Journal – February-March 2004

Here’s the next bunch of posts from my journal. I’ve combined 2 months together here, as my entries for both are fairly short while I’ve been busy with university work. So here you’ll find out about my latest exam result, more DVDs and music that I’ve been buying, and which of our sitcoms has been voted the best by the British public. I hope you enjoy!

Tuesday February 3, 2004

I’m back at uni and, as ever for this time of year, I’ll be pretty busy. There’s an assignment to be in at the end of this term, and 2 more to be in after the Easter holidays. Plus, there’ll be revision to do when those holidays come. And I’ve got to start sorting out my career plan. No rest for the wicked, eh?

Still, it’s only Tuesday, and this first week is slightly easier, as we don’t have any Law classes because the lecturer’s away. Next week we don’t have any Economics either. So not only do I have this Wednesday off, but I’m off from Friday-Monday next weekend! But I can’t relax too much, I’m going to see if I can get a fair amount of work done in that time.

Also, on the subject of uni, we got our marks back for the International Accounting assignment we did. I got 57%, which is pretty good. It’s worth 20% of the module overall, so I’ve got 11.4% of the module already. Hopefully the exam result will be out soon too.

Saturday February 7, 2004

I’m now in my 4-day weekend, so I’m going to get some bits and pieces done. I’m not going to get this sort of free time that often, so I have to make the most of it! But I’ve continued working my way through Burnout 2 as well. It’s not as difficult as I expected it to be, at least not yet (I’ve just opened the Custom Series Championship though, so it could get more difficult now). Once you’ve got used to the controls, it’s fairly easy, as long as you’ve got your wits about you.

One thing has dominated the news lately – the Super Bowl. Yes, I suppose I ought to mention that moment, as everyone else has. Justin Timberlake was performing with Janet Jackson in the Super Bowl half-time show last week, and pulled a piece of her costume off, exposing her breast. This is when over 80 million Americans are watching, in the daytime, including children. They’ve received hundreds of thousands of complaints as a result, and Janet and Justin have admitted it was a last minute change to their performance plan, without telling anyone else. So they’re certainly getting the publicity they wanted! It’s the most requested picture of all time on the internet, and it’s been in the newspapers as well all week. The first time I saw it was last night on TV. You didn’t actually see her nipple, as she had it pierced with a star over it, and it’s not particularly exciting really. But there’s now going to be a time delay on future events like that to be on the safe side.

Friday February 13, 2004

I’ve got my International Accounting exam result back – I got 67%! I’m very pleased with that, and it means I can work out my module mark now:

57 for the essay, worth 20% = 11.4%
67 for the exam, worth 80% = 53.6%
Total mark for module: 65%

So that’s one exam out of the way, the rest all come in May and June. My uni work is still going fine, although some of the topics aren’t easy, and there’s a fair amount of reading to do. But I’m not having any major problems so far.

Friday February 20, 2004

Busy – that’s the best word to describe things at the moment. There’s plenty of work to do at uni, as ever, plus a project for the end of term. It’s always busy at this time of year, so I’m not bothered. I’ll be glad when the holidays come around in 4 weeks though. I haven’t been doing much other than that. Nan’s coming down tomorrow though, so that’ll be good. She’s staying with us for a week.

I’ve bought some DVDs this week too, as finally there’s some decent stuff out:

There are others that I want but couldn’t find this time, and there are more out next week as well.

Friday February 27, 2004

I’m still busy with uni work as ever. And Nan’s been staying with us since last Sunday, she’ll be here until next Tuesday.

I bought Keeping Up Appearances – Series 3 & 4 on DVD this week. And Series 4 of Red Dwarf is brilliant. The extras are great as usual – Can’t Smeg, Won’t Smeg is a gem that I’d never seen or heard of before, as I hadn’t seen Red Dwarf Night at the time. Why I hadn’t been a bigger fan of Red Dwarf before getting these DVDs is a mystery to me.

It was also sad to hear of the death of Les Gray this week. He was the lead singer of 70s rockers Mud, who had hits with classics such as Tiger Feet, my personal favourite of theirs. You don’t get music like that these days, which is a shame.

Saturday March 6, 2004

Another month comes around, and the year seems to be flying by once again. I’m quite busy as ever, and there’s nothing new to report on the university front. We break up in 2 weeks time though, and then I can get busy over the Easter holidays, with 2 assignments and plenty of revision.

I still haven’t seen it yet, but the final Lord Of The Rings film cleaned up at the Oscars, getting all 11 awards it was nominated for, so congratulations to them. That’s only been achieved by 2 other films – Titanic and Ben-Hur. I’m looking forward to seeing the final part of LOTR, but the DVD’s not out for a while yet.

Friday March 12, 2004

The first thing to mention must be the horrific terrorist attacks on the railway in Madrid yesterday, where 10 bombs went off on trains during the rush hour. Nearly 200 people have died, and many more have been injured, in Western Europe’s March 11th (compared to the US’s September 11th). Initial blame has been on the terrorist group Eta, but there is suspicion of Al-Qaeda involvement too. Thousands of Spanish people flocked to give blood immediately after the tragedy, because things like this make people grateful for what they’ve got and they want to support each other. We may never be able to fully stop terrorism, but terrorists will never win either.

As for me, I’ve got one week left until the holidays, then I’ve got plenty of revision and assignments to do. There’s also a project to be in next week, which I’ll polish off this weekend. There isn’t long to go until I finish now. This week I got a graduation pack with various forms to fill in. We have to wear the proper dress for graduation with the gown and stuff, of course. We can hire it all or, for about 4 times the hire price, you can buy it. We can also order videos or DVDs of the event, T-shirts, photos, photo frames, etc. There are many things to consider.

And talking of DVDs, I’ve bought the Best Of Monty Python box set. I had it on video, but I’m slowly replacing my videos with DVDs. Plus, the DVDs have more on them. The Live At Aspen disc even has a set of extras not listed on the cover – all the programmes from the BBC’s Monty Python night in 1999, to celebrate its 30th anniversary, including the sketches between programmes. I’m also still watching Yes Minister, and that’s quite good. It certainly still rings true to politics today and is very funny.

Tuesday March 23, 2004

I’m now on my holiday from uni, and I’ve started to do some revision. I went through some Economics yesterday, so that’s a good start. I’ve also sent off some forms for my graduation – I’ve spent about £450 so far! Add the cost of a suit to that and it’s going to be quite expensive. Still, it’s worth it, as it’s a special occasion, and only happens once.

I’ve also ordered some stuff from Amazon:

I’ve always wanted the full soundtrack to Vice City, but could only find individual CDs in the shops, so I’m glad I’ve got the box set now. I’ve never known such a great collection of tracks in one game, many of which I don’t own. I’m looking forward to the Sweeney as well, I’m glad I’m getting into these old shows. The Minder DVD includes one special with Terry McCann and one with Ray Daley, and I’ve never seen an episode with the latter, so that should be interesting. They’ve dispatched the items now, so I should get them soon.

Sunday March 28, 2004

I got the DVDs and CDs I ordered from Amazon this week. The Blondie DVD is a live recording done for the Old Grey Whistle Test. And it’s good, but rather short (40 minutes), and they faded out Sunday Girl before it had finished, which is a shame. The 2 Minder specials were also good, and I like the new version of the theme tune for the Ray Daley incarnation of the show. I’ve also started watching The Sweeney – Series 2, and it’s great as ever. And the GTA Vice City set is superb. I haven’t listened to them all yet, but the V-Rock CD is the best so far.

Apart from that, the revision’s going well, and I’ve made a start on the assignments I’ve got to do.

And on TV, the results for Britain’s Best Sitcom are in. This was a poll run by the BBC recently. For each of the top 10, celebrities put their case across in a 1-hour show for each sitcom, and the public voted for their favourite. I love all of the top 10, And it’s no surprise to see Only Fools and Horses at the top, which I’m glad about as it’s a personal favourite of mine. Here’s the full list:

Author: Glen

Love London, love a laugh, love life. Visually impaired blogger, culture vulture & accessibility advocate, with aniridia & nystagmus, posting about my experiences & adventures. View all posts by Glen