'm just very busy and I will be using this journal mostly for therapeutic purposes. This takes the pressure off me a bit and will make it easier for me to post even if I do go on hiatus for a while. (That said, if I do get more time on my hands, I will definitely try and interact on your posts.)

I don't know how many of you still use DW or will read this entry, but I just thought I'd write this. So yeah, I'm back! And here's to me not disappearing - or at least not for long - this year. :)

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long entry, but good news!

Sat, 19 Oct 2013 21:26:03 GMT

I can't believe how long it's been since my last post! I've just been so busy, I don't know where my time has gone. So this will most likely be a pretty long catch-up entry on what's going on my life.

( real life behind the cut: job interviews, getting a job, Dundee Literary Festival, updates on my freelancing dream jobs )

On the fandom front, I'm now rewatching Mawaru Penguindrum for the second time with Andrew and his sister (they are watching it for the first time). I'm understanding the plot a lot more this time around! Also, I started reading The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (just in time for the Dundee Literary Festival!) and I've almost finished it. I hope I can read the whole trilogy before I meet Patrick Ness next week, but it's fine if I don't. I'm enjoying it so far. I love all the sci-fi elements and the mystery in it. I also started reading Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell just for the crack. This book makes me laugh so much. It's just... so bad. Eleanor & Park was horrendously cheesy and made me laugh at times, but this one brings badness to a whole new level. I shall review it fully when I finish it. But it's safe to say that I am enjoying it... but for all the wrong reasons. XD I somehow don't think Rainbow Rowell intended this book to be a humorous one. And for a not-humorous book, it's making me laugh. A lot.

So that's everything for now! :D I will reply to all your comments soon and hopefully I will be able to catch up on everyone's entries.

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I have decided what to do with my life

Mon, 30 Sep 2013 10:58:25 GMT

I will address the title of this entry in a bit, but first: I HAVE A JOB INTERVIEW. TOMORROW.

Sadly, it's not for Waterstones (the bookshop). They contacted me earlier in the week saying they had found someone "more qualified for the job" than me. So yeah, I was pretty sad about it. Andrew told me not to worry over it, that getting a job is a question of "win some, lose some" and he's right. I think I might have also sent a CV that they didn't like. I have a Europass CV (which has been advertised a lot in Italy and it's supposed to help you get a job anywhere in Europe), but I recently found out that UK employers don't really like that CV. So I wrote myself another one and I sent it to this shop/cafe in Andrew's town. The shop is called Cocoa Mountain. Do you see where this is going? I might be working in a chocolate shop. As a chocolate-maker and seller. If there's one thing I love more than books, it's probably chocolate. And the shop is so close to Andrew's house that I won't have to take any buses or anything. It would pretty much be perfect.

So my job interview for the chocolate shop is tomorrow. I've never had a job interview in my life (I worked for my parents when I was in Italy), so I've been googling "common job interview questions" and thinking of answers for them. I'm not really stressing over it - if anything I'm more excited than stressed. A job interview means there's a possibility that I might get the job. And if I get the job, it means income. And income means independence from my parents! (I realise I won't be totally independent from my parents with a minimum wage job, but at least I can stop feeling guilty the rare times that I spend money.) So yeah, very exciting stuff indeed. :D

And now, onto the real topic of this entry, that is: what job I'd like to do. I've realised this a couple of days ago and I'm going to write it here as well, along with my thoughts.

( cut for real life decisions and thoughts )

So yeah... lots of new exciting stuff coming my way. I still have to tell my parents... and I'm quite curious what they will say. Wish me good luck. :) Also, if you have any advice, feel free to leave a comment!

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guess who's a happy bunny

Fri, 20 Sep 2013 09:28:21 GMT

I HAVE HARVEST MOON: A NEW BEGINNING FOR 3DS.

Andrew bought it for me as a late birthday present. He spoils me too much. Nevertheless, I am happy.

I don't know if you can exchange friend codes in this one, but if it's possible, feel free to leave your FC in the comments. Or let's just fangirl together in the comments, either suits me. XD

I'm probably going to disappear into this game for a bit. I shall post if anything big or interesting comes up.

Off to start playing! ♥

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web design course: I'm loving it!

Thu, 19 Sep 2013 11:59:51 GMT

Yesterday was my first lecture of the web design course! :D And also not the best day to take buses.

( the tale of the buses )

( about the actual course )

(On a side note, I think my IT Crowd icon is very appropriate for this post. 1) Because I've started rewatching the show; and 2) because I am talking about something IT related.)

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a mini-trip to edinburgh

Tue, 17 Sep 2013 12:30:05 GMT

Yesterday was a really nice day. ♥

( description of my day in Edinburgh + pics )

Oh, and here's another tale of fail on my university's part. ( cut for unifail )

In other news, my web design course starts tomorrow evening and I'm very excited for it. Also, I know I sound like a broken record, but Waterstones should contact me any day now for that job. Hopefully they'll send me an email soon.

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finished Madoka Magica

Sat, 14 Sep 2013 14:04:42 GMT

I'm that weird mental state when you've just finished an anime and all you can think of is how brilliant it was and what an amazing thing you've just watched.

As the title of this entry says, I've finished watching Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Finally. I can't believe it took me so long, but I'm very glad I watched it. I wanted to watch it for a while now, then I started watching the first episode with Andrew and it quickly became "the anime we watch together". And yesterday we finished it together, thus becoming "our first anime". And I'm very glad this was the first anime we watched together.

So... what did I think of it? Well, I won't spoil the ending for anyone, but all I can say is... wow. The last three episodes were just so amazing. I didn't know exactly what to expect from this series or where it was going. Which made what happened even more shocking. The ending was just... so beautiful. It's just such a brilliant anime. I loved it and so did Andrew. The music was captivating and gorgeous, too.

I read the manga today, as well. I'm glad I did, because a few things got clarified. But in this case I'd advise to watch the anime first. The manga is only three volumes long and so I feel like some things happen too quickly. The anime might be slower at first, but the pace of the last 3-4 episodes is perfect, in my opinion.

I seriously don't know what else to say, other than it was great. I'll be writing a review on the whole series shortly in magazine format, so that I can put it into my "writing samples" for Neo, if they should ask.

So... who wants to fangirl about/discuss Madoka Magica with me? :D (If you're including spoilers in your comment, please put "spoilers" in the title of the comment. I don't want other people to be spoiled while reading comments for this entry in case they want to watch the anime. Thanks!)

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mostly hope, happiness and excitement!

Wed, 11 Sep 2013 23:44:30 GMT

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!

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cheerful mode: on

Mon, 09 Sep 2013 14:29:04 GMT

I went to the doctor again today, because I was prescribed capsules and I just can't swallow them; so I had the doctor prescribe me tablets instead. He was a new doctor at the practice and I really liked him! He made me feel at ease, was very friendly and smiled a lot. He asked about my law degree and I said I wasn't going to continue with it and that I'm thinking of going into Journalism or Web Design. He looked at me, smiled broadly and said, "Oh, that's very exciting!" He looked genuinely happy for me, haha. And I agree, it is very exciting. This put me in a good mood. :)

Speaking of web design, I found a PDA course in Perth College in Web Design that covers pretty much what I'm interested in. It should last only one year and it's a part-time course that runs from 6-9pm, which would be perfect for me if I got a job at Waterstones. It starts quite soon (in about a week and a half's time), but I should still be be able to apply for it. I asked a few specific questions about the course and am now waiting for a reply to my email before I apply. Hopefully there are no major entry requirements for this course, and if there are, then hopefully my knowledge of HTML and CSS, plus the fact that I've been designing websites for years, will help me in my application. But anyway, I'm very excited about it! This way I can see if I would enjoy studying computing, I can experience what working for clients is like, study at least the basics of some programming languages that I don't know very well and even get a certificate for it! :D

I also called in order to apply for a National Insurance number today. My appointment to prove my identity and submit my application for the NINO is on Monday morning, in Edinburgh. I would've done this sooner if I had known I needed one, but hopefully I'll get one before I get a reply to my job applications. From what I understand, I can technically work without a NINO, it just won't count towards my pension? Or something like that. I don't know how it works in terms of benefits and stuff like that. I've always been horrible at understanding this stuff.

That's about it, really. I'll go enjoy the rest of my day, since I feel so cheerful today. :D

P.S. I watched The Lion King II last night and now I have the song "Not One of Us" stuck in my head. XD

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dreams and being torn between two degrees

Sat, 07 Sep 2013 13:14:29 GMT

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. :)

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are you in the mood for a fandom discussion?

Thu, 05 Sep 2013 10:38:34 GMT

I feel like writing an entry today, even though nothing new has happened. The only news I have is that I'm going to the physiotherapist today for my tight psoas muscles (which are so tight, they actually hurt). I know the session is going to be painful, but it'll make me feel better in the long run. So I'm half looking forward to it and half fearing it.

I've been taking 10mg of medicine for the past few days and I've been feeling okay, which is good. :D

If you like or even hate The Hunger Games, I found a couple of interesting articles about how Katniss appears to be a strong female character, but ultimately isn't. Here they are: one and two. Do read them in order, as the second article is a response to the comments on the first one.

I agree with both articles, but then again I never really liked Katniss and consider THG to be an okay series (completely ruined by the last book, imo) which is somewhat over-hyped. But I'd be very interested in hearing your thoughts! :) I'm really in the mood for a bit of fandom discussion!

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various real life things

Tue, 03 Sep 2013 13:47:33 GMT

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!

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end-of-summer musings

Sat, 31 Aug 2013 21:59:45 GMT

It's the last day of August. Somehow I feel like that fact deserves to be mentioned. August has been... a very peculiar month. Actually, this whole summer has been peculiar. I feel like I haven't enjoyed it properly, or, if I did, only for a brief amount of time. I went back to Italy for a month, but it felt less than that. I think the reason why is because Andrew was in Italy with me only for a brief period of time (5 days) and - this is going to sound extremely cheesy - I don't really feel like I'm enjoying myself and actually living life when he's not there. When he's not with me, I don't feel like I'm living, I feel more like I'm surviving rather than living. He's the reason why I'm happy, why I enjoy myself, why I don't feel like I'm wasting my days. Because that's how I feel when he's not around - like I'm just wasting time, doing nothing (even on days when I'm extremely busy). But even just seeing him, talking to him or giving him a kiss - those little things make my days so much better, because a day with Andrew is not a day wasted.

Okay, cheesy and overly romantic boyfriend rants aside, I was describing my summer, which has been weird. The only days I really enjoyed were those days in Italy when Andrew was with me. Being in Italy on my own was pure boredom mixed with frustration. Boredom because my friends were only able to see me a couple of days in the whole month I was there and I didn't even have a job or anything to do at all while I was in Italy (couldn't even look for a job, as there are none available, for anyone). Frustration because my parents were at each other's throats due to financial trouble, my mother yelled at me various times because her shop was not going very well (like I had anything to do with it) and me feeling irritated at my parents because I had to give up looking for a summer job in Scotland in order to come back home and see them, only to be slapped in the face with various financial problems (that my parents had told me absolutely nothing about while I was in Scotland), which left me wondering why the hell they had begged me to come back when it would have made 10 times more sense for me to look for a job in Scotland and earn some money of my own, instead of sacrificing that to come back to Italy to do absolutely nothing. So yeah, it wasn't exactly the best summer holidays I've had.

I guess I also feel like my vacation never really began, because I knew I had resits in August. The whole summer, I've had to read updates on Facebook from people from my course about how they were enjoying their holidays in *insert random location here*, or how they'd gone back to their home country to spend the summer there, etc. And me? I couldn't go anywhere, or plan anything with anyone, because I had resits in August - I knew that I had to be back in Scotland for those. Knowing that you have exams in the near future does kinda ruin your summer vacation.

And then there was the whole dropping out of the course, leaving uni, figuring out what I wanted to do (which I haven't completely figured out yet)... Yes, August was a month full of surprises and changes. Despite that, I liked August - if anything because it was very eventful. But I like change. And I really think this will be a change for the best.

I guess what I'm trying to say is... this was a strange summer. It didn't feel like a vacation; it almost feels like it never started properly (for me); it was a mix of boredom, frustration, choices and changes; and now it's over. Whatever these past few months have been, they were not summer for me; and now they're over and autumn is coming. And, for once in my life, I'm welcoming autumn. I'm ready to leave this summer behind.

It feels almost like New Year's. Some big changes are about to take place in my life and I'm very excited. It feels like a chapter of my life is over - a very unhappy chapter, as far as my degree was concerned. It feels like something better is about to come. I feel almost like a new me.

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in need of advice for communities

Thu, 29 Aug 2013 18:52:38 GMT

I went to the doctor today to get my usual prescription. He prescribed me 10mg tablets instead of 20mg, so that I can try and come off the medication slowly. If I still feel sick with 10mg, I'll just double up the dose and try taking less medication another time. He said I'm definitely too young to be on permanent medication and I agree. It would definitely be amazing if I could come off this medication once and for all! Which reminds me, I need to book a session with my physiotherapist soon for my tight muscles. The only problem is that she lives in Edinburgh and usually I go there with Andrew and his dad when they go climbing on Saturdays and I have my appointment... but ever since Andrew's got a job they stopped going there because he works basically every Saturday, so I haven't had a session since the beginning of May, and that's almost four months. Anyway, I also registered with the practice in Andrew's town, since I'm not living in Dundee anymore and there's no point in me having my GP in Dundee if I don't live there.

On a fandom note, I was thinking of opening some fandom communities here on DW. Specifically, I was thinking of a community for CLAMP manga and another one for Disney animated films (plus icon communities for both fandoms). I've already created the communities, at the moment I'm just wondering two things: 1) if anyone would be interested in joining them; and 2) if their names are okay. For the CLAMP community, I created both clampesque and clamp_manga and I don't know which one I should turn into the actual community. (I also sent a PM to the admin of clamp, which has never been updated to ask if I could help with the community.) As for Disney, there's already a community called disney, but it seems it never opened to the public properly. I also sent a PM to the admin, asking if I could help promote it and bring it to life. (I hope that doesn't make me sound rude or anything. It just bothers me to see all these communities being created and never been updated.) I also created animated_disney for animated Disney films. So, guys, what do you think of the community names? And would you be interested in joining?

I am going to try and update my journal every day. I've got at least two memes that I started years ago, but never finished. I might finish them in the next days.

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good and bad things

Wed, 28 Aug 2013 18:30:16 GMT

My dad thinks he resolved the issue with the renting place, but in reality he hasn't. They are still looking for someone to rent my room, so nothing's fixed for sure yet. At least they assured me they're working hard to find a replacement and when they do, they'll send me an email about it. And he still wants me to talk to a lawyer to rescind the contract. The problem is, unless their contract breaks the law (which I don't think it does, otherwise they'd just be putting themselves quite stupidly in trouble), I don't have a case. As I wrote last time, the only possible way is to show that I signed the contract in good faith and then only later changed idea... but, according to my dad, there is a way to rescind contracts in every country. He's not a lawyer, but he just knows there's a way to rescind the contract. Yeah, right, dad.

Also, he called Andrew's family's phone today. I have no idea how he got their number. Andrew answered the phone and my dad was on the other end. So I told Andrew to tell my dad that I wasn't there, that I couldn't talk. Because I'm still pretty damn pissed at my dad and I didn't want to talk to him. But then my dad must have insisted to talk to me because Andrew passed me the phone. So I told my dad I didn't want to talk to him and he very smugly said that I didn't want to pick a fight with him because it's not good to make him angry and he alluded that he would have brought me back to Italy. Yeah, dad, I'd like to see you try. I'm an adult now, I make my own decision and you don't have any right to force me into doing something I don't want to do. He thinks he has so much control over my life, but really, he doesn't. He thinks he scares me, but he doesn't. I'm not scared of his threats, I know they're empty. I was very close to just hanging up the phone on him. He just told me again to find a lawyer and then the conversation was over. Ugh, he really drives me mad.

Overall I'm feeling better than yesterday. Still feeling pretty angry at my parents though.

On a happier note, Andrew and I had dinner in Perth last night. Since the place opened after 5pm, we just decided to go there for dinner. They did amazing food. I ate arancini (which were very weird, since they didn't have any tomato sauce in them, just rice and cheese) and a very tasty lasagna (which I couldn't finish, so I brought it home with me and and had it today for lunch), while Andrew ate calamari and a pizza (the pizza was definitely the most Italian pizza I've ever seen in the UK, he said it was great). We had a great night out and I really enjoyed it.

I applied for a job as a Spa receptionist in a super fancy hotel near Andrew's house (which is also the place where he works). They will hopefully let me know within two weeks if I got the job or not. In the meantime I'll also hand my CV around in Perth. At this point I just really want to get a job just so I can shut my mom up about being jobless.

I'm off to play ocarina.

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of disney and rants

Mon, 26 Aug 2013 19:04:03 GMT

I think I found a solution for my "too many icons" problem. Every day, from now on, I'm going to remove an icon that I don't use as much as other icons and replace it with a new icon. That way this process will not take me too much time every day and I can do it without pressure. :)

Andrew and I watched The Hunchback of Notre Dame today in Italian (with Italian subtitles for Andrew). He couldn't completely understand it, but he got the gist of what was happening and, for the way they were talking, it shows that he's getting pretty good. I downloaded the film in Blu-Ray because it was one of the few copies that had it in both languages and with subtitles and HOLY COW BLU-RAY IS AMAZING. I had watched Hunchback many times, but never in Blu-Ray and it was stunning. I NEED MORE DISNEY FILMS ON BLU-RAY. Anyway, he enjoyed it and thought it had very strong themes for children. That's why it's one of my favourite Disney films. It definitely doesn't speak down to kids, it's brutal and scary at times, but it's nothing children can't handle. Also, its music is just amazing. I love it so much.

In other news, it looks like I won't live in Dundee this year. I had a room rented with an establishment outside of university and apparently they do not want people who are not students to live in their buildings. However, apparently they're perfectly okay with taking money out of you to pay for the rent even if you can't live there. ( here's a rant )

( here's another rant about my mom )

That's enough for one entry. I'm off to download more Disney films on Blu-Ray. Hopefully I will receive some good news about the place, otherwise I'm not going to be happy.

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comes out of video gaming to update

Thu, 22 Aug 2013 17:47:17 GMT

I've been video gaming like there's no tomorrow. This is partly due to the fact that Andrew got me a super amazing RPG for 3DS which I've been wanting for a while. It's called Tales of the Abyss and man, I LOVE IT.

( small tales of the abyss talk )

As for my birthday, it was great. Since Andrew had to work on my actual birthday, we decided to celebrate my pre-birthday, that is the day before my birthday.

We went to Perth and just spent our time going around shops and having coffee. We wanted to have lunch at an Italian place, but it was closed (however, we have decided to go have lunch there sometime soon), so we ended up going for a coffee and a snack at Costa. We went to an art shop and Andrew bought quite a lot of stuff (because he's thinking of going into environmental architecture) and he got me a reporter notebook, so I can write down ideas for articles/stories and whatnot. Then we went to Game and Andrew bought me Tales of the Abyss. I thought he had bought it for himself at first and I was indeed surprised when he told me that it was actually a gift for me. XD Then we went to Waterstones and Andrew bought a manga. And that's about it!

I spent the day of my actual birthday at Andrew's house and it turns out his mom and his sister also bought me gifts! Andrew's mom got me a teacup with a cat on it, plus a small red teapot, which I adore. ♥ (I have a thing for teapots.) Andrew's sister got me some very nice chocolate from Thorntons, which I am enjoying slowly, day by day. ♥

And let's not forget all the people who wished me happy birthday, both here on DW and on Facebook! :D Every one of your wishes made my day so much better and made me so happy! ♥

So yeah, overall my birthday was great, thanks to everyone both in real and internet life. :D

I'm also getting into the habit of writing an article every day to put into my "clippings" and that I can then use as samples for magazine editors. It's just a bit hard coming up with ideas, though. If you guys would you like to suggest an idea for an article, go right ahead! Pretty much anything goes (as long as I'm able to talk about it, of course). :)

And now, I shall go back to Tales of the Abyss.

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happy birthday to me!

Tue, 20 Aug 2013 10:52:39 GMT

It's my birthday! I'm officially 22 years old. I can't quite believe that I'm not 18 anymore. I feel older, but at the same time, I don't feel like I'm growing up at all? If that makes any sense, haha.

Anyway, very short post. A full description of my pre-birthday and birthday day will come tomorrow, along with presents (apparently I'm still not done getting presents, how weird is that?! I'm so not used to receiving presents anymore). Feel free to wish me happy birthday in this entry. :)

Also, in case you missed it, here's some good news on my university situation! :D

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the "good news everyone!" entry

Sun, 18 Aug 2013 17:55:40 GMT

Hello, DW. I definitely feel better today. I felt better as soon as I wrote down that rant yesterday, actually. My journal is very therapeutic. I'm still sad about losing the card, obviously, but I don't feel angry or frustrated anymore. Which is good.

Anyway. Life updates!

Yesterday was Andrew's birthday. Andrew, his family and I went to dinner the night before, so we kind of celebrated both his and my birthday with a night out. Andrew had to go to work yesterday, so he wasn't here and therefore we couldn't really celebrate. My gift to him was a cover for his Macbook, which he wanted and that is going to turn useful later on. His mom and his sister gave him a couple of gifts as well. Overall Andrew wasn't too fussed about his birthday, but he really wants my birthday to be special. Unfortunately he'll be working on the actual day of my birthday, but he wants us to have dinner somewhere special on Monday (tomorrow), the day before my birthday, which is also his day off. ♥ Andrew's mom and sister also baked us chocolate cake. I forgot how it felt to have someone bake you a cake on your birthday. I'm just so not used to it. But I do love cakes!

I met with my advisor of studies on Thursday. She didn't try to convince me to stay in Law, which was good. I have both good news and not-so-good-but-not-terrible news.

( overall good news behind the cut )

My next course of action is to find a local magazine in Dundee or a photographer studio and ask if I can work for them. I need to write down as many reviews of books/games/anime and essays as I can to put in my "clippings" (writing samples to give to magazine editors) and I already have a proto-portfolio ready for my photos. This is really scary, but I have to do this, to try and make the first step, like Andrew says. So yeah, wish me good luck!

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the bookworm entry

Tue, 13 Aug 2013 13:46:28 GMT

I have too many fandoms and not enough icon space. You'd think a paid account of 250 icons would be enough, right? Nope. Not for me. I'm trying to delete some icons so I can make space for other fandoms and I'm trying to have between 3 and 5 icons for each fandom... but of course it doesn't work that way. Because for some fandoms I want to upload 10+ icons and that leaves no space for other fandoms. Also, the ever-present problem of 'which icon do I delete'. I want to keep pretty much 90% of the icons I already have uploaded. So I have no space to upload new icons. I'm seriously considering giving in an just buy some permanent icon space, but I don't know if I should.

My advisor of studies replied to one of my emails. She wants to meet on Thursday, which is the day of my last resit. That, and the fact that she did not reply to my second email (the one where I had asked her some serious questions and told her I was considering not going to the resits) slightly ticks me off, to be honest. I kinda needed some advice about my resits. I know she probably wants to meet and talk about this calmly, but she could have written something via email. She could have told me what she thought about me not going to my resits. But nope. Nothing. She's not exactly doing much to make me like her.

I have some great news though - I think I've made a new friend! :D Her name is Aisling and she's an American who's lived in Scotland for most of her life. I met her a while ago, while going with Andrew to this place where young christians hang out (although I'm not religious, Andrew is and I decided to tag along for the discussions). I added her on Facebook, but I was too shy to talk to her. But I wanted to get to know her better, if that makes sense? So after thinking about it, I decided to send her a message and we started talking. She's studying coding and programming at a college, so we geeked about that for a while and then moved onto a variety of other topics, like books, games, university and such. We talked for hours. She doesn't play much video games, but I told her that there's a variety of games out there and that she probably hasn't played the right game yet! So I told her about the Harvest Moon games, which I'm completely addicted to. She told me she'd like to try them out! :D So we're meeting sometime next week, on Andrew's day off from work, to hang out and I promised her I would lend her my Harvest Moon game so she could try it out! Ahh, it's so great to make friends. Shows that I still can make friends. And as usual, I make more friends outside of my uni course than in the actual classroom. So yeah, I'm really happy about having made a new friend. ♥

Andrew and his dad went away yesterday with their climbing coach to do some serious climbing and they won't be back until Thursday, which is the day of Andrew's birthday. I'm getting him a cover for his Macbook, because I don't know what else to get him and I already got him a copy of Catcher in the Rye last year as a random present. Ever since he started his job he's bought me quite a lot of presents: a pair of earrings, the whole Sailor Moon manga in Italian and Animal Crossing: New Leaf! And I'm pretty sure he's going to buy me the new Harvest Moon game (A New Beginning), as soon as it comes out in Europe, as a present for my birthday, which is... relatively soon, actually (20th August). I'm going to be 22, you guys. Scary thought.

So, I promised I'd talk about books... and here it is! Beware though, I've read quite a lot of books in the past few months, I'll try to summarise my thoughts as much as I can, but for some books I need to rant, so... you've been warned!

( cut for huge list of books + spoilers! )

Aaaaand that's it! Whew, that was a long update. Do follow me on Goodreads if you're interested, though!

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broadening my horizons + I need your opinion on my photos!

Tue, 06 Aug 2013 18:40:12 GMT

First of all, thank you guys so much for all your lovely comments on my last entry! They really made me feel better about my possible choice of dropping out of my degree course.

I've emailed my advisor of studies, but she's on holiday and she won't be back to Scotland until next week. Which puts me in a very awkward position, because my first resit is on Friday and I really hoped I could have talked to her before my exams, so I would have gotten a clearer idea of whether I want to keep going with this degree (which at the moment seems very unlikely) or not and thus chosen whether to actually attempt my resits or not. Not that it would have made much of a difference - I'm not prepared for my resits, as I don't understand the stuff and can't answer problem questions, so the chances of me passing my resits are low. But if I had talked to my advisor of studies before the resits and decided to drop out, I could have spared having to take exams. Because the fact that I need to take exams + the fact that I know I won't be able to pass them is stressing me quite a lot. Again, more useless and unhealthy stress. I'm really just doing my resits to show that 'at least I tried' if my advisor of studies should ask. But yeah, these exams are not going to go well.

Another thing that is worrying me about my resits is the fact that I might have to redo second year if I don't pass them. If there's one thing I know for certain, is that I don't want to re-study and re-do a property law exam. Ever. Again. So, if it does turn out that I might have to pass second year again, I'll most likely drop out.

So, I've been looking at other choices recently. I've been looking mostly into becoming a professional photographer. I found the Glasgow School of Art and I'm going to get more information on it and its courses. The courses I'd be interested in would be Fine Art Photography and Digital Culture. I obviously will have to look more into them and I do intend to meet someone from the school and have a chat with them about both courses, because I really want to get an idea of what they're like. (I sent an email, but I guess they must be closed for holidays or something, because they haven't replied yet.) I'll have to do a portfolio, but I wanted to make a portfolio anyway, so this will be a good occasion to make one. I have taken over 1,000 photos, so there must be something in there worth showing.

Which brings me to another request I have for you guys. I'm looking for feedback on my photos and I'm trying to figure out which ones are most likely to impress and that I should put on my portfolio. If you guys feel like being photography critics, my Flickr account is skymistress. I also tried out a free portfolio website (I'm not going to use it, I'm going to build my own portfolio, since I know web design, so I can show my web designing skills as well), just to get an idea of what I would like my portfolio to look like and what photos I'd put in it and here is a 'prototype', if you will. I'm also thinking of offering paid (but very cheap!) web design work to friends and family in the near future, so if any of you guys are interested in having a website, but know nothing of web design and would like someone to do the 'dirty work' for you, don't hesitate to ask! :) This way I'll get an idea of what working for other people is like and if I'd actually like to do it for a living.

While I was making this 'portfolio prototype', I also realised that I would love to be a photographer for a magazine. I love taking pictures of animals, nature, landscapes, cities and even fashion and people. I would also like to be a writer for a magazine. (I am planning my own books as well, and have started writing them, but I don't see myself finishing them any time soon. I need inspiration and more ideas.) I'm still not sure at this point if I would like to pursue web design as an actual career (I'll test it out when I offer my web design services that I mentioned above), but the option is there. These are just three options that come to my mind at the moment, but the idea of possibly going into one of these fields is making me so excited! I don't think I've ever been as excited about being a lawyer.

I guess... I've always been scared of actually deciding to pursue a career as a photographer or a writer or a web designer, because I've always been scared of failing. I love the idea of being freelance (or even to work for a specific magazine), but I guess I just decided it wasn't worth taking a risk for. Like trying would be more a hassle than an actual accomplishment. My ever present self-doubt also played a part in it, because I didn't think I was good enough to turn my hobbies into work (but anyone who has made a job out of their hobbies at some point thought they weren't good enough to make it; but those who believe in themselves, work hard and don't give up easily do make it). And I kept myself 'in check' from the temptation of building a portfolio and researching how to be any of these things by thinking about my degree and how I would have gotten more of a stable job by sticking with it. Because ultimately that's how I thought of my degree: I'll do it because I need to have a job. But a job doesn't necessarily have to be outside of my hobbies. And even if I don't get the "job of my dreams", as long as I have a job that pays the rent and the food and allows me to spend time on the stuff that I really love, then it's perfectly fine. It's written nowhere that I should suffer like this just to get a 'high-paying', 'stable', outside-of-my-hobbies job.

Looking back at what exactly made me choose Law, I guess it was mostly for social status and the money. I do have a sense of justice and I liked to think I would have 'made a difference' once I became a lawyer. Don't know exactly what that meant and what I wanted to make a difference in; I just thought I wanted to be someone or do something important. It's hard to explain and I guess it's because I hadn't really thought about it that much. I don't even know why or how exactly I came to the conclusion that I wanted to be a lawyer. I swear I used to be so confident in my choice; and now I sound like a total idiot who was in it just for the money.

Anyway. This was just a very short update to let you guys know what's happening and what is going through my head at the moment. If you could leave me some feedback on my photos, I'd really appreciate it! :D (But don't feel like you have to do it! Just if you feel like it.) And hopefully the next entry will be full of good news.

P.S. I think about getting a job as a photographer so much, that last night I dreamed of getting a new, super-fancy camera. XD

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fandoms and personal thoughts

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 11:15:11 GMT

Hello people and happy Easter! :D

I'm writing this entry from Andrew's house. My semester ended officially today, but since I had no more lectures after Wednesday, I've actually started my holidays a bit earlier. I am so happy to finally be on holiday! I have my exams relatively early in April (22nd, 25th and 3rd of May), but I only need to study for two of them, since the exam on the 3rd is just to test my ability to solve a problem question and the lecturer will give us all the materials we need in the exam to reply to the question. So really, since I don't need to revise for it, it means that my summer holidays will begin on the 25th of April this year! :D

I want to look for a job here in Scotland, maybe as a tourist guide somewhere (I do know three languages after all), so I can save some money for the next academic year. I know there are no jobs for young people like me in Italy right now, so it would be pointless to even look for one there.

I'm reading The Amber Spyglass right now (I'm halfway through it) and I'm enjoying it. I read and finished The Subtle Knife in less than a week and... I didn't enjoy it as much. ( spoilers )

I also watched Doctor Who last night. I haven't caught up with it yet (I'm still watching the episodes with the Ninth Doctor), but Andrew's family wanted to watch it, so I decided why not. XD I enjoyed it, but... am I the only one who doesn't like Clara? There's just something about her that really annoys me for some reason. *braces herself for angry comments from DW!f-list*

Anyway, fandom aside... I actually have something very personal that I want to talk about, specifically: my asexuality. ( cut for those who are not interested. i talk about my relationship with andrew, plus relationships and sex in general )

Anyway, I'll start a meme this month, so I can update my journal every day. :D Hope you guys all have a great Easter holidays!

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the post in which Chibi becomes angry and smacks a bitch with the power of words

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 13:30:43 GMT

Hello DW! I've been meaning to post last week, but so many things happened, I just didn't have enough time to sit down and write it all down.

But anyway! First things first: hello new friends from F!S! It's a pleasure to meet all of you and I hope we become good friends! :D ♥ I'm just sorry that the first entry you see/read has to be this one, but after I write this down I will be all cheery and fandom-y, I promise! Also, feel free to skip if you're not interested.

Now. Remember my last entry, where I talked about my group assignment? I thought it was over and done with, but I was wrong: we actually had a fight between us for the marks - specifically S and I had a fight with M, the third girl who did nothing.

( here's all the story )

Anyway, writing all of this down has taken me all morning, so that will be all for today. Since I'm now officially on holiday, expect more updates from me, especially about fandom stuff! :D

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