I'm not ashamed to admit this....

But I was super proud of myself today.

Admitting to being proud of yourself, or opening saying to someone you think you did a good job is sometimes seen as being arrogant - basically an unattractive quality, even though most people say they find confidence attractive, I've yet to see someone actually point at someone who's talking about their superior abilities and say "wow, how sexy are they?"
No. Most of the time you'll just hear someone say "who the hell is that prick?"

You know? Yeah - anyway.

Today I got my uni results back from the last year and I did good! I'm not saying I'm all superior, but compared to my last year self I am - in your face, past Sam, you didn't think I could do it, but I did!

So, I'm obviously not one of those people who minds admitting their achievements (online, in a non face-to-face capacity... I wouldn't do it in real life, because, HELLO! I don't want to be that prick!).

I got my Children's Literature results back, and basically got a 2:1, I think... in Uni terms. I'm not really sure how the scores work. I got a grade 3 pass... maybe that's a 2:2? Who knows. I passed, and that's all I care about because I found that course really difficult. Sure, the reading was easy, but critical writing isn't my bag!

My major achievement and so the one I'm really proud of is from the Advanced Creative Writing course, where I got a distinction. Me. Got a distinction.

Words fail me (but not really... perhaps I should rephrase; words that make sense fail me, because I keep writing things out of sync and my spelling and typing abilities have left me since getting that grade) - I've never done well in the academic world. I do really well in the not paying attention, doodling in the margins of books world. Really good at that (again, tooting my own horn *brushing that dust of my shoulders, man*), but anything that meant doing anything which was to be graded by professional people was my downfall. I could get through classes ok, join in well enough, but presenting work in any way that was deemed well thought out or even in any way intelligent was just a no-go for me. Until today!

As I'm sure you're aware (if you've read this blog before), I have a dream of writing for a living. Novels, screen plays, blogs, hell - I'd write obituaries if people didn't mind me re-imagining their loved ones lives and turning them into fantastically dramatic and enthralling plights of fancy, so getting something back from the university to say I did a good job (I wrote a sci-fi short screenplay) is the icing on top of my laptop.

I'll go to sleep happy tonight and the just dread the moment someone at works asks me what grade I got and what my screen play was about, because even though I don't mind tooting horns on the internet, tooting in real life is something that I just can't do (hehe, I said tooting) so that will be awkward.

Until next time,

Sam

The obligatory procrastination blog

I am writing my first essay of the year. It's only 2000 words and I'm... struggling. To say the least. The subject is children's literature and the question is Is there a clear divide between books for children and books for adults and I have no problem answering this question, and yet, when I'm trying to write it down it makes little to no sense. I've been working on it all day and all of yesterday and it's due in tomorrow and I'm just not getting anywhere.
So what do you do when you can't write an essay? You write a blog post.

At the moment my house is a mess. I live at home with my ma and pa and they are on holiday and I hate that when this happens I realise how much my mum actually does around here. I also hate that it really emphasises my undeniable usage of pretty much every plate, bowl and cup in the house. The kitchen is like a bomb site... I really need to get in there and clean but I just can't bring myself to do it. I've also not been feeling great this week because someone at work gave me a cold - I don't often get colds and I've been kind of OK but my tonsils always take a beating when I'm run down so I'm trying to NOT get tonsillitis... it's going ok but there are some suspect ulcer looking things at the back of my throat which I'm choosing to believe are NOT infected with anything other than regular cold germs. Sorry for that gross image!

So, my essay... I'll get back to it in a second. I'm just trying to figure out how to segway into my next paragraph. I always find that difficult, does anyone else? Just me? Humph.

Sam
x

Books and biceps and Brrrr....

How fast has the temperature dropped of late? I'm not complaining. Those who have been around this blog for over a year will probably be well acquainted with my love for autumn and that little known event that follows after the leaves fall and everything is all eerie at night and spooky... Yep. Halloween. But, it's FAR too early to blog about my most favourite time of the year so let's move on past that for now and I'll revisit in a few weeks!

Back to the weather. I love it. Sunny mornings (mostly) and brisk air. I love the random rainstorms one minute and the glorious evenings the next minute. Is anyone else as in love with UK weather as me?! I love the randomness of it all!

Speaking of it being September I must bring up the hot topic of the month. School. Ah, back to school! This year I'm doing my 3rd year (but not final, it's a long story) - 2 courses towards my degree. One is Children's Literature, the other is Advanced Creative Writing. I'm looking forward to them both but I'm also nervous. Not of the work itself, but the fact that I'm working FULL TIME as well as doing them. I'm sure I'll be fine, but I worry for my (already almost none existent) social life. Bah. I'll figure it out. I have almost all my books now I think after a hefty spend on Amazon (well, I had vouchers, and I did get most of them from independent sellers to offset my book killing ways) - so far the stack looks like this:

Some good books in there - note, the actual children's picture books. I look at them and think they will be easy peasy, but then... I highly doubt it. Writing for children is notoriously hard so we'll see how it goes!

Moving onto other things, I recently purchased the Davina McCall work out DVD. Jeez, it's tough. I heard it was tough, but I didn't believe it would be too hard. I can honestly say that when putting my all into it I come out aching, but that's a good thing! It is... Soon I will be buff as anything. But not really. I'll try though!

I don't have much else to report. Recently been suffering for mild to severe stomach pains and think I might have some sort of ulcer or something so I'll be going to the doctors for some forced testing. I went last year and they told me I just needed to take those chalky tablets for indigestion. I told them then it wasn't indigestion and a year later I'm going back to tell them again. Ah, the joys of GP's offices!

Sam

ps. On a fun note I'm on something like book 37 or 38 of the year! Follow my progress on Goodreads if  you're interested in learning the names of teen fiction books! :P

Announcements and what not!

Well, not announcements per say, but kind of... I'm tired so I don't really know what words are spilling from my fingertips right now.

Oh yeah, that was it... sorry, just got really distracted by how much the veins in my hands/fingers are sticking out. They don't usually, so I'm taking it as a sign of needing to sleep :P

I passed my 2nd year of uni! Woohoo! actually passed my exam - got about 61% I think, which for me is a freaking miracle because I just don't do well in exams. So I'll take it! In my final creative writing thing I got a 69, which sucks being 1 point off a 70, but oh well. I'll take what I can get at this point.

Feeling quite proud of myself really so thought I'd share. I've not been up to THAT much recently and blogging hasn't seemed nessesary. Which isn't the point of a blog, I know, but sometimes I feel like if I have nothing to report it's pointless and no one will want to read it! I have redecorated my room and it's finally ALL done, apart from my needing to now clean it all up and actually put things away rather than live with boxes of stuff all around me. Which I don't mind, but apparently it's driving other people crazy. Bah. So I'll tidy up soon and post pictures. I'm quite proud, as I did about 90% of the work myself; wallpapering and putting furniture together. I find it quite enjoyable so it's nice.

In other unrelated news I have had a move around at work and I'm now... drum roll.... full time. Again. Urgh. I want the money but I can't tell you how tired I am just from working 3 days in a row. You forget how hard it is using your brain for that long a time without a break, and 2 day weekends are a killer, but it's a nessessary evil I know. It will all pay off as I'll be able to save up enough money to keep me going whilst I try to carve out some sort of writing career. I've finished the rewrites in my novel so I've just got to implement them on my computer, then re-read the whole thing again and then I think I'm heading for a bit of restructuring and more re-writes, but on a whole I think I'm on the right track. I enjoy it, so that's the main thing I suppose!

I would blog about the Olympics but I'm not really that into them. I like the gymnastics but other than that I don't watch The Sports. Sorry! :P Hope everyone is enjoying them though!

I'll be back with random blogs I'm sure. I need to get back into the swing of putting pictures and what not in here to make it more visually exciting...

Laters!

Sam

End of June?

Where did this month go? It feels like only yesterday I was frolicking, rejoicing in my birthday bubble, but now it's almost July! Golly Gosh! (haha, "golly gosh", I am definitely bringing that one back!).

I feel bad for once again falling behind in my blogger subscriptions, because, you know, I actually love reading peoples blogs. It's kind of an addiction. But of late I've been very naughty in just not doing it.

I have been de-stressing after my exam, and then my sister had moved into her own place with her boyfriend, so I've been helping her decorate. Here's a fun fact about me. I love to paint rooms. I'm the only person I know who loves to paint and decorate. Everyone seems to find it boring...? I don't know why - it's physical and you can listen to music and dance and sing whilst you do it. It's probably one of the best things in the world. I think I could do it for a living - except I won't because I have other dreams/aspirations going on at the moment. But maybe if I never make it and never get published I'll do it! Look out world, I'm going to badly paint ALL of your rooms!

So, the excitement of my sisters new house was gazumped by the excitement of her also getting engaged - a very eventful month for her indeed. For me, her moving out means I get my own room. Yes. At 27 I finally get to have my own room. I do miss my younger sisters company (it's only been one night, but she's moved into the room next door), because we literally talk ALL the time. But getting a double bed and finally having the room to put all my things away; get all my books onto big bookshelves and just generally get privacy. With 3 siblings privacy is very hard to come by around here. I know what you're thinking. If you want privacy move out, but alas, life aint that simple kids!

In other news I have just spent a good sum of money paying for my next years Uni courses. I have Children's Literature lined up, as well as Advanced Creative Writing. These will be good things, I can feel it.

I'll keep you posted on the redecoration of my room because I'll no doubt be very excited once all my new furniture arrives and I'll have to tell the world (pst... that means YOU!)

Sam

You know, I just gotta get outta town...

I love saying that. This is my new saying of this week:
"I'm going to Harrogate for a couple of days, just gotta get outta town... unwind..."
Because no one ever says this in the UK, it's such an American thing to say. And I love it! hehe.

So yes, all, I am off to Harrogate for 2 days (1 night for all you night counters) and staying in what looks like a LUSH apartment, but I'm kind of scared it's going to end up a dump. Although research says otherwise, I'm still worried... oh well.

It's the fella's birthday so we're visiting his once home town... out of many home towns. He used to move around a lot, but this place is one of his favourites so who am I to stand in his way? I love Harrogate. Any old spa town really. So for the next 2 days I'm going to be chilling (literally) in the park, walking around the streets, going to the cinema (That amazingly old Odeon they have there... if they're showing anything other than Titanic. Not watching that again), and eating my face off. I feel I need this. I'm stressing about Uni work and real work and writing. Well, not writing. I'm loving the re-writes for my book, but it's always playing on my mind and I just need to breathe for a bit.

In other news... I have no other news. This past week has been filled with nothingness. But that's ok, riiight? I have been trying to figure out how to succeed in my next assignment for uni, which is to find and write for a magazine competition/ publication that is suited to my writing style etc. So I need to find a magazine which has, like, a fiction competition or something. But I am the WORST person when it comes to finding anything. Can't find the salt and pepper in the cubboard, can't find a competition in a magazine. So, yeay... but not really.

If you know of any please link me!

Thanks

Sam
x

Google... you both confuse and excite me...

So, I know I'm probably the last one to have switched to the new blogger that Google has offered us, but, well, I had a look at it a while ago, decided I didn't like change and switched back to the old viewing window.
Recently I decided that no, Sam, you will change. You won't get left behind, you'll move on with the rest of them and rejoice in the new world of Google. And that's just what I did... still not sure about it. It's nice, and neat and sure, I can see a lot of hard work has gone into making it the best it can be... but it's SO different. Still, I'm here now and there's no going back.

Talking of no going back. When I did upload the new blogger, I was prompted that my IE didn't properly support the new script, so I was prompted (very conveniently) to use Google Chrome as a browser instead. I ummed and ahhed, because I'd been contemplating changing browsers for a long time, but nothing felt right. Well, I switched and now everything feels right. Google Chrome is me. It's smart, fast, smooth looking... just like me! haha. I jest. But once I started updating I couldn't stop. I updated my Google Mail accounts and even signed up for Google Analytics for my website... there's no stopping me this week. Literally.

And talking of not stopping - I'm still fully invested in NaNoWriMo, despite my initial fears I wouldn't be able to do it. I'm currently at a word count of about 19201, and will be hitting and exceeding the 20k mark of my novel tomorrow, right on schedule. I'm loving the writing, and I think it will help me with my creative writing. It's helping me get out of myself, and learn to just write, and explore different techniques, voices, POV's and what not. I actually got my first assignment mark back for creative writing and got a 61, which to me is great! Over 50 for the 1st assignment is good in my eyes, because I will only be aiming higher and higher from now on. Got some really good constructive criticism and I'm taking it all in and rolling with it!

Speaking of rolling with it - my sister passed me the Vampire Diaries books to read the other day. This is the first time she has given ME a book to read, usually it's the other way around, but since she exhausted my book collection this year she's had to pass me something she's stolen from a friend. I always avoided VD because I watched the TV show before I read the book, and I don't like doing that, so if it happens I try not to get into the books because it usually ruins the TV show, with the book being better, but I can honestly say I prefer it this way around. VD the book is good, but I don't like the way it's written, and the verbal exchanged between the characters unbelievable. The TV show took all the good things about the show, added their own spin on it and made it 80 times better. So there you have it, the TV show CAN be better than the book!

And speaking of Tv shows - I've recently written an article on MY WEBSITE about cancelled Tv shows. Check it out - I'm looking for viewers and feedback - also contributors. So if you're interested in doing an article, or have any links you want to share to fun sites just email them to;
theswirlingvortex@gmail.com

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call progressional flow. I'm good at it - I even have a t-shirt with I <3 Progressional Flow on it. Yes, I'm that cool!


Bye now!

Sam
x

Wordy words

Another wordy blog. I haven't blogged for a time. Probably only a week but it feels like longer! Ho hum!

I've been diddling on with my Open Uni work and really enjoying it. The creative writing side is fun, learning little tricks and exercises to help keep me writing. I didn't realise it, but blogging is probably a really good exercise for my writing - I just write what I'm thinking, but it's good practise just to keep the mind and the hands moving, right? :)
English Lit course is so far so good - we've only just started this week, and I've been reading Othello, and learning about the play and the meaning of the text etc. It's very interesting and I'm actually enjoying it more than I thought I would be. I mean, I don't understand what's going on really, but when I read I can kind of get the general gist of it, which is better than nothing!

Other than that I haven't been up to much. I haven't been working this week so it's been nice to have yet another week to just relax and ponder my new life as a writer/ literature understander-er.
I've also bought some new clothes. Now, to you, that might not mean much, but to me it does! I'm the worst person for buying clothes. I pick things up and by the time I get to the till I change my mind and put it all back because I just don't like it anymore. If I don't buy what I want in the space of 10 seconds I have second thoughts and put it back. But when I DO buy stuff, it's stuff I really like. I've always been like that, not just about clothes, but anything I buy. I don't mince around when I want something, and when I have it I keep it forever. I keep telling my boyfriend he should count himself lucky I didn't put him back on the shelf after a week! I jest, of course!

Anywho, the clothes I bought are a UK 14, which is nice. I always thought I'd be happy in a comfortable size 14, and I am. But... like most women who have something, we always want the next model up. So I'm kind of almost aiming to get down to a 12, but not really going to put a lot of effort into it. I'm at a point now where if it happens, it happens. I'm so zen! ha.

I'm off to a gig tomorrow night - my boyfriends uncle, who was in a band in the 80's and still gigs on his own is having a gig in Manchester. So, of course, we're on the guest list. It should be nice, I've not seen him since Christmas and he's lovely!

I'd best be off, I have many a thing to do this afternoon before I hit the gym for some Zumba!

toodles! :)

Sam

Who knew?

Who knew there was so much thought that had to go into trying to launch a website? Well, I'll be honest, I kind of had an small idea but this is turning into a project and a half. I guess I don't mind though - I don't have much riding on this, it was just for fun - if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. But I do want it to be a regular stop for some people, on their Internet travels. Ah, we'll see what happens. I'll be sure to keep you guys updated on what's going on.

At the moment, I'm just trying to figure out the layout - the theme is set for now, just a basic template as themes are something you can tweak along the way.

We're also trying to nail down the content - the content for the launch and the future content, and for that I need people to help. But until we go live I can't recruit anyone as it's all hush hush. I think I've only told one of my friends what the site is. She was kind of interested, but, well... she isn't an Internet person so she doesn't really care. I can deal with that though.

This is kind of just a bloggy blog for the time being. I just thought I'd let you know what I've been up to, which is basically panic about Uni. But so far, so good. the 1st week has been a fun one. My English Lit course starts on Saturday (Monday for me, as that's my allotted Uni day) where I will have to start reading Othello. Fun times. My writing course has been going well, just learnt some writing exercises which I have to do every day, but it all makes so much sense. You're supposed to write every day - they say that a musician practises every day, and artist sketches every day, so why wouldn't a writer write, just to practise - find your voice. Yes. I am on this page with them, I love writing - I love typing too, so blogging for me is a way to free up my creative self. I feel like a hippie. I don't know why!

Recently my boyfriend has been introducing me to David Lynch films. I loved the TV show he did, Twin Peaks and have always wanted to watch more of his stuff, and as my boyfriend has a collection of thousands of films (not exaggerated - movies are his life, and hopeful career) and a strong love of the Lynch he has them all on his shelf. So we started. So far I've watched Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart and Lost Highway - my favorite so far being Blue Velvet, but I can't get Lost Highway out of my head. I'm still trying to figure out what it meant. People think he's nuts, but I think he's a genius and we just can't see things on the level he sees them.

I've totally forgotten what else I've been up to - just Zumba'ing around at the gym and trying to keep moving every which way I can, be it a quick stint of yoga, a short run or some weights at home. Although nothing makes me ache more than the wii fit. I don't know why....

This weekends plans are - cinema, of course, to see Drive and The Lion Kind 3D. Well, I saw Jurassic Park at the cinema the other day and feeling all nostalgic for my childhood figured I'd better watch it! I'm also going to TGI Friday's which is my kryptonite. I pray I can keep my cool and resist all the bad food... praying they have a healthy salad on the menu!

I'll be off now - Going to blog again soon though - there's still a cake recipe or 2 to come and a blog about the new TV show Terra Nova, so stay tuned!

Sam

Thar she blows!

BOOM!

Looks like another volcano eruption will ground air traffic. I'm not that bothered because I'm not going anywhere any time soon, but I guess it's a big deal to everyone who might potentially be affected by it! I don't know how we have coped in the past though... surely volcanoes have been erupting every year in or around places of civilisation... right? Because I have never heard of planes not being able to fly when a volcano has erupted because of 'ash clouds'... I admit, I am one of conspiracies - I don't believe anything the news says because I honestly think we are only told things the powers that be want us to know, and everything else is swept under the rug, but this ash cloud business is such a strange story it's just so hard to believe it's real!

Talking of things not real, I finally saw Thor, THE MOVIE... and was... disappointed? I don't know if that is the right word. I need to watch it again I think. I was in a bad mood when I watched it and I think it might have impaired my viewing, but even if I had been in a good mood I think I would have been hard pushed to find it 'good'. I won't give you a full review because it will ruin it, but I just wasn't a fan of how rushed it all seemed - there was too much going on and... I don't know... I just didn't get it!

Anywho - this is the start of the final week of Uni work. I am working on my final assignment now (well... in a second) and it has to be handed in on Friday. I'm not confident about this one. I have no idea what I'm writing about, but meh. It's the last one so I'm not sweating it too much!

Peace out!

Sam :P

Easter, Birthdays and the importance of discovery...

Boy!

What a weekend, eh? The weather alone has made this one amazing, however I have to say, I did have other distractions that kept me bobbing along quite happily over the past few days.

I feel it is important to say that I write to you in the middle of trying to write my 2nd to last assignment for Uni. It's a self assessment assignment and I'm not really in the mood! But alas, I figured I should take a break and blog whilst I remember, and I can honestly say this Blog every day in April has gone a little awry, I can also honestly say that writing almost every day has been a pleasure! :P

I digress, anywho. On Friday I went to a local park with one of my friends. Just for a wander and a walk. Now, I have been in this park before and drive past it a hell of a lot, but I had one of those 'What the hell?' moments, when we walked through the greens and was greeted by a HUGE expansion of grass, water, basket ball and tennis courts and all sorts of amazing-ness. I seriously couldn't believe all of this park life was on my doorstep, so to speak... OK, about 15 minutes away from it, and I never knew. I felt like I had discovered something great. My friend, on the other hand, couldn't quite grasp how I had never been there before. And I really don't know why I haven't. It just goes to show, sometimes you just don't know what good things lie on your doorstep until the sun comes out and you decide to go for an adventure!

In other news, I was supposed to go to Harrogate on Saturday with my boyfriend, but the weather said it would be thundery at some point so we gave it a miss and went to Manchester instead. I love Manchester. It's one of the best cities in the world. The buildings, the shops, the food! I would never get bored of going to town and finding new and interesting places to go. Not that I do that though. We have a bad habit of only ever hitting up the same shops. Starbucks, Magma, HMV (both on Market Street and in the Arndale centre), Fopp, Arndale food hall and Waterstones. And then either food or home... but it's the perfect day (for us) and so it was great on Saturday as the weather was beautiful. We then hit up a Nepalese restaurant for dinner, which is SO SO good and SO SO cheap!! WIN!

I guess everyone knows it was Easter this weekend but it was also my boyfriends birthday and we celebrated by eating a HUGE Easter meal and eating loads of chocolate. Diet be damned this weekend! No one should not eat chocolate on Easter. No one.

And that concludes my

holiday from my assignment. I must get back to it... really... I should...

Sam

It's finally here!

Oh! The end of the tax year... wait... no! I mean, my 2nd year anniversary with my boyfriend. It's crazy and not crazy at the same time. It feels like only yesterday we nervously sipped our vanilla lattes in Starbucks and talked for 3 hours about films and other such nonsense. And yet, it feels like we have know each other forever! To celebrate such greatness we are going to Manchester for a wander. We're taking in a movie at the IMAX (Suckerpunch, which I'm sure I'll tell you about tomorrow), and having a meal at ZiZi (one of our favorite places to eat!). I can't wait, as we've been waiting for this day for ages. :D Happy! What also makes me happy is I got an email from the Open University people, telling me not to panic and I can basically start level 2 at the end of this year if I feel like I'm ready to move on from level 1, and I can make up the missing points from level one at any of the other levels. Which might not make sense to you, if you haven't looking into how OU works, but to me, it makes sense and makes me feel like a weight has been lifted. I'm going to start level 2 in Oct. and study 'Reading and Studying Literature' , and then the year after that 'Creative writing' and then after that 'Advanced creative writing' and then see where I'm at with points etc. and do a couple of other courses to get a degree qualification... it's going to take longer than I thought and I was going to do a couple of courses at once, but I don't want to get bogged down in too much work etc... well. That's my thinking at the moment anyway. We'll see how it goes. I have to sleep now.... I must sleep. Oh so tired............... Sam

The Saga Continues....

Well! To say I'm stressed in an understatement. I am sat here in my boyfriends room - he asleep and me happily typing - and I am still stressing about Uni stuff. Basically, I have found out I should have been doing about 2 more courses this year. Which wasn't explained to me when I signed up! I was intending to get a degree in 3 years. And the website seemed to tell me that was possible if I followed a certain route. Took the suggested courses and that was that. But now it seems that I should have more 'points' for my first level. Which means I have to take 2 classes next year at level one stage, rather than progress to level to, thus rendering this year a sort of 'foundation' year. Not happy. Not only that, it seems the courses I need to dp next year don't start at the same time. One starts this November. That's fine. The other... well... it starts at the end of 2012. Erm... no thanks. I can't spread the first year over 3 years. But do they have other courses starting at the end of this year for year 1? No. So... basically they are making it impossible for me to get a degree in less than 4 or 5 years. I don't have time to waste my life doing that. This was supposed to be something that I did whilst working in a job from hell so I could get out of there and do something else with my life. But apparently the God's want me to suffer... WHY?! Humph. I'll figure it out and keep you posted, until then, i bid you all farewell! sam :)

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Yo! It's been a little while since I last blogged, and I thought now was the right time to do it. Right when I have an assignment due - and should be editing. Meh. What can ya do?! I'm currently sat here... downloading something. Basically, I had Microsoft Word, but then lost it as it turns out I only had a stupid trial one on my laptop (part of the reason I bought this is because I needed Word). So I have been trying to find a torrent file for Word to download. I know. I know. Naughty Sam, but still... I refuse to pay for something that should just be free with computers! And have you seen the price? Jeez! Talking of money I just recently realised next years Uni course is going to cost me about £1400... yep. I am still a little baffled. But it's basically because I will be doing 2 courses at the same time, so I can do the 3rd year course I really want to do. Which I have changed... Oh its all going down over here! I was going to do some sort of History degree because I have this hugely huge passion to learn about ancient history and myths, but that meant doing a year studying Medieval history and the middle ages and all that jazz. I'm not really into that. At all. So I figured, screw this. I'll do history of film. which was something else I was interested in, as I ultimately want to do something in film at some point in my life. No... that course has disappeared. joy. So then I think. well, I'll do what I wanted to do a few years back, and now I'm buzzed about it. I can't wait to start, even though I am taking on double the work load. BUT, I will be doing English Lit. Studying Reading and Studying Literature and Creative writing... It might turn into too much, but oh well. It's what I wanted to do for a long time but didn't because I'm one of those people who doesn't want to do something they don't think they will succeed in because there is too much competition in the industry already... because in the 3rd year I want to do advanced creative writing. Basically what I'm saying is for the most part of my life I have wanted to write for a living. Not that I ever write anything. its a bit of a pipe dream. Because I don't believe I would ever be good enough to actually write anything for a living I have never tried. Much like why I gave up photography and pretty much everything I really wanted to do. I don't want to fail... but I am going to give this a go. Once and for all. In other news... hmm... let me think. I can't really remember what I have been up to. I work in a Pensions company so work has actually been manic, with my work load almost tripling in size as its the end of the tax year tomorrow and we have new legislation coming in next week which means people are scurrying to get money and forms in to us asap. Which means everyone thinks their cases are more urgent than everyone Else's. So I've been stressed out of my mind for the past month, but work is work. Horrible! :P And in OTHER news, it's me and my boyfriends 2 year anniversary next Tuesday so we are treating ourselves to a movie at the IMAX in Manchester. We got premier seats to see Sucker Punch. really excited! Been watching loads of films recently as we are going to be writing a screen play soon - horror genre, of course - so researching horror films. But I have to say, this weekend I HAVE to watch a movie with a happy ending. I love horror films, but for God's sake, I can't watch a film where everyone dies for a while. It's starting to depress me! haha. Right, best get cracking with the assignment. Curses. Sam ps. I couldn't edit this post due to stupid blogger systems. So you must read it as is. Apologies! :)

The Deathly Hallows - what they are and how to find them.

OK

I'm not going to tell you what the Deathly Hallows are OR where to find them, as I believe Voldemort would kill me without hesitation if I even uttered the words, but I AM very excited about the films' release!

I love Harry Potter! It's just one of those things that you hate to admit, because it causes people to either rejoice with you - thus annoying me because I hate it when people show interest in the things I like - or else causes people to roll their eyes in an 'I don't get it' kind of way - which annoys me because Harry Potter is amazing and people should just read it and love it. I'm a very complex person!

The books are SO different from the films, and I love that. I like the books in a different way than I like the films (did that sentence even make sense?). The books create such a magical universe, which is brilliant on many levels. The characters are cool - even the bad ones - and you can really get sucked into it. Everyone has their own opinions of who is bad and good etc. which makes for good debates with friends!

The films are mental. Just because they have made up a completely different universe from the books. The characters are totally different, the story lines lead to different conclusions. But in it's own way that's the joy of the films. It's a new avenue of the street of Harry Potter. Plus, Ron, aka Rupert Grint, is just amazing!

Like I said, I'm just thuper exthited to thee the film. (that was my inner nerd talking).

I think if I had to write an essay on Harry Potter I would do a wonderful job (... actually, no, I probably wouldn't.). As it happens, the essay I wrote the other day WASN'T on HP. Sadly. It was on Cleopatra and Christopher Marlowe - their reputations etc. It went OK. I got my grade back the other day and feedback from my tutor. He actually highlighted an entire passage I wrote and asked if I had wrote it, saying it was different from the rest of my work and if it was from a book I should reference it correctly! I emailed him to tell him I wrote the whole thing myself (how rude) and he apologised and said I had done a great job on that section and he upped my grade. Good times. I was miffed, but still - it's kind of nice to think something I wrote was considered something that may have been in a book! Go me!

I had to stop writing this part way through to watch Gilmore Girls. I'm glad my study days are broken up by TV moments. Not distracting at all!

Sam

STARBUCKS EGGNOGG LATTES THIS MONTH: 3

Writing up a storm

Boo!

Hi guys! Well, its November. I love how when the month changes everyone feels they have to comment on it. You should see the amount of people on Twitter who have exclaimed their disbelief that the month has changed... again! But, you know, it is alarming, the rate the year is going! November! What next? December? Egad!

Halloween was a big part of my weekend - as per usual! I threw a Halloween party with my boyfriend and it went pretty damn good. A little quieter than last year, as a couple of my friends couldn't make it, and others had to leave early so I had no friends there (well, none I had invited) by about 11! But other than that it was a great night. My and my boyfriend did that thing most couples do, but shouldn't - which is is coordinate our outfits! We went as Jedward (picture will follow, my boyfriend has the best one on his camera!). Overall it went very well. Everyone dressed up - best costume of the night was a friend who dressed as Wikus from District 9... it was a genius outfit!

On Sunday I went to see The Social Network (click HERE for my thoughts on it), which was brill! I really loved it!

And Monday and today I have been click-click-clicking away, working on my assignment for university. It was more difficult than I originally thought, but only because of the l e n g t h. If I had been allowed a word limit of say, 2000 words, I would have been set, but I had to stick to 1000 - with only 500 words per part (there were 2 parts... wow, I'm good at maths). It was tough but I did it. I'm proud of myself but the knowledge that it was only the 1st assignment is daunting... oh well! I actually enjoy writing, its just hard to stick to length limits!

I have nothing more to say... wow. Its been a long day!

Take it easy!

Sam

I whip my hair back and forth...

Woo!

It's freezing. That's my official weather report for today. fr-ee-zing. And I'm starving. Because we have builders in the kitchen so it's impossible to make any food, which sucks because I wanted an omelet. I don't even like them that much, but I woke up feeling like one and now I want one damn it!

Oh well.

I have been working hard to try to get my Open university work done today. This weeks topic: Cezanne.

I am officially overwhelmed by art critic - I don't really see the point in critisicing art... I know... I'm doing history of the arts, but this part of it is the part I am going to find the hardest to get my head around.

I also got an email from our tutor, about my dummy assignment which I sent in. Literally a document saying 'Hi' - so they know I know how to work the system. I sent it... oh, I don't know.. 2 and a half weeks ago, but only just got a reply saying he couldn't open it. It's fine. I just didn't realise my Word saved in a strange format. To which I told him "sorry, I didn't realise, shall I submit it again?". Do you know what he said...?

"Yes, I know some other courses take these types of submissions, but we have always used these file types."

Like it was my fault...? Like I should have known. When this was, in point of fact, the reason we are sending the documents in, to make sure we know what to do etc.

You know when you just don't warm to someone? Well, I don't warm to him in the slightest. His email technique is poor... he comes across rude and doesn't space his emails well, which annoys me... I know, I haven't met him -and probably won't because I'm not a "go into school and learn" kind of girl, but the way you should come across in emails is friendly and helpful - but he really doesn't. When I have emailed him in the past couple of weeks I really feel like I have been bugging him. Humph. I'll give him time to warm up, but I just have a bad feeling about his people skills.

On to the subject heading. I have had this song stuck in my head for a while now - check it out, its hilarious. Will Smith's daughter, Willow, getting her voice heard... its strange, but true. Sadly. 9 year olds making records, whatever next? toddlers getting book deals? Woe is this life we lead.

Yes. Builder gone. It's omelet time!

Sam

Autumn

Yes.

I love it. I think most of my friends and colleagues know this quite well by now too. Whenever I remember its October next week I let out an excited squeal, as October is my new favorite month. And that's official.

I love the orange leaves, the pumpkins, any sign of autumn - hell, even the rain! It's just my season! I always plan to take advantage of such weather and sights when it comes around, but I always miss it, as months fly by so quickly these days, I won't be suprised to wake up tomorrow and be 10 years older, but this year I will try to make more of an effort.

Open university starts on Saturday, which I am dreading and looking forward to in equal parts. But that's going to be the start of me getting out of the house more. As I won't have any place to really study, bar the house, and we currently have builders in making a mess and lots of noise, I am going to have to force myself out of the warmth of my room and get out into the real world. Sitting in the library reading, or sitting in a coffee shop typing has become such a novel idea and I'm sure it won't be as exciting and sophisitacted as I imagine it... but still. It's going to motivate me to really appreciate the Autumn.

I'm almost officially over my cold. I was in work today and will be for the rest of the week and then next week I drop down to part time. Yesssss. I realised today that I don't even think the people I work with are enough to keep me in a job I hate. And I do hate it. We'll see what comes of this course I guess.

And Autumn.

Wrap up warm!

Sam

Achoooo...!

Rarr!

Again, I have been struck down with a terrible illness - yes, you got it. The dreaded cold! It hit me - BANG - on Monday night. Monday day I was fine. In fact, you could say a picture of health, but when I got into bed that night I realised something was up. Grrr. I have been suffering ever since. No work. Cancelled all social appointments, which I hate doing, but inevitably always seem to have to do for stupid reasons! I swear, I am such a bad friend. My intentions are good, but when it comes down to it, I always seem to be busy/ have double booked/ completely forgotten I should be meeting someone. I think its because I have several friendship groups, so I have to try to fit everyone in, and then manage to fit no one in. Like I said, rubbish. But that's not the point of this blog. Then again, I have never known what the point of this blog is, so its ok.

I am currently typing on my swish new laptop, which I love, but feel guilty using, as my old laptop is still upstairs on my desk - not knowing whats going on, or why I have kind of abandoned it recently. But, what can you do? I form attachments to inanimate objects and find it hard to let go, and move on. Curses. I think I will end up giving my Toshiba to my sister so she can look after it, and I can visit it from time to time. Yes. That sounds like a good plan.

Anyway, I was talking about my illness. Which is getting better, but I am currently in the last stages of the cold, which means its clinging on to me for dear life and making my life hell. I have asthma, and most of the time its completely fine. I get wheezy in the winter and need to use an inhaler when exercising but apart from that I generally have it under control. So this cold hits my chest when I have no inhaler as its just run out.... grrreat. I will now be wheezing and coughing and spluttering for the next day or two. Curses. Why hasn't anyone figured out how to make a cold go away in a day? That's what I want to know.

As I am to recover tonight, I am hoping I will be feeling a little bit better tomorrow as I am planning a cinema day to catch up on yet more films. Its not like I have spent the past week watching films on the movie channels... no... not me... :)

Anyway - hope everyone in the blogging land is well. I need to spend more time on here catching up with "stuff", and now my new laptop works, I might be able to... I am also going to part time next week at work for the next 9 months, as my Open Uni course starts on the 2nd Oct. Woo!

Sam

What? August has gone where?

*GASP*

It's September tomorrow. School starts! Well, not for me (mine doesn't start until October), but its officially that time again. I love this time. Apart from I always feel restless and nervous around the start of September because its when we would go back to school and that thought still terrifies me to this day. Even though I haven't been at school in... well, longer than I care to mention, I still get that same feeling. But then its followed by the nice Autumn feeling, which is one of the best. Don't know what I'm talking about? Go outside and take a whiff of bonfire air! That's autumn feeling summed up in one smell!

I got all my open university books the other day. Can't remember if I blogged about that. Anyway, there is a box full of them, which scares me, but it should be good to learn. I kind of like learning. I think... I haven't learnt anything that meant actual text book learning in a while. And that's the part I worry about most. Because as much as I love to read, reading to learn is something that my brain can't (or refuses) to do. Still, we will see what happens.

I'm currently flicking through my Spotify music to try to find a song that I feel like listening to, but can't settle on anything. I don't know what mood I am in. Apart from I have a lot of energy today, so I should probably stop listening to sad slow songs. I will have to work off this energy with exercise me thinks. Boo.

Speaking of music, I have a lot of new soundtracks at the moment, because I have caught up (mostly) on all the films out at the moment, and have to then listen to the soundtracks because they are always (mostly) good. I love soundtracks and scores. LOVE them!

This bank holiday weekend I have seen 6 films. 1 last week (it still counts as this weekend!), 2 on Saturday and 3 yesterday. That's right. I finally did it. a 3 film day! at the cinema! I was impressed with myself! I saw:

Salt - which was good. Lots of action and the back story was OK. It was a good all-rounder really. Sure if you pick at it you could find things wrong, but who cares? really? I don't know why people pick films apart. Just enjoy them for what they are already! OK. Rant over.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - was really great, but I don't know why! It was mental. I couldn't figure out if it was real or not. Set in the real world I mean. It was funny, and loud and bright and stupid, but genius at the same time!

The Girl Who Played With Fire - was probably what you'd expect. Really good film - great story, great shots, looked fantastic, was acted really well. Swedish films are really good, and they are paving the way for European films at the moment. It angers me when the US have to re-make foreign stuff so they don't have to read... lazy! Honestly, watch this one (if you've seen or want to see the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), because its brill!

Step Up 3D - yes, someone who likes foreign films can like these sorts of films! It was brilliant! the 3D was the best 3D I have seen so far, and the dancing was great. So what is the story wasn't technically 'the best' - Moose was back! Huzzah! Watch that little fella dance, so cheesy but still... He's my hero!

The Expendables - is actually good - it was a great action film, and those guys still have it if you ask me. I thought I would be bored. The boyfriend wanted to see it, so I went with him, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. Lots of shooting, some good humour and predictable story line, but even so, its a winner in my book!

Avater: The Last Airbender - its one of those ones you have to really sit down and get into. Because I think if you didn't pay attention and just get into it, you wouldn't care about it. You would just think the acting is shoddy and its a kids film. But honestly, if you were to give it a chance you might be pleasantly surprised. The 3D isn't the selling point on this one, because it was only rendered after it was filmed, so its not the main focus, but the martial arts and the actual places it was filmed are amazing. Story is good if you get into it, even if childish, its a good escape from reality! Ain't that what we all need?

Jeez, didn't intend for this to be a review on films, but I guess it is.

I really have nothing more to say at the moment. Nope. I just thought about it and that's it.

Ciao for now!

Sam