The BB-8s

Until a couple of weeks or so ago, the only Star Wars material I had in my room was a Darth Vader figurine. For my birthday, my girlfriend's mother me a BB-8 plush toy (at the request of my girlfriend) whereas my girlfriend herself bought me a BB-8 cushion.

I like both items, of course! BB-8 is cool and, as a droid who looks like a beach ball, he is regarded as one of the cutest characters in all of Star Wars. You can't go wrong with BB-8! As the plush toy is small, he is next to my Vader on a shelf whereas the cushion is on my bed.

The cat and college frames

During my college years and Year 1 of university, I always had out on my window sill or desk my two pictures of the cats my family I had many, many years ago. They were packed away for the three and a half weeks I was at my mother's house and have remained that way until today. There was no symbolic or personal reason for keeping them packed away other than that my room was a mess as a result not tidying it while ill.

Now that I've tidied my room, I've placed the pictures of my cats on my desk. In addition, at the end of Access, one of my friends gave me a framed photo collection of him and me in London with another classmate, the poster of me from college and a picture of me by myself in London. This was one of the kindest gifts I received at college and I really like having it out on display, as the cats are.

Once again, a messy bedroom

As a result of my recent colds, I have neglected keeping my room tidy. The desk is a mess and I've bags and belongings over much of the floor. It's not impossible to find anything and it's not a hazard having to walk in the room - it just needs sorting out.

Thankfully, I have energy again and once I've pressed "Publish" for this post, I'll go tidy some of the mess up.

The confined room

At my university accommodation, I had a large room, which easily accommodated my belongings and any boxes/suitcases they all came with me in. At my mother's house, however, the room is not at all large enough to fit in many of my belongings; most are in the storage areas of the house.

Even so, a large amount of my belongings are in the room I have here and the limited space there was before is even more limited now. To be able to sleep, I have to move excess belongings from my bed to my chair and if I want to use my laptop, the reverse becomes true.

To be fair, however, this is a temporary arrangement; I'll have my big room back soon. This post isn't a complaint - merely a small window into where I'm currently living.

Accommodation move-out 2017, Phase 1

Phase 1 of my move out is complete. The vast majority of my belongings are now at my mother's and brother's house; my East of England uncle and one of my cousins came to transport my stuff for me. Now, at my accommodation I have few of my belongings left here; mostly clothes, some kitchen items and last-minute miscellany.

All that's left here can be carried by hand back to my mother's and brother's place. It might take me two or three runs to take it all but I'll do it...it'll be great exercise!

For abs and arms

During one of the recent days at my grandparents' house, my grandfather and I sorted out their garage. While doing so, I came across a medium-sized device that looked like motorbike handles attached to a pump.

My grandfather said it was an exercise device for the torso and arms. While I walk lots, I haven't done much in the way of improving my arm strength and reducing excess stomach fat. As my grandfather no longer uses the device and didn't want to throw it away, he gave it to me.

So now I have my own exercise pump! Even a few minutes use of it per day will work wonders; the key now is to ensure I use it each day. The motivation? Keeping fit and healthy!

Jacket luck

I had a bout of good luck yesterday afternoon. As it was raining outside, I wore my thin coat over my fleece; however, by the time I made it to my bus it had stopped raining, was warm and I was sweating. I tied both my fleece and my coat around my waist before I boarded the 48 to the city centre.

When I arrived in the centre, without noticing it my jacket slipped off me. It was only when I was in Bulwell that I realised it had come off; at first, I thought I'd lost the coat but then I remembered, assuming it had come off on either the 48 or the 17 (my bus to Bulwell), there was a chance it would be in Nottingham City Transport's lost and found collection. After I'd finished in Bulwell I returned to the city centre on the 68 line.

On that bus back I realised there were other places it could have come off. When I was in the Victoria Centre, for example, although there was a chance I could get it back in there, too; but there were other places, like Bulwell bus station and the entire stretch from the 48 to the 17. I had conceded that the coat was lost but I hoped that someone in need would pick it up, such as a homeless person.

As luck would have it, when I returned to the bus stops back to Clifton, the jacket was next to a bin; it was dirty from being trodden on but it was there! I picked it up in relief and couldn't believe my luck in retrieving what I thought was a lost coat.

A move out

In a little over two months' time, I will temporarily be moving out of my accommodation for the end of July, all of August and much of September, as the contract runs from September to July. As such, I have slowly been taking stuff out of here for storage at my mother and brother's house.

My unneeded and less-used items are those that have been going first. I think one of the next items will be my crock pot/slow cooker; sadly, while it would have been a great money saver, using it is next to impossible given that there is no space in the kitchen for it and using it in my bedroom is impractical. A shame, really; I doubt I'll be bringing it back next academic year.

I will be living in on-campus accommodation again from 2017-2018. I booked my place months ago.

The flask

Nearly three weeks ago, I participated in an online competition hosted by Trentbarton. Needless to say, I won the competition, which involved working out route names in emoji format. This was my reward:

A flask from the 200 Degrees coffee shop in Nottingham. It will keep food cold or warm for a fairly decent length of time either way (I think it's six hours if hot, 24 if iced). My grandparents and uncle were enthusiastic about it, as was my mother; they all agreed that it is a sturdy flask and wouldn't have been cheap if bought.

While I'm pleased at winning a useful item, I'm delighted that I won a Trentbarton competition. I've ridden on their routes hundreds and hundreds of times (easily north of 500), so it seems fitting to win something sponsored by them! I'll have to visit 200 Degrees, too.

Nearly crushed another

In March 2015, one of my pairs of earbuds was crushed when it fell out of my shirt pocket as I crossed the main road by my college. Ever since then, I have been using the other set of earbuds that came with it. This afternoon, my Galaxy S III, which is my music player, fell out of my bag (while in the class room, not in the road!) and as I put my foot down, I heard a crunching noise and thought I'd destroyed my other earbud set.

Fortunately for me, the earbuds were fine; my foot hadn't cause them any damage. I would have been annoyed with myself if they had been wrecked, as they are a good pair and I'd rather not have to replace them for a while longer.

Bought a new pair of headphones

Yesterday evening, I bought off Amazon a pair of headphones; to my surprise, they arrived before midday and so I immediately able to start using them. Great!

The sound quality to the headphones is excellent and the set feels comfortable to my head. The problem with the device is that the speakers do not contain the music to my ears only - other people can hear my music while I'm listening to it. Despite this issue, I don't intend to send them back - they cost me about £10.

As a consequence, though, I shall still use my earbuds when on buses; I have no intent of becoming a pest on the bus because of other people hearing my music. My headphones will likely be something I only use at home, much like my original pair were before they were broken (they were accidentally stepped on).

The thoughtful gift

Yesterday morning, I received a lovely gift from my friend and fellow blogger Jessica. I had been expecting a card from her during the Christmas break, as she had informed me that such a card was on the way and wanted to know once I received it; however, Jessica also mentioned that she was sending something else, although I wasn't sure what it was. I cheekily expected something related to Grumpy Cat, given our mutual appreciation for the Internet meme.

I received this instead:

It's Honeymoon, the most recent studio album from Lana Del Rey. Sometime in the past couple of months, Jessica and I talked about Lana Del Rey; during the conversation, I think I mentioned that I only have one Del Rey album (Born to Die: The Paradise Edition). As Honeymoon was released in September, this is the newest album by release date I have in my CD collection.

Thank you so much, Jessica! I love Lana Del Rey and it is incredibly thoughtful and kind of Jessica to have purchased Honeymoon for me and sent it across the Atlantic. It was a delightful surprise and I am looking forward to playing the album.

I have something for Jessica, too; on the morning I received Honeymoon, my mother the mailed the card I bought. With any luck, Jessica will receive it soon.

Phone armour

Do you remember when we bought Dad a heavy-duty kickstand case for his phone? I have bought an armoured case for my phone, although it doesn't feature a kickstand:

The middle and right pieces are made of plastic; they clip together over the front and back of my phone. The piece on the left is made of silicone; it covers the back of my phone and is to provide it with grip, as the plastic can be slippery.

The USB fans (2)

As promised, here is a picture of my USB fan:

Again, I'm highly grateful for this device - it might have been cheap but it's extremely useful!

Broken headphones

Not long after I came to Nottingham, my grandfather gave me a pair of headphones. Not earbuds but a proper pair of headphones. I used these frequently for a few months before they fell victim to a foot two or three months ago.

Fortunately, while one of the phones had broken off there was no damage to any of the electronics. Yesterday, my grandfather successfully glued the broken speaker back onto the main body. Thanks to him, I can once again use the headphones he gave to me. Hooray!

I have a picture of the repairwork, which I will include in July's Secret Life of Bloggers Blog Party post.

The USB fans

A few weeks ago, my grandfather bought some USB desk fans and gave one of them to me. I am extremely grateful that he did because for the past few days I have been using mine for a few hours at a time to help cool me down from the heat.

The USB fan is useful because, as its name implies, it's powered by plugging it into a USB port, the nearest one to me being my laptop. The fan is small and can be aimed either up or down, depending on where you want it positioned. It's a quality item, despite being cheap.

I'll include a picture of my fan in an upcoming post.

The new pouch

This is the money pouch I bought yesterday:

I bought this from the women's section of a clothing store. In recent weeks I have become fed up with constantly checking my pockets in case my coins have fallen out and my wallet is not an effective place in which to store coins because they fall out of it. A zippable pouch, like the one above, resolves these problems.

I don't think it's silly for men to own pouches like the one above; after all, which is sillier: A man owning an item marketed to women as a place in which to keep his coins or losing his coins because they fell out of his pocket? Pockets and wallets are, by comparison, inadequate places to store change and I'm happy to have made this purchase.

The bottle

Usually when I'm out, such as at college or on my walks, I carry a bottle of water with me. The bottle that I've had for much of my course was destroyed during the half-term break. After I drained two smaller bottles during my recent Wollaton walk, I bought this:

It's a two-litre bottle of water, which is double the size of the two smaller bottles combined. Now, whenever I'm embarking on one of my long walks it will be more difficult for me to run out of water; I drained my original bottle on my most recent Hucknall hike.

And here is the bottle through the HDR filter of the Snapseed app.

Bathroom mirror selfie

I recently posted to Facebook a selfie, which was taken using my phone's front camera. I intended to not ever post a selfie there but I've since mellowed and changed my mind. Now I think it's time for a bathroom mirror selfie:

What do you think? Does my phone look good in its bathroom mirror selfie? I certainly thinks so; its bumper is akin to a smart suit, don't you think?

The snow globe returns (2)

At Susie's request, I have photographed my snow globe after shaking it:

I took the third picture after the snow settled. Photographing my snow globe while the snow was in motion was only slightly difficult; for the most part, my phone camera was able to focus despite the movement.