And He Smote upon the Door Again a Second Time

Quote of the moment:



The new semester started well. I was on time for my first lecture. Score! Engineering Analysis 2 was following straight on and had no introduction. It was as dull as ever and delivered unnecessarily fast, so that we finished 10 minutes early but were scrambling to keep up with filling in the blanks on the lecture notes. The Computing module involves no learning of any language this year, we just play with "Maple" and something else, which are apparently as bewilderingly multifunctioned as AutoCad, which we were using last term.

The introduction to our labs sessions this term was a bit doom and gloom filled: we have to do "short reports" in a lab book as we do the experiment for 7 out of the 10 sessions, but for sessions 5, 7 and 9 we have to do "long reports" to be handed in the next week. They're apparently supposed to be 10 to 15 pages long.

(lapses into a Big James impression)

"DUDE! Where's your drink!"*

*Dude, I didnt do that much for my A-level coursework. Chemistry bombed anyway, but I think physics merited a C for less than that, and we have to do 3. The really good news is that I'm in group 7, and thus get to do my first one this week, and I have one left til after Easter to get in the way in the last week of lectures. Hurrah!

What We Do in Life Echoes in Eternity

Quote of the moment:
Fratres! Three weeks from now, I will be harvesting my crops. Imagine where you will be, and it shall be so. Hold the line! Stay with me! If you find yourself alone, riding in the green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in Elysium, and you are already dead!

Brothers, what we do in life... echoes in eternity.

- Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North and General of the Felix Legions. (sound clip). I decided a full-on cavalry charge at the new semester was in order.

In other news, the Artic Monkeys have the "fastest-selling debut album in UK chart history" and the magpies were up to "Four for a boy" today. Which boy, though?

Echoes in Eternity

Quote of the moment:
"There was a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish, it was so fragile."

Boris Johnson presents The Dream of Rome, tomorrow night, 8pm, BBC2. Entirely unrelated to Gladiator, but it still makes me wish I had a TV... and a license... and decent reception... and a sofa to watch it from... Ah yes, the marvels of halls.

One for Sorrow

Quote of the moment:
"One for sorrow, two for joy..."

I watched a lone mapgpie scrounging around outside my window while doing my final read-through before my exam this afternoon. My anti-luck continues though: this was the one I did well in. Everyone probably did: it was multiple choice, after all, and most people left as soon as the first hour was up. (In our exams we're allowed to leave an hour after the start, up to half an hour from the end). I waited five minutes to make a couple of final 50/50 decisions and let the queue at the door die down a bit. Sadly there was no phone-a-friend option.



From the exam I went straight to the union pub to join most of my course for the "show your exam paper and get bogoff on the first pint and the third half price" offer. Stayed til nearly 6, went to supper, came back, went around to K3 and started drinking again, went up to K9 and played with their awesome cowboy shooting gallery, then went back to the union for another 4 hours.

While I was there I met our new flatmate. I only found out Olly had moved out (a week ago) this morning when a residences/maintenance guy came to check the room was ready. Oops! Apparently it was because his doorlock was bust open when he came back after Christmas... wasn't anything wrong with the front door though, so I guess it might have been some overexuberant guests... anyway he got to move into Senghennydd Hall and get an en-suite and be catered. Lucky him! We now have a guy who (according to Dai in the club, so reliability not assured) is on an exchange/placement for the spring semester from Princeton in the USA (an Ivy League uni/"college"), studying psychology/philosophy. His name may be Ken, but I didn't really catch it and Dai wasn't sure either!

Creek Conundrum

[Somewhat delayed due to Blogger down-time]

Quote of the moment:
"Has anyone told you look like... (blah blah blah) ...from Dawson's Creek?"

Not until someone did at the rowing meet-up last night. Twas a guy, too. Shame on him! Anyone (presumably female) got any idea who he could mean?

Quel coup dur!

Quote of the moment:
Lady Whiteadder: Chairs! You have chairs in your house?
Blackadder: Yes, well...
[she slaps him twice]
Lady Whiteadder: Wicked Child! Chairs are the work of Beelzebub! At our house Nathaniel sits on a spike!
Blackadder: And yourself?
Lady Whiteadder: I sit on Nathaniel. Two spikes would be an extravagence!

- Blackadder II.

Mates from halls, including guys from course, all made their deposit on a house yesterday. Oops. Should have been a bit more organised about that. D'oh.

Went out to a rowing meet-up in "The Social", a pub just up the road. It wasn't supposed to be a club night or anything, but there were two "duck girls" with a handful of free entry passes. Had one, then blagged a couple more... and a couple more... apparently I made their lives easier by ringing people up to get an excuse to take more off their hands. Always glad to be of service.

Went on a bit of a "walking-home" hike afterwards. Tried running home but had to give up, much as I had to call a halt to running half-way through circuits last night. Shin-splints from the Sunday runs. Combination of big jump in the amount of exercise I'm doing, running on pavements instead of nice paths/sprung wood sports-hall floors and having shit worn-out trainers. The holes in the mesh at the front don't just mean they're nicely worn in and comfy, they mean I need some new ones apparently. Quel coup dur!

The Chipmunkz

Quote of the moment:
"Dave, you're exposed, you f*** with the Chipmunkz you'll end up comatose"

The first rowing social of the term is next week, with the theme being "cartoon characters of the 80's". It's so specific it could be a specialist subject on mastermind. In fact I expect it has been. That aside, my first thought was The Chipmunks. My second thought was of the flash animation Jimmy had ages ago:



It's top class stuff. Go watch.

Shut Up, Oaten

Quote of the moment:
"What would Tyler Durden do?" - a gem thrown up by the Bloggies 2006. Tyler Durden, for those who CBA to click the link and be reminded, appeared to be Brad Pitt's character in Fight Club.

One of the less amusing posts in turn produced this shocker:



Avril Lavigne looking like an actress in the Sienna Miller mould, not a girly-rock singer. How rare!

Amusing things that happened today, number one: Claire, having ducked out of joining me at the gym on Saturday because she was hungover, missed her second on-demand gym session - because she went to the wrong gym. Genius!

Amusing things that happened today, number two: being called "Mark Oaten" became a general term of abuse. Hopefully it will make the next revision of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Sandy Claws

Quote of the moment:
First, we're going to set some bait
Inside a nasty trap and wait
When he comes a-sniffing we will
Snap the trap and close the gate

Wait! I've got a better plan
To catch this big red lobster man
Let's pop him in a boiling pot
And when he's done we'll butter him up

Kidnap the Sandy Claws
Throw him in a box
Bury him for ninety years
Then see if he talks

- The Nightmare Before Christmas. Random fact I noted from IMDB: the voice for Sally is provided by Kevin's mom from Home Alone. How rare!

My pictures from Hogmanay are up, such as they are. Most of them are from the train journey up, plus a few of Prill acting out her fantasies with Jim and Will T. Shocking behaviour. Tart :p

Went to the cinema today... the plan was to see Jarhead or something similarly acclaimed. However, the only thing that didn't require a 2 hour wait for the next screening was Get Rich or Die Tryin':

Will T has threatened never to forgive me. He also laughed for a considerable period. I thought it was actually quite good. The gratuitous violence did help, of course. *SPOILER* Not that you're likely to see it, but in addition to the anti-hero getting shot nine times and other shootings, there's dentistry with pliers and death by sword stick. */SPOILER* After the cinema it was on to China China for chinese buffet lunch. Jealous.

This evening I went to the 7pm rowing run again. Only two others joined me (Pest has an essay deadline tomorrow, everyone else might claim it's exam time) but we went anyway. Having done it when I had no idea how far we were going, it was much less of a mental obstacle than just knowing I had to go out and run 6 miles! It also felt easier to do this time, although we didn't do the sprints up the hill.

Bum Clouds

Quote of the moment:
"Rowing is like a woman..." ...with a cane to thrash you across the top of the backs of your legs. Kinky. I did my first straight 45 minute ergo (including 30 seconds of water stop when I started croaking) this afternoon. Great fun. Pest wanted February to go:

Week 1: 3 half hours
Week 2: 2 half hours and a 3/4
Week 3: 2 3/4 hours.
Week 4. 2 straight hours.

Since I hit 3 half hours last week I thought I'd try a 45. I was walking like John Wayne when I got off.

In exam news, even if I haven't failed the previous two exams, this morning's one was an almost certain failure.

Resits last year were from the 15th (a Monday) to the 24th. Nothing I'm taking this year was before the 20th, but that's not likely to be a firm order.. Camp finishes this year on the 14th (also a Monday). It might be a touch tight trying to do both...

There She Blows!

Quote of the moment:
"There she blows! There she blows! A hump like a snow-hill! It is Moby Dick!"
- Herman Melville, Moby Dick.

For anyone who managed to miss the news, there was a whale swimming in the Thames today. Police are making inquiries about whether whales are sentient enough to be prosecuted for disorderly conduct.

In other water related news, James Cracknell and Ben Fogle have finished an impressive third out of twenty-six in the Atlantic Rowing Race and were the first pair across the line (the previous two boats were fours).

More from Melville:
"Ignorance is the parent of fear..."

Youth and Young Manhood

Quote of the moment:
"I got asked for ID at the cinema last year... for a 15" - Little James.



Summer camp photos from the camp's website are now up on my MSN Space.

Environmental Fluid Mechanics this morning wasn't as bad as I expected. Who knows? I may even have passed!

Citius, Altius, Fortius

Quote of the moment:
"I am the Monkey and you can't catch me"

- Farewell, www.supersizewithcoke.blogspot.com.

After a quite respectable year and a half, Will's World has become out of line with current policy thinking and been phased out. David Cameron set up a focus group to review the situation, headed by me, and I decided I liked my recent quotes so much that they'd stay. Supersizewithcoke is counter to the new healthy living regime (Bernard Matthews Turkey Drummers excluded) and has also been consigned to the annals. While I was at it I had a fiddle with the template, so not only does the byline fit on one line but sentences should no longer resemble paragraphs in the somewhat narrow column structure. The first example of that is that this paragraph won't run off the page.

Now I shall return to my mid-revision (or post blog-fiddling break from revision) eats, namely the aforementioned turkey drummers and tautological "healthy living chips", and invite your thoughts on the new regime.


This was not a party political broadcast by the Conservative Party.

A History of Violence

Quote of the moment:
"Can I take your tray?"
(to her departing back)
"No, but you can take a punch in the face"

I think Little James has some unresolved anger issues over losing his meal-card by leaving it on his tray when it got collected.

Now we go to asian reporter Trisha Takanawa, for this live news broadcast:



"Thank you, Tom. I'm standing outside Llandaff Rowing Club, home to anti-Ford-Fiesta vigilantes. One was found burned out on the drive on Friday and now another has appeared in the river itself. What are these ghetto-dwellers up to? Back to you in the studio."

Tis a puzzle indeed, but apparently rowing will resume on a clear river on Thursday.

Revision

Quote of the moment:
"There is nothing that can be in our way, for this is Jekub, that Laughs at Barriers, and says brrm-brrm."

- From the Book Of Nome, Jekub, Chap. 3, v. V

Right hip's been stiff all day from sleeping on that side after yesterday's fun. Been revising pure maths for my "Engineering Analysis" exam all day. It's in 6 parts, of which you have to chose 4 (each worth 25%):

• Differentiation
  


• Integration
  


• Matrices
  


• Series and sequences
  


• Complex numbers
  


• Stats and probability

I'll take the first two, plus matrices (probably) and either series or probability (can't really do the advanced bits of either).

Born to Run

Quote of the moment:
When Dienekes, a Spartan soldier, was informed that Persian arrows blotted out the sun, he remarked... "So much the better, we shall fight in the shade."

Today was a rowing day. At the boatclub at 9.45 to go on the water, at the gym around 2.30 to do a half hour ergo (and some core) and at the Union at 7 to go for a run.

We had a first time cox today and she didn't get a particularly smooth ride. For two of the crew it was the first time rowing since November and the first time in a four, and I was holding on by my toes because the shoes for my position were too small. I couldn't swap with the guy at 3 (where I was on Friday - I moved to bow today) because he's a size 11/12 too. How unhandy! I was therefore doing about 3 strong strokes followed by a weak one as I concentrated on wiggling my toes back in, which didn't help her steering much. The other two were still getting used to the cox calls again, so all in all it was a bit chaotic! Pest and another senior were staying just ahead of us in a sculls pair to call advice and yell stop when needed (ie when we were heading for the bank at ramming speed yet again!).

The sunday night run only started last week, but I didn't get the text about it (although I'd only have been here for 3 hours). It's not compulsory, but I thought I'd check it out, especially because we're "positively marked" to get in the crews for the next race (Nottingham, 26th of February, Will T m8. Come laugh at the lycra). That means missing something isn't a bad thing because it's exam time etc, but the more you turn up to (and the more effort you put in) the more likely you are to get in.

Six, including Pest, started outside the union, ran up to Talybont (huge set of halls where Paddy lives) and collected two people from there then headed onwards up around the lake in Roath Park, back under the dual carriageway, up a hill and back down towards the union again. Doesn't sound much, but including running just up the road to the union I did 10.3km or 6.4 miles (according to measuring by Google Map). P0wnage. I was going fine until the hill (about the same as running up to Princes Street from Prill's) up which we did "Indian Running", where each person must sprint to the front of the single file as soon as the previous one calls that they've reached it. Very fun.

My post Christmas belly-burning this week, then:

Monday: 45 minutes of ergo
Tuesday: 2 hours circuits
Wednesday: 30 minute ergo
Thursday: 2 hours circuits
Friday: 15 minute run (c. 2 miles), 1 hour rowing
Saturday: Lazy day
Sunday: 1 hour rowing, 30 minute ergo, 1 hour run (c. 6 1/2 mile)

My belly is living in fear.

We Shall Fight in the Shade

Quote of the moment:
ω ξειν', αγγελλειν Λακεδαιμονιοις οτι τηδε
κειμεθα τοις κεινων ρημασι πειθομενοι.

(Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by,
that here, obedient to their laws, we lie.)

- Epitaph on the monument to Leonidas and his 300 Spartans.

Got a text this evening asking if I wanted to row at 9.45 tomorrow morning. But of course!

In other news, the Emperor books by Conn Iggulden are far too good to be allowed near me during revision time. Oops. I've still probably done more now than this time a year ago, but it's tricky to compare those 3 A-level maths modules to the 4 uni ones I'm about to take. One of them covers all of P1 to P3, for example.

Slaves Fall to the Pestilance

Quote of the moment:
"Rowing is like a woman: hardwork, expensive, takes up a lot of time and notices if you don't work out enough." - Pest.

Fortunately the weather was reasonable last night and today, (as in not actually raining, despite all the cloud) and the boat was a coxed one. The Pest was hunched up in the cox seat while Fordy (the VC) was on the shore, wandering along and calling pointers from the quay, the bridge halfway and an overhanging bend in the road further up. I got away with a mere "concentrate more" on keeping in time. The two guys who raced in Bristol last term got more flak than me and the other guy who didn't. How rare!

Handed in my dos-module (PDP - Personal Development and Planning, or somesuch rubbish) folder today. We were supposed to have some careers related stuff in it, so to bulk up from my half page of notes from the one careers talk I've been to, I holepunched a load of Royal Engineers application stuff, visit details and a big brochure thing. P0wned. Shame I missed the first lecture and didn't have the standard folder issued in it!

Mmmm... Lycra

Quote of the moment:
"It is not ROWING, it’s CANOEING!! I can remember countless times when good friends or family introduced me to their friends as "This is Stuart McIntosh, he rowed in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney!"
...
Rowing is a sport full of very tall people that enjoy walking around in public wearing Lycra!"


"I can't help it... I just love Lycra so much..."

Hurray for Lycra! Confirmation tonight that it will definitely arrive next week. Apparently the social shirts will finally come next week as well, having been "ordered" in October.

Circuits was another edition of the start of term shocker... but they're apparently going to become a standard feature from now on, one a week and one of the previous version (the actual circuit training one).

According to the schedule made tonight I'm rowing (in a four) at 12.30 tomorrow. A cox or not a cox? That is the question...

The Immaculate Concept II

Quote of the moment:
Outings off: river's flooded. Will get you out on the water ASAP chaps! - Pest.

It would have been a good idea to take my phone with me when I went to the boathouse. It would have been a great idea to check it before leaving.

I was in a rush, however, so I didn't do either (although he did say yesterday there'd be stuff to do in the gym if the river was flooded). Instead I arrived about 3 minutes late to find no-one there but the door to the "gym" (room with rowing machines + some weights and a couple of other cardio machines) was open. I stayed and did half an hour on the rowing machine, partly in case the others returned from a run, partly because I was there anyway so I might as well and partly because I'm a cheap-arse and it costs nothing, unlike the gym. I soared to 75 minutes of ergo time inside 48 hours when we're supposed to do an hour a week.

I am now shattered. Paddy tried to drag me out for the night, saying something about "haven't seen you since last term". Would have been nice, but I opted for lying on my bed. I'm amazed I've only started dozing off in the last hour (which was spent looking at rowing machines on the internet). Mmmm... obsession. If I had the choice (or a spare £939) I'd have the Concept II Model D:


Buy now and get a free middle aged man!

Coxless Foursome

Quote of the moment:
"Warwick studen action for refugees were doing this sponsored sleep outside thing to raise money, me and some ppl did it but there was no room in the tent so we sat on the piazza all night and watch lotr for a bit on someones laptop" - I'm sure all homeless people have laptops, Podgy m8.

Circuits was especially fun this evening, since it wasn't really circuits. It was more like rugby training. Plenty of shuttle runs to each line, along with ridiculous numbers of press-ups and sit-ups. All jolly good fun, what what?

After an obscenely long time to get changed (10 minutes to shower and dress, 90 to talk on messenger) I headed out to catch up with K3 etc to celebrate the 19th birthday of the esteemed gentleman, Little James. He lasted an impressive 2 hours before asking me to take him home around 12.50am (the latest birthday boy return so far). Impeccable timing: he puked a bit on the stairs on the way out.

I'm due out on the water in a "four" tomorrow. I believe it's coxless, so there's a senior in a single scull next to us calling directions... Still a recipe for chaos! The rowing kit, including my spanky lycra, is supposed to arrive next week.


Alllrrriiight!

The Great Debate

Quote of the moment:
"Victory is mine!" - Stewie

To celebrate that leaving my laptop re-installing my uni network CD did actually let me onto the internet (far too easy a solution, I thought) while I went next door (and posted about bestiality) I thought I'd ask the big post Christmas question.

It's not "What are your New Year's resolutions". I've forsaken custard creams, by the way. That means I have to finish two packets ASAP, but since one's gone since I arrived that will be all too easy.

The big question is:

"What's the best Christmas present you've ever got?"

That's not necessarily the most expensive or flashy one, but the one that's had the most beneficial impact on you. At least, that's I mean when I say that mine is:



It's only a book, but it got me started on the whole Discworld series and I now have 28, plus a few spin-offs and other Pratchett books. I've read Jingo itself at least 5 times, more than any other book, but the legacy is what makes it the best.

So what's yours?

[Edit 1.00am - Birthday presents are also ruled acceptable for submission]

Chained to the Galley Benches

Quote of the moment:
Little James: "What're you looking at?"
Steve: "Porn, I expect."
Little James: "Yeah... badger porn, probably!"

Er... k! I have no idea where that one came from. Horse porn is a well-known phenomenon, but badgers?! I'm sure that must be banned under the hunting bill...

Went to the gym this evening to fire an opening salvo at the christmas belly. I saw Rowing James with 3 other seniors and he looked remarkably guilty... someone didn't stick to their own fitness advice, methinks. I did 5 minutes warm-up on the rowing machine, stretched, full half hour, went on the running machine for 10 minutes, did some core strength then 10 minutes rowing as a kind of warm down. Wasn't as bad as I expected, although I was a fair way off decent speed.

She's Got Issues

Quote of the moment:
Oh man she's got issues and I'm gonna pay - Offspring, She's Got Issues.

Unfortunately for those expecting a dramatic emotional revelation, the "She" in question is my laptop. I can connect to the network, but not the internet, unlike Little James, whose laptop I've stolen to post this. Oh the irony - his is an Acer, not mine.

Snape Strikes Again

Quote of the moment:
Head of School: Toby Snape

Yep. The head boy at Wellesley House is Severus Snape's father. I also found Dougie in some team photos. I would say he looks sweet, but brooding would be more like it. Snape and Malfoy - what a coincidence!

Am on a flying visit to Essex. Going to Cardiff tomorrow, via Birmingham. Road trip!(with my mum). Badass.

[Edit 12.58am - Vicky just arrived home with the news that, when she last filled up the car, she lost the cap from the fuel tank, but only realised when she filled it up again this evening. Inspired.]

On the Twelth Day of Christmas

Quote of the moment:
"Hello, the living room of renowned theatrical director Roger De Bris' elegant Upper East Side townhouse on a sunny Tuesday afternoon in June. Whom may I say is calling?" - The Producers

Not even a partridge in a pear tree yet. I fear my hypothetical true love is a slacker. Must be why we're so attracted to each other.

I'm blogging from the unusual location of the staff-room at Wellesley House. It's the only place in the school with an internet accessing computer other than the actual IT room, which is all the way up the far end by the Headmaster's house. I have no wish to venture that far and besides, it's more fun coming here, especially at this time of night. The feeling that Filch could jump out on you on the way is joined by the lurking fear of Professor Snape arriving in a swirl of black robes.

Yes indeed, I've been reduced to... reading. Not much else to do here other than that or swimming. Revision comes a distant third.

Hogmanay in Edinburgh was awesome once again, although we didn't seem to have such amazing powers of junk food demolition this year: there seemed to be a fair amount left at the end. Ditto the booze, although why anyone would want that gin is beyond me. Apple sours-type-stuff on the other hand... well, my stomach cramps were better than Jim and Kaz's vomiting. Can anyone remember if Vince hurled from that too?