Monday 25 April 2011

Sunshine!

Firstly, I've got to apologise for my last post! I realised when I woke up the next morning that it was a bit too 'Daily Mail-esque' - whoops! Purely accidental (and I don't have anything against Daily Mail readers!)

I'm still struggling about things to write! Actually, scrap that, I'm just going to ramble again.


I've been trying to revise a fair bit today, but the weather's been far too lovely for me to actually get anything of any real importance done!
I'm genuinely sad enough to have been trying to swot up on A-Level Biology, mainly DNA, and when it's sunny, it seems like none of it seems to go in! Not that I feel like any of it ever goes in, to be honest...
Although I've just about mastered that DNA stands for 'Deoxyribonucleic Acid' and that it's made of a phosphate, a sugar and a base. Yeah I've got that. I remembered it off the top of my head as well. Go me. It's going to be a long road to GAMSAT.

So then I turn to the work that I should be doing for my degree (I'm right near the end of my second year now, but I've still got 3/4 essays left to finish) and I can't even find the motivation to do that.
I know I should be putting my degree as my main priority, not science-y revision for the GAMSAT exam (which I probably won't be taking until at least September 2012!)
But it's quite hard to focus on my degree at the moment for some reason. 
It's like my attention on the work that goes along with it has been waning all the way through the Spring Semester. 
Ahh dear.
I just hope I can find the dedication and motivation to push myself through my third year!

I've got the summer to re-charge my batteries anyway, so that should help!

It's weird how motivated I was over last summer.
I really wanted to get my teeth stuck into my degree and do immensely well.
But I guess I've become a bit disillusioned with it over the course of my second year, mainly because a few lecturers have kind of given the impression that they're not really that bothered or that interested in teaching us anything! 


I'm not having a dig at my University, or any of my lecturers either, but we've had a few 'guest' lecturers in - Lecturers who aren't actually lecturers. 


They're directly from the media industry, and they're still working in the industry whilst teaching us. At times, it's seemed like they were only in it for the extra money, and also like they didn't have a clue what they were doing!
But they've been lovely, nonetheless. 

And to top it all off...
While I was trying to revise, my next door neighbour (officially the noisiest neighbour in the history of neighbours ever) kept on coming outside and setting up his deckchairs, which he took in about an hour later without even sitting on them (strange man)... 


We call him Barry Scott, mainly because he can't talk at a normal volume.
He has to shout.
He's constantly shouting down the phone to his so-called 'mates'.
If it weren't so sad, it'd probably be slightly amusing. 
So basically, nearly every single day of the year, when he's not passed out on the sofa in a puddle of his own urine, we're lucky enough to listen to his phone conversations, which always go a bit like this:

"Alright mate! Yes, mate! I know, mate! Yes, mate! I don't know which pub I'm going to yet, mate! I know, mate! Alright, mate! See you, mate!"

It's not like we listen by choice.
He 'talks' so loudly that we can hear it over our TV!

So, anyway, he always comes out into his back garden, when I'm out.
He knows I'm trying to work, and he knows that by playing Absolute Radio at full blast, whilst walking constantly between his living room and his garage, that he's definitely going to distract me.

I rose above it. Well done me. 
But it's not like I had any choice in the matter.
I can't exactly punch his lights out, can I?

I don't condone violence, but he needs a good kick in the balls.


He'd probably set his brother's staffy on me, if I did though.
This is the dog that he 'looks after' when his brother goes away, including the weekend just gone.
I swear he only has it to intimidate us. We can't even go in the back garden without it growling at us. 
Mind you, it's not the dog's fault (whose name is Patrick, I believe).
Yes, Patrick... 
The poor dog has a name like that, and then has to put up with the insufferable Barry Scott for days on end.
This is the guy who deliberately goes out, leaving the dog at home to whine and bark at Every. Single. Noise. That it hears. He also lets it wee and poo in his hall, right by the front door, so anyone can see it...

Poor thing.
(The dog that is, not Barry Scott...)

Sunday 24 April 2011

A Day of Working in the Sun, and Being a Bit Too Philosophical...

So... I'm struggling quite a bit about what to write...

I haven't exactly had the most eventful of days, but I feel that if I don't write something now, I'll probably just abandon this whole blogging thing altogether!

I was outside doing some work earlier in the back garden, and I was trying my best to concentrate. I was being disturbed by some children who were playing football on the road next to mine. They were screaming, shouting, running about and even singing a bit of Adele to go with it!

I'll admit it, I was really trying to concentrate on questions from an exam paper that's basically the hardest thing I've ever done (revision for the GAMSAT exam), and I kept on getting distracted. To top it all off, one of my next door neighbours was outside, cutting something, making quite a few clicking noises, which wound me up even more! And then, to doubly top it all off, my other next door neighbour was shouting at his Xbox! (Yes, he really does do that!)

But then, instead of getting really angry and just giving up on my work, I found myself concentrating even harder, which in turn had a calming affect on me. Surprisingly. So, all in all, I had a bit of a chuckle to myself when I heard this little boy, probably about seven or something, singing 'Someone Like You' by Adele when he scored a goal! (Not the most apt choice of celebratory songs to be honest!)

In fact, he even started singing the national anthem for a little while, but didn't know most of the words, so ended up humming most of it! (Bless him!)

It was a bit like an epiphany, really. A small one, admittedly. But I just thought, "What's the point in getting angry?" Seriously, what is the point in shouting the odds at someone? Those kids, and my neighbours, were obviously enjoying themselves, so what would be the point of me screaming at them to shut up? (which I did feel like doing at first!) If I did do that, it would ruin their day for them. Why ruin their day, when I can just keep my mouth shut? Grin and bear it, and just persevere?

Another thing that I saw today had a profound impact on me. I was shopping in town, and I saw two parents arguing in the street, it was a petty argument about the fact that they were staying at home tonight. The dad didn't want to have a night in front of the TV, whereas the mum was clearly content with that idea. But instead of thrashing out their petty differences in private, away from their child, they decided to argue in the middle of town, right over their toddler's pram.

As clichéd as it sounds, it was the child I felt sorry for.

It's not even like it was a massive, life-changing thing that they were arguing about! Yet the father saw fit to use a range of expletives right over the child's head. I was only walking past them, and I heard so many 'F' words, I was shocked, and it takes quite a lot to do that!

It's just, I can't help but think that when that child grows up, it's going to think that that behaviour is perfectly acceptable in society.

It's not though.

Call me a snob, call me whatever you like, but I don't think it's acceptable to go around with such a lack of pride.

I do care about what people think about me.

They clearly don't. Isn't that the problem with society nowadays, though?

People just don't care.

They just don't care about anything.


They've given up on themselves.

It's a sad fact of life, something we all just have to get used to, I guess. Unfortunately.

It's like society is being segregated into those who do care, and can be bothered to better themselves and work hard and...
The growing minority, who don't care at all, who can't be bothered to get out of bed before midday, and who've never cared about working hard. (I'm not talking about students here by the way!)

I don't want to lecture, and I don't want to take the moral high ground.

I'm not better than anybody else in this world.

It's just worrying that people go around in life acting like they're better than everyone else, and then you get the others, who've never been given a chance, who notice this, and believe that people are better than them too.
They believe that they can't better themselves, so question why they should bother.

It's one of two extremes with people nowadays. Those who think they're better than everyone, and those who think that they're nowhere near good enough for anything. Although maybe I'm just generalising and exaggerating. Who knows?

It's hard not to mention The Jeremy Kyle Show here, because so many people who haven't cared about their actions and the consequences, end up in such a mess. A mess so big, that they think one man and his 'after care team' are the last resort for sorting things out for them.
How is airing your dirty laundry in public helping?
Surely it doesn't. Surely it just makes things worse? It's got to, hasn't it?

Why can't people keep things to themselves? Can't they just see that other people don't want to be embroiled in their disagreements? Don't people think about what's best for their children any more?

Anyway, for saying I was struggling, I've managed to ramble on for what feels like forever! So enough of that and of me trying to put the world to rights!

Until next time! (Which will hopefully be less of a rant!)

Saturday 23 April 2011

So I guess I should introduce myself?

Erm... Hi?


I'm Kate. But it's actually Katie. I don't mind what you choose... Whatever suits you best really.
I don't really know why I decided to set up a blog, but then again, I'm a thinker, not a talker, so I guess pouring my thoughts out into a keyboard seems like the most logical thing for me.
There aren't a great deal of interesting things about me to be honest, yes, I'm a student, but I don't live the life that most students live. I'm certain that I could never be called a 'wild child'. I'm a bit more tame than that, I'm afraid... So maybe it's time to give you some really inane facts about myself:

  • I am too observant for my own good.
  • I listen to other people's conversations on public transport, because I'm far too nosy like that!
  • I like watching The Jeremy Kyle Show, because it makes me feel a bit better about things in my life... but I use the fact that it's 'inspiration' for play characters as my excuse. ;)
  • I eat salad cream with just about everything.
  • I'm mad enough to consider another degree after the one that I'm currently studying for... 
  • I love countryside walks (and random drives to nowhere in particular) to clear my head when things get too much.
  • I used to want to be a journalist, then got to uni, and tried it out, and then suddenly realised I definitely wasn't ruthless enough, so I've had to change my career path completely recently.
  • I love anyone who can make me laugh (Not that it's a hard task, I laugh at anything!)
  • I'm really pedantic about apostrophes, but I'm no expert, so I probably get them wrong sometimes myself...
  • I'm currently two thirds of the way through a degree which I'm struggling to stick with, but I have to!
  • I got one minor in my (second) driving test (one of my best achievements to date, worryingly) but...
  • I sometimes get a bit road-ragey about people who tailgate me/don't indicate/drive too fast/get in my way/park badly/drive badly in general...
  • I like photography too, but I'm not sure I'm that brilliant at it!
  • I can write a mean play when I put my mind to it... (It might well be the only thing that I get proper praise for!)
Anyway, that's enough about me, far too much, actually!

Until next time... :)