I just went through all my entries (backwards) to January of this year and tagged them.  Only four more years' worth to get through.  *eyeroll*

Several people are graduating very shortly, and I remembered that I didn't actually get around to sharing the photos from mine back in January.  So, here's a selection.

( x3 )

I'll get the camera out at some point and take a photo of the actual photograph, as it's all been framed and I don't have a functional scanner as yet.  So, yes.  That was my graduation.

I forgot to mention, in getting that 2.1, I also got a B for my dissertation.  Go me and my insanely long ramblings about fanfiction!!

Okay.  So, on the Shakespeare Today reactions page (basically coursework updates, etc.) Mary informed us that the end-of-year meetingness for the students and lecturers was taking place on the 1st June (that is, today) at 6pm in Revolution.

However, last Wednesday, we all decided that must be wrong, because there's an exam on the 2nd, and they wouldn't want us going into our exam hungover, would they?  Well, I went today anyway, just in case, having double-checked that Mary had, in fact, said it was on the 1st.  I turned up at 6.30 or thereabouts, and there was nobody there who was familiar.  I ordered a half of cider so as not to look like the sad woman in the corner.  (Well, that failed, but anyway, the thought was there...)

I did spy Mary just before I was about to leave, presumably meeting up for some other course, media studies, or something.  Hm.  Clearly, she just got confused.

Nevertheless, it's very annoying.  I got made up and everything.  And dressed accordingly for the rainy weather, so tomorrow it'll be hot and I'll have to decide all over again.

And now I shall go back to being the sad woman in the corner, and watch Eastenders...

We survived. :)

Arrived at about 9.30 and promptly went to the Union Arms to get drinks, then wandered outside to investigate the fun fair.  There were no Waltzers :( but the Ferris Wheel and Dodgems were indeed free, as was the incredibly terrifying and bloody painful simulator...

Oh, yes, and when we arrived, we had our picture taken by a bloke from BBC Derby (for a best dressed couple competition.  It's amusing when people think me and Lloyd are a couple [more on that later...] :)  In any case, we could get a free meal out of it if we win.)  Then later on, we had our photo taken again by a woman from the Derby Telegraph, so I'll post links/scans if we appear on either...

*checks*  Ha! Why, here we are!  Vote for us.  You know you want to... :D  (Though they neglect to mention Lloyd's cat ears - well, my cat ears, that he chose to wear - which were undoubtedly the reason we got picked on...)

Incidentally, my stealing back the cat ears then resulted in us getting in an argument about it in the HEAP (where the live comedy was) and causing the girl a few rows back who started it, by addressing me as "girl with the cat ears", to apologise.  Amusement.  Comedy itself was also very funny.  Some bloke who randomly walked in and made an arse of himself had his phone stolen by the first comedian, got ejected by security, and lost his phone.  Still don't know if he actually got it back...

I ran into Clare (not Coleman; other Clare) randomly at about 3am, when we meandered inside to find somewhere to sit.  Her boyfriend kept falling asleep so she was chatting to us; we should both be visible on the Survivors Photo if it's ever put anywhere (I think it's in the Telegraph so will buy one later tonight...)  It also turned out she went to Lloyd's school, which was incredibly random...

Took some photos from the top of the ferris wheel, but they probably won't come out.  I have six left to take, so I'll probably take it with me when me and Vicky go to Alton Towers just to use it up...  Was going to post the picture she took of us before we left, but the one up there ^ is better... :)

Today I was very bad, and bought ( this )

Anyway, photos coming later...  I'm bloody exhausted.  We got in at about 6.30 and I got about 5 hours sleep max...

I hate this room.  I hate my bed.  I hate living next to the boiler...

So, we went out for a very pleasant drink last night at The Standing Order, where I had the chicken pasta alfredo, which was very nice.  We left at about half past ten and got back for 10.50 or thereabouts, sat in Vicky's room for a while and chatted, then disbanded.  I checked email, had a brief comment tennis on Eni's DJ (who is quite possibly the only girl I know other than Katie who'd spend an entire night in a computer lab...) and went to bed at about 1.30, feeling incredibly tired.  Then remembered I had to copy out the class notes from Writing for TV to include as a 'notebook' (stupid, stupid criteria.  Stupid, I tell you.) after we'd had lots of debating over it in the last session over what 'notebook' constituted, so, anyway, at 2am I was ready to fall asleep.

So, naturally, I lay there for another 3 hours trying to sleep because it was so damned hot.  Incidentally, I tried moving the bed around 90 degrees.  I can still open the drawers, and it means it's under the window so there'd be more breeze, and I have a ridiculous amount of floor space, but it means that a) there's not really enough room for the chair to be in the right place for the keyboard and b) my head is still by the boiler...  So I moved it back again.

I reiterate, I hate living next to the boiler...

So I spent the night periodically waking up, and I'd planned on getting up at 10.00 so I could get my essay printed off and up to uni by 11.00ish.  I woke up at 11.30 by the phone ringing, found my phone (read: alarm clock) on the bed, and had no recollection of it even going off, even though it must have done because it was turned on...  I don't like it when I can't remember stuff like that; it freaks me out...

Hence, very tired now.  Was going to do more Shakespeare but will wait til after America Noir tonight (Buffy, yay!) when my brain's functioning a bit better.  Have some random lists:

Things That Were V. Annoying About Today
1) The bus, which is meant to come every 10 minutes, not turning up for half an hour.
2) A sign outside Student Services that warned of delays this week due to assignment deadlines (like, all of them) and, despite this, there only being three members of staff on out of a possible six...
3) The semi-functional lift in E-block.  In general.
4) Automatic doors that don't work unless you're in a wheelchair and hence low down enough for the sensor to activate...
5) Automatic doors in general.
6) Jackson's not having individual curry sauce packets, only large jars or tins, which means I'm going to have to do something experimental with my remaining chicken tonight...
7) Idiocy of the general public.  Example: whilst checking post, I discover a card addressed simply to 'Amy Oliver'.  Fair enough.  The problem?  It's been put into the 'A' pigeon-hole.  Which means Amy probably won't get it because her surname begins with 'O', and that's where she's going to check.  Some people shouldn't be allowed to think...

To counter that,

Things That Were Rather Good About Today
1) The semi-functional lift in E-block actually being functional...
2) Running into people I know with rather terrifying frequency, mostly in said lift, namely, scifinutter on the way up to the seventh floor, where I was going to see if Mary was in; Rob from Creative Writing, coming out of the lift as I was heading back down, having failed to find Mary; Mary herself, getting into the life as I was getting out, which turned out to be perfect timing as she wasn't even staying in the office...
3) Getting the results for the last batch of Shakespeare Today assignments:

~ For the Hamlet analysis, 7.5 (B+)
~ For one I barely remember even writing, 8 (A-)
~ For the 'putting-people-onto-a-photo-of-the-Atrium-and-pretending-its-The-Tempest' one, another 8.

Y'know, I think I might just scrape an A- on this thing...

Woo!

So the good doesn't really outweigh the bad, but the bad is a result of my being tired and cranky...

I've definitely been at uni too long.  Managed to do 1500 words in about two hours, give or take the break for eating and procrastinating.  Wow, bring back the days of 1500-word essays being the norm.  And luckily, my America Noir's only 1500 words, too, which means I'll have to plan it very carefully so as not to ramble and go way over the limit.

I can do this.  I can do this.  I can.  I can.

DVDs I now own:

~ The Dark Crystal, Collector's Edition, which I watched last night.  There was only one bit of that I remembered from my first viewing, aged about four, which was when the Emperor of the Skesis (which are so the aliens from Farscape's OOTM) died and his face caved in, so I was very glad to discover it wasn't as horrendous as my imagination remembered it to be...  I mean, it's still vaguely disturbing, but.. not as bad as I was expecting.  Interesting film, incidentally...  Looks like half of the creatures got turned into goblins later on...
~ Labyrinth, at last. :)
~ Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
~ Boys Don't Cry, just to add some angst...

And also tape two of Angel, which I'll watch at some point and do my full reviews/comments on the episodes when I have time and episode titles.  I watched Tuesday's in the process (well, the repeat), and the best line, I think, has to be:

( Cut for Spoilerness )

And it wasn't funny for about two seconds, then suddenly it was hysterical...  I missed most of the scene because of that...

Going to get my hair cut tomorrow, assuming I can get up early enough.  Determined to finish this screenplay tonight, so then tomorrow I can do the evaluation and start my America Noir (which'll have to be on the feminism question because I have all the stuff I need for that and no time to do any of the others), which I shall finish on Tuesday, leaving Wednesday and Thursday to finish Shakespeare.  Gah.  I want my week back...

Back to the screenplay.

Well, the dissertation is handed in and thereby out of my hands.  I went to see if I could get my Shakespeare marks, but I don't think Mary was in and I didn't want to knock on the door and find she wasn't.

It's a beautiful day.  It's hot, but breezy, and I have bare arms.  Soon, it shall be thunderstorm weather, and I shall be joyous.

Will update after I've been to town...

*stares in awe at the Word document in front of her*

I finished my dissertation.

Wait.

I don't think this is sinking in.

I finished my dissertation.  I finished my dissertation.  I finished my dissertation.  I finished my dissertation.

Did you get that?

I FINISHED MY FRELLING DISSERTATION!!!

Well, I mean, it still needs proof-reading (which I'm going to have to do without printing it off, because, good God, that's a lot of pages, so I'm asking for trouble there...) and printing and binding and probably a complete overhaul, but dude, it's in on Monday, and right now, I'm ready to let my brain dissolve and trickle slowly out of my ears.  Plan for tomorrow is all of the above; scifinutter's driving me to Staples to get it bound.

The stats, in keeping with tradition, and because I know how much you all care. :P

Words: 11289 (oops...)
Pages: 60, which is exactly what I allowed for. ;)  40 of those are the actual dissertation, the other 20 are appendices...
Footnotes: 47.  frightened is still the Grand Mistress of footnoting.  Those footnotes comprise 691 words, but a few of them are random bits of Buffy canon that I didn't want to use my actual word count explaining...
Appendices: 7; two glossaries (fanfiction and post-modernism), the questionnaire, and three fanfictions, one of which is on a floppy disc.

And then, at some point, I have to put the whole thing - appendices and footnotes and all - into HTML format so I can show everyone who wanted to see it.  Though may have to set up a password protect thing on it and make a contract so I don't get plagiarised.  Then you can all read it in all its utter awfulness.

Ye gods, but that was horrendous.  In a sort of vaguely interesting and marginally fun way... But still.  Horrendous.

*dies now*

Word count after WiW = 9953.

Wonder if I'll get away with doing 47 words on the Trek-ness. ;)

God.  I think I'll definitely have to take some words out...

Change of plan...  Was going to do 1000 words on the longer Buffy-fic, but I've got 600 already and I'm only halfway through commenting on the first chapter (of 8), so, I think, I'll do 2000 on the fic, and 1000 on the Trek novels... my argument there is that, despite saying that the novelisations are basically just published fanfictions, they are, nonetheless, published, and also, one of them is by one of the creators, so it doesn't technically count as a fanfiction.  (And, of course, I still haven't finished Mosaic...)

There's not that much i can really say about them, though.  There are similarities and there are differences, I can just about relate them to the show, but only when I've figured out whem each was written and how that places them, season-wise, and there's comment I can make about Diane Carey in general, but... hm, I'm sure I'll think of a way to link them to post-modernism somehow...

Gah, gah, gah.  I will finish this tonight. I will.

Ah. Much better.  It's amazing how much difference being able to see the floor makes.  Also managed to clearn the sink and get rid of the terrifying green patch around the hot tap, hoovered, dusted, emptied the keyboard of crumbs, cleaned the gunk off my monitor (that's made quite a difference, too...) and generally tidied.  The sun is shining, and my room smells of Christmas because of the new air freshener (it's one of those glass Airwick ones, Berries and Spice scent.  Lovely.) but that'll probably last all of a week...

The fact remains, however, that I still have rather a lot of work to do, so back I go.  Currently proof-reading.

Managed to do 753 words, but my brain just isn't in it.  Word count now stands at 6445.  I have a plan!  Go me!  Observe:

I have 5000 words (ish) to fill. More like 4500, but anyway.  That means:

2000 on Carousel and Being Human analysis.
1000 on Willow In Wonderland (which, incidentally, is rather good...)
2000 on Fire Ship and Mosaic, the latter of which I have yet to finish reading.

Hurrah!  A plan.

Don't know what to do about the conclusion.

Also, I put my SPACKLIES stuff into an appendix yesterday, but seem to have lost 'eclecticism' and got three of the others twice, somehow, so I'll have to do that again when I get in tonight.  I will finish this bastard of a dissertation tomorrow, god dammit.

Ooh.  Reminds me.  *does test print to see if margins are still screwing up*  Hurrah.  They are not.

How surreal.  I just went to the bathroom, which is on the courtyard side of the building, and the outside smelt of fresh Spring rain.  So I opened my window (which is roadside) and it smells like fresh wet concrete.  Not that this is interesting in the slightest, I realise, but it was weird...

Word count for "Is It Post-Modern?" currently stands at just under 1000 words.  2000 more to go today and then I can relax a bit before finishing up tomorrow.  I have to do things tomorrow, so I don't want to be struggling to write more than I have to.

~ Get up on time to go into Uni and go to the Student Office to get a cover sheet; also check my drawer in case there's one in there, but I doubt it, and find out the Creative Writing deadline.
~ Go shopping for frozen food, coke, and bread.  And butter and eggs...
~ Get birthday cards for Clare (Coleman) and my grandmother, and send them both.
~ Re-copy second SB CD for Eni because it doesn't work.
~ Do more work.

Which leaves Friday to finish up, and Saturday to get it bound...

Word count: 4246.  And I still have a chapter and a half to go for the bloody first section.  I knew I could've done an entire dissertation on the history/origins/problems/good things about fanfiction alone...  Ah, well.  The analysis/post-modernism bit is interesting, too.

Sorry, he'll just have to cope with it being over the damned word count.  Eni, I'll do you a review of the Hair soundtrack when I've finished my first section.  I reckon I can get it done today, giving me til Friday to do the other 6000 words (which includes the junk on post-modernism that I have already...) giving me Saturday to get it bound, and Sunday to relax.  Then I have to do my blimmin' America Noir coursework.  And watch Blue Velvet at some point...

Current word count: 3177.  Which leaves 823 words for the remainder of the 'public eye' section.  Definitely giong to have to shove the 'Is is post-modern' bit into the second bit.  Bah.  Anyway, at least I've managed to reference something academic other than the dictionary now... :)

Incidentally, the ideas for Sunset at Tiffany's just keep on rolling.  Every time Jenny emails me I end up grinning like a moron...

Word count now stands at 2106 of 4000 for the first section.  The bad thing is, I'm nowhere near halfway, so may have to cut it up... or just, y'know, go over the word limit.  So long as i've got a 40/60 split between the background/analysis, I'll be fine... he'll just have to cope with it.  Anyway, my 'why it happens' section is done-ish.  Needs tweaking because it's a pile of annoying ramble, but it's done...  I'm beginning to wish I hadn't agreed to work tonight, because, y'know, that's four hours I lose that I could be doing work in.  Or, possibly, I should've woken up before 1pm...

Introduction is done, standing at 290 words.  I bloody hate doing introductions.  Conclusions are even worse...

I reckon if I try and average just over 1000 words per day - which'll depend entirely on the functionality of my brain, the cooperation of my fingers when typing, and what I'm writing about - I should be done by the Friday before it's due in, giving me the weekend to get the thing printed and bound.  Tomorrow I'll go in to see if a) Dave is in and b) he'll see me very quickly so I can ask about the official deadline date and actual laying out and stuff.  And if he's not, I'll ask at Student Services.  Also, c) to find out the hand-in date for my Creative Writing TV script so I know how quickly I'll have to write the damn thing.

I'm beginning to suspect they possibly have not told us everything they should have told us in regards to Independent Studies...  And also that I should have started this a month ago, but, well, some things never change, and my procrastination is one of those things.

Talking of which... back to the dissertation.

Well, I was going to sing in the Taizé thing again.  I offered my services when Ginny emailed, she sent me the music, I made some effort to sightread it this afternoon... but now I'm just confused.

See, the Taizé service was due to start at 8.00.  She asked us to arrive at 7.00 for a practice.  Now, as you know, the clocks went forward last night.  And I know it's not just me and Vicky being delusional, because Teletext and my computer both told me so.  The cathedral clock, when I arrived at five to seven, was still informing the city it was five to six.  Derby is an hour behind the rest of the world.  And when I arrived, there was a service going on, either the 6pm service that was meant to happen, starting early, or the end of it, overrunning.  I came back five minutes later and it was still going on, hovered outside for about 10 minutes, then gave up and came home again.

I'm thoroughly confused and didn't want to wander into the middle of a church service with no apparent aim, so now I just can't be bothered.  And anyway, I have 400 words of Shakespeare left to write, and that sodding Carey novel still to finish...

I've now read the first nine chapters of Fire Ship, the Diane Carey novel, and also skimmed ahead to the ending (force of habit, I think), which just made me go "ooookay..." and I can think of several things I'd like to say about this particular novelisation when I come to write about it.  Unfortunately, I'm having to merely compare it to the Jeri Taylor one, so... in any case, I know that one's going to be better.  She did, after all, create the characters in the first place.

I'm so bad at academia, it's scary. :)  But since I've only got an hour before I have to go to work (grr.  I swear, if I didn't need the money...) I suppose I can at least try and start the sillyfic idea I had at 3am...

( I know, I'm slow. You don't even have to click this, it's pointless. )

God, will someone bloody tie me down and make me do some work?  I'd suggest someone steal the power cord for my computer, but then a) I'd have to go on a random killing spree to purge the insanity, and b) I do actually need the computer.  Oh, I know.  Steal my network cable.  Yes.  That'd do it.  Managed another three pages of the Voyager novel.  I'm hoping the Jeri Taylor one'll be easier going; in this one, Diane Carey's just trying too hard, and it's... well, not painful, so much as unnecessary.  I'm sure it'll all become clear later on, mind you.

I'm just contenting myself with the fact that in just over a month everything'll be over, and the fact that my dissertation is half-writen in my head already and really, it shouldn't be that difficult to complete once I get off my arse and start it properly...

okay.  the kenneth branagh hamlet, aside from being four hours long, is also fantastic.  there is way, way too much to analyse in only 500 words, and that's on only one viewing.  god knows what else i'd come up with after a few more watchings.  i think i may have to buy a copy of it at some point, since blockbuster's want the video back on friday...

edit: 911 words. dammit. stupid branagh and his stupid cleverness.

edit: down to 750ish. i'm not taking any more out, and really, it doesn't look like it's over 500...

must, in future, get up when the alarm goes off instead of rolling over and going back to sleep.  it's really just as well there's no taught tutorials for shakespeare today, otherwise i would have slept through it this afternoon.  i was awoken properly by my mother ringing to finalise ticket details for the woman in white... (we're going on september 18th and making a weekend of it. :D)

anyway. in a moment i shall stop procrastinating and read hamlet. yes, i will.  i will not put it off til tomorrow.

( but first... )

blah.  brain is dead.

( fanfiction type quiz )

i think i might be able to use that in my dissertation, even.  how cool.  not the result, obviously, but the quiz itself.  most of those answers are the reasons i'm listing as why fanfiction happens...

on the real life side of things, i was tired yesterday, for no good reason.  on 7 hours sleep, you'd think your body would be able to cope.  which is a sure sign my sleeping pattern is completely and utterly frelled again, and if it wasn't before, it bloody is now.  i managed to sleep through my alarm (phone alarm, right next to my bed) and didn't drag myself out of bed til 3.30.  well, that's, like, 12 hours sleep.  bah.  well, i'm seeing dave at 1.00 on monday, so before then i need to:

~ read the two voyager novels katie sent me, because they're now going to be used in lieu of the 'scapefic i can no longer find.  (it was in my favourites before the computer died...)  also, since they're actual publications i might get bonus points.  and one of them's by jeri taylor, who wrote for the show.  she was the on-board 'shipper responsible for such gems as 'resolution' (J/C-introducing episode) and 'someone to watch over me' (7/D) and in all liklihood the paris/b'elanna shippy ones, too.  hence why it sucked so much after she left.
~ throw something together this weekend about the two buffy fics to show that i can, in fact, link them to postmodernism.
~ read hamlet for shakespeare today.
~ re-learn postmodernism. or, at least, re-learn the j.f.lyotard stuff...
~ try to get my sleeping pattern back to something resembling human...  i'm ever more convinced i should just give up and become nocturnal. it would make life so much easier.  plus, if i ever did go to america, there'd be no jetlag because i seem to live in EST anyway...

no problem... *eyebrow*

could do with not having to go to work tonight, but i'm comforting myself with the idea that it's only 3 weeks til easter (more or less) and even though i've got three extra shifts over the next 2 weeks, i do get at least £99 out of the bargain. plus extra because i have to travel half an hour in either direction for a 2-hour shift...

well, i was going to go to bed, but the fire alarm just went off...

finished now, obviously.  they didn't tell us what had caused it, either.  doubtless they'll complain about the abundance of residual christmas stuff in the corridor on monday when they do the flatcheck...