More Photos

I meant ti upload these pictures a couple months ago now. Goes to show just how hopeless I am, really.

This:

I what I get to see walking to class when it snow here.
Let me just reiterate that:

So this place does have some good points, then, if we just ignore that this is apparently enough to stop the buses from running. So, snow in April aside, I did get to see some pretty nice views. And it seemed even the pheasant was enjoying our late winter.

I don't know whether or not pheasants hibernate (you don't exactly get them in the towns) but if they do I fancy the messed-up weather we've been having has probably wreaked havoc on his sleep cycle. I rather like having the pheasant around, though, since seeing if he's out gives me something to look forward to. I know that makes it sound like my life is empty and pointless, and well... mostly, it's just dull. Nothing much ever really happens to me and the pheasant is still something of a novelty for me.
That's why I take so many pictures of him.

And, really, I'm not doing myself any favors in the 'not-looking-pathetic' department right now, but, meh. I can live with that.

Off To The Ball

I attended the AU summer ball a few days ago. Now, the first thing that needs to be said here is that it was snowing... snowing... at the SUMMER ball...
What the fuck England?
Seriously, I don't know what goes on with our weather.

Anyhow, my attendance at the ball... It's called a ball, but just to get this cleared up it's basically like a school prom crossed with an awards ceremony and you get to drink... you REALLY get to drink.
Now, I made the mistake of deciding that I'd do a week of non-drinking that week and forgot that it was the ball... needless to say my declaration of non-drinking didn't last very long. I got through an entire pitcher of some fruity cocktail before they'd even served the starter... and another by the time I'd finished pudding... I was pretty far gone by that point, mind, and I'd not even done pre-drinks, so I stuck to WKD for the rest of the night. I still managed to be one of the most sober people there.

So, truth be told there weren't many zany antics. Okay, I was with archery and we were sat right next to men's rugby, and damn you could tell they were wasted. I think most of them probably left fairly early, mind, but you could hear them all of the way through the meal.
The archery folks didn't drink too much, but there were a couple the looked like they were about to fall over...
And one of my blockmates was so drunk she fell asleep at the table fairly late into the night... I drew on her face with eyeliner... and took a photo, which will be going up on facebook when I get around to it...
We somehow ended up playing pass-the-pirate-hat, which really seems to happen just about any time I where a hat anywhere... My outfit, despite being one of the least formal that could be let in (I was wearing a pirate hat, for Pete's sake) actually went down pretty well. So that was nice. I'm generally not bothered with clothes and things, but I have my moments of dandyism and as a self-proclaimed prince-charming-in-training it's of the utmost importance that I look spiffing at the ball... and I did not seriously just say that. Dear lord, should I ever graduate from this fairytale prince academy I seem to have enlisted myself in I shall shake in fear of whatever shall become of the world...

Archery Update

So, I still suck at archery (and also fencing and quidditch and just about everything else, mind) but I've grown to accept that. But that's not what this update is about. No, this update is about just how easily amused I am.
Earlier in the week, one of the lads let another fresher (actually not myself) use his arrows. His £10 a piece arrows. I think we can guess where this is going...

You have no idea how glad I am that that wasn't mine (nor my doing).


Even more easily amused am I, I got one of my own arrows stuck in the boss, and it took a fair it it out with it when I finally got it out. Now, this isn't an uncommon occurrence, because really layers of foam sheets aren't the sturdiest of materials, but it's actually the first time this has happened to me. Besides, I kind of like having proof that I can hit the target instead of the wall.

And, just to make this whole thing rather awkward and uncomfortable, I got a lift back to dorms from archery and it turns out one of the girls there lived in my room last year... and promptly informed me that she'd had sex in my bed...
Now, I wasn't so naive as to think such things hadn't happened in the bed that I now sleep in, but I was trying really hard to pretend I was, and doing a fairly good job of it until now. Well, there goes my denial :\

Note: Forgot to press post, silly me, and I have a backlog of post to get up now :p

Baby Steps

So, I've through my various internet profiles and begun making changes. Nothing big, just changing the gendered pronouns over. It's not that big a step, if I'm honest, and to anybody else they probably haven't even noticed.
But it feels much bigger.
I've been to see the GP, too, which is a much bigger step, and I'm waiting for a referral to a gender clinic. That's a really big step. It's a huge, huge step. It's like a giant leap, and for all my seeming need to constantly keep moving, I don't do giant leaps. I can do baby steps, they're easy. I can do baby steps because I know exactly where I'm putting my feet, but bigger steps and it becomes harder to know where you're going to land. I don't like not being the one in control, and I don't like not being the one with the power, which right now I'm not. I go the the gender specialist when I get my referral and things start moving out of my hands, and I don't like that.
I probably wouldn't be writing any of this if I thought more than a couple of people would ever read it. I don't like looking weak, and even I will have to begrudgingly admit I look pretty weak right now, but I guess it's just one of those things. By this point, things really are moving out of my control, even if it's really only just a little, and I guess I'm going to have to to accept that and take that as it comes. I won't lie, I don't like that, but I can give up a little bit of control for this. It'll all be worth it in the end, I'm sure.

Three day post

I couldn't open the Lambrini bottle, so I had to open it with my teeth. I strained my jaw, and that's going to be wonderful to try and explain in the morning. What a brilliant start to my night.

I seem to be starting a new project. Specifically, an actually serious attempt at an urban fantasy, rather than my more typical everything-I-write-is-a-piss-take approach. This is going to end badly, I'm sure. I'll just drink through the whole things and add little bits

Well, so much for that. I hit a wall pretty quick. I don't really do serious writing.

Have decided to take a nap, and it's now the next day. I wasn't kidding when I said I don't do serious writing.

have now been to bother the poor creative writing folks (all three that were there, anyway. Most of us have better things to do on a Saturday), having gotten a great whopping one chapter to show them. I think I'm beginning to remember why all of my writing is piss-takes again. I do not do serious.

Been a few more hours, nothing has been done, and I somehow managed to spill alcohol on my bed :(

Okay, this entry has so far spanned a total of three days. Over those three days, I've gotten no writing and no work done. I should probably do something with myself at some point...
And drink less. I really need to drink less.

You Know You're a Student When... (part 2)

... You've even given up on cooking instant noodles now, and are living on nothing but chocolate biscuits and cheap alcohol.
... You hand your essays in whilst trying to hide that you're so drunk you can barely walk straight, despite the fact that it's not even midday (wait, or should that have gone on 'You know you're an alcoholic when...')
... A worrying number of clubs that you've joined have degraded into nothing more than 'Get Drunk and Tell Dick Jokes' societies.
... That last one doesn't bother you at all.
... People actually approve of your developing alcoholism.
... You find you've spent too much money on alcohol and junk food and have to choose between budgeting (and staying sober) until your next student finance payment or swallow your pride and run to Daddy... and then remember that Daddy's also poor so there isn't really any choice, and have to try and remember how to not drink.

You Know You're an Alcoholic When... (part 2)

... You want to leave the bar despite not having finished your drink, and rather than waste alcohol you pour what's left into an empty water bottle.
... You take said alcohol-filled water bottle to creative writing club with you, but only because you didn't have a lecture to drink it in that morning.
... You've killed enough brain cell that you forget which painkillers you'll be allergic to in the morning.
... You get excited when the shop has a different flavour of Lambrini in.
... You actually drink Lambrini.