I find myself in the unusual position of being ready well before eight, and able to write a blog. I’m going to lament that time of year when every student at college wants to shrivel up and die…summer exams. Now, of course I don’t actually have any of these just yet. The 4 Celcius temperature outside is testament to the fact that it’s not summer. Next Tuesday, however, I have a revision lecture. OMGWTF, already?! Yes! So I now find myself in the position of:

a) Trying to finish my literature review after the first draft was appraised/criticised by my tutor.
b) Trying to finish my first draft of design study for next Friday
c) Trying to revise last terms Composites notes – eight lectures of algebra and tensors.

My brain hurts. I’ve gone over five of the lectures so far….and still can’t answer a single question on the sheet. Note to second years - if you struggle with mechanics/tensors….this course is quite tough!

To celebrate, have a nice, totally unrelated picture. Anybody recognise why I took it? No, really, it’s not the binbag.

Whyyyy did I take this photo?!

I received an email yesterday asking me a load of questions about Materials, and I thought I would post my answer for the world to see, on this page. Hope it helps someone, and if you have any more questions, send me an email!

For those who are wondering what went on in my life over the weekend:

Puffer!

I spent about two hours on Saturday setting up a small fish tank which now contains a puffer fish. This is seriously cool. I’m trying to downsize, and the plan is to sell my massive 150 litre tank which currently sits in the lounge (if anyone is interested, get in touch!) I was going to have only one tank running…but then I saw the little girl in the fish shop, all alone…. she is a Red Tailed Redeye Puffer and is rather fun to watch. They eat snails, which is fine as I have an infestation in my Endlers tank, so I have a readily available food source. I’m also close to negotiating a deal with the fish shop for free food if I give them some of my baby Endlers, which sell for £5 a pair.

Still puffer...

I’m not some crazy fish-lady, honest! I haven’t named her yet. I want something grand, but fitting. I’ve had a few Shakespearian names mentioned – Ophelia springs to mind – but does anybody else have any ideas?

In other news, Tom’s sister came over for the weekend. We were going to go to Windsor, but for a few reasons didn’t make it – while Tom and Ellie were shopping, I worked on my design study, and made a chickpea curry on Saturday night. I will post this recipe at some point, cos it was delicious, dairy-free, vegetarian, vegan, safe for most religions…so if you ever need to cook something for a varied group of people, it’s perfect, and easy too! I didn’t get many photos – I did get one of their faces as they were watching something disgusting on a DVD, but for the sake of my head on my neck, I won’t post that one.

Mum's photo! Copyright Trish Berry, www.zambezi.com

Also, my mummy is famous! One of her photographs of a Forest Hog has been used on an endangered species website. I would never normally plagiarise a photo, but as it’s hers….

I have nothing much else to report. Work is a pain in the bum, and there is a lot of it. We are playing some hard music in Sinfonietta, that makes me feel like the last eight years of playing mean nothing because I can’t play any of it. I’m going to go swimming later to make me feel a bit less like a fat slob. I guess I’ll just have to stare at my fish for a few minutes a day to make myself feel better…

Edit: I found a broken link in my blog about birthdays at TGI, for a YouTube video. Shocker! Check it out, I’ve fixed it now.

Fish empire

In the past, people have called me a little neurotic about leaving the house. I like to leave an hour early, even though it takes about 30 minutes on the bus, or 40 if you walk. If I’m catching a train or coach from Victoria/Paddington, I’m so nervous about it that I leave about four hours early and have to wait around three and a half before I actually leave.

Well, this morning was a classic moment of exactly why I do this. I left the house just a bit late – about 8.05 am. I was wearing heels and we had an introductory lecture to a course at 9 am – so I decided to play it safe and get the bus. This was theoretically fine, except I hadn’t factored in STUPID LONDON TRAFFIC. At twenty to nine I was still sitting at West Brompton station…which is about a 15 minute walk from our house, and about twenty from college. Also, I was on a 74, which would have had to go all the way round Earl’s Court and onto Cromwell Road. I decided not to risk it again, hopped off, and went into the tube station.

By ten to, not a single train had gone past that I could squeeze onto. They were all packed. I eventually managed to get on, and arrived in South Ken at 9 am. I managed to get to the lecture a couple of minutes after he had started, because he started late. But I broke so many of my rules.

1. (Most important): never be late for lectures.
2. Walk into college.
3. Never get the tube into college.
4. Don’t ever wear high heels if you think you might have to run/walk quickly.

My day didn’t start great, as you can see. To make it better, I’m going to go to Argos and buy a toilet seat for our stupid broken toilet which likes to tip you off when you try sit down. Amusing when the boys start squawking because they don’t expect it to happen, but not so great when you need the loo yourself!