Our first Christmas living together...
Tuesday 11 December 2012
Friday 7 December 2012
NaNoWriMo 2012
My attempt at NaNoWriMo this year was not entirely successful, but I feel proud of myself anyway for having attempted it.
For those of you who don't already know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, which occurs in November each year. The idea was thought up by Chris Baty and the goal is to write a novel of at least 50,000 words in 30 days. Thousands of people participate in this ridiculous challenge each year and many come out winning. I, however, did not.
There were a multitude of reasons why this year was not a good year to attempt this challenge, but I was and am proud of myself for giving it a go anyway. I had just started a temporary job in retail, I had a Cambridge interview to prepare for, I had BSL lessons to attend, I had translation work to finish and my boyfriend and I had just got our bambinos, the degus.
But I ploughed on throughout the month and despite having so many issues surrounding why I might or might not be able to win, I racked up an (I think) impressive 33,009 words. It's a little short of the 50,000 word goal, but I feel pretty pleased with it in all honesty and I hope to better it next year. :-)
For those of you who don't already know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, which occurs in November each year. The idea was thought up by Chris Baty and the goal is to write a novel of at least 50,000 words in 30 days. Thousands of people participate in this ridiculous challenge each year and many come out winning. I, however, did not.
There were a multitude of reasons why this year was not a good year to attempt this challenge, but I was and am proud of myself for giving it a go anyway. I had just started a temporary job in retail, I had a Cambridge interview to prepare for, I had BSL lessons to attend, I had translation work to finish and my boyfriend and I had just got our bambinos, the degus.
But I ploughed on throughout the month and despite having so many issues surrounding why I might or might not be able to win, I racked up an (I think) impressive 33,009 words. It's a little short of the 50,000 word goal, but I feel pretty pleased with it in all honesty and I hope to better it next year. :-)
Tuesday 6 November 2012
Power Cut Day
Now, I LOVE technology. I absolutely adore it. I really do. No, really. You have no idea. Currently I am watching TV on a projector through a PS3, listening to it through speakers and typing this on my laptop. I constantly multitask with technology. I can't help but turn everything on at once.
So I was just browsing the internet, trying to distract myself from the list of things that I have to do (which is, ironically noted down on my phone...), when I stumbled across Carrie Hope Fletcher's new idea. Now Carrie is a youtube vlogger, whose videos I watch and very much enjoy. I also like to flick through her tumblr from time to time and today I found this article of hers.
I think it's a brilliant idea. I completely empathise with her feelings. I love the internet and TV and everything, but it does just call to me and tell me not to do whatever it is I actually need to do with my day!
Unfortunately, I think that Power Cut Day for the moment is unrealistic for me, as I am currently participating in NaNoWriMo (blog post on that to follow soon). After that, it'll be December and things get a bit crazy around Christmas time, so I doubt I'll be able to manage it. However, I will definitely be considering it as one of my new years resolutions. I always set them and always, always fail 9 out of 10 of them. And when I do go ahead with it, it will not be a Sunday, because I work on Sundays, so spend most of my time away from the computer anyway.
I might try doing the Power Cut Hour once a week during NaNoWriMo though! :-)
So I was just browsing the internet, trying to distract myself from the list of things that I have to do (which is, ironically noted down on my phone...), when I stumbled across Carrie Hope Fletcher's new idea. Now Carrie is a youtube vlogger, whose videos I watch and very much enjoy. I also like to flick through her tumblr from time to time and today I found this article of hers.
I think it's a brilliant idea. I completely empathise with her feelings. I love the internet and TV and everything, but it does just call to me and tell me not to do whatever it is I actually need to do with my day!
Unfortunately, I think that Power Cut Day for the moment is unrealistic for me, as I am currently participating in NaNoWriMo (blog post on that to follow soon). After that, it'll be December and things get a bit crazy around Christmas time, so I doubt I'll be able to manage it. However, I will definitely be considering it as one of my new years resolutions. I always set them and always, always fail 9 out of 10 of them. And when I do go ahead with it, it will not be a Sunday, because I work on Sundays, so spend most of my time away from the computer anyway.
I might try doing the Power Cut Hour once a week during NaNoWriMo though! :-)
Monday 8 October 2012
The Perils of the Wooden Staircase
So around a week ago, I was quietly minding my own business, going about my daily routine of doing some translation work in front of two screens, whilst trying to ignore the growing hunger pangs in my belly because I'm too lazy to get up and walk the 5ft into the kitchen (my bedroom is on the ground floor), something dramatic happened.
Imagine me (er, if you can from the one photo on my profile), sitting at my desk, typing away when suddenly CRASH. I hear this massive ruckus, a great cacophony of noise coming from just outside my door. Clearly something was wrong, but unfortunately, I am the worst person in the world to have with you in a crisis, because I have two steps to deal with it.
Step One: Act Completely Calm and Deny That Anything Has Happened.
In this scenario, this meant ignoring the noise and pretending that whoever was coming down the stairs had just dropped a glass or something on the floor. I blame this on the fact that the kitchen in my family home is poorly made, so things are always falling out at you and making lots of noise. However when I didn't hear any movement, I moved onto step two:
Step Two: PAAAAAANIIIIC
I then go into incredibly nervous, crazy, panicking Verity mode, so I rushed out of my bedroom to discover one of my housemate's girlfriends had slipped on the stairs and fallen onto her back. Luckily she was conscious and able to get herself up, so I called her boyfriend and an ambulance and she was fine in the end. However, my way to deal with this, was to repeatedly ask if she wanted an ambulance, follow her around everywhere "just in case", offer to help her get changed, shout at her when she closed her eyes in case she was falling asleep and forget to give the ambulance operator our town when giving our address. Apparently I expected the operator to absorb that information through osmosis or something.
All in all, an exciting start to my day, resulting in my first ever emergency call. (Although it did postpone my lunch for even longer than usual)
Imagine me (er, if you can from the one photo on my profile), sitting at my desk, typing away when suddenly CRASH. I hear this massive ruckus, a great cacophony of noise coming from just outside my door. Clearly something was wrong, but unfortunately, I am the worst person in the world to have with you in a crisis, because I have two steps to deal with it.
Step One: Act Completely Calm and Deny That Anything Has Happened.
In this scenario, this meant ignoring the noise and pretending that whoever was coming down the stairs had just dropped a glass or something on the floor. I blame this on the fact that the kitchen in my family home is poorly made, so things are always falling out at you and making lots of noise. However when I didn't hear any movement, I moved onto step two:
Step Two: PAAAAAANIIIIC
I then go into incredibly nervous, crazy, panicking Verity mode, so I rushed out of my bedroom to discover one of my housemate's girlfriends had slipped on the stairs and fallen onto her back. Luckily she was conscious and able to get herself up, so I called her boyfriend and an ambulance and she was fine in the end. However, my way to deal with this, was to repeatedly ask if she wanted an ambulance, follow her around everywhere "just in case", offer to help her get changed, shout at her when she closed her eyes in case she was falling asleep and forget to give the ambulance operator our town when giving our address. Apparently I expected the operator to absorb that information through osmosis or something.
All in all, an exciting start to my day, resulting in my first ever emergency call. (Although it did postpone my lunch for even longer than usual)
Moving into Independent Life
Up until about a month ago, right at the beginning of my gap year, I had never moved bedroom, let alone house. I had always slept in the same bedroom, under the same roof, in the house my parents chose for their four children.
And now...
Well now I am all moved in and settled with my boyfriend. (And our three housemates.) And it's great, but I have to admit, there are some home comforts I miss. So, in no particular order, here are my top 5 least favourite things about independent living.
1. Cooking for myself. Now I'm no great chef and have no interest in cooking really, so when I'm in the house on my own and have to provide a meal for myself, it makes no difference if all I fancy is a sandwich, I will always wait until I am absolutely starving before tearing myself away from whatever I am doing, be it watching a film or working from home. It's a kind of laziness vicious circle that I can't break.
2. Ironing all my own clothes (and my boyfriend's). Now, in discussing with my boyfriend who would do which household chores, I, for some mad reason, volunteer to iron, partially because my boyfriend hates it, and partially because I thought it might be fun. That's right, fun. I thought it'd be a breeze, that I could pop on a TV programme and casually work my way through it. Reality: it's hard work, the clothes seem to come out worse than they started, I have no clue if I'm actually working our iron properly, it'd be too much faff to move our ironing board and it leaves me with a sore wrist.
3. Being "home alone". I've never been a big fan of this one, and I suppose it's not exclusive to independent living, but because of my situation, where I do a lot of work at home, work on the weekends, and all of my housemates and boyfriend have full-time jobs, I do find myself more frequently alone. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my own company, I have always been two faced about socialising - on the one hand, I love spending time with my friends, my family and in other social situations, such as participating in a play or my time spent at work, on the other hand, I can be a very solitary person and if I spend too much time in the company of people, I begin to feel antsy and need my own space. Therefore, the reason that I dislike being "home alone" is not because I feel lonely, but because I can be a very anxious person, and every little noise, flickering light or movement outside the house freaks me out a little, if I feeling down.
4. Getting myself up in the morning. Now that I don't have school to go to, nor do I have a full-time job, days when I am not working are incredibly difficult to get myself up in the morning. Especially now I don't have my mum-alarm clock to help. However my boyfriend is beginning to pester me in the morning to get up. :-)
5. Washing/Loading the dishwasher. Now, I actually don't mind either of these jobs to begin with but my main problem with them, is that they are jobs that require coming back to, which irritates me. I like jobs that once they are done, they are done and I don't have to go back to them. Whilst dishwashers and washing machines are incredible inventions that make menial tasks a lot easier, they still require more than one stage of work. So if someone could think of a washing machine that then dries the clothes, or a dishwasher that unloads itself, I would be most grateful. :-D
And now...
Well now I am all moved in and settled with my boyfriend. (And our three housemates.) And it's great, but I have to admit, there are some home comforts I miss. So, in no particular order, here are my top 5 least favourite things about independent living.
1. Cooking for myself. Now I'm no great chef and have no interest in cooking really, so when I'm in the house on my own and have to provide a meal for myself, it makes no difference if all I fancy is a sandwich, I will always wait until I am absolutely starving before tearing myself away from whatever I am doing, be it watching a film or working from home. It's a kind of laziness vicious circle that I can't break.
2. Ironing all my own clothes (and my boyfriend's). Now, in discussing with my boyfriend who would do which household chores, I, for some mad reason, volunteer to iron, partially because my boyfriend hates it, and partially because I thought it might be fun. That's right, fun. I thought it'd be a breeze, that I could pop on a TV programme and casually work my way through it. Reality: it's hard work, the clothes seem to come out worse than they started, I have no clue if I'm actually working our iron properly, it'd be too much faff to move our ironing board and it leaves me with a sore wrist.
3. Being "home alone". I've never been a big fan of this one, and I suppose it's not exclusive to independent living, but because of my situation, where I do a lot of work at home, work on the weekends, and all of my housemates and boyfriend have full-time jobs, I do find myself more frequently alone. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my own company, I have always been two faced about socialising - on the one hand, I love spending time with my friends, my family and in other social situations, such as participating in a play or my time spent at work, on the other hand, I can be a very solitary person and if I spend too much time in the company of people, I begin to feel antsy and need my own space. Therefore, the reason that I dislike being "home alone" is not because I feel lonely, but because I can be a very anxious person, and every little noise, flickering light or movement outside the house freaks me out a little, if I feeling down.
4. Getting myself up in the morning. Now that I don't have school to go to, nor do I have a full-time job, days when I am not working are incredibly difficult to get myself up in the morning. Especially now I don't have my mum-alarm clock to help. However my boyfriend is beginning to pester me in the morning to get up. :-)
5. Washing/Loading the dishwasher. Now, I actually don't mind either of these jobs to begin with but my main problem with them, is that they are jobs that require coming back to, which irritates me. I like jobs that once they are done, they are done and I don't have to go back to them. Whilst dishwashers and washing machines are incredible inventions that make menial tasks a lot easier, they still require more than one stage of work. So if someone could think of a washing machine that then dries the clothes, or a dishwasher that unloads itself, I would be most grateful. :-D
Thursday 6 September 2012
Finding a Job
Finding a job is a strange, bizarre, weird process. (Yes I did just use three synonyms in a row).
Well, for me at least.
I began my job search as soon as my 'A' levels had finished, taking about a month's break in order to take a part in a play at my local theatre and also due to some personal issues.
I heard back from 3 institutes, resulting in 1 failed interview. This is out of at least 100 applications, that had been carefully crafted and selected from over 300 job listings.
Then suddenly, during the run of the play, I get chatting to one of theatre friends, who puts me on to a position within the theatre itself, as a classroom assistant in their weekend youth theatre classes for ages 5-17. I was aware of the position, but assumed it to still be voluntary, but she corrected me. However, we both believed the position would already be filled as it was less than a month until classes started.
Boy was I wrong. After a few rounds of email tennis, a quick chat about what the job entails and the sending of the relevant information, I've got myself the job. Sure, it's not perfect, it's only around ten hours a week...but it's a start. And for now, at least I can say I am officially employed for the first time in my life.
As I was having the "chat" (as opposed to a formal interview), I felt like I was being party to some form of strange nepotism, where the people involved aren't related, but have been in loco parentis for you for many years (I've been a part of this theatre since I was 10...), but when I was talking to my boyfriend about it later, he pointed out it was quite the opposite. I've been interviewing for the job for the last 8 years of my life. Everything I've ever said to them, everything I've ever done in front of them has impressed them enough to want to employ me without the relevant qualifications or work experience. Which was quite the confidence boost, really. :-)
Well, for me at least.
I began my job search as soon as my 'A' levels had finished, taking about a month's break in order to take a part in a play at my local theatre and also due to some personal issues.
I heard back from 3 institutes, resulting in 1 failed interview. This is out of at least 100 applications, that had been carefully crafted and selected from over 300 job listings.
Then suddenly, during the run of the play, I get chatting to one of theatre friends, who puts me on to a position within the theatre itself, as a classroom assistant in their weekend youth theatre classes for ages 5-17. I was aware of the position, but assumed it to still be voluntary, but she corrected me. However, we both believed the position would already be filled as it was less than a month until classes started.
Boy was I wrong. After a few rounds of email tennis, a quick chat about what the job entails and the sending of the relevant information, I've got myself the job. Sure, it's not perfect, it's only around ten hours a week...but it's a start. And for now, at least I can say I am officially employed for the first time in my life.
As I was having the "chat" (as opposed to a formal interview), I felt like I was being party to some form of strange nepotism, where the people involved aren't related, but have been in loco parentis for you for many years (I've been a part of this theatre since I was 10...), but when I was talking to my boyfriend about it later, he pointed out it was quite the opposite. I've been interviewing for the job for the last 8 years of my life. Everything I've ever said to them, everything I've ever done in front of them has impressed them enough to want to employ me without the relevant qualifications or work experience. Which was quite the confidence boost, really. :-)
My Read & Watched List: GAP YAH
Nb: Different from my read in 2012 list on goodreads, as I am counting from the beginning of my gap year (05/09/2012)
TV
1. Downton Abbey Series 2
2. Arrested Development Series 1
3. Arrested Development Series 2
4. How I Met Your Mother Series 1
5. How I Met Your Mother Series 2
6. How I Met Your Mother Series 3
7. Arrested Development Series 3
8. How I Met Your Mother Series 4
9. How I Met Your Mother Series 5
10. How I Met Your Mother Series 6
11. How I Met Your Mother Series 7
12. Waterloo Road Series 8 Part 1 & 2
13. Downton Abbey Series 3
14. Friday Night Dinner Series 1
15. The Paradise
16. Cuckoo
17. Fresh Meat Series 1
18. Hebburn
19. Me and Mrs Jones
20. Secret Diary of a Call Girl Series 1
21. 30 Rock Series 1
22. 30 Rock Series 2
23. 30 Rock Series 3
24. 30 Rock Series 4
25. 30 Rock Series 5
26. Pramface Series 2
27. 30 Rock Series 6
28. Way to Go
29. Lost in Austen
30. Call the Midwife Series 2
31. Todd Margaret Series 1
32. Todd Margeret Series 2
33. 30 Rock Series 7
34. Secret Diary of a Call Girl Series 2
35. Secret Diary of a Call Girl Series 3
36. Secret Diary of a Call Girl Series 4
37. United States of Tara Series 1
38. United States of Tara Series 2
39. United States of Tara Series 3
40. 2 Broke Girls Series 1
41. Modern Family Series 1
42. Modern Family Series 2
43. Heading Out Series 1
Film
1. American Reunion
2. Atlantis: The Lost Empire
3. Anna Karenina
4. Glorious 39
5. One Day
6. Going the Distance
7. Horrible Bosses
8. Eat Pray Love
9. Looper
10. Liberal Arts
11. Skyfall
12. Dr Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog
13. Mulan
14. Groundhog Day
15. Rust and Bone
16. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
17. The Artist
18. My Fake Fiancé
19. My Year Without Sex
20. The Back Up Plan
21. Love Actually
22. Secretary
23. Silver Linings Playbook
24. Back to the Future Part III
25. Jesus Christ Superstar Live Arena Tour 2012
26. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
27. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
28. Quartet
29. Les Misérables
30. Shame
31. Wedding Daze
32. Rock of Ages
33. Knocked Up
34. Mona Lisa Smile
35. I Give it a Year
36.This Is 40
37. American Beauty
38. The Room
39. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
40. When Harry Met Sally
41. Submarine
42. The Five-Year Engagement
43. Magic Mike
44. The Lorax
45. Dan in Real Life
46. Dr Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog
47. Before Sunset
48. Take This Waltz
49. Last Chance Harvey
50. Pretty Woman
51. Rock of Ages
52. Goodbye Lenin
53. Monster's University
54. Monster's Inc
55. Now You See Me
56. The World's End
57. The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
58. Cléo de 5 a 7
59. Rent
Plays
1. Daisy Pulls It Off
2. The Railway Children
3. Aladdin
4. Maurice
5. God of Carnage
6. A Midsummer Night's Dream
7. Duet for One
8. Airswimming
9. Calendar Girls
10. Pink String and Sealing Wax
11. Rope
Books
1. French Letters and the English Canon - Mark Daniel
2. Macbett - Eugène Ionesco
3. Thérèse Raquin - Émile Zola
4. Playhouse Creatures - April de Angelis
5. 100 - Christopher Heimann
6. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
7. Bad Behaviour - Mary Gaitskill
8. A Desirable Residence - Sophie Kinsella
9. The Complete IBS Health and Diet Guide - Maitreyi Raman
10. The Pleasures of Men - Kate Williams
11. The Fault in Our Stars - John Green
12. Eigengrau - Penelope Skinner
13. Paper Towns - John Green
14. Married by Christmas - Scarlett Bailey
15. Macbeth - Shakespeare
16. The Exam - Andy Hamilton
17. The Story of English in 100 Words - David Crystal
18. Wuthering Heights - Lucy Gough
19. How to Be a Woman - Caitlin Moran
20. Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë
21. Eat Pray Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
22. The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris - Jenny Coglan
23. The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl - Belle de Jour
24. The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
25. Why We Broke Up - Daniel Hadler
26. The Perks of Being Wallpaper - Stephen Chbosky
27. Starter for Ten - David Nicholls
28. No-one Ever Has Sex on a Tuesday - Tracy Bloom
29. Will Grayson, Will Grayson - John Green, David Levithan
30. The Graduate - Charles Webb
31. West End Girls - Jenny Coglan
32. You Had Me at Hello - Mhairi McFarlane
TV
1. Downton Abbey Series 2
2. Arrested Development Series 1
3. Arrested Development Series 2
4. How I Met Your Mother Series 1
5. How I Met Your Mother Series 2
6. How I Met Your Mother Series 3
7. Arrested Development Series 3
8. How I Met Your Mother Series 4
9. How I Met Your Mother Series 5
10. How I Met Your Mother Series 6
11. How I Met Your Mother Series 7
12. Waterloo Road Series 8 Part 1 & 2
13. Downton Abbey Series 3
14. Friday Night Dinner Series 1
15. The Paradise
16. Cuckoo
17. Fresh Meat Series 1
18. Hebburn
19. Me and Mrs Jones
20. Secret Diary of a Call Girl Series 1
21. 30 Rock Series 1
22. 30 Rock Series 2
23. 30 Rock Series 3
24. 30 Rock Series 4
25. 30 Rock Series 5
26. Pramface Series 2
27. 30 Rock Series 6
28. Way to Go
29. Lost in Austen
30. Call the Midwife Series 2
31. Todd Margaret Series 1
32. Todd Margeret Series 2
33. 30 Rock Series 7
34. Secret Diary of a Call Girl Series 2
35. Secret Diary of a Call Girl Series 3
36. Secret Diary of a Call Girl Series 4
37. United States of Tara Series 1
38. United States of Tara Series 2
39. United States of Tara Series 3
40. 2 Broke Girls Series 1
41. Modern Family Series 1
42. Modern Family Series 2
43. Heading Out Series 1
Film
1. American Reunion
2. Atlantis: The Lost Empire
3. Anna Karenina
4. Glorious 39
5. One Day
6. Going the Distance
7. Horrible Bosses
8. Eat Pray Love
9. Looper
10. Liberal Arts
11. Skyfall
12. Dr Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog
13. Mulan
14. Groundhog Day
15. Rust and Bone
16. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
17. The Artist
18. My Fake Fiancé
19. My Year Without Sex
20. The Back Up Plan
21. Love Actually
22. Secretary
23. Silver Linings Playbook
24. Back to the Future Part III
25. Jesus Christ Superstar Live Arena Tour 2012
26. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
27. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
28. Quartet
29. Les Misérables
30. Shame
31. Wedding Daze
32. Rock of Ages
33. Knocked Up
34. Mona Lisa Smile
35. I Give it a Year
36.This Is 40
37. American Beauty
38. The Room
39. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
40. When Harry Met Sally
41. Submarine
42. The Five-Year Engagement
43. Magic Mike
44. The Lorax
45. Dan in Real Life
46. Dr Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog
47. Before Sunset
48. Take This Waltz
49. Last Chance Harvey
50. Pretty Woman
51. Rock of Ages
52. Goodbye Lenin
53. Monster's University
54. Monster's Inc
55. Now You See Me
56. The World's End
57. The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
58. Cléo de 5 a 7
59. Rent
Plays
1. Daisy Pulls It Off
2. The Railway Children
3. Aladdin
4. Maurice
5. God of Carnage
6. A Midsummer Night's Dream
7. Duet for One
8. Airswimming
9. Calendar Girls
10. Pink String and Sealing Wax
11. Rope
Books
1. French Letters and the English Canon - Mark Daniel
2. Macbett - Eugène Ionesco
3. Thérèse Raquin - Émile Zola
4. Playhouse Creatures - April de Angelis
5. 100 - Christopher Heimann
6. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
7. Bad Behaviour - Mary Gaitskill
8. A Desirable Residence - Sophie Kinsella
9. The Complete IBS Health and Diet Guide - Maitreyi Raman
10. The Pleasures of Men - Kate Williams
11. The Fault in Our Stars - John Green
12. Eigengrau - Penelope Skinner
13. Paper Towns - John Green
14. Married by Christmas - Scarlett Bailey
15. Macbeth - Shakespeare
16. The Exam - Andy Hamilton
17. The Story of English in 100 Words - David Crystal
18. Wuthering Heights - Lucy Gough
19. How to Be a Woman - Caitlin Moran
20. Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë
21. Eat Pray Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
22. The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris - Jenny Coglan
23. The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl - Belle de Jour
24. The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
25. Why We Broke Up - Daniel Hadler
26. The Perks of Being Wallpaper - Stephen Chbosky
27. Starter for Ten - David Nicholls
28. No-one Ever Has Sex on a Tuesday - Tracy Bloom
29. Will Grayson, Will Grayson - John Green, David Levithan
30. The Graduate - Charles Webb
31. West End Girls - Jenny Coglan
32. You Had Me at Hello - Mhairi McFarlane
Gap Year Goals
Nb: this is not a complete and absolute list! It's a work in progress :-)
1. Find a job
2. Find some voluntary work
3. Re-apply for Cambridge (and get in!)
4. Learn life skills (cooking, ironing, cleaning, etc)
5. Teach myself basic Gaelic (Scottish)
6. Teach myself some Spanish
7. Read 50 books over the year
8. Read a whole book in French
9. Read a whole book in German
10. Do some travelling.
11. Make myself a tartan gymslip and a cream floral dress
12. Learn to play the piano (well this time)
13. Participate in Nanowrimo 2012
14. Write more poetry
15. Re-write my novel from Nanowrimo 2010
16. Visit all the churches in Norwich
17. Find some classes I am interested in (potentially BSL) and do them for fun. (A radical concept for the wannabe Cambs student, I know.)
18. Find relevant work experience
19. Save up some money towards uni
20. Catch up on all the TV I've missed!
21. Read half of the books on my To Read shelf
22. Participate in plays at Sewell Barn and Maddermarket Theatre
23. Have a board games night
24. Repair Pooh Bear and Surpo
25. Try rock climbing
26. Try fencing
27. Learn to drive
28. Make a Youtube video on English-German loan words
29. Ride a bike again
30. Do things that frighten me (see 3, 4, 10, 22, 25, 26, 29.)
5. Teach myself basic Gaelic (Scottish)
6. Teach myself some Spanish
7. Read 50 books over the year
9. Read a whole book in German
12. Learn to play the piano (well this time)
15. Re-write my novel from Nanowrimo 2010
16. Visit all the churches in Norwich
21. Read half of the books on my To Read shelf
25. Try rock climbing
26. Try fencing
27. Learn to drive
28. Make a Youtube video on English-German loan words
29. Ride a bike again
30. Do things that frighten me (see 3, 4, 10, 22, 25, 26, 29.)
Gap Yah! An Introduction
I suppose I owe myself an explanation...
I'm Verity, I'm 18 years old, I'm on a gap year.
Why I am on a gap year?
Not for the traditional reasons (to earn money, to get drunk, because I can't make decisions, to gain life experience, because I didn't get the grades I needed, because I want to travel...)
I am on a gap year because...sometimes I make spontaneous decisions. One night, several months ago, shortly after I had selected a firm and insurance choice on my UCAS application, but long before I had actually sat any of the exams that would later determine my fate...as I was desperately trying to force my tired, over-worked, hyperactive brain to switch itself off and let me sleep, I realised something.
I was not happy with my choices. I was not over Cambridge (long story) and I wanted to work hard and give it another go. I didn't want to go all the way to Scotland, because it was too far away (*cough*frommyboyfriend*cough*).
So here I am. My name is Verity...and I am a Cambridge hopeful. *Breathes* It feels good to be able to say that again.
So why am I writing a blog?
Um, well mostly for myself to be honest. It'll be nice to have something to look back on at the year, and maybe to turn into a scrapbook (if it turns out as well as I hope) If not...it'll be nice to have something to delete in order to give some closure on what could be the shittiest year of my life ;-D (no pressure). And...if anyone happens to stumble upon this along the way and finds it useful in their pursuit of Cambridge/university/A levels/a gap year, then that would be ok too. :-)
Anyway, it was nice to meet y'all and I'll see you again soon!
(Well...not actually see because..that'd be weird...I mean, I'd have to be stalking you or something for that)
I'm Verity, I'm 18 years old, I'm on a gap year.
Why I am on a gap year?
Not for the traditional reasons (to earn money, to get drunk, because I can't make decisions, to gain life experience, because I didn't get the grades I needed, because I want to travel...)
I am on a gap year because...sometimes I make spontaneous decisions. One night, several months ago, shortly after I had selected a firm and insurance choice on my UCAS application, but long before I had actually sat any of the exams that would later determine my fate...as I was desperately trying to force my tired, over-worked, hyperactive brain to switch itself off and let me sleep, I realised something.
I was not happy with my choices. I was not over Cambridge (long story) and I wanted to work hard and give it another go. I didn't want to go all the way to Scotland, because it was too far away (*cough*frommyboyfriend*cough*).
So here I am. My name is Verity...and I am a Cambridge hopeful. *Breathes* It feels good to be able to say that again.
So why am I writing a blog?
Um, well mostly for myself to be honest. It'll be nice to have something to look back on at the year, and maybe to turn into a scrapbook (if it turns out as well as I hope) If not...it'll be nice to have something to delete in order to give some closure on what could be the shittiest year of my life ;-D (no pressure). And...if anyone happens to stumble upon this along the way and finds it useful in their pursuit of Cambridge/university/A levels/a gap year, then that would be ok too. :-)
Anyway, it was nice to meet y'all and I'll see you again soon!
(Well...not actually see because..that'd be weird...I mean, I'd have to be stalking you or something for that)
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