a breather.

I don't have a whole lot of time at the moment for photography, but I've been spending the odd 15 minutes or so between revision and bedtime going through some old pictures. When I'm in revision mode I tend to become completely single-minded and only capable of thinking about work, but taking a tiny bit of time to just create something is good for me.

My hometown is beautiful in its own little way, especially as a storm comes in and the sun goes down.

Bank Holiday Fun

The title of this post is somewhat ironic, because my bank holiday was most definitely not fun. Productive? Yes. Fun? Not so much. I finished off my last ever piece of degree coursework, made a dent in my revision and spent the hottest day of the year so far stuck inside reading about global warming. Fitting, no?

I always turn into a really miserable person around revision time. I resent the fact that I've spent 99% of my university education being lectured on the importance of 'original' thought, novel experimental design and understanding the holistic nature of biological, geological and environmental processes, only to be examined using what basically amounts to a memory test. It makes no sense to me. I feel like coursework is a far superior method of assessment, it enables analysis of an issue from an angle that makes logical sense to the author, and allows an exploration of the literature that is pertinent to that chosen angle. Logical.

But hey, I'm probably just a bit bitter because my inability to remember names and dates puts me at an immediate disadvantage in exams where referencing is necessary ;)

Despite Bank Holiday monday being somewhat dull, my Saturday was awesome. Mum & Kev came up to collect some of my stuff (I move back home in 4 weeks - scary!) and I spent the afternoon hanging out with them. We went to Wetherspoons for lunch (always a good idea), I ate far too much & we discovered that my dressing table probably won't fit in the new car. Oops. I don't really mind living away from home too much, but I do miss hanging out with Mum so its always nice when they come to visit.

On Saturday evening R, James & I spent the evening on a bat walk with one of the post-doc researchers and a local ecological consultant. Maybe not everybody's idea of fun, but I really enjoyed it. They gave a couple of presentations about British bats & then dished out bat detectors so we could 'hear' them hunt. It's pretty incredible to listen to, especially once you get the hang of it & can start to tell the difference between different species. I took my camera, but nothing really came of it - bats are quick and I didn't want to use flash. The reflection of the pub lights on the lake was beautiful though, there's something almost magical about the sun going down in the summer.

What did you get up to this weekend? 

Spring is here!

Elizabeth is running an amazing 'blog every day in may' challenge, and although I won't be blogging every day in May, it really couldn't have come at a better time! I have a tendency to stress, a lot, about exams. I end up in this weird frame of mind where I can't actually concentrate on anything that isn't work (because obviously if I'm not sleeping I should be working) but at the same time, I can't actually concentrate on anything that is work related, because my brain just really wants a break. Its a problem. I'm getting better at balance and all that, but at the end of the day I just really, really, really want to graduate with a good degree (and thus begins the vicious cycle of 'oh my god I need to do more work' all over again). Its fun times around here people, fun, fun times. 

However. Back to the point of this post... This challenge is perfect, because I'm really trying to make sure that I have 'off' time as well, but sometimes I just can't come up with anything interesting to write about. I mean, there's only so many ways I can write about spending 14 hours of my day revising the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis. Right? Right. 

Today we're supposed to be writing about our favourite things about Spring. Of which I have many. I love flowers (obviously, because plants are my favourite). I love hanging out by the pond in the park. I love ducks (especially when they quack because its hilarious). I love not having to wear a coat. I love that feeling of being warmed by the sun, when you feel like the warmth goes all the way through to your bones. I love blue skies. I love fluffy clouds. I love waking up to light streaming through my window. I love the lighter evenings. I love green leaves on trees and the sounds of birds singing. I love the simple little things that just make life better. 

But this year, more than ever before, I love that feeling that things are just getting started and that the whole summer is just waiting to be explored. 

Summer Ball

James, Me, Holly, Hazel & Rich

Last Thursday was the Biology Society Summer Ball, we've never been to a formal dance while we've been at Uni so we all promised to go to this one, since its our last year. It came a little bit earlier in the semester than I thought it would be, so Mum had to post me my dress, shoes and jewellery (thanks Mum!). Hazel came over to ours a couple of hours early to get ready, but getting ready really doesn't take us that long so we pretty much just listened to The Eagles and drank Amaretto.

When we arrived we were handed a complimentary Mojito (never a bad thing), found a table and had our pictures taken. I skipped lunch because I knew I'd be eating loads in the evening, so my stomach appreciated the food being served pretty soon after we arrived. We somehow managed to pick the table that got served first (bonus!) and we also seemed to have far more table wine than anyone else. Definitely wasn't complaining. The food was amazing and I was full by the second course. I don't like throwing food away though, so obviously I had to eat the other two courses as well...

We spent the rest of the night drinking wine and dancing. It was such a good night and I'm so glad we went. I took my camera, but it was one of those nights where it didn't really occur to me to use it that much, so I'm really glad we had some 'proper' pictures taken. R thinks we look like the cast from a dodgy US murder-mystery sitcom. I can sort of see it. These guys are my favourites. I may be looking forward to finishing Uni, but I know I'll really miss them.

Monday Motivation: Who do you want to be?

It is estimated by the Oxford dictionary that there are approximately 3/4 of a million words in the English language. I find it truly amazing that out of all of the possible combinations, an inconceivably huge number of combinations, one of those combinations can come into you life and speak straight to your soul. It can be a quote, a song, a poem, part of a conversation you overhear or a flippant remark. It can be anything.

A 1:55 in this video Arnold Schwarznegger says "ask yourselves who do you want to be? Not what, but who?"

And it really struck a chord with me. It may seem like such a painfully obvious statement, but its a question I forget to ask myself. Constantly. But it shouldn't be, we should never stop asking ourselves who we want to be, and answering that question doesn't have to mean that we don't like who we are. It doesn't mean that we need to have a list of things that we want to change, or that we need to become somebody else. It just means that we're recognising that we're a work in progress, that there's always ways for us to grow. It means that we recognise that we can be better in ways that are meaningful and extend beyond job descriptions and inconsequential social labels.

What I am doesn't matter. But who I am? That is everything.

Watch the video. Soak it up. And tell me, who are you?

The MP3 experiment

I didn't take my 'big' camera so I had to make do with my phone. This park is unbelievably gorgeous in the sun.

Earlier this week (Tuesday) Hazel, Rich, Holly, Owen, Wenhui and I took part in the Weston Park MP3 Experiment. It was organised by the Union but inspired by the Improv Everywhere events. We had to sign up a couple of days before were emailed 24 hours in advance with a link to an MP3 track to download. We were meant to sync our phones/watches/whatever to the clock on the Union website said (I forgot) so that everyone could press 'play' at the same time. We got there a little early and spent a good 5 minutes trying to figure out who else was taking part and why we'd been asked to wear particular colours. We were also asked to bring an umbrella, a pen, a banana and a plastic bag. I still have no idea why we needed a pen, an umbrella and a plastic bag...

So 6pm rolled round and we pressed play, some crazy music came on & we started being given instructions by a super creepy mechanical voice (named Dave). Wenhui and I were sharing headphones and we didn't realise that I'd pressed play about 10 seconds after everyone else... until everyone else froze and we were still attempting to walk backwards without walking into anyone. Oops. The whole thing last about half an hour and it was such a laugh. It didn't take long before people who weren't involved figured out that something was going on, but there were some hilarious looks of confusion to start with. At the end of it all, everyone taking part met on the concourse and there was a BBQ and music etc. It absolutely made my day when they played "I knew you were trouble" and everyone made the goat noise. So. Funny. Have you seen the goat remix? Its hilarious.

We spent the rest of the evening in the pub that overlooks the lake, where I consumed the most horrifically disgusting pizza I have ever come across. On the flip side, the bar staff had absolutely no idea what they were doing so when Hazel went to get us drinks she managed to get us 2 pints of cider for £2. Bargain. The free chocolate fudge cake I was given when I complained didn't hurt either...

It was so nice to just get out of the house, away from my desk and just hang out in the sun. More evenings like this please!

Recent thoughts about blogging

This picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post. But isn't it gorgeous? 

Recently I haven't been blogging very much, and I've really missed it. I know a lot of the stuff I write on here is just silly little bits and pieces, but I really do love keeping a record of my life like this and it bugs me a little bit when I get out of the habit. Mainly I haven't been blogging because I've been spending so. much. time. at my computer already. I know people get bored of students 'whining' but I'm finding this semester so, so stressful and I seem to have a never-ending list of work to do. When I decide to call it a night the last thing I feel like doing is opening up blogger and writing yet more words. Its sort of paradoxical really because I end up even more stressed because I'm not doing the things that I usually do to chill out. It's a problem.

I've also been feeling a little bit disillusioned about the whole blogging community as of late, which all came to a bit of a head last Sunday during the #lbloggers chat. Annie was hosting and she had some brilliant topics, but somehow people ended up discussing blogging 'rules' and what you 'should' and 'shouldn't' do (in their opinion) if you wanted your blog to be read... Erm, what? Isn't the whole point of a lifestyle blog that its about your life, about you, a space that's yours. Some of the points being made were completely ridiculous & it just made me really, really sad. Especially comments along the lines of "I won't read a blog if I can't see pictures of someone's face". Sorry? Do we judge the merit of someone's writing on their physical appearance? I understand that a picture might make some people feel like they 'know' you a little bit better, but some people (myself included) just aren't comfortable with their mug being plastered all over their blogs. Does this mean what we write is any less interesting? That our opinions are any less valid? It shouldn't.

Another point that made me pretty mad was that of 'FAQ' pages. Come on guys, really? I can understand having an 'FAQ' page if you write about/do something (for a living, as a hobby etc) that people generally ask questions about, and I don't have a problem with that. A lot of FAQ pages just seem so contrived (to me anyway), I mean seriously, have that many people genuinely taken time out of their day to ask you how long you and your significant other have been together. Really? Or is it more of a 'things I think people should know about me because I think they're interesting' page. Which is fine, I actually kind of like that type of post - but don't make out that people ask you that frequently because they probably don't.

This wasn't really intended to turn into a rant about blogging, but obviously I needed to get this out here. Bess wrote a far more eloquent post on this, which I thoroughly recommend if you've ever thought this way about blogging (or just read her blog in general, you won't regret it).