Recipes for Friends

I’m so bored November 29, 2007

I thought I would enjoy having all my work done quite early in 8th week, but now I’m bored out of my mind. I’ve been watching tv shows on my computer all day, and packing when I don’t really need to be packing. But I have nothing else to do. I guess I could go buy a book, but I have so many books at home. I don’t want to do more work because I’m just tired of it. So I sit around and eat and stare at my computer. Sarah and Celia came over today, which was fun, but then they both had meetings so we were done by around 3. So I thought I’d write in my blog, though there is nothing to write about. Oh well. Search for something else to do.

Done with my last regular Oxford essay ever! November 24, 2007

Yesterday I finished my last IR essay. I’ll still be writing essays next term, but they’ll be for revision, so it won’t be completely new topics. And I still have work to do on my thesis. I could have done some of that this morning, but instead I slept in and took my time getting ready. Now I’m waiting for Amanda to get here, and we’ll start making mashed potatoes for the MCR Thanksgiving meal. I have two more tutorials next week, but I really feel like I have a whole week ahead of me of nothing really challenging. I don’t know what I’m going to do with all my time. Thursday, I think I’ll be going to Sarah’s and we’re going to be lazy all day and watch movies. And each evening besides Thursday, I have things going on, but during the day I’m free. I figure I’ll sleep in each morning. I think my body is trying to fight off something, and I really don’t want to get sick. So lots of sleep and little stress will hopefully accomplish that. Maybe I’ll get a book to read for fun. Or maybe I’ll try to figure out how I’m going to study over the break or how I’m going to pack everything to get home. Just need to keep myself busy so I don’t think too much of home and get homesick. In a week I’ll be spending my last day in Oxford, going to Sarah’s for her birthday tea party. And then sleeping and going through the loveliness that is airport security. Well not much else to say, just trying to bide my time until I have to get up and cook.

No matter where you’re from you can always compare life to Friends November 20, 2007

Friends the TV show. This morning I got a package. I wasn’t expecting one, so I had no idea what it was. Turns out it was the key to Kristie’s bike that she said I could use. We kept missing each other over the summer, so she said she’d just mail it to me. So now I have to figure out which bike is hers, and then I have no excuse for not riding a bike to get places around Oxford. Just have to make myself get on it. I even brought a helmet over, so I don’t have that excuse either. I was talking to Ula after I got it, and I said all this stuff. And she said I’d be fine. Just to think of the episode in Friends when Phoebe tries to learn to ride a bike, and you’ll feel better about yourself. So now that she said that, of course, I came up to my room and searched for that episode online. I’ll let you know if there’s any progress on me riding a bike. After lunch, I plan on going to the back quad and seeing if I can remember which bike is hers.

As for other things in life. I performed terribly in my tutorial yesterday, but I knew I would, and I told Lee I was having trouble with this topic. So I just looked at it as a learning experience, and the tutorial did help me sort out the topic much better. Lee said it was a complicated topic, and he thought the structure I chose for my essay was what hindered me. So we talked about how I could have structured it differently. Yesterday I also worked on my thesis. I turned in two more chapters to Mark. So now I just have to write the last chapter, which probably won’t be too long and rewrite my introduction, which shouldn’t take long now that I have the rest of the thesis written. I’m not sure if we’re meeting this week or not. But even so, I feel like I don’t have that much to do. I usually don’t start my essay reading until Wednesday, but I might go ahead and start it today, but there isn’t that much to read. So when I feel like I have time, of course, I waste it instead of using it wisely. And that’s why I’m going to go watch this episode of Friends and maybe try to ride my bike this afternoon. So maybe it was a good time for me to get this bike key.

What?!?! November 16, 2007

So I was just telling Sarah that I needed to write Suke because I hadn’t gotten my second collection back. My first one, I got a 55 on, a mid-2:2. I went and checked my pidge, and of course, my second collection was there. I was hoping I did better, but I didn’t expect too great a mark. So I told myself I just had to look at it, and forced myself to take it out of the envelope.

I got a 75!!!

Which I don’t know if I believe this guy really knows how to mark collections. Of course, he had all of 2 comments on it. One said, “could use some math” under a diagram I had used. And the other was the overall comments, which said “A very good exam.” But a 75 is a first, and well above the required 70 for a first. I was trying to figure out if that number could be read as any other number, but I’m pretty sure it has to be a 7, and the 5 is definitely a 5. So a 20 point difference between my collections. Pretty crazy. Also shows that I understand micro-economics much better than macro-economics, when it comes to applied stuff. And I’m using a lot of the economics of industry stuff in my thesis, so I guess it’s good I understand it apparently. I’m still sort of in disbelief. I was excited with my 68 on a collection last term, with a 70 on one of the essays. A 75 is unreal. And I’m still not sure if I should take that as really representative of what I can do on a real Oxford exam. But still, it brightens my day. Now I just have to go finish this awful essay that I’ve started for IR.

He shook my hand twice and all I said was hi. November 13, 2007

Jesse Jackson came to Regent’s today. He’s in England for something to get more black people to apply to Oxford. And since Regent’s is Baptist, we’re hosting a lot of the events. The first thing I could go to was a tea, followed by a question and answer session. Then I went to a worship service. He sort of said the same things at the question and answer session and in the service (which quite a bit of the sermon was very political), so the lecture tomorrow that I’m going to might have similar things too. But I’m going anyway. But at the tea, I was talking with Matt about revision classes for next term. And he came in, and he sort of came straight towards us, and shook our hands. Matt said, “He really sort of targeted us, didn’t he?” Which I guess we were standing somewhat in the middle of the room, so I don’t know if that was why or if we looked really American or if he heard our American accents and thought we would be good to shake hands with. Then later, I went to get some tea, and while I was waiting, he was standing a bit to my side, and he stepped forward and held out his hand again to me. I don’t know if my face is that forgettable or if I looked like I was wanting to ask him something. Which I was thinking about Kyle telling me I should get a picture with him. To which I said, I doubt I’ll be that close to him, I could just get one from far away. But of course, all I said was hi. I didn’t ask for a picture (which apparently somebody did, and they were told tomorrow they’re having professional pictures taken, which I guess we would have to pay for, so we can’t get our own). I also didn’t ask anything else. I couldn’t think of anything to ask. So I just said hi and smiled, like I always do. Not that I’m in that position that often, but sometimes I wish I wasn’t so shy. And I would take advantage of situations like that. I don’t know that much about Jesse Jackson, but still I wish I would have said something. Could have even just asked how he like Oxford. Sometimes I really frustrate myself. And I doubt tomorrow there will be another situation like that, so I missed my chance. Oh well. I still got to see him and hear him speak. And I got to meet him too. Twice.