University Day #1

I am exhausted.

This is because I spent Wednesday to Friday buying, packing, realising it didn't fit, unpacking, repacking, realising I'd forgotten something, buying, packing, realising it didn't fit, unpacking, repacking....etc. So that was fun. Then, yesterday morning, I was woken up at 7.30am to help pack the car and set off towards the next three years of my life.

For most of the 2 1/2 hour journey, I actually felt pretty calm. Excited, a bit nervous, but basically calm. Once we hit the city centre I started to get Mega Butterflies, and by the time I actually got out of the car I was more or less brickin' it. My parents hovered in the background whilst I got my accommodation keys, picked up my University SmartCard, my Freshers' Wristband and various other bits of admin -- we unloaded the car, and they hovered some more, clearly not knowing whether I wanted them to help or leave.

To be honest I didn't fancy the idea of a long, drawn-out goodbye, so I more or less gave them both quick hugs and kicked them out the door. Then I busied myself with unpacking, lest the panic should set in. There was a point, somewhere between hanging my clothes up and locating my posters, where I felt it starting to rise through my chest. Scared it wouldn't go away, I bullied a couple of my new flatmates out of their rooms and fed them tea and hyper-speed, nervous conversation.

We ended up going to another flat for drinking games and giggles, and then to the Students Union for another drink and a dance, then myself and my favourite flatmate, Lizzi, got home about 1.30am and had a cuppa and a nice conversation. So, despite having had only a few hours sleep and feeling a bit tender (though still planning to go out the next four nights in a row), I think I would call my first day at Uni something of a success :)

UPDATE: I actually wrote this last week, but only today has my laptop allowed me to publish it. Go figure.

Cabin Fever

A few years ago I used to be the kind of person that would happily sit in the house for days on end, playing on the Sims 2, watching TV, reading mindless books and not communicating with the outside world. I was a cool kid. And I can remembered being bothered that it didn't bother me - I was perfectly content with this, though there was a little voice in my head that frequently told me I was a lazy-assed sad-act with no friends and bad eyesight.

Thesedays, however, I seem to have lost my ability to be a lazy-assed sad-act with no friends and bad eyesight. Nowadays, one day at home is fine, two is frustrating and three drives me absolutely crazy. I don't know why this change occurred and have to say that it would have been much easier (albeit less healthy and more embarrassing) if I'd just maintained my happy-to-be-lazy attitude. Now, if I don't get out of the house for a couple of days it puts me in an irrationally bad mood, meaning I argue with my family (possibly a subconscious attempt to make them KICK me out of the house...) and storm off to my bedroom, the sight of which - by this point - usually makes me feel slightly ill.

The irritation is that laziness inspires laziness - because I've been doing nothing, the thought of any (gasp) actual physical exercise becomes less and less appealing. Not that it was ever THAT appealing... So I could see my friends, but I can't be bothered to get to their houses, I could do some increasingly necessary jobs but I'm too 'tired', I could just get go for a walk or something, but I don't see the point. I'm frustrating myself intensely.

Now please excuse me whilst I force myself to venture into the outside world.

A New Relationship

So, because I'm going to University in a couple of weeks, I needed to buy a laptop, which I was not looking forward to. I know some people get all excited about new gadgetry, but for me, it just means several weeks of shouting at screens mocking me with their not-workingness. It's not that I don't like change, it's just that I only like it when I'm ready for it. My current computer rarely irritates me, it has the past four years accumulation of photos, music, Favourite websites, programmes and games on it. I know it back to front, I know where to find everything and I know that turning it off and on again will almost always fix whatever issue it's having. For this reason, my new laptop was sat in it's box gathering dust for a good fortnight before I had a tantrum with my computer (it wouldn't let me iPlayer Doctor Who. Some things are just out of order), stomped downstairs and cracked it open.

So far (about an hour later), our relationship has been touch and go. It let me watch Doctor Who with no problem, the internet works pretty fast and the keyboard and I are getting on like a house on fire (very important for someone who spends as much time writing nonsense as I do). However, the favourites drop-down is empty and on the other side of the screen (an annoyance), there are currently none of my iTunes or files on here (a problem) and my beloved Google has been replaced by Bing (a true tragedy).

But we're working things out, and I think at some point I might even find myself able to commit to this laptop. My computer will always be my first love, and have a special place in my heart, but the laptop is younger, faster, prettier and can be used whilst in bed (mind out of the gutter, please). And even though it keeps making strange beeping noises I don't understand, I think - one day - it might just be love.