New Year's Resolutions

I have a confession to make: I'm so shit at keeping New Year's resolutions it's not even funny.

In recent years I've been so convinced that I'll just break them that I don't even bother to make them any more. However, since leaving uni I've decided on a few. I'm going to write them down here so I don't forget, and maybe make a point of checking back this time next year and see what I've stuck to.

To begin at the beginning:

Write.
After giving up on what I considered to be my Magnum Opus earlier this year it knocked me for six creatively. I'm starting to gather pace with more ideas but even now I keep thinking up something great then forgetting to write it down. I'm going to make a point of carrying more notebooks with me to write things down in, because there are times when it just can't wait till home.

Read.
As I've mentioned before, reading while at uni became a chore, so much so that I stopped doing it in my spare time, thus impeding my enjoyment of it. I took it back up in the summer, but I've been slow and slack on carrying on with it. I'm currently reading 'Ghostwritten' by David Mitchell. I don't know if it's because the book itself is not enjoyable (which would be sad; I've read three of his novels and enjoyed them) or if it's just because I'm lazy, but I've been slack on reading it of late. I need to gather pace and complete it, then read some more of the many books I've accumulated in the last year or so.

Get a new job.
As I've mentioned, The Paid Job was not what I envisioned my post-uni life as being. Of course, finding graduate work in this climate is hard. I'm still trying, and I'm still contemplating a post-grad too. I found a job that I'm pretty well qualified for...except for the fact that I can't drive. Which leads me to my next point.

Learn to drive.
I never did get my finger out with driving lessons when younger, and moving to the city only ground it completely to a halt. Since I now live in the part of the city with the best transport links this is even less required. However, one thing I've found with applying for jobs is that many of them seem to value a full clean drivers' licence over a degree. If this is the case I at least need to learn to drive, and then save up to buy myself a car. So...

Open a savings account.
Since I was about thirteen, I have only ever had that one bank account. Yes, it's currently overdrawn. So I'm thinking to open another in an effort to save up a little. I've never done that before. Pay in a little money a month to have if I need it. Plus, I could save up and buy a car if I keep the resolution about learning to drive. I could also save up and get a mortgage. Let's face it, it's about the same amount of money as renting but I'd be in ownership of the property and wouldn't have any rules. I could also save up and go on holiday.

Renew my passport.
But wait, I hear you cry. Your passport expired, didn't it? Well, yes - more than three years ago now. Again, I never renewed it as a student because I sure as hell wasn't going anywhere. But I think I'll need to try, even if it's just for a weekend in France or somewhere.

Spend less time online.
I'm a die-hard Facebook addict. Twitter I've cooled off with a little. Getting a smartphone has intensified this addiction. I need to discipline myself, and get more human interaction. I might try deleting the Facebook app off my phone at some point.

Get back into swimming.
Speaks for itself, now that I've discovered the pools closest to me. I also need to shed some weight, but more on that later.

Get back into playing music.
My poor old guitar! She's had so little exercise in recent years. I also forgot to mention that my pa got me a mandolin for Christmas. I used to play then stopped, but now that I own one I'll need to start again. And singing! Again, voice gets bugger all exercise these days beyond the shower or belting out to my iTunes.

Eat more healthily.
I've started, believe it or not. From time to time I can snack on fruit instead of chocolate. In addition I've discovered it's more economical to cook a dish then keep the other portions in plastic containers. Saves me buying a microwave meal for work. I need to eat less of those, also takeouts. I am way too fond of chippies.

Go to the dentist.
It pains me to admit it, but since moving to Glasgow I've not seen a dentist. I know, right? I need to register with one. Of course, now that I work full time I have to pay for it. Why oh why didn't I go as a student? Hi, dental bills...:(

Live a little.
Don't live to work, work to live. Make more time for friends, especially uni types. Just be a better person than I was the year before.



And that's all I have for just now, a good comprehensive list. I'll add more as I come up with them.

And it's Christmas all over again...

I somehow amazingly returned home for Christmas on Tuesday.

I got my stuff together then went to get a train from Partick station to Queen Street, where I would catch a train to Aberdeen that connected with the Lerwick ferry. This is usually straightforward enough.

However, there was of course some significant snowfall last weekend. The pavement was clear enough to walk there with my bags, but when I actually got there, of the three or four services that usually run to Queen St from Partick, only one - the Airdrie train - was running. Even then, when it turned up, it was five minutes late. Then again, that was pretty good. The trains going the other way - to Milngavie, Helensburgh and Balloch - were all either heavily delayed (10-20 mins) or cancelled, as was the Dalmuir-Springburn service (which made me more thankful I don't live in Dennistoun any more, even if I do miss it).

Anyway, after the Airdrie train finally turned up I got to Queen St, dreading what was coming. And indeed, the station was in chaos. Again, many services were suspended or cancelled. However, as luck would have it, my train - the 1441 to Aberdeen - showed no immediate sign of cancellation or significant delay. I had been keeping an eye on the BBC's Travel site, and there'd been no sign of Aberdeen services getting cancelled but that could have changed in the half hour that had lapsed between me leaving my flat and arriving at the main station. So I forked out £7 for the left luggage (I know - but it was so heavy) and went to YO! Sushi to collect the takeout I'd ordered, then came back. My train left on time, although ended up having to make an unscheduled stop at Dunblane (since most services to there were cancelled) and got into Aberdeen ten minutes late. Apart from this, and a mix-up with baggage that had me checking the length and breadth of the train for my suitcase only to find a member of staff had mistakenly removed it thinking another passenger had left it (eejit), it was uneventful. I met with Rachel, my best pal, and we walked through Union Square (less snow that way :P) across to the ferry terminal at Jamieson's Quay. The ferry went on time, and the trip was actually okay for the time of year - not as rough as usual.

I still have a lot of folk I need to see, but it's been good to be home. Kind of wishing I was staying longer, but alas...will need to be a bit quicker off the mark about booking next Christmas off work!

I'm one of Scotland's Hot 100 :D

Well...not just me. I rank at number 66 along with my Cargo colleagues, according to the List. They referred to us as a collective group in the entry.

I'm proud, that's pretty much made my year. I've never been considered cool by anybody until now, and it's a great feeling. Makes me more excited about what we'll be doing next year in any case.

You can read the article here.

And there was me thinking my degree wouldn't take me places. Huh. It's getting better all the time...:)

:|

Think I might have put a spanner in the works in terms of my Christmas plans. Oops...

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I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

I'm making two separate posts because putting two together seemed inappropriate.

Yes, for those of you who don't venture out of your home often, it has snowed in Scotland.

Dunno why 2010 thought we deserved more snow, given the onslaught of it at the beginning of the year that saw my ferry back south get delayed when I returned to the mainland after Christmas. It got worse, and didn't let up until the official start of spring.

Well, about a week or so ago the chaos started again. I first saw a flurry fall outside my flat late one night, and when I awoke the car park out the back of my building was completely white. So too were the pavements. I was thankful that I was put on shifts at handy stations for getting home.

See, when I was little snow was fun, because it meant days off school and sledging on the hill behind my house. But now it means hassle. It means struggling to get to work and worry about getting home for Christmas. It's just annoying and I want it to stop.

Then again, the park across the road from me could be fun to sledge on...

Come together, right now, over me

And so today, December 8th, Beatles fans all over the world mourned the 30th anniversary of John Lennon's assassination. I joined them, inwardly, because in the real world my life had to go on.

It's odd to think he would be 70 now, were he still here. A hard thing to - pardon the pun - imagine. I grew up with the Beatles' music, but the mega fan thing didn't start till I was about eight or nine. I didn't find out Lennon was dead until the Beatles Anthology was broadcast on ITV when I was seven and they didn't have new interview footage of him like with the other Beatles. I had a much harder time accepting George Harrison's death, to be honest. No disrespect to Lennon, he was amazing too. But by the time I was born, he'd been dead eight years. George died when I was 13, and only a couple of months after I'd lost my maternal grandmother. Nine years on I still struggle to accept both of those deaths.

No matter what you do, you can't deny the Beatles' influence on popular culture. Lennon was always the funny one in the early days. I was recently shown this video via Twitter:



They did this sketch in honour of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's birthday, and I won't lie, I think it's so funny. I love Shakespeare (well, most of his that I've read) as well as the Beatles. It's the perfect sketch for them because in the original text (it's the play-within-a-play from 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', in case you weren't aware) it's supposed to be badly acted, and they really have a field day with it. It suits their style of humour.

Funny, then, that Lennon went from being clownish to a campaigner for peace responsible for some pretty profound statements ("If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace"). 'Imagine' is too often quoted and covered, as it has been for about forty years. Same with 'Working Class Hero', because so many folk out there identify with that song. It's gutting, then, to think of the difficult early life he had, and the nasty end he came to.

Physically, John Lennon's no longer here, but at least there are those still alive today who value his influence.

Hatchlings

It's occurred to me that thinking of a fresh idea for NaNoWriMo, even though I didn't fully see it through, has been good for me creatively.

For a long while I was starting to think I'd dried up creatively, that maybe going to study creative writing at university had stymied me and I could only write things on demand for other people like some kind of performing monkey in a cage. But then I started that idea. Again, it stalled. But I came up with it all on my own. Hopefully I'll shift the block soon enough and that can be that, and I'll get it finished / start over.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to hatch more. Going to try and start a new plan tonight before I sleep. Here goes nothing...

Bah, Humbug.

So...it took me until earlier this week to start my Christmas shopping. For me that's uncharacteristically late. By this point I'll usually be at least half way through.

I'm not feeling as enthused about it this year as I was last year, mostly because of money and also just the low feeling every Christmas since 2007 has brought me. I'd be a great subject for one of those cliche-ridden Christmas movies where the Scrooge-like cynic is made to see the light and starts embracing the joys of the festive season.

The large council tax bill I ended up paying the other day didn't help either. I do at least get a discount since I live with a student who isn't legally liable for any of it, but it's still a huge drain which I really don't need.

Also need to communicate with The Paid Job about Christmas and how I shan't be here to work it.

Grim Days for the Publishing Industry

When I was a kid, there were so many good outlets for books, and it seemed as if we were encouraged to read as much as possible.

My mam used to get catalogues from places like The Red House, which mostly sold children's / educational books. They're the only one whose name I can remember off the top of my head. But even if we never actually ordered stuff from them I was addicted to just looking through them and reading about all the different books available.

The Shetland Times Bookshop was - and seemingly still is - the main outlet in Shetland for reading material. It's a small shop - still open, although I imagine it's probably suffered a bit since Tesco finally descended on Shetland in 2008. But when I was little we went there on most trips to town and I had a field day. I was usually satisfied enough with the range of books available there.

I'm not sure when I first encountered Waterstone's...probably on a trip south as a kid. That was a place I became even more enamoured with. There were other chains too. I loved Ottakar's best, better than Waterstone's by a mile. There was also Bookworld, and some others. But again, whenever I was on the mainland (which, come my teens, was at least once a year usually) I frequented the chain stores.

Then came the internet.

No, this is not going to become a tirade about the internet, because given that I'm writing this in an online diary, that'd be somewhat hypocritical.

When I first began to use Yahoo!, which has been my primary email address host since I first got one, the homepage was, for some reason, merged with Waterstone's. So we ordered books from them - which took around a month to come. Some time later my mam discovered Amazon. The books she ordered from there came in days, so we didn't go back to Waterstone's.

When I first moved to Glasgow in 2006, Ottakar's still existed...but not for long, unfortunately. Shortly after my arrival they were bought over by Waterstone's and rebranded as such. I was gutted. Then I discovered Borders, which became my new love, and continued frequenting places like Fopp. Alas, Fopp went into administration in 2007 - although that one has a happy enough ending, since HMV bought them and retained the two main stores in Glasgow (stop me if you've heard this one before). Then, of course, at Christmas 2009, bye bye Borders. It's an All Saints now.

What I'm trying to say is that the traditional bookseller seems to be dying out. I hate to be one for speculation but what about Waterstone's? Maybe they'll suffer too, like Borders and Zavvi, even Woolworths. Then what are we left with? Fucking Tesco and their bestseller list.

Yes, I do shop at Tesco. But I don't buy books from there, it just feels wrong to me. I go there for groceries, not books. I buy from Amazon only when I can't get the book on the high street. I'm glad I was able to download their Kindle app for free because I wouldn't be seen dead buying one for myself. At the Frankfurt Book Fair one of their buyers declared "I cannot mourn the death of the traditional bookshop." Well, personally I can and will. I hate to think future generations won't enjoy what I did. Even those catalogues...do they still exist? Doubtful, if I'm honest.

At times like this I worry for publishing and whether it may be about to die on its arse. This, however, brings me comfort of sorts:

'The Outsider' on Cargo Publishing, and other writing in general

So, Mark Buckland, my boss at Cargo Publishing, fresh from raising a nice wee sum of money for Movember, is launching a collection of short stories on December 15th. The collection, titled 'The Outsider', contains stories he wrote between 2005 and 2010.

I don't want to sound completely biased saying this, but Mark is a talented writer. I can legitimately make such a statement because I read one of his stories before I even knew who he was, never mind met him. 'The Sloop' (I can't say for sure if it's in this collection or not) was the overall winner of Strathclyde University's Keith Wright Memorial Prize in 2009. The aforementioned competition is held every year and is open to all faculties (although it's rarely advertised outside of the English department, unfortunately). My entry was commended in the same year, meaning that although I didn't win any cash (the runners-up don't; only first, second and third) my entry, a play in Shetland dialect about a fishing disaster that happened more than 100 years ago in my local area, still got in the booklet. Which suits me, I'm more about the exposure.

Anyway - that was how I first came across Mark Buckland. I would later discover from Rodge Glass, who was at that point the Keith Wright Literary Fellow (the writer-in-residence post at Strath) and also a recently-appointed lecturer in Creative Writing, that Mark ran Cargo. After this, I checked out their website and found them on Twitter, and, of course, some months later I got a job with them. But you know that bit.

So yes, please do come to Mark's book launch. The event will be on December 15th at MacSorley's Bar on Jamaica St, starting at 7:00pm. Entry is free, and only 150 copies of the book will be printed. All will be numbered and are available at the launch, signed, for £9.99. Mark will also be supported at the launch by Anneliese Mackintosh, editor-in-chief of Cargo Crate and also an established writer in her own right, Allan Wilson, who made his debut in 'The Year of Open Doors' collection, and Craig Lamont, assistant editor of Cargo Crate and another talent to watch.

The Facebook event for the launch can be found here. Come one, come all, and support some great new writing :)

Meanwhile, in other news, I gave up on NaNoWriMo. Basically I was struggling to devote time to it, to get over my issues with procrastination, and also to find time between working shifts and whatnot. Maybe next year, when a plan is established. But at least I've proven to myself that I can still write if I try.

eBook Aversion...Averted?

So...I'm not sure how vocal I've been about this on here, but I am not a fan of eBooks.

When it comes to the art and pleasure of reading, I'm a traditionalist through and through. I love the way books feel in my hands. I love how they smell and the pretty patterns of the words and letters on each page. I love knowledge and will take any opportunity available to feed my imagination. I love assembling them on the shelf - not in any particular order, mind, that's too much effort for me really - and showing them off to anyone willing to look. I just love books. To an extent I was the same with my music for a while. I still like CDs, like stacking and shelving them (but in a proper order this time) then having them there, but most of all listening to them. Not that I've done that in months, like, but I need to soon.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah...eBooks. I never intended to acquire any. I always went and legitimately brought proper, real, physical books from bookshops, usually Fopp. I still have the most of that pile of books I bought to get through, but more on that later.

Last weekend before I headed home I requested a phone upgrade, which, given that my own mobile was on its last legs, was becoming kind of necessary (it made a point of packing in on itself both New Years that I had it, how convenient). The phone in question is a most wonderful Samsung Galaxy S, which means I can now access my work emails (work being Cargo; not that desperate about The Paid Job) from it, but one of the applications installed with it was that of an eReader. I'm not going to use that a lot, I initially thought to myself. I prefer paper books; real ones. But then I looked at it out of curiosity, and the next thing I knew I'd downloaded about 70 classics. Given that some of these are quite long books, perhaps an eReader is then a good idea.

That said, nothing beats the smell of endpapers.

Different Life

So, once again, forgotten to update.

I was back home last weekend, mainly to see Newton Faulkner but also for a long overdue visit. Not a lot happened, I just got another shock at how much older my little cousins are, got beaten by my granny at Scrabble and generally felt glad to have been there. The feelings of homesickness I had for months have subsided significantly. Here's hoping I'll get back for Christmas.

It feels weird, home. There'll never be a point when I won't go back at all. I'll always need to go back, I was born there and around 80% of my family still live there. I might even go back for good some day, but not yet. Like I say, Glasgow is becoming too much of an adventure to give up on right now.

The other thing is, I've been looking back on my childhood, and the time spent on it. I remember being at school and getting picked on. It happened in primary, but that was nothing to what I got in secondary. Most of the folk who picked on me at school don't talk to me any more - some even look right past me. Some of them are a bit nicer to me (although I'd still appreciate an apology). And there are a few, usually the ringleaders, who make a point of continuing to jibe me, but they bother me less. Obviously if they still need to behave like they did at school they must be leading very sad, unfulfilling lives, which at the end of the day is no steam off my shit. That thought reassures me more now than it ever did at school, when even the teachers barely cared (and the only lunchtime supervisor who did retired before I left). But all that...it feels like it never happened to me. I still have confidence issues, and I'm still not brilliant (but better than I was) at taking a joke at my expense, and whatever you do, don't call me Hannah Banana (I can't shake the associations that come with it). But for the most part, I'm a different person to who I was back then. All the stuff that happened, good and bad, feels like someone else's life story. There have been a few other contributing factors to this, like my parents separating three years ago, the general change of image and the higher number of friends I've made in that time. But I'm starting to think I might have buried most of the bad stuff that happened to me back then. Maybe I can move on at last.

Bright Young Things?

So...I don't usually comment on current affairs in this thing (there've been moments since I started it in February), but since this involves further / higher education I think I need to say something.

As you know, the ConDems have made a lot of plans for education that, long story short, will make it pricier than it already is. If it carries on, university will once again become an elite club for the rich. So, needless to say, a lot of people who don't want to be cut off in the middle of their degree course because of the costs descended on London to protest the plans. "No ifs, no buts, no education cuts." Fair enough.

I'm proud to say I know a lot of fellow students who went on the march to protest this peacefully. However, I'm gutted that a small number spoiled it for everyone by causing clashes and trashing the Tory headquarters.

To those who caused the trouble - are you proud of yourselves, really? You ruined the cause for so many. A lot of the folk who came down for the protest came down to get a point across. You were there to look for a scrap. Yes, it got in the news. But now it won't be remembered for the cause it was promoting, it'll be remembered because you lot started a fight. As if the MPs at Westminster are going to be convinced by a bunch of oiks laying waste to the building.

I don't back the Tories' plans at all. Everyone should have the right to an education if they want. It shouldn't just be for the rich, that'll send us back to the dark ages. Many students already have a lot of debt. I have an overdraft and a loan. Apparently that's considered not too bad. I know folk who took out credit cards to survive. A friend of mine worked 4 jobs to get by (yes, at the same time) while he was at uni. I know a lot of folk who stand on their own two feet as students. I've always been humbled and impressed by my pals who fall into this category, and in my case, I would never have got my degree were it not for parental contribution. The thought of education becoming a privilege instead of a right angers me too, but the wanton destruction of a building isn't the way to go about protesting it. I learned that a long time ago.

To those of you who protested this peacefully, thank you. I hope your effort turns out to be the one more acknowledged.

Better update

Still not caught up with NaNoWriMo. But hopefully the next few days might see that change.

I went to see the Goo Goo Dolls with my friend Lauren on Sunday. They were pretty good live. Then tonight I just saw the Drive By Truckers with Martin. They too were awesome.

I'm flying home to Shetland tomorrow - mainly to go and see Newton Faulkner but also because I haven't been home since that time at New Year. I've missed it, I won't lie. I miss the sea air and the quiet. See, in Glasgow my current pad is on a main road (although at the back of the building so a little quieter - then again, we're next to a police station) and the previous two were just off main roads (one next to a pub, fun times on match days), so fairly busy locations really. In Shetland my mam's house is in the back of beyond so it's nice to chill out a little. My granny's little house is even more remote, I'm hoping to get up there at the weekend too. I miss my granny. I hope I can still get home at Christmas and see her then too. Oh, and the others.

Also - my Cargo boss, Mark Buckland, is growing a 'tache for Movember. I think you should all sponsor him, because it's all in a good cause. You can go here and give all you can.

Right - need to go to bed soon, I have to be up at 0730 to get an early train to Aberdeen and I still have shit loads of packing to do.

Pungs

Yeah, that's NaNoWriMo naffed. Three days and I've written nowt. The procrastination kicked in again. I strongly doubt I'll have reached 50,000 words by the end of the month but then again, I don't think my idea would've stretched to that anyway

The Literary Ace...HA.

Yeah...times like this I am glad I have Snoopy comic strips to get me through.

I mentioned this in a previous post, but I am now officially participating in National Novel Writing Month. Frankly, I'm scared shitless. I've never attempted to write something at this kind of speed before. 50,000 in a month. Jeeeeeeeeeeeesus. That's more than I wrote in total at uni in four years. I have no chance. Think a lot of winging it is going to occur. I do have an idea, but it's not even a skeleton, it's still very much in the embryo stages. Worth a try, though. I've written fuck all in recent months because of stupid things like finishing uni (I still wish I'd graduated in absentia, what a waste of 300-odd quid it ended up being for me) and work, flat hunting etc. I need to get back into it. It was always what I wanted to do with my life, after all.

But yeah, if you wanna keep up / add me, my username is selkiesong - aye, like on Twitter.

Halloween

Against my better judgement, not to mention my meagre-till-pay-day-on-Tuesday bank balance, I went out for Halloween this weekend. It was good, because I went with friends I hadn't seen in months, and had been desperately needing to see for those months. I also saw 'Despicable Me' at the cinema, it's rather cute. I've been randomly saying "IT'S SO FLUFFAY!" at anyone who'll listen since seeing it. Also I want a minion.

No more news on my front, sadly.

Back Online

Yeah, my broadband got installed today. It's fibre optic so it goes like shite off a shovel.

One thing that keeps me going during work is the flat, and the thought of coming home to it and being nice and cosy. I never need to have the heating on for long.

I don't have a lot else to say tonight. Oh yeah, I'm participating in NaNoWriMo. Kill me now.

Four walls, a room, a door, some windows, just a place to run when my working day is through...

I don't think I've actually properly updated about anything that's happened of late, so I will now.

Basically yes, the move went well. I ended up blurting about it a little in the previous entry, which I had been trying to avoid doing while pending credit check. But it's all been sorted now, so I can tell you: I am now a tenant (together with my friend Netti) in an incredibly sexy new flat in a sexy new build in Partick. Seriously. The letting agents even supplied us with crockery, towels, bedding and stuff. Oh, and a telly. With a video and DVD player. I am more excited about the video player meself, I haven't watched my video of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' 'Pack Up the Plantation: Live!' concert in years. Mam is going to send it down to me, I await it eagerly and impatiently.

I still work that same job, so still the usual malarky with that. I'm sadly less handy for getting the staff bus to work early shifts at certain stations in the morning, which makes it a bit inconvenient. Pungs. I also imagine I'll need to stop turning down shifts and having a social life so I can afford this pad at this rate. Then again, stuff with Cargo - you know, my other job? - is picking up. The Year of Open Doors is now back in stock following a second print run. We also recently curated the spoken word event held at the List magazine's 25th birthday party, which was a great success. We have a new release coming up for Christmas, which I will keep you posted about as much as possible. Plus, my job has been made a little easier. How? Trade secret you nosy so and so.

November is also going to be 2010's Gig Month (which was October last year. Think I'll need to have a Gig Month every year now). On the 7th, my friend Lauren and I are going to see the Goo Goo Dolls at the O2 Academy. On the 10th, my friend Martin and I are going to see the Drive-By Truckers at the ABC. Then on the 11th, I fly north - first time I've been back to Shetland since January - and I'm going to see Newton Faulkner at the Clickimin Centre. Then a few days at home, then back till hopefully Christmas. Again, need to sort that with work. Could potentially cause problems.

What else? Yeah...I finally get my internet this Friday. Which is good, because I'm currently online in one of the pubs in Glasgow and it's now timing out on me, so if none of you get to read this...sorry.

Quick Update

Hello.

You'll notice I've been quiet of late.

Well, for anyone who actually reads my grandiloquent, self indulgent rants, HELLO AGAIN I'M SORRY. I have no internet in the Hillhead pad. I have tried to keep this quiet but am preparing to move to a new one. More info on this as I receive it.

Meanwhile, 'The Year of Open Doors' will be back in stock soon, go buy.

Breaking News...

I don't want to jinx anything, but...there's been a turn up for the books.

More info as and when I receive it.

A Chill in the Air

It really is autumn now, isn't it?

The last few days or so, I've been extremely chilly when in bed. Part of this is probably down to my duvet. It's something like a 7.5 tog. My feet have been like ice blocks when I've woken up, I may actually have to start sleeping with my slippers on.

I still haven't found a new home yet. Went to view a gorgeous flat in Yorkhill about three hours ago, but it ended up being a no-goer. Which sucks, I'd have loved to live there.

Deja Vu

Summer 2008 - a whole two years ago now, would you believe! - was the last summer I spent back home in Shetland for the full three months. I remember very little of it because I was mostly bored shitless. I do remember, though, that to combat fuck out of this boredom, I read a hell of a lot of books.

See what I mean about deja vu?

Anyway...

In the first couple of weeks home, I was getting through a book every two days or so. Again, they were books I'd acquired as far back as 2005 but never quite got round to reading for various reasons, so I took it upon myself to finish as many of them as possible during that summer before 3rd year loomed. In the first two weeks of this regime I finished seven or eight books, but got no writing done.

The same has happened this year. On lunchbreaks at work I've been consuming the many, many books I've been forking out for from Fopp, but little writing has been done. Today, though, I left 'Les Mis' sitting in my handbag (the oh-so-spacious Radley my Auntie Iz bought me for my 21st) and instead took out a notebook containing a plan I'd conjured up earlier this year. Just lately I'd been thinking over more scenes from this particular story and was itching to try and get them down on paper so I didn't completely forget them. As always with me, it didn't work out entirely the way I planned, but rough ideas are better than nothing...

New Title

My new blog URL is now 'operationhedgehog' instead of 'bluedresspress'. Decided it was time for another change.

But typing 'bluedresspress' should still take you to me

Book List Again

I don't usually blog twice in the same night, but I felt this matter deserved an update.

Currently reading:

'Les Miserables' by Victor Hugo (an abridged edition)

Next few books lined up:

'Fahrenheit 451' by Ray Bradbury
'David Copperfield' by Charles Dickens
'Breakfast at Tiffany's' by Truman Capote (might actually get it read this time...)
'Emma' by Jane Austen

The rest of the list, currently at the foot of my bed:

'Ghostwritten' by David Mitchell
'The Canterbury Tales' by Geoffrey Chaucer
'The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest' by Stieg Larsson
'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
'Kafka on the Shore' by Haruki Murakami
'Grimm's Fairy Tales' by the Brothers Grimm
'Death of a Ladies' Man' by Alan Bissett
'Oliver Twist' by Charles Dickens
'Memoirs of a Geisha' by Arthur Golden
'The Great Gatsby' by F Scott Fitzgerald
'England, England' by Julian Barnes
'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde
'Transition' by Iain Banks
'Northanger Abbey' by Jane Austen
'The Incredible Adam Spark' by Alan Bissett
'The Mill on the Floss' by George Eliot
'A Scanner Darkly' by Philip K Dick
'Treasure Island' by Robert Louis Stevenson (another one I started at uni and never finished)
'After Dark' by Haruki Murakami
'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall' by Anne Bronte (after all, I've read both her sisters)
'The Death of Bunny Munro' by Nick Cave
'The Jungle Book' by Rudyard Kipling
'The Handmaids' Tale' by Margaret Atwood
'Mansfield Park' by Jane Austen
'Post Office' - Charles Bukowski
'Robinson Crusoe' by Daniel Defoe
'Hope for Newborns' by Rodge Glass
'Kidnapped' by Robert Louis Stevenson
'Wetlands' by Charlotte Roche (tee hee)
'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' by Mark Twain
'Running With Scissors' by Augusten Burroughs
'The Wind in the Willows' by Kenneth Grahame
'The Bullet Trick' by Louise Welsh
'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens (probably a little early in the year for it, but I've seen so many adaptations of it)
'Sputnik Sweetheart' by Haruki Murakami
'Kim' by Rudyard Kipling
'Old Men in Love' by Alasdair Gray
'Persuasion' by Jane Austen
'The Men Who Stare At Goats' by Jon Ronson
'Selected Poems' by Robert Burns
'A Partisan's Daughter' by Louis de Bernieres
'Anna Karenina' by Leo Tolstoy
'Pulp' by Charles Bukowski
'Dangerous Liaisons' by Laclos

Phew...but then again, you can never have too many books.

Fuck, it's 0223 according to my laptop clock :/ Better go to bed and perhaps make some headway on this list on my way. G'night!

The Pope Was In Glasgow? Honest, I'd Never Have Guessed.

That's bullshit, of course. Needless to say, I did not take part in the Popefest. I didn't even go to work that day - much as they were anticipating an Epic Onslaught as they do on such occasions - although I did have two other excuses that conveniently helped. The first was an optician's appointment I had that morning in the ongoing saga of my contact lenses (I'm due new ones made of a lovely fresher material - thank fuck, cause I think I must have got soap in my current set since they keep burning my eyes). The other excuse, though, was a book launch - no, not another Cargo affair. This launch - held in the Sauchiehall St branch of Waterstone's in Glasgow - was that of Dougie's War, a graphic novel written by Rodge Glass and illustrated by Dave Turbitt. I may have mentioned this previously, but Rodge edited 'The Year of Open Doors', Cargo's recent short story anthology. As well as this, some of us at Cargo - myself included - studied under him at Strathclyde University, where he currently lectures in creative writing (and before that was writer-in-residence). So I'm trying not to be completely and utterly biased when I write this.

The story concerns Dougie, a young veteran of the war in Afghanistan who returns home to the southside of Glasgow. We find out about his experiences and his struggle to adapt to civilian life, made more difficult by the symptoms of post-traumatic stress he exhibits. Making it a graphic novel was a wise move - it's definitely more effective for this. The story itself is compelling (the author did his homework - kudos, Dr G), but the illustrations bring it to life massively, making it altogether more harrowing, and a lot easier to sympathise with Dougie and what he goes through. Overall, I would definitely recommend it.

I ain't ever satisfied

That's the title for this entry because I am still miffed about missing Steve Earle in Shetland on Thursday. I really, really need a trip home.

Anywomb...

Worked my first Saturday evening at the busiest station on the subway network. It was pandemonium. First of all, that station has four ticket machines. Of these four, three were completely kaput and the fourth was in action intermittently. This meant there were several points during the evening when I had large queues. One guy complained that we should have a second window. Then there were the drunken idiots. We shouldn't let passengers who are drunk travel, but if we turned away all the drunk people we ever had we'd lose so much money. (Yeah, I'm in corporate whore mode.) Of course, the trouble with drunk folk is serving them. They drop their money, or when they don't, it's the wrong amount. When you tell them this, they tut loudly, thinking they got away with it (junkies tend to be much the same). Last night, though, I had three guys try and get singles back into town. One tried to say "Aw, c'mon, three fir two an ah'll gie ye a kiss." Needless to say, he was turned down. Didn't stop him, though - he simply tried to get me to leave him a mark on the glass panel between us. He was ignored. At that stage he decided to get my attention by leaping the barriers, at which stage I got the manager involved. They did still get to travel but we probably shouldn't have let them.

(I'd like to point out here - although I'm well aware his attitude was probably the drink talking, I actually can't stand being openly flirted with anyway. I prefer a guy to get into my head before he tries to get into my pants. I am, after all, human.)

Earlier in the shift, we'd had a passenger with an unlimited pass for all the city's public transport trying to get through the barrier. He needed his pass validated and wasn't keen to wait in the queue to do this, and got stroppy when we told him to. After swearing at the manager he was ejected. Later we got a pished guy with a season ticket for the train (not the subway; you wouldn't believe how many folk are bad for that) and got arsey when we told him it wasn't valid. He also insulted the station manager - right in front of the security guys. So he also got ejected.

That shift was enough for me to get my finger out with this application for the library job. I was, however, cheered up by today's event at Platform with Cargo again, which was a great day in all. We've still got more to go. Meanwhile our editor of the Year of Open Doors is having a launch for his new graphic novel, Dougie's War on Thursday, so we're all looking forward to that.

Merlin is back on telly - I'd missed it. Along with Doctor Who and Sherlock, it's one of the Beeb's best. I'm also watching Dead Set over 4OD, about two years later. It's pretty creepy. Thank fuck for Youtube having Mr Men episodes to cheer me up...

I'd give you everything I've got for a little piece of mind

This ended up turning into one of those evenings when I ended up simply trying to catch up on sleep following an early shift, and slept till about 2:30am. I hate such nights.

I've found a job to apply for in one of the libraries in Glasgow. I think it'll suit me better than my current paid job - assuming I'm considered to have enough experience for it.

I now own a printer at last :)

I'm still involved with the publisher and loving it a lot.

I still haven't found a new home yet. There's nothing within my price range in the west end. Having been to the south side the other night for an open mic night with a friend I'm starting to think it might be just as good, plus not as pricey. Besides, all the writer types seem to be living there. Funny how all the parts of the city that aren't the west end have thus far contained a major pull factor for me. I discovered the advantage of Dennistoun in the latter two years of uni because about 70% of my friends from the union (at least, the ones who didn't live at home) lived either there or in the Merchant City. I could only name you two of them who lived somewhere in the south side (one lives in Dennistoun now) and three in the west end, and one in north Glasgow (who, to my knowledge anyway, no longer lives there). Now I've graduated and gotten properly into the writing scene, still hardly anyone seems to be in the west end.

It's not that I think the west end is a bad place - it's not at all. It's full of lovely things. It deserves its good reputation for the most part. But after a while, when you've lived there too long, you start to take it for granted.

I wish I could think of something exciting to put in here. I promise it'll be exciting next time.

I need a big weekend to kick up the dust, big weekend, if you don't run, you rust.

Big weekend? Well, I lifted the titular lyric from the Tom Petty song of the same name, but anyway, I definitely had one.

The publishing company I currently work for had events on at the Edinburgh International Book Festival this weekend, and we had an absolute ball making our presence known. So far, we've had an awesome reaction to the book we put out last month (and - here's me in sales mode - methinks you ought to buy it from the website, pretty please). We were even allowed in the authors' yurt - as in the big tent they all sit in to prepare for their show. They even let us drink their wine and eat their apples. We had a lot of promoting to do too. The other stuff outwith the book festival involved wandering around Edinburgh city centre while my boss and our events person hunted down a 24 hour shop in order to procure cigarettes, and the following evening we had a pre-event tea at the nearest Wetherspoon's which involved ripping the piss out of their Edinburgh Festival menu (50p dearer than their Rest Of The Year menu, as our editor / resident comedian was quick to point out - it looked the same to me). I was on my feet so much I now have a huge blister on my right heel. But it was worth it, because I'm so proud of what we're doing and I feel privileged to have been involved. It's not quite over yet - we're part of the final night of the festival too next week. But I have a feeling that this may be a summer I look back on with some fondness. Still not sure if I'll consider 2010 to be the best of years, but it's so far had a lot of good things about it.

I'm also still looking for a new home. I do at least have the advantage of now having a friend in a similar situation to move in with, so I'm now looking for a whole flat as opposed to just a room with strangers. This does at least give me a little more freedom, which is never a bad thing. It's just that we've picked such a shit time of year to actually be looking for something - seems like all the students are snapping the nice flats up. Now that I'm no longer a student I'm starting to see how annoying that is. It can't take long, though. Surely?

Book List As It Stands Just Now

I'm officially back into reading books again :D

I've finally managed to get most of the books that I bought / borrowed within the last two years read. I didn't make much headway on these during uni because I tended to prioritise the stuff I was reading for classes, which ended up not really working for me because (a) some of the books I read for class were utter, utter shite, (b) I usually didn't get through the books I was reading for fun at a particularly fast pace, and (c) reading went from being a favourite hobby to a chore I carried out. There's nothing worse than when (c) happens. I was still bulk buying books though. As I mentioned before, I'm addicted to buying them from Fopp - they're always (well, usually) pretty cheap, or at least decent value for money for what you pay for them.

I'm not actually totally sure how many books I've got through at this point in time, or what order they're in off the top of my head. But amongst the ones I've read are:

'Mrs Dalloway' - Virginia Woolf
'Q&A' - Vikas Swarup
'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' - Stieg Larsson
'Dracula' - Bram Stoker
'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' - Louis De Bernieres
'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly' - Jean Dominique Bauby
'Neverwhere' - Neil Gaiman
'The Road' - Cormac McCarthy
'The Vampire Lestat' and 'Queen of the Damned' - Anne Rice
A couple of the Isabel Dalhousie books by Alexander McCall Smith

I could go into more depth but I fear I'd bore you.

I bulk-bought a load more books from Fopp in dribs and drabs whenever I could afford them. This, as I've stated before, is why I'm thankful for those cheap classics Penguin sell on recycled paper. But they sell loads of other good books too. There are other places that sell good books - HMV, for instance. I've also got a basket load saved on Amazon, but not sure when I'll get those bought - have to conserve the few funds I do have, having been massively buggered about with my pay packet this month. But anyway...I've now made a dent in the 'new list' (so-called).

Currently reading: 'Great Expectations' by Charles Dickens.

Next two which I keep on my person to be read next: 'Poor Things' by Alasdair Gray and 'Moby Dick' by Herman Melville

The rest:

'Dead Until Dark' - Charlaine Harris
'The Hound of the Baskervilles' - Arthur Conan Doyle
'No Country For Old Men' - Cormac McCarthy
'Vanity Fair' - William Makepeace Thackeray
'Smoke and Mirrors' - Neil Gaiman
'Pride and Prejudice' - Jane Austen
'The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle' - Haruki Murakami
'Madame Bovary' - Gustave Flaubert
'The Girl Who Played With Fire' - Stieg Larsson
'Les Miserables' - Victor Hugo
'Fahrenheit 451' - Ray Bradbury
'David Copperfield' - Charles Dickens
'Breakfast at Tiffany's' - Truman Capote
'Emma' - Jane Austen
'Ghostwritten' - David Mitchell
'The Canterbury Tales' - Geoffrey Chaucer
'The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest' - Stieg Larsson
'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' - Arthur Conan Doyle
'Kafka on the Shore' - Haruki Murakami
'Grimm's Fairy Tales' - The Brothers Grimm (yes, this was among the Penguin Popular Classics I found in Fopp. No joke)
'Death of a Ladies' Man' - Alan Bissett
'Oliver Twist' - Charles Dickens
'Memoirs of a Geisha' - Arthur Golden
'The Great Gatsby' - F Scott Fitzgerald
'England, England' - Julian Barnes
'The Picture of Dorian Gray' - Oscar Wilde

Phew! That's the list so far...it'll have increased soon enough, mark my words.

Edit: two new additions - 'Transition' by Iain Banks and 'Northanger Abbey' by Jane Austen

Where Will I Go From Here?

This blog has been brought to you by a severe case of insomnia. I'm not even lying. I've actually not slept at the time of writing this. I'm working in an hour and a half too - that'll be even more fun.

Speaking of work...I'm still not too sure that job is even going to last beyond summer. If they offered to keep me on the roster beyond then I'd be delighted. But there's no guarantee of that. The other problem is one of a flat hunt. I'm not meant to be in this accommodation for an awful lot longer. I can't really take on something I can't afford, but I don't know what else to do.

I also still need to make some headway on Masters applications. It's highly unlikely I'll get in, being that I've been insanely slack on writing since leaving uni. But I'll see how those go. If I don't manage, there's always the option of the JET programme.

I've wanted to go back to Japan since going there first in 2005, but the hankering has intensified since graduation. I initially wasn't sure what I'd actually do when / if I went back, but I knew it wouldn't be an exchange programme, like it had been the first time. It would also be for longer than the previous eight days (which were during rainy season, boo!). Seriously, what I wouldn't give to sit on a tatami mat in a kimono, eating proper Japanese food...well, save fried prawns, a week of those makes you a little sick of them. Not to mention that pickle shaped like a dehydrated slug, eww. I imagine I'd go for six months - I can't quite imagine a whole year abroad, if I'm honest. But I think teaching English sounds good. I considered just drifting around, but that seems a bit aimless, and I've never been one to do things spontaneously.

There's a couple of things I'm not sure about, though.

For one thing...I need to actually sort out a new passport. Mine expired three years ago this month and I haven't a new one. The passport office is down here, but getting it renewed on the spot is pricey.

There's the matter of cost as well - I'd need to save up a hell of a lot of money.

Finally...so far I'm doing okay down here, out of getting my internship and all that. If I left Glasgow I might lose out on all that. I'd love the experience of the JET programme, but I don't intend to ever settle abroad (I think I'd appreciate it more for this reason), nor do I intend to make a career of teaching. I think, though, that being out of the country for a while would do me a lot of good. It might give me a little space to think, it could inspire me...that old chestnut. It's true, though.

So yeah, there we have it - if the CW Masters ends up being a no-goer, JET programme will get a look. Anyway...I have to be at work in about an hour and haven't had my breakfast yet.

Homesickness

I haven't been back in Shetland in eight months nearly, and this bothers me.

See, yes, those of you who know me know that I'm always complaining about how awful living on the island is. It wasn't always like that. When I was a kid I liked living there. It was nice to live somewhere that seemed relatively quiet. Plus, younger me wasn't too big on having wild nights out - partially because I didn't identify with those who were. My ideal weekend was spent with my granny, playing Scrabble and eating jam sandwiches. Might sound boring to you, but it wasn't - and still isn't - to me.

Then came the big move to Glasgow, when I gained my place at one of the main unis in the city (I've been here before, I know). I didn't cope with the new surroundings at first. I drove my first year flatmates up the wall, always getting stroppy and being homesick. I remember the relief of the five weeks' holiday I got that year.

A few things changed over the two summers I was at home while being at uni. In the first summer, a lot of changes occurred in my personal life. I won't go into them, because I still feel sort of angry and hurt over everything that happened. But as time went on, I found myself far preferring my adopted hometown, the general company I keep there, and...well, need I say more? I got bored easily with the island. I still liked going to my granny's, and it was nice to get a bit of peace and quiet sometimes. But I felt trapped living at home, and things just never seemed to change where I lived. The same folk I'd gone to school with drank in the pubs with the same folk they'd always drank in the pubs with, every weekend. Again, nothing changed. I couldn't live like that, live with that repetition.

At the same time, though, I still maintain that there are things I miss about the place. I miss decent chicken suppers. I miss the fresh sea air - even now I still get a hankering to walk around the pier in Lerwick and just inhale it. I'm miles away from sea down here - I suppose when / if the weather improves I'll just have to sojourn out to Largs or somewhere like that for a day and take it in. But it won't be the same.

Plus - sometimes it does a body good to be a little bit cut off from everything. I guess going home and being cut off from civilisation does keep my relationship with the city fresh. But at the same time, I kind of miss being home for a few reasons. I hope I can book a trip sometime soon.

Hitting a Wall

It's a pain in the arse.

Yeah, that's two ideas for shorter stories I was writing that I'm having huge issues with. One was an idea I was happy with for ages, which I started the first draft of, then got bored with that and started the second draft. I'm trying to get draft two to go somewhere and I've hit a wall.

The other story...well, I've not quite gotten that one committed to paper of any kind yet. The issue I'm having is that I just don't think I quite know how to open it. One of those occasions when I can get the rest of it thought out, just not the beginning.

That said, writing things out in notebooks before committing them to computer is helping me actually sift out the shite - I think, anyway. It may be that old primary school mentality. My primary school started using computers when I was in about P5/6. From then on, when we came up with assignments, we had the 'rough copy', usually written in pencil, and then the 'good copy', written either with our favourite pen in our best handwriting, or on the computer (usually the latter, because we still got excited about that kind of thing). I know, I'm in my early twenties and harking back to primary school, but it's been working for me so far.

It would probably also help if I stopped writing a blog about it and actually tried to work out ways to sort it...but venting is one of the early steps.

In other news...the launch party went well.

Purpose, It's That Little Flame That Lights A Fire Under Your Ass

Good ol' Avenue Q, eh? :)

Anywomb...

I've finally finished the training for my paid job, and when we sat the assessment (after some extensive revision to refresh the old memories, I should add) I passed with 99% :D Now for Real Shifts. I had my first one today - an early at a quieter one. I am, however, off for two days.

Tomorrow night - at the time of writing this, you lot on FB will get this much later I assume - is the launch party for the short story anthology released by the publishing company I'm working for. I've never been to a launch party before, and I'm very excited about it.

Also, know how I'm always whinging about how I've not had a decent novel idea for a while? Well, just lately it's all been short stories, but to be honest, rather those than nothing at all. Plus, given the upheaval I've gone through in the last few months - graduation, moving and having to move again fairly soon (should get me finger out with sorting some viewings, dear oh dear :/) and getting work to keep me fed, watered and well read - shorter stuff is all I've really felt at all able to write lately. And I should be a little more thankful for that. Not to mention, since leaving uni and not being forced to think I find the ideas have come to me much easier than they used to. Uni conditions you to an extent, plus CW is hard to mark - it's mainly the opinion of your tutor at the end of the day, and if your tutor that year / semester likes your stuff, awesome, if not, you're fucked. I am still in two minds about whether to bother applying for a CW Masters on those grounds - maybe by the time next year comes around, I'll like so much being my own agent that I won't want to go back to pleasing other people like that. At the same time, though, being in a non-academic environment could mean I end up producing some of the best stuff I've ever written for my portfolio, possibly being accepted on those grounds (keep the fingers tightly crossed...) and then writing a load of utter shit when I actually entered the course.

Hmmmm...what to do? It could all turn out alright...then again, maybe not.

Redrafts Drive Me Daft.

Pardon the bad pun, ladies and gents. :)

So, as I said on Saturday, I'm finally redrafting that short story I started a few weeks back. It's not a good idea to be doing it just now if I'm honest, because I'm supposed to be up for work in five hours. But it already feels like I'm getting somewhere, like I'm finally able to cut out the crap and tell a coherent story.

See, as I've vocalised on here plenty of times before, I actually hate writing short stories. Well, I did anyway. To me, short stories were an academic thing and my intention in life was always to write novels. It still is. But for some reason, I'm still firing blanks with a lot of long ideas. I've apparently improved as a writer - says the CW tutor I grew to trust the most during my four years at uni - but whenever I wrote a short story I never bothered redrafting it, because I'd never use it again. But I'm redrafting this one. The thing is, I'm actually liking writing it. It's an idea I'm passionate about, the first I've had for ages. Plus, I've hardly written a word in the last couple of months - I've been so busy with starting two new jobs, plus graduating, plus getting all this excess reading done. Keep in mind that some of the books I've been on lately (current: 'Midnight's Children' by Salman Rushdie. Next up: 'The Devil Wears Prada' by Lauren Weisberger) are ones I collected as far back as late 2008 / early 2009 and really should be read by now. At the same time, though, I've noticed that during periods of doing extensive reading, I do very little writing and vice versa. Well, again, now that I'm not at uni I'm going to need to get back into all that stuff properly. It'll be nice not to have someone putting a grade on what I write for a change.

What Hannah Did Next

So yeah, I graduated.

I'm aware I've not said an awful lot about the ceremony. Well, there ended up not being a hell of a lot to say about it, frankly. I got a tap on the head with a velour 'cap' and a hood-that-wasn't-actually-a-hood put around my neck. This apparently now makes me a Graduate. The reception wasn't up to much if I'm honest, considering I and a number of my other peers paid an extra £15 to graduate in person. There were no post-ceremony nibbles, only two drinks options - apple juice and Buck's Fizz (the latter of which I swear contained orange squash - WTF?!), and I ended up spending it milling about looking for folk. I'm sad I didn't get to speak to everyone :( It improved later though, with the food.

Apart from that, I've just been working. Being in yet another customer service job has rekindled my hatred for the general public. That said, it's one of the best jobs I've had in terms of the people I work with, and I like not having to think about when my next essay's due in, and not having to analyse the book I'm reading that week (at the time of writing this, it's 'Screen Burn' by Charlie Brooker, to be followed by 'Midnight's Children' by Salman Rushdie. Who says my tastes aren't eclectic?). I imagine there's probably a few disgruntled folk from back home utterly scandalised that I don't want to return and get a graduate placement with the council. Frankly, if I'm honest, I'd hate that. I think about the only relevance it would bear to my future career would be possible office experience. Not to mention, most folk who take those placements tend to get sucked in to staying there permanently - again, I'd hate that. Seriously, those people could pay me in books and I still wouldn't work for them.

On another note, I haven't done much writing since becoming employed. I need to get my finger out. I was working on another short story that I got genuinely excited about (odd that, I've been trying to save my excitement for a new novel plan) but the new job just got in the way, like it does. I'm away out for a friend's 21st tonight, but tomorrow, in between trying to do more reading, I'll work more on that story, then redraft it, then try and show it to everyone else I know in the hope of some constructive criticism. Maybe I could get my colleagues at the publisher to look at it...:)

A Farewell to Academia, Part 6: Graduation Maths Again

Last time I was on this here subject, I had the following figures to hand:

Graduation ceremony - £35
Grad ball ticket - £45
Robe hire - £25
Fake parchment thingy for photos - £12.
Photos themselves - £58 for a full standard graduation set
Delivery of photographs to Ma's abode - £5

Total cost thus far = £180

It's since racked up somewhat. As follows:

Grad ball photos - £8 or thereabouts. If I'm honest, I'm not wholly impressed with how they turned out. Of the five photos I bought, I had two headshots and three whole ones of me standing on the balcony. The latter three were a bit dark - obviously the woman taking the pics couldn't handle the Oran Mor mural (painted by the superb Alasdair Gray) with its base colour of dark blue. I'd have sent them back, but I wasn't told who to actually send them to, plus I'd already told the family they were getting them.
Dress for ceremony - £65 including shipping. Wish I'd bought the one which was £10 cheaper but my mother would have sent me home to change at the last minute.
Haircut - last time I got a proper cut and colour with my hairdresser it was £62 (which I paid for with Christmas money, by the way). I'm going to hope it might be about the same this time. It's always worth that, though.

This now bumps the cost up to £335. Keep in mind that we'll be going out for food on the day, plus I might end up out with everyone later on, not to mention that my mam and sister will have travel expenses to pay (they're on the boat then presumably the bus or train). Between the two of us it'll probably nearly end up at £500. And what for? A bit of paper that says I am fully qualified to read and write. Yeah, was kind of able to do that from the age of about five, thanks. I am at least still working the internship that will hopefully get my foot in the door with a career, but have also had to take a job that will pay the bills for the time being and that I don't even know if I have it permanently (my supervisor at training hinted that it might end up being extended beyond Sept, but saying that I bet I've jinxed it for myself).

Ah well - it all happens on Monday. I'd say I can't wait, but...

Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want

So...for just now, things are sort of working out.

I had my first induction day for my shiny new job today. I have four shifts this week, and four next week and the week after, so I'm getting a fair bit of money next month at least :D Like I say, only having casual / temporary work is a pain, but hopefully it'll all work out somehow. Plus...I like money, and having it regularly, and not being on the dole :) Although I'm still having a few uniform issues.

I tried recently to read the last 'Twilight' novel and was put off by its utter shitness. I know my friends with sense reading this will shake their heads at me. 'What did you expect, foolish child?' I can hear them cry now. Well, yes, I concede, it's a poor conclusion to what could well be considered a poor series written as a fantasy for teens. I won't deny, I actually thought the first two books...weren't bad. But the third one wasn't all that engaging. The last one was worse, I got bored about 500 pages in and threw it aside in a rage. Then I moved on to re-reading 'Sense and Sensibility', which I've been meaning to do since I tried to read it for study in second year. It was a much better book. Now I'm reading 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' by Stieg Larsson. Yes, I'm somewhat late hopping on this old bandwagon, but so far I like it - fast paced yet subtle stuff.

Finally...graduation. Still kind of having mixed / ambivalent feelings about this old thing. But I have bought myself a mose awesome dress to wear to it :D Just need to get my hair done now...still not sure what to do when I've graduated. I'm going to apply for a CW Masters anyway - having a year out will help me hone my portfolio to be the best it can be, and also earn a bit to fund my way. If that doesn't work out...I'll renew my passport, save up some more money and go to Japan again to teach English, if only so I can go back to that awesome place again.

Update to Previous Blog

I would have just added this to the previous entry but it's already fed to Facebook so many of you won't see it if I do that.

Basically I went back to the Job Centre at the allocated time, although it took them half an hour or so before they were able to see me because they were greatly understaffed. When I was finally seen I was told that I was being allocated a new time slot on Fridays - it was going from lunchtime to 9:10am. Fuck that shit, I'm not getting up that early just to get a pittance. I then decided it was best to step in with the news that I was now employed for summer, and I told him it was casual so there'd be work some weeks and not as much others. He then told me that, because I was officially employed, I had to sign off, but that if I was ever under 16 hours in a week I was entitled to claim JSA for that week. This is awesome, because I have decided I don't like the dole. And of course, I have to try and line up a new job to fall into sometime soon.

But yay :D

Sadly I ended up missing the first properly sunny day in Glasgow for a while because I got fucked about, but never mind - hopefully the weather might perk up and I can go and sit outside and read. I've discovered I vastly prefer the Botanic Gardens (at the crossroads of Great Western Road, Byres Road and Queen Margaret Drive, just down from the former BBC Scotland Broadcasting House premises for those who don't know) to Kelvingrove Park. They're both lovely in their own ways though.

I really can't wait to come into some money. On top of the multitude of books I've already accumulated over the last year or so, I've found around £60-£70 worth of books across both the Fopp branches in Glasgow which I can't afford to buy. The worst bit was, in the city centre branch it was mainly classics I was finding - to be specific, those cheapy ones Penguin do with the green jackets, made from recycled paper. We usually got given these at uni because they only cost £2 each, pretty good value for money usually (apart from 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man' by James Joyce, could NOT get into that book). Anyway yeah, Fopp had a massive display of them underneath the stairs, and I looked on them, and my mouth it did begin to foam and I just thought, 'WANT'. Yeah, I tend to have this reaction to books. It helps I no longer have to analyse the damned things. I desperately wanted to gather several of them up in my arms and take them to the counter, but alas, I haven't enough money to justify getting them yet. I did laugh though - one book they had was 'Crime and Punishment' by Fyodor Dostoevsky (which I won't be buying because I have a copy at home in Shetland, I think) which was still a snip at £2 but was three times the length of the others. Then again, said long Russian book could also have been 'War and Peace' by Leo Tolstoy. Bloody Russian literature, with its lengthy rambliness - THINK OF THE TREES, COMRADES!

Sorry, I'll calm down now. I will afford all those books one of these days, oh yes. In fact, I'd love to work for Fopp...

Also - to all of you following me on Facebook, certain entries are missing, so if you want them you need to come and find them on the actual blog, which is here. I don't know why they're not feeding in to be honest.

Unemployment Still Sucks

And so, the ongoing saga of the dole.

Basically, for various reasons I'm not keen to go into, I couldn't make my sign-on appointment last Friday. I phoned my Job Centre to explain this and they told me to phone back on Monday to arrange a new time to come in. Said new time ended up being 10am today. So I went in, to be told I couldn't just sign on, I had to go for a Failure to Attend appointment, which was scheduled for 3:40pm.

Keep in mind also that I live at the other end of the city from the Job Centre I'm registered at (still) and I couldn't afford to get the subway home, I'm typing this from the uni library, where I'm waiting for the time to creep round. Think I'll go to Fopp and torture myself by looking for bargain books I can't afford until I need to head back out there.

I hope I can get regular enough hours on the subway to justify signing off...

At Last!

So - the uni finally gave us our results, and I got a 2:2.

I won't deny, I'm a little disappointed. It was my class choices really. I got 40% for one of them - a bare pass. This is really the year I could've done without that but never mind - they could have kept all the good classes on the syllabus and not removed them because of certain lecturers either being promoted, going abroad or fucking off on research leave. The course is changing next year so all classes will now be one semester and continuous assessment, which sounds better to me anyway. There's also the small problem of my dissertation getting 55%. Ah well, after I found out - entirely by accident, I assure you - which lecturer was marking it I knew it wasn't going to do well. I held false optimism about it but I shouldn't have kid myself.

So, yeah - didn't go as well as I'd hoped. However, if I do decide to go for a CW Masters, there may be the possibility of getting in on the basis of a portfolio I have to submit as opposed to purely academic merit. Besides, some of the best writers don't have degrees in anything, never mind their craft.

Oh, and I can also confirm I have a casual summer job working in the subway ticket offices, so that's something to be cheerful about :)

'Say Paulie, Would Ye Ever Sign One A' These For Us?'

So...long overdue update required on this front. You've all been patient enough I guess, so here goes.

The job situation appears to have temporarily improved. Thus far as I can tell I seem to have a summer job working as a customer service assistant in the ticket offices for the Glasgow underground. Since I live just up from one of the stations this is rather helpful to me. I had the aptitude test for said job earlier this week - basically this consisted of two tests, one for logic and one for numeracy. When sent email notification of the impending test I was directed to two practise ones on the website of the company who make them. The logic one went okay (65%) but the numeracy one was highly complex, involving percentages, figures and a lot of mathemical techniques I'd barely gone near since Standard Grade. I didn't think to take my time over the harder questions (which they recommended you do; quickly but accurately is their attitude) and ended up completely falling on my arse with that one (with the miserable score of 21%). Needless to say, when I went into the real thing that morning I was panicking.

The panic was, however, unfounded. The numeracy test we were given was considerably more basic than the practise one had been, stuff I am genuinely better with. Once again, we were told to work quickly but accurately and not to worry if this meant not finishing the test, as sometimes people who hadn't finished the test did better than those who had for getting all their answers right. So I followed this advice - and indeed did not finish that test. Then we did the logic one, which I completed (those of you who know me will know that logic is one of my stronger points).

Following the test, myself and the seven other folk sitting it were led through to await the results and see if we'd made the interview. We were then told that of the eight of us there, three of us passed the aptitude test - and I somehow, amazingly, ended up being one of them. After the interview I was then invited to a medical on Thursday - which I guess seems odd, but they needed to do drug and alcohol tests (which I've passed no bother).

Of course, the job is just for summer, and it's casual - I'll be filling in if there are holidays or if someone phones in sick. It's well paid, though, which could help for when it actually ends and I have to go back on the dole. As far as I know I get to sign off once my contract starts. And I still have my internship. Our latest book is out on July 27th. We're excited :) And I like the colleagues I have that I've met. It's quite odd to think I'm essentially now holding down two jobs. I've just realised I had three in second year of uni on top of my degree - although two of them paid little and mostly involved working from home. This year I've been lucky to find anything. The internship helps because I can, at least, say I'm employed so I don't look like I'm completely workshy. At the same time, it's also the career I want really.

I've still not got my degree results yet. It's driving me up the wall - I know so many folk who have theirs and I don't have mine. There was a rumour going around that we might not get our results until after our graduation. That's surely a complete pile of shit, otherwise what would be the point in the ceremony? If that did happen I'd pull out of the July congregation and demand to be moved to the November one (although I could totally see my mam throttling me for that, after I whinged at her and both my siblings to be there and have even applied for a spare ticket so that can happen). But at the same time, I'm certain that has to be a pile of shit. I'm hoping they'll be with me tomorrow or Tuesday. I will keep you posted.

And finally, the moment you've all been waiting for (and if you've read this far, good on you. Have a Coke and a smile).

Yeah...earlier today I went with my brother and his friend to see Paul McCartney at Glasgow's Hampden Park stadium (see, you knew the title would be relevant). It was fucking awesome. We had to leave halfway through the encore so we could get the last train back into town (they had to go back to Edinburgh), which was a bit crap because we missed him performing both 'Yesterday' and 'Helter Skelter'. However, the rest of the set was well worth the ticket money. For 68, Paul McCartney must be one of the most energetic performers alive. The setlist he chose was also amazing. For instance, it was mostly Beatles stuff. Well, yeah, that was kind of inevitable, Captain Obvious. But seriously, I was going for that alone. He did solo stuff too. One of the songs turned up from his project The Fireman from a couple of years back, and of course he played 'Band on the Run' (:D). He also played a song he'd written about John Lennon and an imaginary conversation with him, and he played 'Something' in tribute to George Harrison. With that and 'Let It Be' I nearly welled up. Nearly. Some of the numbers were more obscure Beatles songs that you maybe wouldn't expect ('I've Just Seen A Face', anyone?). But it was so, so worth my while and I'm glad I went. Best graduation present ever. Sadly I didn't have him sign anything. The title is a quote from Paul's 'Grandad' (played by the brilliant Wilfrid 'Steptoe' Brambell) from 'A Hard Day's Night'.

Phew, that was a very long blog. Bedtime now. I need to post with more frequency.

Unemployment Sucks

I'm sure you saw this coming.

Yeah - unemployment = skinto. Signing on ain't a whole barrel of laughs either - especially when I have to cross to a whole other part of the city to actually do it. Of course, I tried phoning the Job Centre's Benefit Enquiries line to explain this to them - which I was told to do when I first went to sign on. So I phoned them. Was then given another number which turned out to be that of the Job Centre for the area I live in now. They then transferred my call to the Job Centre I'm currently registered at, who then told me to - guess what - phone Benefit Enquiries. So I tried them again - and once again got redirected to the Job Centre for my current area. I gave up at this point.

Acht, claiming my money only has to happen every couple of weeks or so. But of course, if I'm down at the wrong address I'll get in trouble. I have a job interview on Monday - well, actually an aptitude test which may lead to an interview. I'll go to my nearest Job Centre and order them to change my details for me. Assuming I don't get the job I have the interview for.

Have also realised that my imagination appears to have run dry in my old age :( This breaks my heart.

Books for Summer

Earlier today I finished reading 'Norwegian Wood' by Haruki Murakami. I'm ashamed to admit that it took me about six months to finish. A shame, because it's a beautifully written book and well-deserving of the praise that was heaped on it when it was first released. It follows the main character, Toru, while he is at university and his relationships with two very different young women in his life. This is my copy:



Yes, it's battered. I believe I found it in a book catalogue aged about 15 and pestered my mam to buy it for me solely because it was named after a Beatles song (and if that's not a good enough reason to buy a book, I don't know what is). Of course, I started it but never finished it, then it ended up on the bookshelf in the room I shared with my sister and was largely forgotten about. (Sorry, Mam.)

Of course, I've since grown up, left school and gone to university, and in doing that have met people who've read Murakami and can recommend him to me. So when I was home over the festive, I retrieved my copy from the shelf and took it away with me. It's in two parts to echo how it originally looked when it was first published (the only other edition I saw in Fopp was in one volume). Like I said, this time around it took me six months (or thereabouts) to read, but I read it and loved it.

The other one I'm reading is 'Mrs Dalloway' by Virginia Woolf. It was on the syllabus for the Modernism class I took in 2nd year (other 'Modernist' writers include James Joyce and TS Eliot). Needless to say I barely got it started, but this year I ended up writing my second semester essay for my Private Self class on Virginia Woolf's diary. I ended up using 'Mrs Dalloway' as well, and felt compelled to re-read it outwith the constraints of university. I'm loving it a lot.

Obligatory Post-Ball Blog

So yeah - grad ball was, well, a ball!

I always love an excuse to catch up with my coursemates :) I was sat at a table with a few of them from the last four years (three of them with plus-ones), a number of whom I hadn't seen in as long as a year.



And before you ask, yes, the Oran Mor was roasting. I wish I'd brought my black feather fan. Ah well, can't win 'em all.

After a really awesome tea - Scotch Broth for starters, steak pie and veg for main and sticky toffee pudding for dessert - the floor was cleared and the ceilidh dancing started. Ceilidh dancing is fun, and this time I actually had folk to dance with, which is unusual. Of course, I'm clearly not much good at it. In primary school we were always given traditional dancing lessons for Christmas parties but clearly I've failed to retain anything I learned then (hey, it's been well over ten years since I left primary school, what did you expect?!). Of course, the one dance I did know how to do was Strip the Willow, and when it was announced as the last dance of the evening my friend Ross asked me up to dance - only for my dress to give way halfway through. Thankfully I managed not to flash the entire dancefloor - that WOULD have been embarrassing. Apart from that, though, I'm glad I went. Think I'm going to need to acquire another mini sewing kit in case something like that happens again though.

For now, I'm waiting on my results and job hunting. Unemployment is very boring. Then again, I do have my first meeting with the people I'm working as an intern for tomorrow evening...

I've Arrived Safely

And so, for the next two months, I am officially a West End Wendy.

I still need to move my stuff in properly. As in, find places to put it while I live here. It's only for two months but I can't allow it to take up space in the sitting room. I need to look at my clothes and see what can be either chucked or put to a charity shop. If I'm honest, there's not a lot worth keeping. I did chuck out a lot of stuff that I no longer need. But not a hell of a lot.

Right - I'm getting ready for my Grad Ball as I type this. I will be back on another night. Goodnight for now :)

A Farewell to Academia, Part 5: Goodbye to my student digs

It's occurred to me that, in about 36 hours, it'll be the end of an era.

I shouldn't be doing this. I should be continuing to pack all the boxes full of all my worldly possessions (at least, all the ones I have in Glasgow - I have loads more stuff back in Shetland) so that everything's ready for 10am on Sunday, when I have to leave (damn delivery guy charging extra for a Sunday callout, grumble). Presently I'm not liking having to negotiate with the brown packing tape, that stuff is a bitch to work with. Brittle as fuck and splits constantly. Trying to get an evenly-measured length to stick the boxes together with is difficult, to say the least.

But I'm reflecting on the four years I've lived in Glasgow so far. This is the third property I've ever lived in since moving to this city. I hadn't intended it to be this way, to be living in Dennistoun. I thought I'd be a west end girl. Perfect student area, right? True, it is. I love it. But due to monetary constraints I ended up here, in this abode. That said, Dennistoun's not too bad. Sure, it's in the east end, and as a naive country mouse moving here to come and study I was always told the east end of the city was a bad'un. And sure, the east end has its troubles, but so does everywhere and anywhere else. As I said, living here has been a-okay for me and I've enjoyed it. I've never had any trouble. Plus, when I properly got involved with the student union it turned out that a lot of the other folk from my uni lived here too, or the better off ones lived in the Merchant City. Very few of them lived in the west end or the south side (I could literally name two of my contacts off the top of my head who do). This was especially helpful when parties were to be had.

I've made a lot of good friends down here - I have more friends in Glasgow than I ever had living in Shetland. Down here I met people I genuinely connected with, people who could make intelligent conversation and who had the same feelings and opinions as me. I've changed a lot as a person since I moved here. I don't know if that's been for the better or not, I'll leave you to judge.

But as much as I'll miss uni (well, some things about it) and living here, I can't wait for the two months I'll be in the west end for. It'll be a nice change. I currently can't afford to live there permanently (although with any luck the job situation might just work out) but maybe by the time those two months are up I'll manage the south side, or perhaps come back to where I was. Moving out of here after two years will be hard, no question about it.

But at the same time, hopefully there are better things on the horizon. One thing I could do this summer is try and get another novel dreamt up and written. May be easier said than done, but it'll keep me busy as I try to remain afloat in life...

If you could eat dinner with any person, dead or alive, who would it be and where would you go?

Granny Rena. And we'd have fish and chips at the Aith Hall.

Ask me anything

What was the happiest moment in your life?

This year it was getting my publishing internship.

Ask me anything

If you could attend any concert, what would it be?

I would have loved to have seen the Beatles at their peak

Ask me anything

What was the best concert you went to?

Big Day Out at the Green, 2003 :) Fucking awesome line-up.

Ask me anything

What are you most excited about right now?

Grad Ball on Sunday, moving into what will be my home for the next two months, graduation

Ask me anything

What was your favorite TV show as a child?

I had a few...Button Moon and Camberwick Green come to mind. What else? The Moomins, Fireman Sam, Postman Pat, Thomas the Tank Engine, Trap Door, Grim Tales (Rik Mayall FTW), Jackanory, Animals of Farthing Wood...I could probably think of oh so many more, but not right now.

Ask me anything

Would you rather be a vampire or a werewolf?

Vampire, eternal youth could be a great laugh :) There are no benefits to being a werewolf.

Ask me anything

Sayonara For Now, East End. We May Meet Again Some Day

Forgot to mention just there - I have some form of abode for the next two months.

Basically, once I leave my current Denny digs on Sunday I'll be moving to Hillhead. I know that sounds odd, given that I've just had to sign on, but I'm taking it up for two months as a favour to a friend who needs to return home over summer. Besides, I couldn't get anything else at such ridiculously short notice. I do, at least, have these digs till about late July / early August, so that gives me more time to find something a little more permanent.

And if, by some fucking miracle, I manage to get myself a job (or write a Startlingly Good Novel that sells six figures' worth of copies, gets into the WHSmith Bestseller List or, better still, finds its way to the Man Booker Prize nomination list...HA, THAT'LL BE THE FUCKING DAY) at all over summer, no matter how menial, permanent or temporary, I might just be able to afford to make the most of it. Like I said, here's hoping. But at least I'll be within walking distance of Kelvingrove Park so I can enjoy my beloved books when I (a) have a spare moment and (b) when the sun shines. Then again, even if it doesn't, I could read anyway.

Basically I'm relying on parental contribution over the next while, but I'm not going to make that a permanent thing. I've applied for several jobs so far today since going to the job centre earlier. Like I say, the prospect of long-term unpaid employment is looking like a terrifying prospect from this angle. A lot of jobs have been applied for online, but I have a few more that I need to send off in the hope they'll be right. I've applied for everything I think I'd be of use for, from library assistant to kitchen porter via admin assistant. I'm still applying for jobs as well. It doesn't get any better.

Something has to turn up sometime.

Meanwhile...my internship colleagues and I convene next week. I've been sent a database of people to flog books to. I'm still trying to get packing done (I've done NOTHING today. Literally nothing) and also need to properly sort moving, but I need to get my finger out with that, being that it's the only form of employment I currently have.

Hopefully things will turn out for the better, but only time will tell.

The Dole

As in, I'd like to come off it now, please.

Looks like life - or at least summer - is about to become one big long dole-scrounging operation. I've started a job hunt again. Said jobs are going to have to be a little more menial.

Got yourself a new flat sorted yet?

Nearly...will keep you posted!

Ask me anything

Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...

I am observing the huge packing job that looms before me and I now think I maybe shouldn't have left it so late. Then again, there are a lot of things I've left late - among them cutting off all the services in the flat before we leave. Something tells me I was meant to give more notice than this.

I appear to have a home for at least the next two months, and it's in a nice bit of the city, which is fine. I then will have to get my finger out with finding paid work and all that until my planned career in publishing takes off.

I just hope it all falls into place.

Normal Service Has Been Resumed

Right...those of you on Facebook may or may not be aware that my blog wasn't importing this last week. I have fixed this. I think.

Anyway...I seem to have two potential choices of new flat. This is a bit of a relief.

Did you know that www.imdbvip.com was voted as the best website to watch movies online, and do you know that its a part of www.imdb.com?

Why no, I did not know that. Thank you for that incredibly useful info.

Note that I'm not sure if I'm being sarcastic or not there

Ask me anything

I will one day. Not today :)

Well, okay. Have it your way

Ask me anything

Just a small-town girl, living in...Glasgow.

I know...not hugely catchy.

So yes - today, after viewing a rather nice flat in the south side of the city I went into town to sign on. A lot of questions were asked, and now, next week, I have to go for an interview to help me find a suitable job. Starting to think that just phoning the pub I put in an application form to might be a bit easier. At least I have an internship (for skills and something to keep me occupied) and even a crap menial job would at least keep me in digs (although there's always the chance that somewhere like a pub or a supermarket would play the 'overqualified' card).

Ah well - at least I have no more exams to stress me out on top of all this

I feel EXACTLY the same! I'd say I'm always here to talk if you need but you don't know who this is!

So make yourself known to me, friend?

Ask me anything

A Farewell to Academia, Part 4: Last Ever Exam

So yeah...my academic career is, for now, over and done with.

My Last Ever Exam was at about 2pm today. I think it went as well as it could have done, considering I did fuck all revision for it. Ah well.

I'm still going to be homeless as of next weekend - on the night of my grad ball, no less. Gutting. :( Hopefully something flat wise will come up, I'm only wishing I'd thought to look sooner. That was stupid of me.

Meanwhile...going to sign on tomorrow, and probably look for a job while I'm actually in the Job Centre. Oh, and phone Wetherspoon's too, they'd be better than nothing for just now.

Anyway...off to bed. Going to finally finish reading 'Norwegian Wood', been on it for months now. Then to start on the rest of the books I've never managed to read yet. Can't. Fucking. Wait.

Good News, Bad News

Well...ish.

Right, so - I mentioned a couple of developments had been happening in the last little while. Well, in full, here we have it:

Basically I applied for an internship with an independent publishing house here in Glasgow. Despite there having been stiff competition for it, I was shortlisted. I'm not going to go into vast amounts of detail but the long and the short of it is this: I was offered the job at interview. I was elated. For one thing, the company boss made me feel completely at ease. It helped that it was taking place in a coffee shop (I've developed a love for white chocolate mochas I think - yum!), but I've never felt so relaxed in an interview environment. I think that helped.

It's great in the sense of experience. I decided this year that I wanted to get into publishing, and it'll get me a foot in the door. I'll be trying to get the company's books distributed to places to sell them. However, it's an internship. This means that I don't get paid. I instead get paid back any travel expenses incurred, plus any contributions to my mobile bill for any call, plus any share of a grant they may get. Apart from that...I need another job so I can actually keep living here, which, at this rate, is gonna be in a pub.

I also need to find somewhere to live - and move in ASAP. Pungs.

Ah well - last exam tomorrow. One load off my mind.

Here comes the sun, and I say it's alright...

So...Glasgow has been scorching hot these last couple of days. I know it's May, but where did that come from?! It's not helping study, that's for sure ;)

My last ever exam is in two days, and I've still not found a flat at the time of writing this. But yesterday I sat out on a patch of grass in my bit of Glasgow with a good friend of mine. We had a couple of cigs and a couple of beers, and a long talk about things that had happened to each of us over the past year, and in amongst it all we ended up dragging out one of the disposable barbecues from my flat and cooking two sirloin steaks on it. Yum. I've not had a barbecue in so long - certainly didn't have one last summer (although I meant to). Here's hoping for a few more while this nice weather lasts. Hooray for summer.

Only trouble is, I came in from being out yesterday and now appear to have heat rash, despite having liberally applied sun oil (SPF 30, I might add - none of that SPF 7 shite that's as much use as cooking oil!) to my arms and face. I've been repeatedly attacking it with after sun cream, which works for a while, and then it just flares up again. Aside from that, I like the sunshine.

A few more things happening this week that will hopefully improve this year overall and may mean my degree wasn't a complete waste of four years of my life - will keep you posted with more info as and when I receive it.