Halloween 2017

I've had a more active Halloween than usual. This afternoon, my rep training meeting took place, I walked to the city centre afterwards and then, this evening, my Resident Assistant organised a gathering in our house. A few of the other students living in my village came over, as did a few of their friends - one such friend being someone I've met a several mature student meetups.

A few people dressed up, as it is Halloween. Halloween 2017 has been my most exciting one for over twenty years, although the one in 2012 was possibly the last active one before today.

Rep welcome lecture

My first event as a newly-reelected course rep took place this evening. It was a rep welcome lecture, which explained the role of course reps as well as informed the audience about various statistics with regards to the university (such as the demographic breakdown of students and the percentages of people satisfied with their courses).

The lecture didn't tell me anything I didn't already know with regards to my position but it was still worth attending; I am, after all, committed to my role and it was good to meet up with my friend who is also a Joint Honours Year 2 rep, as well as encountered another friend there, who I didn't know had been running for a rep role herself.

The former housemate

During the summer, one of my housemates from last year and I often went for walks together. We'd walk around Clifton or towards the city centre; on at least one occasion we spent three hours out walking.

This particular housemate is from India and she will be returning there in December. Until then, she has been living in Clifton and has been working. This evening, she and I met up to take a short-to-medium length walk around Clifton. Until earlier, it had been a few weeks since we last walked together, as I wasn't going to meet up with her while I was ill. Now that I'm better, we can meet up for walks before she returns to her family in India.

"Yesterday Once More" - The Carpenters

Here's a song from The Carpenters:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTaWayUE5XA

It's "Yesterday Once More" and comes from The Carpenters' 1973 album, Now & Then. This song of theirs is notable to me because my grandfather has said it is one of his favourite songs of all time and because he has, on more than one occasion, praised Karen Carpenter and her voice.

Year 2 course rep

Last year, I ran in an election to become a course rep for the Year 1 Joint Honours students. I won that election and attended every meeting and completed all work that was expected of me. This year, I ran re-election as a Year 2 rep for Joint Honours.

The result? This afternoon I received an email that informed me of my success in the student elections - I'm once again an academic rep! For the third year in a row, I am a class or course rep at an academic institution. I am delighted to have any chance to represent my intake of Joint Honours students here at NTU.

Back to the diet

Now that my colds have concluded, I'm back to dieting to lose weight. Unfortunately, I think I put on a few pounds during my illnesses, as I barely exercised, had no loss of appetite, comfort ate somewhat and drank a lot of sugary teas. That weight now needs to be lost.

Having my wheat-based cereal, salad, fish and a few other low-to-medium calorie foods, plus returning to exercise, should be enough to drop the excess weight and what I was trying to lose before. It's also not a particularly expensive diet and should lower my weekly expenses somewhat, too.

A shorter nighttime library spell

I'll be heading off to the library shortly to do a little work. It won't be an all-nighter like many of my library visits at this time; no, I have about 25 pages of something to read and a set of questions to answer. It should take me a couple of hours or so - not all night!

Originally, I went to the library this afternoon but when I realised I didn't have a lot of work to complete and could do it once the library was quiet, I decided to stop and come back later.

Flaking out

A few weeks ago, Senator Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) accounted that he would not be running for re-election in 2018; today, another Republican Senator, Jeff Flake of Arizona, has said the same:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41743473

Flake then disclosed that his rationale for leaving was due to his distaste for the current president and that he "...[would] not be complicit" in associating with the president and his agenda. There's just one problem: Flake, along with the aforementioned Corker, has regularly voted to advance the president's agenda. The words of both Senators are great but their actions say otherwise; until they start to vote against anything that would help the president, their words are hollow.

Bug-free lecture

Today marked the start of my first healthy week a for my second year at university. While I have a tiny bit of a cough left, I am otherwise free of germs and I feel great. After coughing my way through the past three weeks, the feeling of not having to announce my presence with massive coughs was a huge relief.

Now to not catch any more bus for the rest of this year - and for the rest of the academic year! Or if I am going to have another cold, at least let it be during a reading week so that it doesn't affect my performance in lectures and scale-ups/seminars/workshops.

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.

"Stuck in the Boring Car on a Road Trip" - CollegeHumor

This recent CollegeHumor video appealed to me (they usually do but this one more than usual):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9zmxymUntw

I can understand the frustration of being isolated from the main group at a social outing, as it means you lose out on the friendship circle that forms for the duration of the outing and beyond. This has happened to me and in such cases, I've been grouped with either a person or people who didn't want to talk or worse, was grouped with no one at all. This made fitting in with everyone else extremely difficult, at best.

On the other hand, in the case of a road group, being in the "boring" car may not be much a bad thing, for there's less of a chance of the driver being distracted by any funny business"

This particular video is the first in a multi-part series to do with something else but holds its own as a standalone video.

The West Bridgford gig

Near the end of August, I attended a gig at a bar in West Bridgford - alone. Gigs and bars aren't usually my thing...and attending them alone is even less my thing...but I went because a friend of mine from Central, who was a member of staff there and now works at NTU, was hosting a musical event there. She sang two 45-minute sets and I was impressed with her musical talent.

My friend is holding another one of those gigs tonight and I'll be leaving shortly to attend. Unfortunately, I'm going alone again but next time, I want to bring someone else with me.

"Oxygene, Pt. 17" - Jean-Michel Jarre

Taken from his nineteenth studio album, Oxygène 3 (2016), here is Jean-Michel Jarre's "Oxygene, Pt. 17":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WUoT6GVtXI

Oxygène 3 is the follow-up album to both Oxygène (1976) and Oxygène 7-13 (1997). I possess Dad's Jean-Michel Jarre albums, as I wanted to keep them along with a few other of his CDs. Dad was a fan of Jarre and had even seen him in concert at the London Docklands concert in the 1980s. Evidently, he never heard Oxygène 3 but I think he would have enjoyed the album.

Prior to this evening, the last time I wrote about Jarre was in this post.

Close to bug-free

At long last, I have nearly recovered from my colds. I'm coughing a little bit but compared to how I felt two weeks or even two days ago, I feel great. In fact, I've felt good these past couple of days with the exception of my dodgy throat and coughing.

What will be most pleasing is going into my Monday lecture in good health. These past three have been ruined somewhat by my colds.

The burnt garlic bread

One of my housemates accidentally burned some garlic bread this evening. While he was able to immediately quell any fire, the resulting smoke overwhelmed the entire bottom floor of the house, which set off all the smoke alarms and it became necessary to open all the windows.

While the house is no longer filled with smoke, the smell nevertheless remains. At least the house and everyone are okay - it was just burnt garlic bread, which was easily dealt with! Disappointing that the smell of smoke overpowers the smell of garlic.

Liveland History: 16th October 2014

It was three years ago today when my Pre-Access classmates and I visited London as part of a course trip:

http://airnicetolivelands.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/london-again.html

We visited the Imperial War Museum and then the two friends with whom I spent the day and I walked to area where the Palace of Westminster is located. I later posted some pictures of the trip.

My first-ever term at Central is almost a "forgotten term", as it was the only term that occurred before Dad's death. Quite a few events occurred during that term but given what happened in January of 2015...

The long-awaited walk

For the first time in well over two weeks, I walked to the city centre from here in Clifton. A major factor of my recent colds were that they sucked away my energy and along with it, my wanting to exercise.  Finally, this afternoon, I once again had the energy and it was pleasant outside, so being cooped up inside wasn't at all desirable.

In addition to achieving a long walk, when I made it to the city centre I encountered a university friend, who subsequently invited me to a small gathering she was attending with mutual friends. I stayed for an hour and a half before I returned to Clifton. Much as I would have liked to have joined them at a pub quiz they were attending, the fact I am still coughing occasionally was enough to make me decide to leave before they moved to that venue.

A Saturday of rest

As I have no immediate reading to complete, I decided to spend today resting as to help finish off my bug. While I'm still coughing somewhat, today is the best I've felt in two weeks - I felt so great, in fact, that I was able to go for an hour-and-a-half long walk around Clifton, which was my first long walk in over two weeks.

With regards to tomorrow, I'll sleep in again as well as go for another walk but I'll also have to start my next batch of reading for next week.

Client-led workshops

The workshops for my Client-led Media module began this afternoon. Unlike last year in my video project module in which I knew most people in the session and the group I entered into consisted of fellow English and Media students, I knew no one in today's workshop and only met the lecturer yesterday afternoon. In these workshops we can plan our videos and edit them there but we can do this anywhere if we choose to do so; the workshops are merely the officially timetabled sessions for this module besides the lectures.

Still, several groups formed from the students in attendance and the group I'm in consists of four women from East Asia and me. At least one of them is from Hong Kong, which makes her the first person I've met who lives there who isn't my uncle or cousin. I've only met three of the four because one wasn't in due to illness but she is a friend of one of the others.

I wasn't sure about this module when I realised that I would not be with my exact coursemates but I'm happy with how it's turned out so far. It should be interesting and productive.

No loss of appetite

A consequence of my now-fading cold is that I had little energy during the height of it; this meant I didn't go out for my usual walks and instead I spent the extra time resting when I would otherwise have been exercising. As such, the past 10 days is the most inactive I've been for months.

At the time same, my cold did not affect my appetite; while every other part of me felt terrible, my stomach was very much in good working order. Thanks to no drop in appetite combined with an increase in sugars, such as having a lot of tea, I have gained some weight. To lose this weight quickly, not only will I have to start walking again but I'll also have to drastically cut back my diet; I wanted to do this, anyway, as I already had extra weight I wanted to shed but now I have some more I need to lose.

I shall do it; it will be good for me to lose the extra pounds and get back down to the weight I was at 2-3 years ago.

The pizza night

The housing manager for my accommodation paid for a pizza night; this is what he did last year except back then it was held in the first week rather than this far into October. Nevertheless, the effect was still the same: We had the chance to meet other residents of the student village and ate pizza for dinner.

In addition to being a pizza night, the event doubled as the occasion where we handed in our inventory forms to the housing manager; however, I did not need to do this because I gave it to him last week when he was here briefly for another reason.

Flat-Earthers

On Facebook, I follow some pages that are to do with photography or science. Something that has concerned me in recent weeks is the prevalence of "Flat-Earthers" commenting on them. I don't mean people commenting jokingly about how the Earth is flat but people who genuinely think that this is the case.

Pun partially intended but what on earth is this nonsense? How can anyone, is this day and age, think that the Earth is flat? There is zero evidence to prove the flatness and plenty to prove that it's a sphere. An obvious example is watching a ship on an ocean: As the ship descends over the horizon, it's because it's travelling the curvature of the planet.

Has idiocy increased or is it just becoming more obvious because of social media? Anyone who believes that the Earth is flat and insults others for understanding that the opposite is true deserves to be laughed at as though they're an imbecile - because they are.

More vindictiveness - and environmental damage

The current administration in charge of the United States is continuing its unhealthy obsession of undoing everything the previous administration achieved:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41556342

How vindictive. And bad for the planet. The current president and his party have long talked about this mythical "war on coal", so rolling back these environmental protections is part of that as well as getting revenge on the previous administration.

We all share this one planet, despite what they think. The damage done to it affects us all.

Liveland History: 8th October 2014

 It's been three years since I froze some brownies:

http://airnicetolivelands.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/freezer-success.html

I froze them because I had an excess of brownies and they were starting to go mouldy faster than my grandparents and I could eat them. The freezing experiment was a success but to my recollection, I have not frozen any brownies since then.

Also of note in that post from three years ago was the small part about walking and weight gain. It was much easier for me to keep weight off back then than it is for me now.

Pale Waves

Thanks to a YouTube recommendation, I came across the band Pale Waves this afternoon. Their song "Television Romance" was recommended...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot1j5M5PTC4

Followed by their song "There's A Honey":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfPZ6hukcw8

Pale Waves are new on the big scene and are from Manchester. They have worked with The 1975, who are also from Manchester; The 1975 produced "There's A Honey" for Pale Waves and directed the video for "Television Romance".

Pale Waves will be going on tour later this month and one of their venues will be Bodega, which is here in Nottingham.

End of week 1, university year 2

Today marked the end of my first week of my second year at university. My lecture today was for my sole English module for this half of the year and it was followed up with the first seminar of said module.

So far, I'm happy with my Year 2 modules. The workload appears to be what I expected and the topics are more interesting than I had anticipated. I'm looking forward to the upcoming lectures, seminars and workshops that the first half of the year has to offer!

The only downside to this week is that I have been ill with a bug I caught last weekend. I thoguht I was on the mend but I've been sneezing today and my nose has been running this evening, so it's either showing more symptoms or I've picked up another bug!

Client-led

My lecture today was the start of my client-led video project module, on the Media side of my course. This module is similar to the video project I did in my first year except this year we're making a video for a client; this client is the university itself.

The three subjects we can choose to make a video about are student living, the student societies or healthy living. Depending on what my group thinks - when we from groups next week - making a video for mature students would be a good idea, for I don't think there is enough information out there for mature students.

If a video is considered worthy enough, NTU will use it in its marketing programmes.

Goose Fair 2017

The Goose Far is an annual fair held here in Nottingham; it is a famous fair and is reported to have started in the 1200s. Before the 1920s the Goose Fair was held in the market square but moved to the Forest Recreation Ground due to reconstruction of the square.

For the first time in the years I've been here, I attended the fair; I went with three of my housemates. While I didn't go on any of the rides, I did purchase a burger and chips from one of the stands. I also encountered a friend from Pre-Access whom I'd not seen since the days of that course. It was a festive atmosphere and I fully intend to attend it again.

Puerto Rico and Hurricane Maria

Puerto Rico has been devastated by Hurricane Maria; there are multiple deaths and massive damage has been done to the island and its infrastructure. The damage alone would be difficult enough to recover from but Puerto Rico is both not an American state (it's a territory) and is deeply in debt to Wall Street; as such, recovery will be deeply painful.

So! What does the current President of the United States do? Oh, only made his usual nonconstructive remarks:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41487814

Rather than guaranteeing Puerto Rico aid, he has instead used the "could have been worse" argument with regards to the death toll, as his administration has received criticism for its sluggishness in sending aid. Granted, Puerto Rico has not received the same amount of death has other places have done but making comparisons trivializes those who have died.

Puerto Rico has a long road to recovery ahead of it. Perhaps those who hold its debt could provide it with some relief, such as by writing it off or at least putting lengthy extensions on the repayment plans. Changing the legal status of the island would help, too, but in the short term, it needs help rebuilding.

First lecture 2017-2018

My first lecture of the new academic year took place this morning/early afternoon. The subject was my core media module, which will run for the first half of the year only. For this year, I have three subjects in the first half and another three in the second. Four of my six modules I chose and the other two are core.

Work completed during this year goes towards my final grade, unlike work completed during the first year. There is greater pressure this year for students to put in more work to obtain a good grade.

The Harry Potter quiz

Tonight is the last night before the university term officially begins. As such, some of my fellow students in my accommodation village and I will be going to a Harry Potter quiz night here on campus. I'm not sure how it will turn out but it should be interesting, to say the least.

My first lecture tomorrow is at 11:00am.