A week's disappearance and a year's end

This past week has been the longest stretch of inactivity I've experienced on Air Nice-to-Livelands to date. At the end of Christmas Day, my laptop developed a problem and has been out of action since then, although one of my uncles was able to sort it out over the weekend after I left the device at my grandparents' house.

In addition to my laptop's problems, I've been at my girlfriend's house for the past couple of nights and since I've been busy spending time with her, I've not paid much attention to updating my blog.

And so, 2017 ends. For me, this year has broken major ground in that during it, I completed my first year of university, attended a wedding (two, if you include the reception I went to back in July for the first time since California and I started a relationship. As it stands, I am nearly halfway through my time at university.

Happy New Year, everyone; I hope 2018 brings you all much good luck and success.

Return to Clifton December 2017

I'm now back in Clifton after spending the past few days at my girlfriend's house. I enjoyed my time there with her and will be back again on the 29th but for the next two days, I shall be at my mother's house, although I'll still be sleeping at my university accommodation. Tomorrow morning, I shall be taking a walk to the city centre and back, provided that I do not oversleep.

Her old college

This afternoon, my girlfriend and I visited where she went to college several years ago. We weren't able to go inside, obviously, as the place was closed and because we are not students there. Still, just being able to see the building and the grounds gave me insight about my girlfriend's personal history with respect to her education; I talk a lot about Central and so it was good to see and hear about her college.

Christmas preparations 2017

This afternoon, my girlfriend and her mother needed to shop to pick up a few items for the Christmas activities they have planned for the next few days. They had asked if I would come along to help and I said yes but even if they hadn't, I'd have volunteered. I'm happy to help but more than that, it's time spent with them both and it gave more chance for us all to talk, as well as good exercise for me. Overall, a delightful and productive afternoon!

Five days in Newark

I shall be spending today until the 24th of December at my girlfriend's house in Newark. She and her mother wanted me over for some of the winter break and so that's where I will be travelling to after we meet up for an event in Nottingham's city centre.

The Fosseway Flyer

Travelling to Newark yesterday meant I rode a bus route that I've seen around ever since I started college in Nottingham: The Fosseway Flyer.

The Fosseway Flyer is one of two methods of public transportation that someone can use to travel between Newark and Nottingham. The route goes through much of my old bus route to college before it takes a major road towards Newark and Lincoln. Most of its stops are in Nottingham, Rushcliffe and Newark itself.

The trip takes about 40-50 minutes, depending on traffic and other road conditions. It is also an expensive route, with a cost of £7.20 for a return ticket.

"Star Wars: The Last Jedi"

I travelled to Newark today to watch Star Wars: The Last Jedi with my girlfriend. This marks the first time that my girlfriend and I have been to the cinema together but not the first time we've watched a Star Wars film together. We watched the prequels and Star Wars: The Force Awakens not too long ago because she wanted to catch up on all those films, having seen only the originals.

As for The Last Jedi itself, it's a great film. When it began I was extremely worried it was about to return into a repeat of Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back but I was pleased when that turned out to not be the case. My girlfriend and I highly enjoyed it.

Only me for now

And just like that, I'm now the only person currently living in my student house! Everyone else has either moved out, gone home for the holidays or is at a partner's house. As for me, I remain. With the exception of a few nights at my girlfriend's house, I shall stay at my student house. There is no need for me to go anywhere else for the time being.

It is odd the house being so...inactive. I'm used to hearing my housemates' various movements. It's so silent here!

Most (Christmas) shopping done

Nearly all of my Christmas shopping is complete, save for a handful of small items that I shall be purchasing, as well as something extra for Mum. This year, I've had more Christmas shopping to do since I'm now in a relationship but that's okay: It's been good going out to purchase gifts for my girlfriend and her mother.

My girlfriend's birthday is next month and she prefers birthdays to Christmas. While I've bought her some nice items for the holiday season, I have something more special in mind to purchase for her in January.

One other for now

At present, there are only two people living in my house: The Resident Assistant...and me. One moved out awhile ago because he wanted to live with his wife, another left as term ended to return to her family for the break and the other is (presumably) with her boyfriend until her family comes to collect her for the break.

With regards to my Resident Assistant, he will be leaving soon to return to his family for much of the break whereas I'll be here for all the days with the exception of when I'll be staying at my girlfriend's house. As Mum lives a short walk from me, there is no point in me vacating my room.

Once the Resident Assistant leaves, I'll be the only one here until near to the next term.

End-of-term dinner 2017

My girlfriend, her mother and I attended an end-of-term meal yesterday, which was hosted by NTU's society for mature students (my girlfriend's mother is a student and the reason why my girlfriend and I met in the first place). The meetups usually take place at a pub near to the NTU city campus but this particular meet was held in one next to the city centre.

Besides us, there were some 11 other people, with most of them being the usual attendees of the mature student meetups. Not that that's a problem - they're a fun bunch to be around!

Senate special election in Alabama, December 2017 (2)

Alabama surprised us!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42333712

I was expecting to check the news to find that Alabama had once again done something stupid but no! Alabama rejected a horrible candidate for Senate, albeit narrowly. As such, Doug Jones is the first Democrat to win a Senate election in Alabama for 25 years. Well done, Doug Jones, and well done to the the Alabamans who voted for him!

Senate special election in Alabama, December 2017

In a few hours or so, Alabama will have decided its next Senator:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42322293

The Democrat is Doug Jones, who would be expected to lose in normal circumstances but the Republican, besides being a bigot, is facing claims of sexual assault, rape and child abuse, which have severely hampered his candidacy and the race is close.

The Republican, whose name is Roy Moore, should not be a Senator. He shouldn't even a candidate given the sex crimes allegations that are surrounding him. Unfortunately, Alabama is an extremely backwards state, given its support for the current president, its support for Barry Goldwater in 1964, for being a state that supported segregation and for being an ex-Confederate state. It has a history of backing awful people like Moore.

But, Alabama may surprise us yet. May it be on the right side of history for once and elect Doug Jones as its next Senator.

The housemate departs

This afternoon, I went to visit a former housemate of mine at her room here in Clifton. This particular housemate is from India and was on a Master's course here at Nottingham Trent University; her graduation was a few days ago and tomorrow, she will be returning to India. She will be travelling to London after midnight and her flight back will be in the early afternoon.

I will really miss this housemate of mine. We took several walks together during the summer and became good friends as a result. We shall still be keeping in contact, however, as there are several venues we have open to us to talk but sadly, it will be some time before we see each other again in person. I wish my friend the best and I look forward to when I next see her!

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.

Winter break 2017

As term 1 ended yesterday, students at NTU again have a month-long break, spanning exactly from the 8th of December until the 8th of January. Last winter break, I didn't have a lot to do; my assignments weren't terribly complicated and many of the plans I'd made that month were cancelled when people annoyingly backed out.

This year, it will be different. The biggest change is my girlfriend, as I will be spending quite a bit of it with her; both of us want to spend time with each other over the break. The other difference is that while my essays aren't much more complicated, they are larger, which will mean I will need to complete some of them during this break.

Another term ends

And so, another academic term ends. My fourth term at university has finished and the winter break begins; as of this writing, I have completed ten terms of education in the United Kingdom. My university course has five more terms until its completion.

Classes do not resume until January 8th but I'll be working on existing assignments before then; if I don't, I'll have too much to do in January and that would not be productive.

Another diet attempt

Over the course of this year I've made a few attempts at dieting. While I've lost a few pounds or halted weight gain throughout 2017, in the past two or three weeks I've regained some weight. My girlfriend and I have talked about this and I have more motivation than before to lose weight and slim down a little. Ideally, I'd like to return to the weight I was at during Pre-Access; I was much more comfortable at that weight.

I am no longer caring only for myself and need to consider that my girlfriend is part of my life; as such, losing weight is more important to me than ever.

Filming day December 2017

With advice and observations from my girlfriend, my video production group and I filmed most of the scenes we need for our Media creation. The only problem we encountered was that we thought we had permission to film at one of our locations but when I double checked, it turned out we did not and so I am now properly seeking that permission.

My girlfriend helped because she is a Media student herself - a year ahead of me and is working on her dissertation. Since one member of the group has had to temporarily return to her home country, my girlfriend offered to support me to help us get back on track.

The cleared ear

After almost a week of cleaning it, my ear is, at last, cleared of wax. I used the device tonight on it after continued use of the drops and once the wax was released, my hearing was restored. This comes at a good time because tomorrow, I'll be working with my video group to film some of the major scenes for our project and I need my hearing to be back to 100% to be a fully effective member of our group.

Rep assembly December 2017

This evening, the last rep assembly of this term took place this evening. I attended the second one at the City campus, as the first one at City and the Clifton rep assembly were both last week when I was away. While attending our home assembly is preferred, we are allowed to attend any provided that we attend one.

The next rep meetings and assembling will likely be around February or March time.

A better ear

My grandfather flushed out my blocked ear but was only able to clear the upper layer of wax. Unfortunately, there is a still a lump of it attached to my eardrum, which can only be removed via use of more drops and additional flushing.

To help with the latter, he has given a device that I can use to clean my ear. I'll be able to use it to flush out the remaining wax lump as well as use it to clear both my ears on a regular basis so that they don't become blocked every couple of years or so.

White House maintenance

I thought this was an interesting article with regards to the ongoing maintenance issues the White House is facing:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42200203

The pest infestations and structural damages are problems that go back years. Regardless of who occupies it, the White House is a magnificent building and an iconic piece of American history; it ought to be kept in top shape.

Blocked ear 2017

My right ear is blocked. Unfortunately, every so often, even with cleaning my ears, one or both of my ears becomes blocked with wax, which results in muffled hearing and pain in the afflicted ear. To clear it, I have to put special drops in to soften the wax over a few days and then someone has to clear it out with water.

I'll be going to my grandparents' house on Sunday, both to visit them and for my grandfather to clean my ear. He cleaned my left ear last year and should be able to clean my right ear just as easily, too, since I've been putting drops in to soften the wax.