Broken Reality

When did this happen?

I set my blog page as my homepage many moons ago in an attempt to cause activity and instead it just caused me to visit other websites far sooner.

Since last time i’ve turned 21, which was an interesting experience and has thus far been pretty cool. Granted it seems that my hangovers have increased in magnitude by around 137% which is damn annoying. It’s either that or i can now drink far more alcohol in a shorter time. The latter seems possible due to summer based fun times consumption but i hope not.

At the end of July I left a year working in the IT industry behind me, i had been working in the public sector carrying out IT related jobs for the good of the land. I learned a lot, granted not all of it was related to my degree but I’m sure it will all come in handy one day. I had a great year, got to know a bunch of great people, made some great new friends and got to experience the 5 day, 9-5 grind of the real world. That’s the one element i am thankful to leave behind, at least for a little while.

While having a blast at  my Birthday celebrations i picked me up a lady friend who i’ve missed dearly over the last couple of weeks as she’s been off indulging her nerdy core in the US but i get to see her again soon!

During the Summer i have continued to graft my arse off for the good of my employment which i still enjoy rather alot. Which seems to scare people sometimes. I have also squeezed in a fair bit of gaming during this time too, finally elevating myself above the 10,000 gamerscore level and quite rapidly above it’s older cousin. 11,000. This pleases me. However my grafting as many hours i am able to get my grubby mits on, while still actually finding time to play some video games, is soon to come to an end.

This is because it is September. That month in the year which delivers the gloom of the dark, cold nights of Winter and also a return to educational establishments for people everywhere. I am going back to University.

This prospect haunts my very soul.

It’s the time i’d been fearing and thankfully it came after Glasto and not before!

However it seems there was nothing to worry about! All my end of year coursework was enough to keep me in decent position and i managed to somehow attain firsts for most of my end of year exams, well i’m counting 69% as a first by rounding for neatness and me looking awesome. the 4th of 5 exams was a 2.2.

Anyway this means i am happy and content as it all worked out at around a 2.1 for the year which takes the strain off next year for a bit when i get back from placement. Placement being the sneaky thing that i’ve not really mentioned but it should be good fun working in a large IT infrastructure team for a year.

In about 14 months time when i head back to Uni for my final year things should be pretty good as i become a Computer Systems Engineering student as apposed to my former title of Software Engineering student due to the fantastic organisation of Sunderland Uni. It does mean i study better modules though so i’m not really complaining.

Level 2, Pass & Proceed.

Good Times!

5 days into the new year and i can feel the year slipping by at an insane speed with no way i can prevent it already, which annoys me.

Something i forgot to mention during my EA fueled rage was that i completed Crash of the Titans on the 360 on the 31st and rather enjoyed doing so, it’s a good fun game to re-visit one of my old favorites while turning my brain off and leaving it at the door - Ha! to those who say i never complete games! (We’ll not mention Mass Effect capisce?)

My New Year celebrations were alright i guess, i got fairly drunk although not as bad as usual - still having the use of my speech and all my limbs. It was an interesting night mainly where we looked at photos of old remembering the ‘Good Old Days’ and past New Year celebrations while having a laugh. It was decent although the stroke of 00:00 wasn’t really paid much attention to, our main comment was that the fireworks were fucking pointless going on for over 10 minutes.

I got in the house at about 6 am on the 1st after walking about 3 miles in the wet and rain which was a bit soggy and also cold and dark, i rather enjoyed my bed when i got into it! Went for a couple of drinks on the day itself but came away without making a night of it.

2nd i worked between sleeping (new year catch up), 3rd i worked 10-7 so didn’t really have much day to do anything with. and today i should have really done my Software Engineering assignment which is due for Monday but i sort of - didn’t.

So tomorrow, since im off work - unrequested, on a saturday! - i aim to finish off my Software Engineering and work on some other bits and pieces while sorting out stuff to go back on Monday the one problem being that i really can’t be arsed with uni as i hate having to do anything outside the damn place, I’d not mind upping the hours i spend there if i didn’t have to do anything at home!

On a side note, i’m seriously thinking of joining the gym at Chester, now i know this sounds like a joke coming from me but i am actually being serious as i also intend to start swimming again a few times a week to get rid of some fat that i have far too much of, shame i’ve got loads of xmas chocolate left - Damn Fattening Christmas! The plan is to go to the gym for a few hours a couple times a week following it with a dip in the pool, while continuously reminding myself to get off my arse and do something while further cutting down on the utter crap that i consume, you know and even possibly, eat healthily?

That’s the plan anyway.

Yes, anyway.

As i say, in an awfully Megatron fashion - I Still Function! Last post proper was when i was staying awake all night to finish uni work for the 14th of December, it’s now December 23rd and possibly the longest break in bloggage since i moved back to the BR domain, fail.

I managed to stay in an mostly up right position for 42 hours before i got home and collapsed in bed for an hour and a half, woke up up, ate pizza and then slept again for a fantastic 14 hours of snoozing brilliance. I hope this paid off and my presentation was taken well although it was on the length limit of 25 minutes with a total of 14 slides! Egads!

Fucking Java was a pain and i handed it in only completing half the system requirements which is just wank, really, as was my system documentation so i only hope i’ve managed to scrap together the magic 40% then i’ll have to go mental for the UNIX assignment later in the year.

As for the assignments i have to do before i can go back, at the moment they can go fuck themselves as i simply can’t be arsed.

I posted about my 3 hour delve into Mass Effect not too long ago, since then i’ve not played it simply as i can’t be arsed to play it in the little time i have free, instead i’ve been playing Crash of the Titans which is infact rather fun as i can drop in, do some playing and then fuck off which is the kind of game i need at the moment, probably review that later on.

I would like to say im having a holiday but im not really as ive spent most of the time either asleep or at work serving all the idiots who still havn’t done their Christmas shopping. I can’t really complain though as i did all of mine before and then after my Midnight shift on Friday evening and so was in the MetroCentre for 22 hours.

Win.

I ask this question, simply because i’ve not seen it today. Arriving at the MetroCentre at 6:50 this morning and not leaving it until 4:30 this afternoon meant it was dark - so i’ve not actually seen the sun today.

What a couple of days - interesting times!

It’s been a bit of up and down these last couple of days in terms of stress, anger, stress, annoyance and exhaustion.

Things are mounting up a bit in terms of Uni as hand ins approach and i’ve even got a graded test/exam before the 14th when i break up, it’s a bit concerning especially since i’m supposed to be at work for atleast 16 hours a week and this week is the YC show. Seriously, time thieves.

However!

At Uni i manage a group of students in my year to create a website system for a real world client, they’re a good bunch of people and we all get along great, possibly a little too well as we found ourselves in a bit of a sticky situation as of Monday, we had to write a project proposal for Wednesday. Trouble is, today as I’ve previously mentioned I’ve been at work all day like a few of the members in my group.

Long story short we all managed to put together a 7,000 + word (26 page) document in about 18 hours - i have to say i was impressed!