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.

Who?

The Imperial College String Ensemble

Why?

The domain of strings players.

I was part of a string ensemble at school, thought this would be fun! Especially as their stall at Fresher’s Fair is normally incredible. Due to time commitments, I don’t actually play with them anymore, but some of my best friends from Imperial were found in this group of lovely people.

What and Where?

ICSE is a smallish group of string players who have fun with some of the repertoire that the orchestras can’t handle with their woodwind/brass/percussion. Rehearsals are in the Great Hall or Senior Common Room (depending on availability), on Friday nights from 6.15 pm to 8 pm. The conductor is Scott Wilson, a maestro from London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He has big plans for the ensemble, and they are moving in directions previously unexplored, promising an amazing year for 2010/2011.

They usually have three major concerts, but have expanded to four for this year:

Winter concert: 19th November – Tchaikovsky “Serenade for Strings”; Albinoni “Adagio”; Respighi “Ancient Airs and Dances”. This will be in the Holy Trinity Church on Prince Consort Road, the traditional place for an ICSE concert, and a magnificent venue.

A small selection of ensemble members.

Spring Charity Concert: a Mozart piano concerto with a professional pianist recruited by Scott, and other repertoire - 4th Feb (tbc)

Another Spring concert: Vivaldi “Spring” and “Summer” concertos; Williamson “Symphony No 7″ – 18th March

Their final concert will be in the summer term, details to be confirmed.

Social?

As ICSE rehearsals are on a Friday night, they have a social every week. This ranges from going out for ice-cream/a meal/heading off to the pub, to holding a major event at least once a term which in the past have included barn dances, an ICSE speciality.

Audition?

No auditions! Just turn up and have fun.

ICSE relaxing in the sun

Cost?

Membership for a whole year, including tea, crumpets and toast during breaks (ICSE are the only orchestra at IC that own a toaster), is just £15. This is a major bargain (the cost of just one riding lesson, in fact!).

I had a very special Corrie-fail, and wrote this a while ago, then never published it. So it’s updated to include the ICSE concert and the Summer Ball, but I’m sorry if it doesn’t make any sense in terms of tenses, because to be honest I’m feeling  bit rough after two nights of rather heavy partying and there are other, more important things on my mind!

Work this week has consisted of envelopes.

This week has been work, work, work with a bit of sleep and game playing thrown in. I have a new game called the Settlers, Rise of an Empire. It’s addictive. Maddy, Tom and I played Mah Jong the other night, and it made me happy. I like that game, and if you haven’t played it, you should. John made me basically decide we are going to have Mah Jong and Rummikub nights next year. It doesn’t have to be complex and alcohol related to be fun (although normally Pimms consumption results in a night deteriorating to debauchery and loud voices).

Group at the Diana Memorial Fountain.

In other news, John finished his degree yesterday. YAY! We celebrated in Hyde Park, at the Diana Memorial first, then on a random bit of grass after being told our “champagne” and Pimms were strictly forbidden in the memorial. Fair enough, though John was not pleased. We had a fun water-fight which involved me getting as far away from Tom, John, Naomi and Ken as possible and filming the boys getting told off by the fun-police.

Tom and I went to see Wicked again. It was just as good, if not better than the first time.

Barnce in the UCH.

The ICSE concert was on Friday night. Tom and I were stewards, and the concert was good. There weren’t very many people, and I encourage you to all go to concerts next year. Jonathan Silver, our DPE (that’s Deputy President of Education in the Union), played a solo, which was AMAZING. After the concert, the ticket got us access to a barn dance in the Union Concert Hall. John Sandall and a couple of his friends were doing the music, and I nearly cried I was so jealous of their playing. We went back to John’s house and spent the night getting through an incredible amount of Sambuca, Baileys and wine, and ended up crashing for a while.

The Noisettes.

The Summer Ball was last night. It was AMAZING. I made dinner for John and Tom while they slept during the day, we watched Doctor Who (Ohmigosh I can’t believe it) and then headed off. We got there in time for fireworks, Plan B and the Noisettes. We also went on two rides, which were really good. John and I had a more favourable reaction to the really high one, as we loved it - Tom and Cath not so much.

Our reaction to the ride - note the glee on mine and John's faces and the Fear on Cath and Tom's!

Tom and I left early because I’d had a grand total of about four hours of sleep, and we also decided we’d had enough to drink and that it was Time. If you missed it, I’m really sorry, but it was awesome. If you’ll be new to IC next year, you have to go. It’s expensive, but totally worth it. It’s not often your university gets turned into a giant festival in the centre of London.

Ashton has kindly set-up another blog for me to go on about more personal stuff over the summer. I will still be updating here as a result of my internship experiences, and also for the “Things to do in London” series, but if you want to know more about general life in Corrie-land, please feel free to check it out!

My internship starts tomorrow. I’m so nervous, but really excited too.