anew

HERE WE ARE on the other side! No, not in heaven (definitely not there), but the world that exists after dissertations and Masters degrees and university and Durham. This is both very good and very bad. In 16 days I will be officially a student no longer, my campus card will expire and I will be a real alumnus and ex-Johnian. I will have to start paying real prices for things, no more student discount, although I do have another year of cheapo train travel. But then after that I will be TWENTY FIVE and genuinely old. It's too early to tell how twenty four is going to turn out, it's generally a number I associate with good things, mainly because of 24 North Bailey and £5 jugs of Pimm's, but who knows. Hopefully it will be better documented than 23, my resolution is for more of these to appear, and I have plans to try and make them more exciting... OOH.

My birthday was a lovely occasion, seen in with a Friday night of Spags, Fabio's and sambuca, what more could one ask for? Followed by a weekend of cake, cava, Tynemouth fun, dresses and drinking (K-dawg's malibu concoction winning beverage of the evening, in my opinion, which let's face it is the one that counts since I was the birthday girl), moustaches, Eurovision choons and pandas.

Thanks everyone who came, and for cards and presents, it was a blast. Sorry to see everyone go the next day, after sandwiches with Queen Victoria, but I know we'll meet again soon and also be friends forever so no stress. It is just starting to sink in that I will never be going back to Durham, I miss the Bailey and John's and Whinney Hill loads already but I hope even funner things are to come.

I pass swiftly over mention of the dissertation because it's just not worth it, or interesting, and to be honest most of it has fallen out of my head now. I can tell you the detailed plot history of every Gilmore Girls episode, but what happened in my second chapter... not a chance. Such a devoted student.

The summer has been good considering I had 15,000 words hanging over my head the whole time (not that I did anything about it until two weeks ago but the worry was still there). Lots of visits to Durham and a couple of Happy Fridays under my belt, a Waterstones Durham night out, a trip to Sheffield, and a hop over to Italy and Lake Garda for a week with the family, which was lovely and very sunny and gorgeous. Now it's pretty much over and it's back to work for me, as many hours as they can give me to save up for whatever I'll need it for in the future (hopefully some trips away and for when I eventually move out).

Being the massive nerd that I am, I'm looking forward to being able to read more nice books and novels, rather than geeky stuff on narrative theology and Gerard Manley Hopkins, so expect reviews and opinions galore.

More soon, tedious catch-up entry over.

xxx

listening to: Brandon Flowers, Flamingo