Nothing, really

I've been waiting an unreasonable amount of time - like FIVE WHOLE DAYS - to update you on whether I passed my first year of uni or not. But you know as much as I do. So rather than dwell on it, and rage out all over again, I'm going to talk about other things. Hooray!

I'd rather have a bottle in front o' me than a frontal lobotomy. Hahahah.

Seriously, I've been trying to think of something to write about for five minutes, and that's all I came up with.

It's too late for thinking. Also I'm still recovering from the laryngitis.

Instead of anything interesting or amusing from me, watch this video of Christian the Lion. It's so heartwarming your love-organ might start burning like after a visit from a two-dollar whore.

Don't worry, be crappy

You know what? Stop worrying, honestly.

The deciding moment in your life could be which sandwich you eat tomorrow, or how you styled your hair yesterday. You may never know. That's chaos theory - a butterfly flaps its wings, and...

There are too many factors in life! How can you identify any one thing as important enough to stress over?

We are not told how things could have been, we aren't even told how things are! We have to make it up, with no real idea of what the consequences will be. So whether you get the job, the girl, the flat, or not - how could you know if that's better or worse in the long run?

Maybe you'll live on the streets for a month and die a millionaire.
Maybe you'll get fantastic grades at school and lose a leg in a car accident.
Maybe one would never have happened without the other, maybe it would have happened anyway. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure.

So why worry? You'll muddle through somehow, you always do.

Today's Interesting Thing, in honour of my crappy poorlies, is a guide to illing, by the esteemed Anna from Little Red Boat.

End on a high note

Let's play a fun game! What's the worst possible thing that could happen to Anna? That's right: this all over again. Last year I spent Fresher's week, when I should have been getting to know people, curled up in bed, miserable and completely unable to eat / drink / talk for the best part of a week. This year, it's time to get rolling with the uni thing, and my throat decides to pull it's old inflammation trick again.

This time, however, I am actually registered with a doctor! Silver lining, people, silver lining. Until I can get an appointment, however, it's extreme hunger for me. Hoo-bloody-rah.

I spent a fair portion of today watching youtube videos of Sesame Street, getting all nostalgic, and deciding it would be awesome to design muppets for a living. It would, wouldn't it? What a job.

(removed videos deleted)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ptbp0pmcg3U

That kid has got KILLER comedic timing!! And she's adorable, so little Joey is my interesting thing of the day. Hooray! See why you should watch Sesame Street when you feel low?

/EDIT: videos removed? Dagnabbit! Try these:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOKcG-B3VkA


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrwn_v7WkfA


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNLBke_jvYg

Poets

Ok first of all, if you know me, you know poetry excites me. It makes me dizzy, makes me smile, makes me feel things in a different way, and that's why I love it.

That's why I'm going to share these people with you; because I believe they have something to say that might matter to you.

First of all, Scroobius Pip. Many of you will have heard this before, most likely because it's amazing.


Scroobius Pip is a modern poet, rapper, spoken word lyricist, political thinker. Enjoy it.

Our second poet today is Taylor Mali. He is a teacher, and he is one of those people who seem to be aware in a way that many people aren't. He speaks with conviction. I respect that.



The third poet I'd like to recommend to you Christina Rossetti. She writes about emotions and situations that really speak to me. Particularly "No, Thank You, John" - a firm push into the friend zone for some would-be lover. From the sounds of things it needed to be done, for his own sake as well as hers!

On an unrelated note, the interesting thing of the day is TyTe's latest beatboxing video - it's one of the all-too-rare funny ones, and I thought you might like to check it out. This is the man who got me into beatboxing, this is the man who fed me barbequed shark that I then left all over his patio. He is a legend. Watch, comment.

Eventful day

Also, Gav's brother is engaged to his lady! Hooray!
Also, my uncle died of cancer either today or yesterday. I barely knew him.
Also, I played lots of wii mariokart tonight.
Also, one of my friends is a Lost geek like me!
Also, telling someone they're being oversensitive when they're angry is a FANTASTIC way of calming them down...

Quick note

As you know, I'm tweaking the layout a bit. Being a bit of a noob, I'll probably foul it up at some point - please let me know if things aren't displaying properly for you!

THE WORLD'S GONNA EN- oh no it's okay

Y'know, I now understand why emo-kids all have livejournals full of their depressing thoughts*. I have had an absolute shitter of a day, pardon my Klatchian, and my first response is "oh em gee I gotta blog this ish right here."

HERE FOLLOWS
THE TRUE AND EXTRAORDINARY EXPLOITS
OF ONE MISS ANNA FRUEN

So, today was the day I was supposed to get my results. I failed one module of my first year at Plymouth university, and I had to retake it to transfer. It was vitally important that I get those results before Monday because THAT, dear reader, is the day I register at UWIC, my new uni.

However.

They couldn't give me the results over the phone.
I couldn't access the student intranet because they've taken me off the system.
It had not yet arrived at my home address on the Isle of Wight because they were only sent off today.

This took many, many phone calls to Plymouth and to home to ascertain.

STRESSFUL!

I was left, panicking and tearful, to explain to Gavin and my parents why everything had gone so horribly, horribly wrong...

Until just now. Gav called. He said that he'd phoned UWIC, talked to K who's been helping me through the transfer (and thus deserves a medal), and found out the following:

a) I don't register, technically, until Thursday
b) Even if I've failed they can work around that
c) They've had a bunch of transfer students like me and it's all gone fine with them
d) They've found a tutor group that goes well with my "lively debate" style of learning
e) It's all gonna be ok and I can allow my blood pressure to subside to the point where it's not trickling out of my ears.

I therefore nominate Gavin and K for 'best people of the month' awards. Thank you SO SO SO MUCH!

I know it's difficult to follow this post - the life-saving phone call came partway through, so it's a bit jumbled - but all you have to do is say "Oh well done, thank goodness" or words to that effect.

*Sweeping generalisations. They're always right.

In which Anna is inbetween

I know dementia is a very serious problem, but this poster still makes me laugh. That phrase in particular, "Fighting dementia every step of the way", brings to mind a picture of an old lady saying "Now, I know you've told me, Enid, but where are we going?" Sorry.

I find myself in a rather odd situation right now where I can't say anything about myself for certain. I can't say I'm 20 because I'm practically 21, I can't say I'm a Christian because I'm very confused, and I've dyed my hair it's natural colour which is sort of mousy dark blondey brownish so I can't even identify my hair colour with any certainty.

Still female, though. Still definitely female.

By the way, the tags at the bottom of my posts can be used to track what I've written on certain topics. I tend to reuse the same tags, so generally if you want to find out what I've written about (for example) identity in the past, just click it and see. Nifty!

Good news everyone!

The domain name www.almostdailyexploits.com is now up and running! You don't have to change or update anything, the old blogspot address will just redirect. Still. Pretty exciting eh?

I can also now be contacted at the email address: anna at almostdailyexploits dot com.

Link splurge

Madness, have I really not posted for five days? Such deplorable laxity! Still, I like to think that since the revamp I've been living up to the blog's title at the very least. Sort of, a bit.

I'm currently feeling thoroughly useless and dithering like a professional ditherer; my housemate's had some bad news and, since I've spent a total of three minutes talking to him ever, I'm not really sure how to help. This isn't appalling social skills on my part, by the way - he's only just moved in. Still. Mental note: must make more of an effort.

I'd like to recommend Wet Lemon Animations as my interesting thing of the day, which is really cheating as there are several interesting toons on it. My favourite one isn't working, but it's on Weebl's Stuff: Colours has a beautiful storyline! Check out the portal song too, it's gorgeous. Have I recommended Jonathan Coulton to you yet? No?! Well the Portal song is one of his, and I can't recommend his songs enough. They're funny and beautiful, and some are free to download.

As always, the links will be going up in the sidebar for later reference.

9/11 and the Fuckery of the Election Campaigns

Oh God, I'd forgotten how much I hate American politics. At least in the UK we have the decency to be politely embarrassed about the whole thing. In America, the party you support have the power and the strategies to change the world for the better. But the other guys? Oh, the other guys are in league with terrorists. They hate The Family (which family is this, by the way?), and will have us all being ridden around like ponies with Muslims and Communists on our backs by the end of 2010. The other guys couldn't possibly lead the Greatest Nation (tm) because their leader is a woman / black / inexperienced / a bitch / republican.

I'll be honest, I don't even know which party is which. Paint one turd red and one blue and I'll be just as unwilling to swallow either, thank you very much.

And if you think I'm exaggerating, that they're not really all overdramatic fearmongers, I'd like you to see how much of this video you can watch before nominating him for an Oscar.



The reason it makes me so angry is that America was supposed to be our big chance at a blank slate. A truly equal society in which freedom and justice were available to all. Such lofty aspirations, and yet the election campaigns are just pigs in dirt, squealing as many buzzwords as they can.

Disclaimer: I don't hate Americans, I'm not Jeremy Clarkson. I've just never heard a political diatribe yet that I liked or agreed with. By the way, if pressed for a vote, I like Obama because he has a nice smile and waves a lot. (At least I'm honest about it.)

Site stats

I checked my blog on websitegrader.com, expecting to hear the usual: that nobody really reads / has heard of The Almost Daily Exploits of Me. Instead, it turns out that in the grand scheme of things I'm doing fairly well!

"Your website has an Alexa rank of 6,016,239 which is in the top 19.58 % of all websites."

"This blog currently has a Technorati rank of 2,473,598, which puts it in the top 3.53% of blogs tracked by Technorati."

Well heck, this pleases me.

Every journey starts with a single blog post about how you intend to take a step

Few things are as painful as the horrible realisation of your true self. All the little personality flaws, all the foibles that your closest friends and family know only too well (and like you too much to point out). In fact the only thing I can think of right now that is MORE horrible than that, is when you have to do something about it.

So here, in the privacy of my own public blog, I've decided to confess to a few of my faults with the express intention of weeding them out of my personality.

ONE.
If there is no drama in my life, I will create some. I'm nowhere near as bad as I used to be, with my weekly breakdowns at Soul Cafe where people would need to reassure me about all aspects of my body and personality, but I'm still pretty bad. Take Gavin for example. Occasionally - up to and including this weekend - I'll continue crying at him because it takes a lot more effort to calm down and be rational about things. This is clearly unacceptable.

TWO.
When I say I'll do something, I mean I may or may not and it certainly won't be soon. Despite my many layers of organisation - both an online and physical diary, phone reminders, www.rememberthemilk.com etc. - I still find ways of postponing pretty much everything. This comes down to poor time management; something that I will have to keep very tightly in check when university starts again. If it starts again. Oh God.

THREE.
I must, must, MUST work myself back into sensible sleeping habits. I've seen the wrong side of dawn far too many times in the past week, now being a prime example. If I am to have any hope of catching a worm, ever, I must stop relying on the blackout blind to provide me with an artificial night.

So! You may all bear witness to this pledge to better myself. I shall start tomorrow with a reasonable rising time (i.e. actually in the morning), a healthy breakfast, and a tidying spree.

Why can't I improve myself in a montage? Montages are easy. Rocky got a damn montage.

While the cat's away

Gavin's been gone for three days, and I've been using the freed-up time to meet up with people, go out with housemates, and mope in my room. Mostly that last one. It's been a fairly good weekend, except for a very dramatic night last night in which I was extremely irrational and angry and frightened - never a good combination. Long story short, I was just worried about Gav because he was having an allergic reaction.

Friday night was vastly superior: I was hanging out with friends, kicked everyone's asses at Wii bowling, met someone new, discovered White Russians (which are now tied first with Baileys for best alcoholic drink ever), and wore my sexy shoes for no readily explainable reason.

Interesting thing of the day: a facemaker. I adore this thing, I have endless fun with it. Just search for faces by Thiefree to see what I've been up to with it!

Repentance

You know what? Repentance hurts. My tears last night were tears of pure grief at the things I've done and the way I've been, and it was like wringing out my heart. I'm a sinner. An unpopular word, perhaps, but that's what I am and I realised that anew last night. I was sobbing the words I'm sorry, over and over, but words didn't do it justice. I was grieving the things I'd done to sully the Holy Spirit. Something so pure and beautiful that should lift me up to better things, and I've trodden it in the dirt time and time again.

Gavin told me he felt I should call my sister Judi, so I did, despite the fact that I assumed she'd be asleep. So I said no. Gav said "I really feel like you should call her." So I did; no answer. "Try again." I did, and she picked up, and she said all the right things... she hadn't been able to sleep so I hadn't woken her. She said the right things, encouraged me, and gave me good advice. I thank God for people in my life like Gavin and Judith who are, thank God, there when I need them.

And today... this appeared in ASBO Jesus:

I thought mine had, but last night my tears made it burn brighter.

Big ones

I was walking down the road on my way to buy some pillows and stuff for my new bed, when a slightly tubby thirty-something builder man got out of his van and shouted to his slightly tubby builder-pal "Hey, tell her what you said earlier. Tell her what you said about breasts!"

I ignored him and walked ahead, looking like I wasn't at all bothered while secretly wondering what he had said about breasts, and what I should have said in response. I assure you, in my head, I was post-hilarious.

In the shop, I bought bedding and such, having discovered that double beds aren't double the size of single beds OR big enough for two people. Well I mean really.

On the way home, I turned the corner onto my street and once again encountered builder man, who, as he passed me, said in happy Welsh tones, "BIG ones."

Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, 'Anna, how did you stop yourself from pouncing and making sweet sweet love to him right there on the pavement?'

I don't know, guys... I just don't know.

This house will self-destruct in 3...

Every home has a few quirks. Doors that rattle, floorboards that creak, a mad woman locked in the attic; you know, the usual. Well, having been in my newly-renovated home for three weeks (gosh, is that all?), I'm starting to discover the little things that make this house unique.

One time in ten, turning on a light will blow the lighting circuit. The emergency lights go on, I go downstairs, get out the stepladder, go to the fusebox, flip the switch, reset the house alarm thing that beeps, put the stepladder away, and resume my activities.

Nine times out of ten, trying to use the tumbledryer will blow the appliances circuit which also blows the lighting circuit. For some reason this results in NO emergency lights. So I have to get out the stepladder in complete darkness, go to the fusebox, feel around for both switches and flip them, reset the house alarm thing that beeps, put the stepladder away, and resume my activities.

Yes, the house alarm thing, I think that warrants explanation. Basically, its job is to beep when something's wrong, despite the fact that we can tell something's wrong by the way the lights have all gone out / the dishwasher isn't working / we're all burning to death in a horrific inferno (delete as applicable). Still. Nice of it to let us know.

Beep.


Beep.


Beep.

And every time it does beep, I have to stab about in the darkness, hitting the loud waily siren button a couple of times, and a number of other buttons, before I find the reset button. Why does it HAVE a loud waily siren button?! And what are all those other buttons FOR, if not to make it harder finding the "Dear-God-please-stop-the-beeping" button?

All the other little quirks are fairly standard. A cold tap that doesn't turn. A shelf in Leon's room that fell off as soon as he put something on it. Ten square centimetres of kitchen storage for each of us. STILL no internet connection. But for all that, it's a lovely little place, and I'm settling in nicely.

In other news, I bought some amazing shoes that make me feel great and I only feel slightly guilty about that. They're not as expensive as I hope they look. As a new heels-wearer I haven't hobbled into town in them yet, but they seem pretty easy and comfortable as well as being diabolically sexiful. Hooray!

I've relapsed into my addiction, by the way. Boots Meal Deals. I start getting the shakes if I don't have one for a few days. The chicken fajita wraps... mmmm... I'd happily live off them! With the resulting Boots points (loyalty cards for the win), I hope to save up for a pencil or something.

Interesting Thing of the Day, courtesy of gavD: Lego in ruins. Awesome!