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if woe was me

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Happy Birthday me. I brought myself whiskey and self deprecation. I don't really care for presents like I used to. Or celebrating things. Or growing older. I had a hard time thinking of something I needed for Christmas, people had to ask me because they couldn't think of anything. I got a hi-fi that I have since given away.  I don't know. Now I've started collecting graphic novels and whatnot maybe I'll just get really big shiny picture books. Instead of gadgets and video games. I guess Will was right on with the stages of man. Not too long and I'll be back to not being able to see properly and mashing up my food. Not that I'm being nihilistic. I'unno. Read the poem. If you haven't.

So yeah, haven't had a nice grog since ... ahh. Christmas I guess. I got up to go to work and all that, painkillers, water, in the shower, get dressed, have breakfast, feel human. Turns out I was 6 hours early. So yeah. I would've probably just lied in bed all day, its a blessing in disguise. Making myself bubble and squeak with roast leftovers for lunch. Which even thinking about is making me grin. Cannot beat bubble and squeak on a hangover. You can't actually beat it most of the time. I had bagel for breakfast though. Which can almost beat it. If I had to choose between the bagel for breakfast or the bubble for lunch, heck, I really don't know. No sense in sweating that which is beyond your control. Having both. Which means I win. Tuna bagel with avocado and olives. So yeah. big decisions, mint jelly or redcurrant sauce. Hmm. I may even make gravy.

  Martin Freeman

Don't have a lot of law related things to talk about as my course mats still haven't arrived (THE HORROR) but I guess this whole noise abatement, music venue thing is relevant. An acquaintance, Jason Dormon, is having his business threatened because they are building a new block of flats near the venue. Thanks to an excellent and organised local music scene all of the right steps have been taken. The council have been contacted, petitions signed, ultimately everyone is on the side of the venue. Even so. It comes down to law, which I thought was generally that when you move to a property it is your responsibility to check the surrounding area. Very wrong. They have now been directed (by local councillors and friends) that the law would need to change for them to be able to protect the business, if residents move in, they will have a right to complain and the venue simply will not be able to comply with the noise restrictions the council will have to impose upon them. Even if the council don't want to apply the restrictions or let the building be built. Its not that they won't soundproof and install limiters on the sound system, the money they would have to pay to do so is too much of a risk. It only takes one guy to do one thing and even after spending all that money it could just get closed down. May go on the forums here and do some inter-versing with some folks, as my knowledge is out of date. Seems though that its the same sort of right wing culture that has led to the deconstruction of economy in the U.S., business people turn up sensing there is an opportunity in an area and they intend to take it. To make their money. Even if it is a detriment to the local area. Words like, business isn't personal, and competition is part of progress, are utter nonsense in 2014. Sure when you're actually growing villages to towns, you need everyone to be making something and competing to increase the quality of the product, its production and ultimately manage the cost of it. Or so I would think, at least. Those phrases today are rhetoric. As relevant as the idea the world is flat. If they held truth, now, then how did we come to have an enormous global recession? One thing most people in business know is that you must look successful to be successful, which infers the basic principle of business is to lie to people, then cheat them by selling them the worst product at the highest price so as to maximise your profit. Which you will then put in the bank, and take away. So you can eventually sell the business for a lump and retire. All of which is totally accepted modern behaviour. Like the continuing mass production of fossil fuel or McDonalds. I'm not burning my bra and saying its all going down, I just don't understand how we can continue to accept the way we treat each other and think that everything is going to get better before it gets worse. 

/rant

I got invited to play in a football tournament, my wrist is still bad enough I can't risk it. Very frustrating. I did, drunkenly, do my ALS challenge though which is good. Not for ALS. For me. I have to get the video and stuff. Kinda thinking I might go back to football when I can. I'unno. I fixed the homestead which was nice. Is nice. I still have to decorate but I think I have the space how I want it now. I'll have to move in 18 months anyway. Long enough for me to bother though. They re-painted the containers so we no longer have tags all over us now. Yay. We're growing vegetables and having cook outs on the weekend with the produce now, which is nice, they did one Saturday unannounced. It was more hangovers than green fingers. There is a part of last night I can't remember, I just remembered. I wonder if as soon as I actually get around to having a go at making music that I will instantly decide to go back to writing. If I keep changing my mind forever I never have to do anything. 

Been playing Warframe from release as well. Which has been alright. Too many late nights. Finished my Ultimate X-men collection. Like a boss. Oh my days the ending is. Oh my days. Without spoiling the whole series, it basically has every plot-line that you have ever heard of. All the major characters and arcs, except the phalanx, anywho. I kind of thought it was going to leave me feeling glad I got to the end but unsure of what I really feel about the books as a whole. Often the case with comics. But yeah, it is utterly stonking. May have to collect one of the new 52 now. Maybe Lantern or Aquaman. I have issues. The different way people react to me when they find out I like anime and manga has been amusing me lately. A very cool dude who was around mine making music and stuff, who I barely knew, instantly thought I was the man and bust out his manga collection on his phone when he saw my (new) bookshelves. Which have my comics on them. Law books and comics. Such a gangster. A middle aged couple at work think that I am some kind of sexual deviant. Maybe some people in the UK don't know what Otaku means. They probably just think pedophile. Not that I even am anyway. Or that it changes my opinion as a whole. I am going to start reading oneman punch, when I get my phone sorted. What a saga. EE have to go. So I tried to get the phone unlocked, waited days, couldn't. So I have to get a new phone. And a new sim card. With credit. Looked at contracts, which are still an unbelievable rip off. So I'm currently offline and out of touch. When I do get it sorted though I know how to tether hotspots now so I can actually use the internet. On a computer. w00t. 

Work today. Two days off. Going to see the Mother Unit. For to say that it is nice that I had birthday. Now she lives in the town where I was born its gonna be weird. I was so wasted most of the time I remember being there, it'll all look different. I'm trying to sound cool. I wasn't that wasted .. though thinking back I can't remember the last time I was there that I was completely sober. God I don't know. I go now to continue my day with this attitude-

whiskey

- Thanks Lazarus.

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me

Starting out - Study Area

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Okie dokie,

I opened up my materials on Saturday with the full intention of getting straight into a routine of study by the start of this week, so instead of admitting failure I am going to devise a new kind of calendar where the week begins on Wednesday mornings. I think its the most logical approach to the problem, given the situation. I am totally going to succceed

It isn't like I haven't studied at all, I sadly lost my Saturday to the Chilli Festival that happened over the weekend in Brighton. I expected to go down for an hour or so but got wrapped up in all of the chilli festivites. What kind of things could possibly make a chilli festival a day long adventure, I hear you cry, well I'll tell you! Lots of things,  they have chilli beers, a chilli BBQ competition, chilli chocolate churros, live music (not by the Chillis, sadly) and about a bazillion different types of chilli sauce to try out. Chilli jams, chilli cheese, chilli chocolate, chilli mustards, chilli chutneys and chilli plants. T'was a venerable chilli adventure!

So Saturday became Sunday, I spent the day getting my study area ready and read my course introduction (in trepadation). Got my comfy chair ready, a good supply of tea and toast and went out to buy pads, pens and folders. I read the introduction and firmly believed that I would continue in earnest the next day with my reading and get out ahead of the pack by today, when I got my module dates.

As you may have noticed, as I mentioned, it is now Wednesday and I am not writing gleefully about how much spec-tash-ular studying I have done. In fact, I have yet to return to my study area to continue my good works. I've not been totally lazy, I have organised my online-ness to help support me. I'd go into detail about what things I've sorted out, but you might get too bored and not read on, God forbid!

So I now finally have my module information but am still waiting for my dummy TMA and tutorial dates. In the mean time, I'm going to go to a local second hand book shop (instead of getting down to work) and see if I can find any relevant texts on the cheap. I'm also going to have go against my nature and actually design a study planner because I am worried that although I've allocated time in my head I don't think I will keep to it unless I can see it all written down. Doing that will make me realise how much time I am really going to have to dedicate to this. Mis-managing my time is my main concern, second is my inability to take notes. All through my school years I never got into the habit of it and never ever kept a good notebook in any subject. Having read the W100 introduction it seems to make pretty clear that it is a very important skill for this course. Hence the second-hand books, I want to try and plan time to ready them, do so and take notes on their contents. See, see, I have a plans!

I am planning to go out tomorrow night though ... using my shiny NUS card to get discount :D so maybe I'll need to do a planner for each week individually, in which I can also plan awesome things that I want to do with my spare time. Ah who knows, the world is my .. study area, really, I bet I'm gonna have to make lots more time for it this whole degree thing than I thought.

"Study as if you were going to live forever; live as if you were going to die tomorrow".

Maria Mitchell (astronomer)


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How the journey was founded-

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Oh my days,

(My reaction to the size of the course materials box)Received my Course Materials on Wednesday but (mostly due to fear) decided not to open them until this weekend, I have come up wtih a wickedly ingenious plan to make sure I get off to a good start with the right attitude .. to this .. course .. thing .. yeah.

So, that being the case my intention is to open it up tomorrow and set myself up a study area where my sitting around on the internet area once was, replace the games on my phone with useful apps and websites and finally delete all of the SNES and GBA roms from my desktop (though I will save them on a memstick in the hope I finish an assignment early) to be replaced by my upcoming assignment titles.

Prior to that though I have had to break a promise to myself and sign up for facebook and twitter again, I decided at the start of the year that I was no longer going to take part in following other peoples lives in a third party way, said very quiet goodbyes and went out to pasture. If interested, life is quieter out there. Then, when reading through the induction (going through the induction?) I read that there was a facebook and twitter for the OU and furthermore they made up a large part of the online community. I took to the Brighton coast to contemplate.

After seven longs days of though, sunbathing, almost swimming and eating ice cream I gave up my freedom and made new accounts, alarmingly desolate accounts, as it happens.

So this weekend I will be going 'live' as it were, with these e-fandangles, as well as this rather spiffy OU blog (which seems very educationally relevant to me) so if you're doing the W100, or anything first year I guess, lets talk!

Heres hoping for the high grade(s),

Joe

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