Bowling with the ICSE crew.

Hello there!

What have I been up to the last two weeks that has kept me SO busy I haven’t been able to blog? Well, a number of things.

Project continues to keep me fully occupied during the week, as if having a huge number of lecture notes to go over wasn’t enough. Last week I learned how to use a pH probe (possibly one of the hardest things I’ve ever done…</sarcasm>) and how to make a TRIS phosphate buffer solution. I also weighed out a huuuge number of samples, all 150 mg, all into little plastic pots. It was tiresome and boring, and took 6.5 hours with no lunch-break and no sitting down. My legs ached afterwards. I’ve also learned how to do a compression test (watching the samples that took me 3 months to make being slowly crushed is…well, crushing). Lots of data to collect this week, as my supervisor kept reminding me. Lovely.

My fave corridor at Imperial. Strange, I know.

I rejoined ICSE! Most of you weren’t even aware I quit – I decided, in my infinite wisdom, that I didn’t have enough time to practice the pieces we are playing during the week, and that it would be more fair to the orchestra if I removed myself. Unfortunately, I didn’t factor in the number of people who are able to play viola (as in, not many), and I got an email last week asking me if I would kindly show my face again. So, I did. The concert is on Tuesday, in Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Square. We are playing for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. Tickets are £5 for students and £12 for adults – slightly more if you buy them on the door. It will be Tom’s debut as leader of the orchestra – if you are interested in attending, please do let me know!

Publicity stint over, we went bowling on Friday, which was good fun. Turns out that being awesome on the Wii does not translate to being good in real life. I wasn’t really surprised, but still. More practice required!

We’ve been going to the pub every Wednesday with the Materials people – last week we went to a lovely place in Notting Hill which had doors to fit hobbits! I felt right at home, haha. It was the Earl of Lonsdale, and had a load of private booths each with their own section of the bar, meaning we never had to go far to get the next (rather cheap) pint. Amazing. Next week we are off to a pub in Barons Court which has been described as the Tardis. Quite a lot of excitement from the Dr Who fans in our group about that!

Apart from that, I’m glad January is over. My lectures are rather more taxing than I expected, and I’m really looking forward to the sun rising at a sensible hour of the day. Six months of the degree left! Terrifying.

Ciao for now!

CORRIE

Hello,

The Towersey Tiger Hats

It’s been a few days. Oopsy daisies. My advent blogging failed. “What have you been up to?” I hear you ask. Well, on Saturday I had the most awesome lie-in I’ve ever had, like, ever. I was supposed to be revising but the radio was on and my bed was warm and the flat was untidy, which I would have had to face when I got up. So I didn’t. This requires me pointing it out on my blog because people always say students are lazy and spend all their time in bed – it’s quite unusual for me to be in bed after 8 am, even after a 4 am bedtime (as I had on Friday). It was nice to relax – something that I forget frequently. The stress of this term is making me forget to be a real person, which is something that I’ve forced myself to do every year up until now. More lie ins are on the cards, I think! John and I cooked a Jaimie’s 30-Minute Meal, we recorded some Quartet Christmas music, and watched Inception. I also gave the boys their pressies, which I knitted in September during a day-long hospital visit. It’s taken me since then to sew the ends in. They are to match the infamous Tiger Hats.

One of the Tiger Scarves

On Sunday all my music peeps came round and Tom and I cooked a Christmas dinner for them. I don’t have photos unfortunately, cos I was too busy cooking – I think John has some which I will steal from his camera when I next get a chance, so you can all share the awe we felt at fitting 9 people around our little kitchen table. I think we used every single pot/pan/cooking implement we own, but in the evening we went out and everyone else cleaned up.

Where did we go out? To see Ross Noble! zOMG it was hilarious. When I watch him on DVDs or TV or something, I never think he is as funny as I did on Sunday. I pointed out to Tom, John and Jenny as we walked home that “I was laughing so much that I couldn’t laugh anymore”. First time in a long time. This is something else I want to do more often!

I had an assessment yesterday for my final project. I think I passed. Yay! Tonight Lucia, Kathy and I are cooking dinner for the Dwarves, and exchanging gifts as well. I can’t wait to give Lucia hers – you will see why tomorrow, when I finally post a picture of it somewhere on the internet where it can be seen! I finished it in September, have been waiting a long time for this day.

Ross Noble

Anyway, that’s about it. This week is just finishing up in labs, getting ready to go home, and packing for a five-day trip to Copenhagen and Helsinki with the girls. Excited!

Ciao for now!

Working in the lab...

There were so many titles I could have chosen for this blog (you have no idea how difficult it is naming each post), but as you can quite clearly see, I went for the rather lame one I’ve just put up. I can’t remember if I’ve ever talked about the Sainsbury’s Epiphany, but the message is an important one (if I do say so myself), so it gets a dedicated post. Woohoo.

Anyway, the story goes something like this. In first year, way back when labs, tutorial sheets and revision were all fairly new experiences, Tom and I were sitting in his room in Weeks one night. Tom had been going on a lab report for about six hours straight, and was totally stuck on something that he just couldn’t get right. I eventually got sick of being inside, and suggested we go down to Little Sainsbury’s for a Coke and some yummies. Met with a lot of argument “I need to finish my lab report and don’t have time to take half an hour to go get it”, he eventually agreed, and off we strolled. As we rounded the corner and Harrods came into sight (I’m only adding that to reiterate the awesome fact that our local Sainsbury’s was opposite Harrods), Tom suddenly looked at me and said “I know what the problem is!” We went back, the report was finished quickly, and I heroically restrained the “I told you so” that was trying to get out.

The stage pre-show.

I’m a firm believer of ‘the minutes you take a break are sometimes more important than the hours you spend working, and this confirmed it. Smugness aside, every time either of us gets into that situation again, we remind each other of the Sainsbury’s Epiphany, and it makes it that little bit easier to remember to take a break, refresh with a cup of tea/walk around the block, and get our heads straight. I’m sure everyone knows/will know the pain of an aching head after staring at the same sheet of paper/calculator/computer screen for too long. I can assure you, this is probably the only blog I’ve never exaggerated on (haha). [Hopefully Tom will add a nice little comment to confirm the truth of what I'm saying.]

I’m now in Fourth Year (how did that happen?) and when I start thinking about the comprehensive paper/final project/Systems exam in January/Nano notes I haven’t written up yet, have to remind myself of this daily. It still helps.

The support act, who were brilliant.

Obligatory advice aside (prompted by a conversation via Twitter with someone I’ve never met before who goes to IC and tweeted “@darwinkk really needs someone to cheer me up right now (” at  midnight last night, allowing me to start with the generous advice “Got any sugar in your cupboard? Melt it in a pan and make Toffee out of it. Sugar high and occupiedness to interrupt depression” and move on to the more serious stuff), what have I been doing the last few days?

Well, back in October, I got a parking ticket for parking in a restricted bay in South Kensington on the night of graduation. I didn’t hear back from them after I appealed, and ignored the fact that I really ought to find out what was happening. I got a letter the other day demanding payment, which was doubled because I’m now a month late. I’m going to spend an hour on the phone trying to sort it out, and never again will I pretend something isn’t a problem just because it’s uncomfortable to think about.  Another life-lesson right there.

Being...happy?

John stayed the weekend again, and we went to a folk concert on Saturday night at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. This is a lot in line with Chris’ most recent blog, and was awesome. I spent the night in my penguin hat, we met one of the fiddle players from the band in the bar afterwards, and we went home to watch “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”, in which Simon and Ben, the only two who weren’t actually staying in the flat, were the only ones who managed to stay awake for longer than about ten minutes. Sunday was the String Ensemble concert in Holy Trinity Church, followed by a folk session at a pub in Hammersmith and another late night.

Over the last few days I’ve also seen Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (twice), learned how to make my samples in the lab (and exploded one of my samples with too much sodium bicarbonate) and finished knitting a Christmas present for my Gran.

It’s getting harder to balance student life with real life as I slowly realise I will in all likelihood be leaving Imperial in less than 7 months and try to make the most of it. Take advantage of the people/clubs and societies/living in London while you can, because you can never get this time back.

The cellist...the most chilled out person I've ever seen on stage.

SAM the violinist "I LOVE YOU SAM"

Two more chilled out peeps.

Beth the Penguin Hat "Corrie, your hat just made my day"

AWESOME

Bellowhead...Stage Right

Wow, I’ve churned out a lot of probably misguided advice in this one. I’m gonna wrap it up now and toddle off for yet another visit to the doctor, some violating (which, if you’re worried, is what Ben calls it when I play viola) and more career decisions. More on that later!

Ciao for now.