just about to leave for a friend's wedding. should be fun but also will last quite long. The church thing is at 4pm and then reception starts at 5:30pm and could last until after midnight. Hope some nice people are there and my friend didn't seat me with all the lonely people who are there on their own...

finally finished Harry Potter :-) Very good book!

just slightly more geek

Your Geek Profile:

Academic Geekiness: Moderate Geekiness in Love: Moderate Gamer Geekiness: Low General Geekiness: Low Internet Geekiness: Low SciFi Geekiness: Low Fashion Geekiness: None Movie Geekiness: None Music Geekiness: None

How Geeky Are You?

to Denmark and back in a day

This morning after we finished breakfast my mom and dad decided that since the weather was looking so nice we would drive up to the coast somewhere. Then my mom said let's go to the Baltic Sea coast to which my dad replied why not go to Denmark? And so we did. Loaded up the car with all our things and then took off. It took us about 2.5 hours to get across the boarder and then we found a nice little beach not far away. We spent about 3 and a half hours there and now just got home after stopping for food on the way home. A nice day, but rather too much time spent in the car. But at least that gave me time to get some more Harry Potter read. I am very near the end now, such a good book but very dark and disturbing things have happened... hope it will have a happy-ish end!

Germany so far

is not bad... the first day the weather wasn't too great, but yesterday was thoroughly nice, we sat out on the balcony until about 10 pm. Then little bugs were attacking so we decided to come inside. We went to see my grandma in the afternoon with was nice. I have tried to find a new pair of glasses over here, but just can't find anything that I like... might have another think about trying contact lenses. I will need to see if I can wear the all day and all night ones, which would be nice. That way I don't have to put them in and take them out on a daily basis, and I won't have the initial cost of about £200 at once which I would have with glasses. I'll just have to have another look here and if I really don't find anything then have a look in Specsavers when I am back. Not much planned for today. My mom just went to the airport to collect my dad, he is coming back from Ethiopia and we have no idea what work has planned for him this next week. So we might go with him if he has to go somewhere where it is nice enough. Then next weekend is my uncle's birthday and the next day the wedding. After that we might go to the baltic sea coast here in Germany like we did last summer. We had a good time and it is nice up there when the weather is good enough.

also just so you know... I have just rung the estate agents again and they said that now everything is actually in order for Neil to start the moving in on Monday!!!! I thought it was all fine when my friend said he got an email from them that they received his forms, but I just wanted to make sure. And now it is sure! YAY :o)

Holiday

I have arrived safely in Germany and am enjoying being home. Especially since we got a new wireless router, and it is great I can be anywhere in the house and be on the internet without wires! Not sure what the plans are at the moment, but I will enjoy it. This morning I have already fixed my mom's computer problems she had been complaining about for a while and set up the wireless internet connection. Now I need to figure out some things for another piece of software my mom has new and then I should be all set for the work my mom said I need to do while I am here.

Weather is not too great at the moment, but at least it is dry... and not too humid. We are still thinking of going away for a few days, but not sure when we will do that. My dad might be coming home as well in a few days, so we might wait until after he has gone away again for yet more work.

Housing stuff should now be all sorted - I hope so anyway!!! My friend in Australia got back to me and he sent all the forms they wanted back by fax and they confirmed that they received it all. So it really should all be in order...

lots of stuff to do today

well maybe not that much, but it feels like a lot. The first thing after getting ready for the day is going to the lettings agency so I can sign my part of the contract. That is also the most important thing I have to do today. Once that is done I can come home and finish my packing for Germany and then need to pack a few bits Neil wants to take so he can be set up in the new flat when he moves. Then I need to book a seat on the train for tomorrow morning and since I can check-in for the plane online I will take advantage of that. I have never been able to do that before, so that should be exciting! But first things first.... I need to make a cup of tea :) while I am listening to the new Radio station that has replaced Classic Gold... now just called GOLD... so far I am not liking it very much :(

edited after lunch:

more complications with Fulfords now... as I said I went in this morning and signed my contract, and then the woman said ok now we will contact your guarantor so he can sign the contract for you as well... which is when I freaked out as my friend who is my guarantor is now in Australia on a research visit for 6 weeks. I can't believe she didn't tell us about this... every time I go in they say a little bit and then next time say that we need something else. At least she said they can send him the contract via email and he can fax it back. Now I just need to get a hold of him and see if he can use a fax machine to send it back before the end of this week. Gosh I just can't believe this! So once again keep your fingers crossed that this will all be sorted out as soon as possible!

better get back to packing now!

the end of classic gold as we know it

I am a bit sad to say that my favourite wake up to radio station will cease to exist as it has been later today. I had no idea this was happening until this morning when I switched it on and Tony Blackburn said that this was their very last show today... I suppose now that I have admitted to this people will think about me a bit differently... ah well I don't really care. I am doing a PhD I must be a bit insane :P. That said I better get into gear and start my day now.

news

today finally finally I got a message from the estate agency and all the references are now in order and we can now arrange for the contracts to be signed! This is such a relief. I have been so stressed out over all of this, because I was worried I would be the reason Neil will be homeless :( But now it has all been sorted out, and I can go and sign the paperwork before I leave for my summer holiday in Germany, and then Neil will take care of the rest once the move in date comes around. Less than 2 weeks now, so it is all approaching very fast! I am very excited now and finally won't need to be stressed anymore :o)

Stonehenge again

just found this photo and thought it was quite good... Stonehenge in the distance

Stonehenge

Neil is doing such a good job blogging about London, that I should really do a bit as well. But since he has pretty much covered the whole trip now pretty much, all that is left for me to add really are some photos of Stonehenge. I was quite excited that we would go past it so I could see it... so here it is...

through a fence, but nonetheless impressive. Neil had warned me when we were getting closer to it, and he was still the first one to spot it. Oh well... I have to admit that I was a little bit disappointed when I saw it, and at first thought it was a lot smaller than I thought it would be, but now a bit later I do think it is very cool. To think that a group of people put it there such a long time ago...

the funny thing with Harry Potter...

is that in all the waiting time between the books you almost forget how addictive the reading actually is. I started about 9pm last night and thought I would read for an hour and then listen to the comedy on the radio on BBC7 at 10, and by the time I looked up from the book I was at the end of chapter 6 or 7 and it was 11:25 and most of the comedy was over. Ah well... at least I finally started it and will be done soon, so I can have normal conversations with my friends again rather than telling them "don't tell me anything about what happens... I want to find out myself!"

ok new day more dealing with housing things... was hoping to get it all settled by the end of this week, but totally forgot about the wedding on Friday that starts at 2 in the afternoon... but I can still hope it all will be sorted by the end of this week!

my so called life

is such a genius show... I have just finished the last DVD in the series and just can't believe it is over. They could have developed it into so much more than it was, and it ended with no explanation of anything really. They just left the viewers hanging... still very good and Jordan Catalano is just so cute!!!

Well, I said I would blog about London, but Neil is doing a much better job than I would, so have a look here for a description of our trip.

housing matters are still not sorted out, but hopefully will by the end of this week. potentially found someone who is willing to help out, but will see if the agency will say that they actually can help. So keep your fingers crossed. And in the process also found out that the advice unit at our university is actually not able to give any constructive advice at all. When I told them about my problem their solution was to just not deal with that estate agent... very helpful!

Anyway... I don't want to get into it again have been ranting at most of my friends (and supervisors actually!) about it and I'd just like to relax, so I am going to bed early tonight to read the Harry Potter book so I can finally know what happens at the end!

back from London...

we had a great time in London, but it was all very exhausting. I completely forgot about the different pace up there, but it was so nice to be back as well. I am feeling quite tired now, so I think I will write a proper blog tomorrow once I have imported all my photos to the computer as well.

London here we come!

I am quite excited about our little trip to London. We've planned this quite some time ago and it always felt like it was ages away, but now it is tomorrow that we are off. should be fun with the various things we have planned... a taping of the Now Show, a concert in the BBC Proms series, meeting up with some of Neil's friends, meeting up with one of my friends, going to various cinemas, and maybe even a chance to buy the brand new Harry Potter book.

Also this afternoon I dropped off the guarantor paper work with the estate agent so keep your fingers crossed that we will hear back from them soon with an official move in date! I am now starting to be really excited about moving house... it did seem like a bit of a nightmare for a bit, but now seems to be sorted. More when we are back on Sunday!

new survey

If you would like to participate in my new survey and would like to be entered into the draw to win a £20 Amazon.co.uk voucher please click here . There is no limit on who can participate. Thank you!

is this really me?

You Are From the Sun

Of all your friends, you're the shining star. You're dramatic - loving attention and the spotlight. You're a totally entertainer and the life of the party. Watch out! The Sun can be stubborn, demanding, and flirty. Overall, you're a great leader and great friend. The very best!

What Planet Are You From?

getting caught up

just getting up and thought it must be time to write a bit on my blog after neglecting it for a while... Monday morning, but actually at the moment Monday mornings don't feel quite as bad as they do during term time.

Had a good week, nothing much really happened. I had the first official meeting with my new PhD supervisor Carole. I had been a bit worried about how things would change, but she is happy with how things are going at the moment. We have mapped out the next three studies I am going to do for my thesis, and we will need to start working on getting things written up.

Last night we went to some friends' house for dinner, and it was really nice. The evening ended with watching a bit of Wallace and Gromit, which is always good.

new supervisor

tomorrow I will have the first official meeting with my new supervisor. I am both excited about it, and at the same time a bit worried. The last two times we have met with her my old supervisor was there as well so she may have been a bit cautious with saying what she really thought about my research. Recently I had sent her some things to look at and her comment was "we can discuss this when we meet next week", so I am wondering how much that will be. Major changes to what I thought I was doing? Hopefully only minor changes...

I have been slightly lazy the past few days, well weeks actually. I always managed to do bit of work here and there, but nothing major. I am still waiting to hear if I got accepted to go to that conference in Memphis in October, and if I am I will have to prepare a poster about one of my previous studies and then also finish writing that paper I submitted sometime in March. I can't ever understand why these things take so long to get through. By the time I get to anything I won't even remember what I have written in the paper. Oh well I guess I will manage fine, I did fine at my first conference so should be good now. If this one doesn't work out there is always next year and maybe even the year after that... we shall see.

Oh something else. I have finally finally discovered all the great things You Tube has to offer. I always knew it was there, but never really knew what it had to offer. So I have been browsing around there much of this evening and yesterday. Found Friends bloopers which really made me laugh, saw Hugh Laurie long before people even thought of him as Gregory House, and also found some Eddie Izzard comedy. The latter is great too...

not much going on

There hasn't been much to blog about recently... the weather has been appalling over the past few days - well actually over the past few weeks - but it is finally brightening up a tiny bit. If it just goes like that bit by bit it will be nice in August when I am in Germany :) Speaking of Germany today is Siebenschläfer (Seven Sleepers Day I think I would be over here if it existed) and the thing is that people will watch the weather very closely today, because whatever the weather will be like today it will be like this for the next 7!!!! weeks. I have no idea where this comes from, or how true this actually is, but I remember summers where it has been raining an awful lot and my mom said that it had rained on Siebenschläfer.

I had my last official meeting with my current supervisor, which was a bit weird. I thought it would be something like "ok now we have worked together for this long so we should keep in touch..." but all it was in the end was looking at my current study and he handed me a copy of a PhD thesis submitted over 10 years ago so I can have a look at it and see what I am up against. Then he said we should write a paper together so I can have at least a publication in my PhD and that was pretty much it. Ah well, it was nice anyway, he said he will be around next academic year so I should stop by his office wherever that might be. From next Thursday onwards the new supervisor is officially taking over, should be good.

I also met a friend at Wagamama's the other night, which was good as always. I had my usual, although I am thinking that I should really become a bit more adventurous and try out different things. Maybe next time...

Rain

I really don't like all this rainy weather we have been having. Looking out it just doesn't make me want to go up to uni, but some of my students want to come and get their essays so I really have to be there. Ah well... at least I have Wagamama tonight to look forward to :) Better get a move on then

had a lovely evening with friends in Georges meeting house and now just got home and discovered that Garrison Keillor's radio show (might be familiar if you have seen A Prairie Home Companion at the movies) is on one of the digital stations I listen to. So I have put that on now while I am getting ready for bed. Hope you're having a lovely weekend!

not much going on

not much has been happening this week so far, just been to uni and tried to work and met Neil for a drink and for the most part tried to dodge the rain sometimes more successful than other times. The weather has been dreadful really, but hopefully it will pick up over the weekend! Trying to get a study up and running and that's pretty much it. Last night I watched a few episodes of House on DVD and it is just really good. Hugh Laurie is the best they could have got to play Dr. House, incredible how well he can fake the American accent...

Open Day

I helped out with open day today and it was the same as every time I have done this before. We got some very eager people asking some very sensible questions, and then some really ditsy ones asking some really silly questions. But we are just polite and try to answer every questions as best and as politically correct as we can. I mean seriously, I had one person come up to me asking how Psychology at degree level is different from A level psychology. What are you supposed to say that something like that. And we didn't just get that question once... Still most of them I would welcome to be my personal tutees, while others I think i would just plain reject... But I am home now and I can relax :)

back already

this was really a very short trip. I can't believe I am already back in Exeter. I had a great time at home though. We did all we wanted on this trip. Starlight Express was a lot of fun too. We found out that it is the musical that has been playing the longest in one place in the world. It has been in Bochum in Germany for the past 19 years... Although I have been wondering how long Phantom of the Opera has been playing in London at Her Majesty's Theatre. Anyway, the show was excellent, I couldn't believe how good they were at dancing and singing on roller skates. Also part of the show were a few stunt skaters on inline skates; they were really cool with their high jumps and other things they did. After the show we drove home and then it was just another evening at home and then back to Exeter.
The journey back was ok, but delayed slightly by various things... plane didn't leave on time and then some Heathrow Express train had broken down on the train tracks and blocked anything coming out of London so my train from Reading was delayed as well. But I still got back before 7 pm, but felt very tired.
And then yesterday was the party to celebrate Neil's mum's retirement and birthday. It was a whole day of meeting lots of people, but I seemed to have done well :) I always think nothing can be as intimidating as meeting my huge family...