Precious Time

Time is so precious. I never seem to have enough. It's not that I mess around, watch TV, play video games or anything... I think the trouble is, I'm just slow at life in general. Anyway, I'm working on some time-saving ideas...

It all started because today my PhD supervisor was telling me how I need to put much more time into my PhD (really loudly in my office and everyone could hear and it was super embarrassing). I thought I was putting loads of time in! Apparently not... He said I should be thinking about my PhD all the time, day & night, weekends, Christmas day, etc etc. He said my PhD is an art and that artists don't work 9–5 and forget about work in-between.

And I think he's right. I think there are two types of workers:

The "bin-man" type worker works 9–5 and forgets work at evenings/weekends. He doesn't enjoy his job, but he must do it, so he just kinda tunes-out while he's at work. It's as if he loses the 9–5 from his days. They just fade into a boring void.

The "musician" type worker actually lives his work. He loves his work and never stops thinking about it. All of his free time is spent on it and he enjoys that.

Obviously it'd be much better to be a "musician" type worker. That's what a PhD should be! But, of course, you have to love your work, to be this type of worker. I don't think I do, yet. But I think I might one day. It's something I need to work on...

What have I been up to? Omg, went to my FIFTH Biffy Clyro gig with May & Lucy!! Sooo lucky we made it: they changed the day without telling us and I just happened to walk past the union on the new day and saw Biffy signs. I went upstairs and saw them setting up! I knew where I had to be that night!

I went rock-climbing with my friend and his friend! So fun, glad to do it again! I will try to do it every-other week, now.

I did my first Weekender volunteer thing on Saturday! We took the kids to an arts & crafts centre (down the road from my flat!) and we did pottery! I made that guy from Monsters Inc. I will paint it soon!!

And we went bowling and it was really fun and omg omg anyway I better go!—Saving time, 'n all! :-P

Better

The other day I was sat on a bus coming home from Lucy's house. It was, like, a 25 minute journey and it took me all around the Cardiff sights. It made me realise how nice Cardiff is. It's so much nicer than Bristol. It's nicer looking, with more features; it's smaller and more personal; the people are nicer and there's less weirdos, the bus drivers are actually friendly; everything is cheaper, especially buses/taxis plus healthcare; yeah, it's way nicer.

Anyway, they've stopped that bus service now, so I guess that little avenue of pleasure has been closed...

I'm thinking more and more that doing this PhD was the right idea. I was so tempted to stay in my software job because it was easy, had good money (it actually wasn't that great), and I didn't want to be a PhD geek. But I think I'm way cooler now I'm doing a PhD. I'm no longer just a code monkey, I'm using my brain and being creative; I'm meeting new people everyday; I get to join university societies; I get to teach; so basically there is so much more choice & variety doing a PhD than sitting in the same office with the same people for the same hours every day. It's not all about the money, for me. It's about not being bored as hell all day.

I did some teaching last week! Well, I just walked around answering people's maths questions. It was quite fun, but harder than I expected! But I was totally ill last week so it'll be better next time.

I've joined a society this year: well, it's actually volunteering. The project's called Weekenders. They take kids out to have fun (like swimming, zoo, etc) when they usually can't have fun because their siblings are disabled. My first trip is on Halloween! We're going to make pottery then bowling! Fun!

Center Parcs Holiday

Wow, 200th post!

So, two weeks ago, I went on holiday to Center Parcs, Longleat with my family. It wasn't just my family, though! We all brought our partners: Joe, Aaron and, of course, Lucy. There were eight of us! Oh we had so much fun!! I promised I'd have fun, didn't I? Well I did! Let me tell you all!!

We were there for five days and the weather was beautiful! We were in a big chalet out in the sticks. There was so much wildlife! I saw cute bunnies that we fed, ducks that were so friendly they came into our chalet(!), squirrels, a heron, huge fish that we fed really close-up, and I saw a deer!!!

My little sister had her birthday there, and she got sooo, so many presents! Ahhh, she's off at Aberystwyth university, now. Hope she's having fun!

Did I mention that the weather was great? Lucy and I took a boat out:

And, of course, we all used the swimming pool a lot. Especially the rapids!!:

I love Center Parcs so much! It's like another world, out there. Where nothing matters and everything is always fun. We cycled everywhere (so fun); played card games together, all friendly; played badminton, archery, pool, crazy golf. And each couple took it in turns to cook a meal for everyone. Lucy and I cooked a barbecue! It was brilliant, of course! But we also had some great meals out, especially the Pancake House!!

We all had a brilliant time, we got along so well and we all totally didn't want to come home. Man, I really needed a good holiday! ... Hooray!

I start my Ph.D. tomorrowwww!!! Excited and a bit worried! But I'm feeling more and more like this was the right thing to do... I totally don't want a job yet. Speak soon!!

Let's Stay Young

Hello! Really behind again, here's a round-up:

Saw Taking Back Sunday live (with Twin Atlantic supporting) great fun! Some loser kid was bitching to his mates about me (and Speed) wearing earplugs at a gig. So funny when his mate replied "actually, that's a pretty good idea". Damn straight.

Lucy came to visit me, and, later, I went to Southampton to meet her parents for the first time. I wasn't even that scared! They were really nice and cooked me lovely food. Plus we went to this really fun water flume park! Freeezing cold for the outside bits, but so worth it!

Went to Dan's birthday party, and last Saturday I went to a friend from school's wedding party. Wow, we must be growing up! Scary!

Seriously, though. Lately I've been feeling more and more like I want to feel young and careless again. It seems to me like everyone has forgotten those times, or worse, maybe they're too cool for it now. Now that I've been working full time, I've had to be so serious and old. I want innocent, careless fun. I don't want to sit and watch telly, I want to play off-ground-touch. I don't want to sit in a boring old pub, I want to paint pictures of whales with my fingers! I want to cycle through the woods! I want to play frisbee please!!!

Ahh wait, I actually did play frisbee with Nat on Sunday:

I hope I never get too old...—mentally. It's so unnecessary... I had this idea called "Organised Fun" where a bunch of people meet up to do good old-fashioned fun things; to meet people, to forget being serious for an hour a week.

Today was my last day at work! I felt really sad as I was leaving. It was such a painful decision to leave; my manager really wanted me to stay and he was paying me good money, and the company is meant to be getting really big, and everyone was lovely... but I chose the Ph.D. I want to do it while I still can. I'm hoping it'll open some cool doors.... we'll see.

I've truly been chilling out, lately. I feel so relieved of stress! I can get up in the mornings without a glimmer of feeling sick—for the first time in probably 6 months! I've been playing my instruments again, I've been drawing and painting, and I've been dancing in my lounge on my own. That probably sounds ridiculous, and it feels a bit wrong, but also totally right.

I'm going on holiday with my family and my sister's boyfriends and my girlfriend on Monday! Center Parcs. I'm going to have a brilliant time, I promise.

New Flat!!

Hello! This is post 2 for the 5 weeks that I didn't blog. I'm going to take you back to July 23rd. What a day! I was very excited! I took the day off work because today was the day that I was going to move into my new flat!!! That's right!! My parents were going to come to help me move in the afternoon, so in the morning, Speed took me to Ikea to buy cool things!!

Let's see some pictures, already!!

Isn't it beautiful!! It's a gorgeous complex called Galleon Way in Cardiff Bay. It's so perfect! Paradise compared to the student digs that I was staying in! It's a ten minute walk from my work, which is brilliant for when I miss my alarm clock: the other day I accidentally set my alarm 1hr late at 8:55. I don't know how I did it, but I managed to get dressed and run all the way to work before 9am!! I was on time!!! You probably don't believe me, and I'm not sure I believe it, myself! I'll be defying the rules of physics soon!!

Queue next picture!!

Anyway. My parents picked me up with a car full of my stuff and we went straight to the flat to meet the landlord. We checked it out, signed loads of paperwork, and it was ours!! Mine and Speed's, that is. Speed is moving in in September.

Once everything was sorted, my parents drove me to Tesco to get some shoppen. We pretty much filled the car with loads of big things like plants, chairs, foods and a microwave (the big car was in the garage). THEN we had to pick up all of my stuff from my student digs!! My dad was sooo stressed out, the car was completely full—TWICE! I was crushed! Somehow we got it all back to the flat and I called Speed (using our VIDEO INTERCOM! Oh, yes!) to come help me out of the pile.

We got everything sorted real good. Then Speed's parents decided to come to see the flat! I've been super-friends with Speed for 3 years now, and this was going to be the first time our parents had met! All six of us went out for a meal in the evening (there's so many restaurants around here!). We had a lovely time! And Speed was kind enough to stay the night with me on my first night.

There's just one tiny annoyance with the flat: there are LOADS of spiders outside! I'm scared to open the windows! Apparently some loser released them here to eat all the flies from the docks... don't think he thought that one through...

Anyway, this flat is amazing! I'm sooo happy to be here! I'm really looking forward to getting stuck-in, you know? Coming home on those cold, dark winter evenings to my cosy flat :-) Good times!

Graduation

five weeks.... FIVE WEEKS since I last posted!! I know you won't even believe me if I tell you how sorry I am... But I can explain everything! Now, there's a lot to explain, so I'm not going to cram it all into one post; you deserve more than that. I'm going to give you the respect you deserve, blog! I hope you can find it in you to forgive me and share the tears and laughter with me. Here we go, this is my first post for the five weeks you've missed:

If I remember correctly, last time I posted was on the 5th July. I didn't tell you before, but on the Saturday I went on a boat trip with my family for my aunty's birthday! Great to see everyone! Anyway, I was still living in Talybont student digs back then. I was so desperate to find a flat in Cardiff Bay so I was booking lots of viewings etc. Turns out, on Wednesday (8th) I saw a beautiful flat in Galleon Way! I wanted it so badly, and on Friday I took Speed & his parents to see it. We all loved it and decided to take it. I couldn't wait to get out of Talybont and move in, but I had to wait!!

Monday was the day of my graduation! I was a bit nervous, my parents drove me up from Bristol and I picked up my robes and funny hat!

I'm afraid I look silly in all of the photos because I was nervous and the sun was always in my eyes.

Check this out, see the guy on the far left:

Kinda looks like he's gloating as he walks away from me? That's the guy that stole the top-of-the-year place from me by 1%!!!!! Sooo annoying!! I'm not bitter, btw!...

The ceremony was nice. The venue looked great and they even had a really good opera singer there!

I was one of the first people to go up. Dad managed to miss me with the video camera(!) but luckily it got professionally filmed (click here to see it. I'm at about 17:20). Here's some shots from the video:

It was fun! I didn't fall-over! So great to see all of my friends graduate! On Saturday, I had some friends & family over for an amazing graduation BBQ at my parent's house, the food was delicious and it was great to see everyone. On Sunday, some of us went for a walk through Blaise woods. We climbed the steepest, muddiest hill we could find, and it started to pour with rain when we were half-way up! Ooh, also we went to the Banksy museum!! Managed to skip the 2.5hr queue because Dan works there!! It was grrreat!

Right, I'll post the next installment of the 5 weeks you missed soon!! Goodbye for now!

Good/Bad

Hello!!! Omg, once again so much has happened since last post. And I would've posted sooner, but I didn't have a computer!! I know, I know. All will be explained:

Ok, omg, where to start. Well, I did make a painting in the end!! For Speed's 21st:


It's called "Open Mike", pretty clever, huh! It's my first painting since, like, ever. It's not really what I wanted but I'm just learning.

I went back to Cardiff and we had fun on Speed's birthday (a sweaty night at Metros!):

Then at the weekend, me and my friends went to London! Omg, sooo bad when we were waiting for our coach to pick us up. A Megabus comes and it's at that point that I realise I have NationalExpress tickets and everyone else has Megabus tickets!!! I was soooo lucky to have a lovely driver who still let me on the bus :-)

The first day in London, we went shopping and saw a gig: Brand New!! They were really good, it was a great night. We got home from the gig, back to our youth hostel which was two floors above a really noisy bar! But it wasn't too loud in our bedroom. It was just really weird that some random girl was sharing our room with us!! How scary for her!!!

The next day in London, we went to the Science museum and watched a 3D movie at the iMax!!! With funny glasses!!

Then we had a meal at Pizza Express and then I got the bus home separately to my friends :-( But it was ok because I met a nice man on the coach. But then it was a bit weird because he asked for my contact details at the end...

The day after, I started work!! It's a really nice office at The Bay (great location!). Casual clothes, music playing, kids from my uni there, it's really nice!

On Tuesday I moved out of my house!!!!!!!! Nooooo!!!!! That was my house for two years! My home!! Speed drove me away from it and I wept. Sure I had ups and downs at that place, but I always loved it there, and I'll never forget it.

The move-out was made even worse because I have to live in halls until I can find a new flat... These halls are the most miserable, depressing, annoying place to live (worse than in my first year!!). I can't wait to get out!! I know no-one there, and I have no computer/TV/radio/friends there :-(


Me and Speed have been looking for flats at The Bay, there are some really nice ones there! So hopefully it'll only be a few weeks until then.

OMG, one last piece of news!!!!!!!!!!! I got my results!! I got a 1:1!! I came second in the year!! I was 1% away from top of the year (SOOO ANNOYING!!) but it doesn't matter because my supervisor emailed me the other day and told me I am still getting funding for my PhD!! So it's official! I am going to do a PhD at Cardiff uni, starting October. In three years time I could be Doctor Coombs!! That would be so fun! Someone might cry "Quick! Is there a doctor on board!?" and I'll be all "hell-to-the-yeah!!"

Wow, sorry about rushing over stuff, I just had so much to tell you! I love you, and I'll speak to you soon.

Education: over

Wow. Over a month since I spoke to you last. It's going to be a long one! Let's get going, shall we:

So much has changed since I last posted! All of my exams are over!! I'll never have another exam again!! My entire education is over! That doesn't seem to be sinking in properly! Anyway, I've been to a few interviews and I managed to get a job in the Bay. I'm starting week-after-next. That's really soon, I know, but everything happened so fast! I know I really wanted to "live" before I started a job.... but I never sorted anything...

I still don't know if I'm doing a PhD. I find out at the end of the month (when I get my results). Either I do that or I could keep working, or find a new job.

I'm back in Bristol now, but I'll be back in Cardiff soon. Speed & I are searching for flats to move into so that's fun. I hope we get somewhere nice! There are so many possibilities now that I've finished uni. I can maybe get a car, maybe live in Cardiff Bay, actually have some free time! I bought some new paints and canvases today. I can't wait to get painting.

We did lots of celebrating after uni! Plenty of barbecues:

And the girls had a house party!

Omg, after the party, my housemate James decided to cook some oven chips. Trouble is he fell asleep while they were in the oven. I was in bed upstairs while, slowly, the house filled with smoke. Not sure why the smoke alarm didn't go off! Luckily Speed & Ali stumble home at 5:30am and woke James up with a "James.... Your chips are done :-)" funny! Here they are:

It was at the Summer Ball I finally felt everything sinking in. I danced in the crowd with all of my friends, watching Feeder play. And I thought to myself how lucky I am. I have finished my degree; I've found a job; I have a brilliant girlfriend, family; I've met some amazing, amazing people; and I've got so much to come!

It's great. My only regret is that I can't seem to enjoy this wonderful situation as much as I should! My brain still feels overworked, exhausted. I'm still de-stressing from it all, but I'll get there.

Lovely Phil and Ria came to visit me on Monday! I can't believe I overslept and missed meeting them at the train station! They had to trek to my house on their own (lucky they found it!), and I woke when I heard the doorbell! Wow, I must be exhausted! We had a great day, though! It's such a shame I haven't seen Natalie since Christmas! I miss her soooo!

Well that's as up-to-date I can bring you in one post. I'll try to keep it more regular now! Goodbye!

p.s. This is what it looks like when a 7 bedroom house forgets to take the rubbish out for 3 weeks in a row: (It looks quite clean/neat here, but I assure you it was horrid!)

WEAK!!!!!!

My final FINAL exams have come!! I had my first one today!! It went ok!!

I AM SO ANNOYED AT MYSELF!!! Ya'll know how much I struggled with my A-level exams? How I got so stressed and anxious that it made me really ill? I had to take some pills to level myself out back then. I was so nervous about coming to uni, back then. I got a bottle of pills to take with me, knowing that I'd need them. BUT I NEVER DID NEED THEM!! That bottle of pills was never opened, I never needed them for any of my exams, presentations, job interviews, meetings, dates. Nothing. ...Until today. Today I was so bad I had to crack them open to level me out. I'm so ashamed! I really thought I could do it...

It's the uncertainty that gets me. Just like at A-level, I have that uncertainty in my life again, where I don't even know what city I'll be living in next year. I don't know what I'll be doing next year. That's scary but exciting. I don't feel stressed about it, I'm excited! But apparently I am stressed, if I need pills.

Hellz, this'll be the last time I'll ever use them... It's just such a shame...

In other news: fun times up-to my exams! Went to a brilliant gig and met the band again:

And I went to Hobday's house and we all did that thing where you fold a piece of paper up and each draw a different body part!!!!!:

Genius!!

I can't wait until my exams are over!! I'm going to buy a car and go for a drive!! I'm going to do things, see people meet people, go a little wild. I'm not so into getting a job right now. Now my education is over I want to live for a bit. Maybe try to regain some creativity. Da Vinci once said that all children are creative; the hardest part it keeping the creativity as you grow older.

It's all coming to an end...

This day last week I handed in my final year project report!!! Can you believe it!? Here's a picture:


Isn't she beautiful! Over 15K words (main body) and 150 pages (40 pages of code!!).

It's all coming to an end, blog! I'll never have another piece of coursework to do EVER! I have very few lectures left and they're all for revision. I've got my exam timetable and I don't have any 9am exams... EVER AGAIN!!! Sometimes, when I'm lying in bed, I smile about these things :-)

But there's no time for me to get all hung-up about how cool this is. My first exam is in a week and a half. I have 4 exams crammed together, then my 5th exam is two weeks later, so I'm free forever on June 1st :-)

I've had such little time to revise! Nothing at all! So now I spend every day in my bedroom revising until bed-time. Hey, it's only for another few weeks, I suppose. I've got my stupid geek-itch that I always get when I revise, I can't wait until my exams are over then I can re-build my PC and finally play my computer game that I got for Christmas (GTA4)!!

I had an interview on Monday. It went well! They liked me and told me to let them know if I'm still interested after I find out if I'm doing a PhD or not.

I got my hair cut (for the interview) and when Lucy saw it she said "Did you get it cut for free?"!!! Ohhh, ouch, Lucy!! That really hurt! Lol, only joking :-) It is a terrible hair-cut, though!!

I was out for drinks with Lucy the other night and when I ordered drinks the bar-maid asked me where I was from... So I turned around and showed her our table.... Then I realised what she meant (she recognised my Bristol accent)!! I'm so simple, it's ridiculous! We had a good laugh, though!

Back in the Easter break at home, I heard someone use the bathroom and NOT WASH THEIR HANDS AFTERWARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!! So when they came out I shouted "You didn't wash your hands!!" (thinking it was my dad, or something). Turns out it was actually my sister's boyfriend! Oh, the embarrassment!! Emma said he did hear me... But apparently he always washes his hands now! Win!!!

Even though I don't have any time to enjoy it, I still love being back in Cardiff. I love Cardiff University! Even when I'm super stressed-out, when I have waayyyheyyy too much work, I still love it. I never want to leave.