Onmycloud

Feeling a bit bored, I decided to type 'random story' into google to see what it came up with. After a short time, I found a couple of sites that randomly generated these surreal stories:
from www.sundhagen.com/babbooks/adlib.cgi - put in a few adjectives, nouns, adverbs etc and it'll generate:
**** The Package *****

The doorbell rang. The blue elephant and The Queen raced to the door.

There on the doorstep was an enormous, nervously trembling, yet defiantly challenging box. What could be inside? They

contemptuously, yet colourfully cobbled and cantered the box into the Heart of Darkness. The Queen contemptuously, yet colourfully put her head close to the box. She thought she heard a voice whisper, "I know what you did last summer behind the hole. Yeah, that's right, yellow turnips in a silver mounting may pour eternal lullabies into the well, but that won't save you...nothing will...FEAR ME!!!!"
"Hurry. Open the box!" screamed the blue elephant. To their amazement, Ghandi leaped out of the box and started singing "god save the queen (the sex pistols version)". There was nothing else to do but sing along.

or possibly:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~An Eccentric Day at School~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was a very eccentric day at school. First, I had to obviate my locker. In homeroom class, we had a test on paneurythmic shades of grey and Ian got a perfect score. I forgot my homework for your mama's class, and the teacher was creatively magenta! Next I had to contemptuously yet colourfully write a report about a passing quantum of U2's international prestige, and it was so cheese-painted, I read it to the class and it made everybody carry themselves without time or colour. Lunch was the best part of the day, we ate leaves of rising winter in purple with long milk. In art class, the square root of the sum of all fears spilled the monkeys all over my new "a passing quantum of U2's international prestige" and it turned as scarlet as the falling swallows of evening. Math class took forever, I just wanted to sense like a rat senses the presence of a poet through it. I asked for a pass to go to the clock, and I saw The Imaginary Imagination and Angry Andy and an amazingly agile anteater kissing in the hall. My last class was band, and we played "three new times too prosaic to share". After school, I felt random as I rode the bus home

Admittedly, it did take a couple of attempts to make them that random, but it's a very simple system!

This one was from randumbness.com, which makes longer stories, but they aren't nearly as varied each time:
IDIOT GEEK & THE PINEAPPLE
It all started when our cliche, protagonistic figure, Idiot Geek, woke up in a lemur-infested moor. It was the tenth time it had

happened. Feeling alarmingly angered, Idiot Geek hit a banana, thinking it would make him feel better (but as usual, it did not).

Just as zero people expected he realized that his beloved Pineapple was missing! Immediately he called his overtly elitist, rich

friend, Shallow Pie. Idiot Geek had known Shallow Pie for (plus or minus) half a million years, the majority of which were

enticing ones. Shallow Pie was unique. She was plucky though sometimes a little... clueless. Idiot Geek called her anyway, for

the situation was urgent.

Shallow Pie picked up to a very unhappy Idiot Geek. Shallow Pie calmly assured him that most disease-carrying chipmunks belch

before mating, yet disease-carrying chipmunks usually earnestly grimace *after* mating. She had no idea what that meant; she was

only concerned with distracting Idiot Geek. Why was Shallow Pie trying to distract Idiot Geek? Because she had snuck out from

Idiot Geek's with the Pineapple only eight days prior. It was a curious little Pineapple... how could she resist?

It didn't take long before Idiot Geek got back to the subject at hand: his Pineapple. Shallow Pie turned red. Relunctantly,

Shallow Pie invited him over, assuring him they'd find the Pineapple. Idiot Geek grabbed his giraffe and disembarked immediately.

After hanging up the phone, Shallow Pie realized that she was in trouble. She had to find a place to hide the Pineapple and she

had to do it carefully. She figured that if Idiot Geek took the noise-polluting import, she had take at least two minutes before

Idiot Geek would get there. But if he took the Scooter? Then Shallow Pie would be very screwed.

Before she could come up with any reasonable ideas, Shallow Pie was interrupted by six clueless Voles that were lured by her

Pineapple. Shallow Pie sighed; 'Not again', she thought. Feeling worried, she aimlessly reached for her potato and thoughtfully

groped every last one of them. Apparently this was an adequate deterrent--the discouraged critters began to scurry back toward the

fanstic pumpkin patch, squealing with discontent. She exhaled with relief. That's when she heard the Scooter rolling up. It was ...

Idiot Geek.

----o0o----

As he pulled up, he felt a sense of urgency. He had had to make an unscheduled stop at Texaco to pick up a 12-pack of ninja stars, so he knew he was running late. With a calculated leap, Idiot Geek was out of the Scooter and went surreptitiously jaunting toward Shallow Pie's front door. Meanwhile inside, Shallow Pie was panicking. Not thinking, she tossed the Pineapple into a box of live hand grenades and then slid the box behind her George Foreman grill. Shallow Pie was concerned but at least the Pineapple was concealed.
The doorbell rang.

'Come in,' Shallow Pie exotically purred. With a careful push, Idiot Geek opened the door. 'Sorry for being late, but I was being chased by some funny-smelling flaming idiot in a 'modded' Civic,' he lied. 'It's fine,' Shallow Pie assured him. Idiot Geek took a seat just under where Shallow Pie had hidden the Pineapple. Shallow Pie shuddered trying unsuccessfully to hide her nervousness. 'Uhh, can I get you anything?' she blurted. But Idiot Geek was distracted.
A few unsatisfying minutes later, Shallow Pie noticed a abrasive look on Idiot Geek's face. Idiot Geek slowly opened his mouth to speak.

'...What's that smell?'

Shallow Pie felt a stabbing pain in her taint when Idiot Geek asked this. In a moment of disbelief, she realized that she had hidden the Pineapple right by her oscillating fan. 'Wh-what? I don't smell anything..!' A lie. A abrasive look started to form on Idiot Geek's face. He turned to notice a box that seemed clearly out of place. 'Th-th-those are just my grandma's potatos from when she used to have pet 3-legged wallabies. She, uh...dropped 'em by here earlier'.

Idiot Geek nodded with fake acknowledgement...then, before Shallow Pie could react, Idiot Geek recklessly lunged toward the box and opened it. The Pineapple was plainly in view.

Idiot Geek stared at Shallow Pie for what what must've been seven hours. Happy as a frickin' monkey, Shallow Pie groped flamboyantly in Idiot Geek's direction, clearly desperate. Idiot Geek grabbed the Pineapple and bolted for the door. It was locked. Shallow Pie let out a saucy chuckle. 'If only you hadn't been so protective of that thing, none of this would have happened, Idiot Geek,' she rebuked. Shallow Pie always had been a little abrasive, so Idiot Geek knew that reconciliation was not an option; he needed to escape before Shallow Pie did something crazy, like... start chucking dull pencils at her or something. In a tragically predictable turn of events, he gripped his Pineapple tightly and made a dash toward the window, diving headlong through the glass panels.

Shallow Pie looked on, blankly. 'What the hell? That seemed excessive. The other door was open, you know.' Silence from Idiot Geek. 'And to think, I varnished that window frame four days ago...it never ends!' Suddenly she felt a tinge of concern for Idiot Geek. 'Oh. You ..okay?' Still silence. Shallow Pie walked over to the window and looked down. Idiot Geek was gone.

----o0o----

Just yonder, Idiot Geek was struggling to make his way through the secret vineyard behind Shallow Pie's place. Idiot Geek had severely hurt his armpit during the window incident, and was starting to lose strength. Another pack of feral Voles suddenly appeared, having caught wind of the Pineapple. One by one they latched on to Idiot Geek. Already weakened from his injury, Idiot Geek yielded to the furry onslaught and collapsed. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was a buzzing horde of Voles running off with his Pineapple.

About four hours later, Idiot Geek awoke, his scalp throbbing. It was dark and Idiot Geek did not know where he was. Deep in the arid bush, Idiot Geek was scarcely lost. Unaware of the bleakness of existence, he remembered that his Pineapple was taken by the Voles. But at that point, he was just thankful for his life. That's when, to his horror, a misshapen Vole emerged from the bush. It was the alpha Vole. Idiot Geek opened his mouth to scream but was cut short when the Vole sunk its teeth into Idiot Geek's fingernail. With a faint groan, the life escaped from Idiot Geek's lungs, but not before he realized that he was a failure.

Less than eight miles away, Shallow Pie was entombed by anguish over the loss of the Pineapple. 'MY PRECIOUS!!' she cried, as she reached for a sharpened dangerous oil-soaked rag. With a hasty thrust, she buried it deeply into her scalp. As the room began to fade to black, she thought about Idiot Geek... wishing she had found the courage to tell him that she loved him. But she would die alone that day. All that remained was the Pineapple that had turned them against each other, ultimately causing their demise. And as the dew on melancholy sappling branches began to reflect the dawn's reddish glare, all that could be heard was the chilling cry of distant Voles, desecrating all things sacred to virtuous men, and perpetuating an evil that would reign for centuries to come.

Our heroes would've lived unhappily ever after, but they were too busy being dead. So, no one lived forever after, the end. :'(

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If only I'd discovered these when I had exams...the potential to procrastinate!!

It's been a long time since I updated this, and I don't kow how many more updates I'll make in future, but a summary of the year seems appropriate (and I can copy caloola's format):

1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?
Hmmm, not a lot really. 2007 was really spent building on what I'd done in 2005 and 2006 rather than doing anything new, and I would predict 2008 to be fairly similar.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't think I made a new year's resolution for 2007. For 2008 I'll use my 2006 resolution to try to stretch every day as I won't be flexible enough to pass my Tae Kwon-do grading (probably in February) if I don't. Given my answer to (1), maybe it should be to try to do more new things

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No, although 10 minutes into 2008 a friend gave birth to a baby girl

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My American Grandfather (a.k.a Santa Claus according to his sleigh lisence [hmm, is a lisence to sleigh effectively a lisence to kill?]) and my cat both died this year, although neither were big shocks as my cat had been diagnosed with AIDS (apparently cats get it too) and my Grandfather hadn't been well for years.

5. What countries did you visit?
None at all (I did go to England, but that doesn't really count) - I didn't really have the chance to take any holidays, and I plan to rememdy that this year

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
A summer holiday!

7. What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
I think probably the 1st of April due to several new starts - new flat on that date, my first day working in insolvency and even a new bike (it was exciting at the time, until it spawned an endless series of problems ending in it getting stolen!)

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Passing my TPS exams - partly for the importance in career development, but mostly because it such a challenge and there were times I really didn't think I could do it. They were the most difficult and by far the most intensive exams I've ever done and probably ever will do and I fervantly hope never to have to go through such a difficult period of coursework and exams ever again!

9. What was your biggest failure?
I didn't really fail at anything major during the year because apart from exams, I didn't have any major targets. In April, I had hoped to get into cycling and mountain biking properly, which didn't come to anything except a few forays into Arthur's Seat, so that was maybe the biggest failure

10.Did you suffer illness or injury?
Manflu a couple of times and a nasty hangover to start hogmanay, but nothing serious (I even recovered sufficiently from my hangover to enjoy hogmanay and have a good night in the end). While not quite an injury, I have a potentially permanent scar beneath my right eye after being punched in a Tae Kwon-do squad training session and having to get stitches to close the wound.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
I bought three major things during the year: a car (leased actually, but I'm still counting it), a new computer and a new bike. Of the three, the car is probably the most significant, but the bike is the most all-round fun and useful

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
I think Jane's in organising a reunion of the biosphere Slovakia group in the peak district this summer after 3 years. Kathleen deserves an associated mention for making it all the way from Dubai to make that reunion.

13. Whose behaviour made you depressed?
At the start of th eyear, my initial flatmates, for generally being anti-social and getting ridiculously angry if I didn't clean particular parts of the shower to their expected standard

14. Where did most of your money go?
Rent, car, having to replace my bike after it got stolen.

15. What events did you get really, really, really excited about?
The chances to visit old friends - modern languages ball and meeting Adam, David and Angela again in December in April, Slovakia reunion in July, Tae Kwon-do training camp in May. Also moving to a new flat after the bad times in my old one.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?
Probably a tie between 'Bridge to Better Days' by Joe Bonamassa for optimism at the start of the year (also see musical discovery question), and 'Fighting My Way Back' by Thin Lizzy for getting me through my exams after failing badly on two mock exams and managing to come back and double those scores for the final mocks

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i.happier or sadder? Happier without a doubt - 2007 was a gradual upward trend, whereas 2006 was more like a bell curve
ii.thinner or fatter? About the same but I'm cool with that.
iii.richer or poorer? A lot richer - my trust fund matured in December!

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Travelling, since I didn't do any at all

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Reading the last Harry Potter book when I should have been studying - my marks dropped massively while I was reading it!

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
I spent it at home this year with my immediate family. and getting some much-needed sleep!

21. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?
Probably my mum

22. Did you fall in love in 2007?
I wouldn't say that I did

23. How many one-night stands?
None, although I wouldn't list them publically if I'd had any anyway

24. What was your favourite TV programme?
Heroes and Sharpe (I got the complete boxed set on DVD). My favourite TV shows remained mostly the same

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No

26. What was the best book you read?
'Sword Song' by Bernard Cornwell, as the Alfred the Great series are by far my favourite books. 'Sorceror's Apprentice' by Tahir Shah was also a great find - a slightly surreal travel adventure and a real eye-opener.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery or rediscovery?
Probably blues rock giutarist Joe Bonamassa first, with Finnish symphonic-metal soprano Tarja Turennan (and by extension Nightwish) second. I only discovered them through reading Classic Rock magazine, so that's the real musical discovery I suppose

28. What did you want and get?
Bonuses for passing my exams, a new car, a new flat

29. What did you want and not get?
More holidays!

30. What were your favourite films of this year?
At the cinema: Transformers was my favourite film of the summer, on TV: Princess Mononoke (by Hiyao Miyazaki who did 'Spirited Away') is probably the best animated film I've ever seen, and on DVD: Casino Royale

31. What did you do on your birthday?
Early hours at a ball visiting St Andrews, during the day I went home and made a bonfire, then went out for a meal in the evening

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Hmm, falling deeply in love, winning the lottery, having a one night stand with Jessica Alba...

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
Gradually becoming a bit smarter (ironically the reverse is probably true of brain capacity)

34. What kept you sane?
Doing anything that wasn't work is the short answer

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most/least?
Who did I fancy least - interesting question! Possibly Anne Widdecombe. Most: probably split between Megan Fox and Keira Knightly

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
The Scottish election I suppose, and the treatment of the credit crunch and resulting collapse of Northern Rock

37. Whom did you miss?
The best short answer continues to be my Dad

38. Who was the best new person you met?
I didn't actually meet all that many new people in 2007, and it would be unfair to pick a favourite from those I did meet

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007:
"The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft awry", in fact so often that

40. Sum up the year in a song lyric/quote
See (39) and (16) above

Overall, 2007 was a year of consolidating and gradually improving things rather than a year of doing exciting new things. It was therefore more stable than 2006, perhaps not quite so good overall. 2008 should be more like 2007 than 2006, with the biggest goal to pass my TPE exam and become a qualified CA. It's likely that I'll move room if not move flat at some point during the year, and that the end will be spent thinking about what I want to do with my career after my training contract ends (whether through passing or failing the final exam).

I feel like posting my first entry for nearly 2 months, though I don't really see the point with these journals. I suppose there never was much of a point anyway. It's the time of year when everyone is graduating, which reminds me that it's officially just over a year since I officially became a graduate - a non-student, and (after a bit of holdiay)entered the real world.
Maybe this has put me in a slightly reflective mood, but you can't help reflecting on what has happened since - how does working life compare to student life, and of course that when you get a job (especially a 'professional' job) you set yourself on a career path that usually lasts a lifetime, and if it doesn't it's often not through choice. While I miss being a student still, what I really miss is the people, and the chance to meet like-minded people. Having a job isn't so bad really, since between 9 and 5:30, I didn't really do anything significantly different as a student; there were lectures to go to and essays to write, and if I didn't have any I slept in, or played computer games or watched TV and those aren't really things you miss. For all the social networking events put on (and PwC are very good for that and spend plenty of money on it), you only really meet other people in the office, and you're not likely to have a lot in common with them, and unless you're into football there aren't really any sports clubs or anything like that to get into.
Work itself isn't 'rewarding' or exciting, but then how many people's jobs are? I still believe that when (if!) I qualify and move into BRS full time, that will be rewarding and interesting work, but there's a certain dissatisfaction in office-based work - it doesn't seem 'real' or important (especially audit which seems like a buerocratic requirement gone mad). But what else would I do? What job is 'real' and important and never repitive but not stressful and requiring silly hours? You've just got to settle for something that's good enough (you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need). Such is life I guess, but it always leaves you wondering if there isn't something better and more satisfying out there that you just haven't found yet.
Ever since I've started living and working in Edinburgh, I've been in a kind of lethargic malaise, as if I can't be bothered to try hard at anything. Part of this may be the lack of expectation on me in the first year on the job, and the fact that I haven't had any time pressure placed on me. If I don't have to 'step up a gear', I stay in a fairly low gear - if I only have five minutes available in a busy day to something, I do it; if I have all day to do something, I put it off and can't be bothered to do it, and I'd rather do nothing while bored than do what I need to. That kind of thinking creates a certain unhappy lethargy, and I haven't really had anything to break me out of that, except a couple of tiumes when I've had a slight time pressure at work (I do enjoy the change in my mindset when I need to work faster to meet a certain achievable deadline), and when moving flat.
I have definately felt better since moving - there are no more weekends when I don't speak to anyone from friday evening to monday morning, and it feels like home in a way that my old flat never could. The new bike has been less successful, since I wanted to get into proper mountain biking with it since I really enjoy the sense of freedom that cycling can give you. However, there is such a list of small problems that it's almost as if the bike has been cursed somehow: first day i got it I had a flat tyre; after maybe 2 hours more riding, a pedal fell off; after another half hour of riding (and two weeks waiting to get the repair) it fell off again. Then my bike toolkit and puncture repair kit were stolen/thrown out. The gear cable tension went, then got repaired, then got even worse. A week or so later the whole back wheel was stolen, then replaced at surprising expense, only to get a huge puncture that couldn't be repaired and somehow knocked the tyre out of the wheel rim. On replaing the tube I was caught out by the surprising complexity of bike tubes and had to buy another one, then my pump and another toolkit got stolen. Then (last week) the new tube got a puncture at 7km from home, and I had to walk all the way back. All this in just 3 months, during which my bike has only been useable for maybe half that time. Everytime I fix something, something else goes tits up and I simply don't have the confidence that nothing will go wrong to go any distance on it, which is a pity, because when i first got it, it was truly exhilerating, and I was buzzing with adrenaline for hours.
I suppose I could summarise by saying that nothing has worked out as well as hoped in the past year or so, and while I'm (professionally speaking) where I want to be, I can't help but feel a certain disillusionment with everything. Things could certainly be worse, but I guess there's a certain reality that has to be accepted when starting on what will, if you're lucky, be the rest of your life. It's a kind of quarter-life crisis where your choice of where to go after eventually leaving full-time education becomes real and has to be questioned. Hopefully I'll get over this, and feel less flat and more energised to make the most of what opportunities are there

The 24 hours since my last journal posting have been good. I didn't get any work to do, but my amex problems are sorted (my refund for a train ticket bought in February hasn't effectively arrived until May!), the cheque for my old flat's deposit finally came yesterday evening, and I also finally got my actual red belt, and learned my new pattern (which is very cool!).
Most importantly, the TC exam results went up this morning: Business Management 82%, finance 82%, business law 67% - all comfortable passes. Not only can I relax about the results, but I get a bonus (£750 before tax) for it. From what I've heard, everyone else has passed theirs as well, so hopefully we'll all be in celebratory mood this evening.

Posting here during work only really means one thing - I don't have any actual work to be doing instead. This has become a bit of a theme over the time I've working at PwC, and has become worse recently while at BRS. For first years joining the firm, it's a bit of a lottery how much work they will have to do - one guy in my year did 80 hours of overtime in the first 3 months of the year, while I did about 4 hours of overtime, but probably spent more than that time without anything to do because the jobs I was on were generally well-organised, went smoothly and were generally well staffed.
BRS is even more of a lottery how much work you'll have, but there are a few differences for a graduate joiner. One is that audit relies on graduates to do a lot of the monkey-work, and there is a well-established and clearly defined role for first years. BRS has only recruited graduates for two years (one per year), and there is so far no role for first years, or the need for one, as the department has been used to not having first years around, and usually doesn't even now. There are analysts, who are generally recruited straight from school who do the more basic tasks, and I'm happy to do those things, but when there aren't many projects on, there simply isn't much to do, and BRS don't plan projects to include the use of graduates, as they don't know when they will have access to us.
That is the second problem - the split role that BRS graduates have is largely under the control of the audit arm of the company - assurance. They pay our wages, manage our training and our allocation to each department is done thorugh the assurance resourcing system, which BRS (in the advisory arm of the company) have only recently been able to view and still cannot use. There have been occasions where BRS needed more people, but audit could refuse to let us move across, so we are only released to BRS when audit is quiet, not when it is best for us to be there. Hence the situation that neither me or Ross (the other graduate) have any real work to do at the moment.
I do at least have a kind of project - recovering the book debts of a company that were are administrators for, which mostly involves writing letters and making phonecalls to demand money from people. Originally, this was a big task, with about 600 entries on the debtors listing, but that is now down to the last 20 or so, and I'm mostly waiting for information and responses (between phoning people who think we're "off our heads" for chasing the debt). It is satisfying to get a cheque for thousands of pounds coming in as a direct result of your work.
I feel a bit guilty when I get back to my flat, as both my flatmates work quite hard, although I will have to work on saturday 12th, when I have a stockcount. I can't complain too much about not having enough work - most people would love to be able to spend most of the day surfing the internet while at work, but it isn't helping career-wise, doesn't feel satisfying in any way, and it is a boring way to spend most days.
In other news, the new flat is generally going well, although I still haven't received my deposit from my old flat, which was meant to be sent first class post 1 month ago. My new bike is in being repaired (again), and I need to phone the PwC amex customer service line as I've been charged twice for a train fare (of £234!) as well as my bike, so the bank account is suffering a bit. I am free of student debt now though, with my graduate endowment fully paid off! When my bike is fully repaired, I have a better idea of places go, as there was a special cycling education event in the office, aiming to try to get people to cycle to work, but they also had good cycling maps of Edinburgh and the Lothians. A few of us from BRS turned out to be quite interested, so we spent half the afternoon poring over maps and talking about routes. They also told me about an Edinburgh cycling club which does everything from triathlons to mountain biking, and regularly go to Glentress and do organised rides in the Pentlands, so i may check that out.
Finally, tomorrow is quite a big day, as the next set of ICAS results come out. I plan to end the day either celebrating or drowning my sorrows, but I'm a bit less confident about these results than the last ones. The subjects were easier, and my progress test marks were better, but on the day I felt more awake, concentrated better and got better questions last time around, and in business law I'm expecting a mark that either just below or just above the pass mark. On the plus side, a resit of any of these exams would be easier than a resit of ABS, and with little work coming in at the moment, I'd have plenty of time to revise!

Well, I finally got my internet working - I think the rant must have helped! For some reason switching off automatically detecting settings worked.
However, more important is that after a few months of acting weird, and apparently developing an addiction to coal, my mum took my cat to the vet to be blood tested. The results came back and...he's got AIDS. I didn't cats could get it, especially ones that have been neutered years ago, but apparently it can be transferred in fights, and then sits dormant like it does in humans, sometimes for many years. He's on antibiotics, probably for the rest of his life (I was relieved to hear that he doesn't need to be put down yet), but all the same it's a lot worse than anything we'd expected to be wrong with him.

Some things really get me angry, I don't know why - they usually aren't big things or important things, but anything I don't seem to be able to anything about rank right up there. Right now, trying to get this wireless internet to work on my old desktop is definately in that category. What's so frustrating is that the wireless card and the internet are actually working fine. I just can't do anything on the internet, except for a five minute period where, for no readily apparent reason, everything worked exactly as it's meant to before deciding not to work again. The only website I can always visit is the St Andrews website, which makes me think it's some old setting somewhere from being on the university network that's screwing everything up, and it also says something about a 'cache administrator' which is St Andrews still. It could just be the sheer amount of spyware and other assorted internet nasties that have built up on my computer and are probably flooding across now that I'm online with severely out of date virus-scan.
There's probably a box somewhere that needs to be ticked or unticked, and everything will work fine, but it'll be somewhere you'd never think of looking unless you know it's there (what happened with getting my laptop onto the internet - after 4 days).

Well...I feel a little better for that rant

For a few weeks, I actually forgot that this thing existed at all - I haven't updated since the middle of February! And a few things have changed and happened since then - my flat being one, finally starting work in the BRS department being another. However, the anti-clima is that after months of working here, and wanting to work in this department and interviews etc...my first official day here is today, and I've had no information on anything I'm supposed to be working on or who I'm supposed to be working with. Hence the time to update this (I've already read the 155 or so unread messages that built up whilst at ICAS).
The last month and a half has been spent on lessons and exams at ICAS, inching closer to getting that qualification. It was good to be studying again (and finishing at 4pm!), and it does feel more relaxed to wear your own clothes and have more of a student atmosphere in class again. The pressure of exams felt like less this time, although not because it was - I think I'm just finding it harder to get stressed and/or motivated about exams now. The exams went pretty much as expected, which means that Finance and business management were more or less OK and business law was not so good, but all are failable, and results aren't out until May 4th.
While studying, I've been looking to move to a new flat - one with internet access, and where it doesn't feel like I'm living alone. After a brief search, I decided to move to a place called Spring gardens, near Holyrood, sharing with Robert (the landlord, also a medical student) and Tom (a graphical designer, about 3 weeks older than me). My room is tiny compared to my old one - it feels very cosy, and from my seat I can reach almost anything in the room - ultimate laziness! I haven't got the internet to work yet, but I only moved in yesterday, and was too tired to try very hard to get it working.
Actually moving everything took longer and more effort than expected - even after taking two carloads home, I needed two trips to move everything across, and I had to move most of it on my own, although my new flatmates gave me some much-needed help with the second carload. From starting to pack everything in my old flat to having everything unpacked in my new flat, it took about 8 hours in total.
The only thing left now is to hand over the keys of my old flat, after the flat inspection tonight, and hopefully I'll get the deposit back soon after.
I need that deposit, as I've spent a LOT of moeny recently. Paying one deposit before getting the other one back is a bit painful on the wallet, I have over £2000 of graduate endowment due soon, and as my old bike was so worn out as to be unridable (and cost more than it's worth to repair), I spent £360 on a new one on Saturday.
It seems a lot of money to spend on something I don't know how much I'll use, but it was incredible how much of a difference it made. It's so much faster and smoother and more agile than my old bike ever was, or than my dad's full suspension bike was, and riding over the hills towards Lanarkshire was more fun moving between two places than I've had in years. It was so good, that I just kept going when i probably should have stopped, and what I planned to be a short trip to test it out before going back to Edinburgh and moving flat turned into the furthest I've ever cycled in a day (23 miles I reckoned from the map), and by the time I got back, it was too late to move, and I was far too tired to move anyway (any meaning of 'move!). Despite the puncture I picked up at the end, and a bit of gear-change problem (which could be major as it's getting worse), it was definately worth it. I may try cycling to work at some point, instead of walking as I currently do, but it is all uphill on the way there, and I don't want to be too hot and sweaty when I arrive.
So with all this happening at the same time, I feel like this has been a bit of a climax point, and I think the new bike and flat have lived up to that, but there's a bit of anti-climax today. suppose I should try to find out if I'm supposed to be doing anything instead of waffling!

To my surprise, I've ended up having a week of holiday where I expected a week of 10 hour + days. I think is partly because the job I was on for the last two weeks went a lot smoother than last year - we were ahead of schedule, and after the first week and a half, there was very little for me to do. I didn't have to do any overtime at all, and it was all quite leisurely, with nice old oil paintings on the wall, a kitchen next door to make tea and coffee and a nice old building on the seaside to work in. I even took pitures.
Outside of work, I got all prepared and excited to do another tae Kwon-do grading, only to find that I can't do it until March after all - thanks to a bit of an administrative cock-up (my grading card is still in St Andrews, and hasn't been sent on to my new instructor). March is probably a better time anyway, as I'm still a bit rusty after the exams/christmas period.
The biggest event of the last couple of weeks was exam results coming out, with the potential threat of getting sacked if they aren't good enough (although not getting a second chance is fairly unheard of). The worry was over though as I passed them all, and so I can relax on the exam front until...next week, when the next block of classes start. We all went out to celebrate, apart from a few people who didn't pass, and it was a decent night, and nice to see the other first years, most of whom i hadn't seen since the exams.
I actually felt quite relaxed and optimistic on the morning of the results - which is odd, and I did expect to pass them all when i checked the results, despite the very real chance of failing one of them. Going out (for Santiago's 23rd) may have helped, or just the delay after the actual exams.
This week, my main plan was to try to find a new flat, with flatmates that might actually talk to me or have something in common with me (and don't run a finger over the shower to check that I've done it well enough, then throw sponges around the room in an angry fit when i don't pass their test). So far, I've found absolutely nothing. There are a few flats, but most of the ones still available are through the same company as the last one, and are a similar arrangement. Ideally, I'm looking for a private let, but those are hard to come by, especially good ones, and I'm beginning to think this search will take months rather than weeks, so I'll have to start renewing my lease. Other plans include a visit to Glasgow to see David (probably overdue), and helping turn the old 'playroom' into a study. Then it's back to school (finishing at 4pm - hurrah!) before my first real taste of BRS (what I joined the company to do in the first place).

I feel a bit odd, even guilty now for updating while at work (even though it's technically still my lunch hour) during busy period. This is the last week I'm on the audit of Lloyds Scotland, and so everyone is working late (finished at 7pm yesterday, a lot earlier than the more senior people on the job) and there's a bit of a hurry on to get everything done. This means you can't really make any plans to do anything in the evenings, as you might need to stay at work late. It means - for the first time in an actual job - that I've kind of gone into 'deadline mode', which is relatively familiar from essays and projects, and makes me a lot more involved in everything, and more interested in getting everything done. Hard to describe properly, but main difference is that it no longer feels like a casual summer job (it is the first time I've worked for the same company for more than 7 consecutive weeks), and feels more like...well, a real job. Hence the feeling that I'm doing something wrong by updating this while I wait for phonecalls (from the confirmation letters that have haunted my work life since december).
Of course, my continue employment here is dependant on not failing the exams, and so thinking of this as a real, permanent job may be a little premature, as the reults for the last set of exams come out a week tomorrow. After years of an actual fail being difficult even if you try, the chances are far too real and far too high now.
Anyway, outside of work, I've finally got my new car (its-a verry nice!), and I'm beginning to ge tthe hang of driving again. Adam came down for the weekend on Saturday, and we went to Arthurs Seat (nearly got blown off!), Dynamic Earth, cinema and generally wandered a bit around Edinburgh. It was great to see him again, especially as I've hardly seen anyone from uni since I left. There's another TKD grading in february which I've put my name down for though, so should see some more people then. Also managed to win 18 pints of beer with my team at a pub quiz on sunday, but unfortunately they only let us get Carling with it, which I can't stand (I bravely suffered through most of a pint though!)
Anyway, better get back to work!