I don't want to count my chickens yet, I'm still waiting on the guy who's taking over my room to pay his deposit and I'm paranoid he's going to drop out at the last minute and I'm going to be stuck with rent to pay on 2 properties but I'm trying not to think too hard about that...*hyperventilates quietly to self*...
In other news, I update much more frequently (though to be honest, only once a week or so, vet school is a total time whore) over on my craft blog, Second Fiddle Crafts so check it out if you're a nerdy craft lover like me!
Andrew and I went to view a flat yesterday, after having a big discussion at the weekend about how now is not a good time to move, he decided to have a look at this one anyway *rolls eyes*. Anyway, it has a real open fire in both the lounge AND the bedroom! It's HUGE as well, 2 double bedrooms, a boxroom large enough for me to make into a study, a big kitchen with pantry and a bathroom! One of the bedrooms looks out over the Meadows, which for those of you not acquainted with Edinburgh is a large grassy space just south of the city centre. You can see Arthurs Seat at the other end of the Meadows, which at the moment is covered in snow and looks really gorgeous, the flat is just perfect.
I had a long chat with my folks about it last night and they're not happy about me moving now but they're supportive of me if that's what I want to do. That's one hurdle out of the way, just got to find someone to take my room (I've already got interest!) and tell my flatmates (really not looking forward to that one).
This flat is amazing though, totally worth the short term hassle and heartache!
Basically I freaked out about moving in with Andrew back in August and am now bitterly regretting that decision. I have 3 flatmates, all of whom are lovely, but none of whom I really want to live with now. I have no specific problems with them, they're all reasonably clean, don't steal my stuff etc but I just really want to live with Andrew. I spend all my time either at uni, in the library or at his flat so I'm pretty much never in my flat at the moment and when I am there it's just to pick things up or drop stuff off.
I was planning on moving out in June once my summer exams are over, but Andrew's been looking at flats and there's a couple available now that look perfect, exactly what we're looking for. If he's going to move out, he needs to either do it now so he can get someone in to take his room for 6 months till the end of his lease or he needs to wait till the end of his lease sometime in July. If we wait any longer then the closer it gets to the end of his lease, the less likely it is that he'll be able to find someone to take his room and the easier it would be for him to just stay where he is till the lease expires.
It's not a big deal waiting till June/July to move, in fact it might be easier that way for the following reasons:
1. My mum doesn't know we're moving in together and would have issues with it since Andrew and I broke up a few months back for about 2 months. She would think we're rushing things. I've told my dad and he's fine with it so I was going to tell mum around easter time. Also my grandparents live in Edinburgh and my gran would have the same issues mum has. Whilst I don't need their permission, it's nice to know your family support you. If we were to move in now I could make an excuse like Andrew's landlady has given them notice because she wants to sell the flat and that's why we're doing it now, but it might just be easier to stick to the original plan and move over the summer.
2. When I moved in my flatmates specifically asked me, "are you going to change your mind in the future and decide you'd rather live with Andrew?" and I said no, I definately didn't want to do that this year. Now, one of my flatmates is moving out in March unexpectedly so if I was to move out now I wouldn't be the only one breaking my word and the contract but that doesn't make me feel any better about it. One of my flatmates is already upset about Mike moving out in March and me moving out in June so I think she'd be even more upset if I said I was moving out now. Again I could use the Andrew's landlady excuse but I'd still feel guilty.
3. My course is incredibly hard work and the hassle of flat hunting and moving house would leave me miles behind with studying if we do it now during term time. The plan to do it in June/July was because I would be done with the academic year and would have time to organise moving.
But, on the other hand, I'd be much happier and more settled living with Andrew properly. At the moment I'm split between his flat and mine, my stuff is all over the place, I haven't got anywhere proper to study and I feel very unsettled, I don't feel at home in either flat. I could spend more time at mine but I want to be with him so it's tricky. Also my flat is really cold and I have to study in bed to stay warm, which gives me back ache. If I moved out now, I could stop feeling quilty about never being in the flat, I feel like they took me on as a flatmate and now I'm never there. I'm pretty much paying rent to store my stuff there.
What do you guys think? Some impartial advice would be nice, especially from those of you that I don't know in the real world, you don't know me well enough to be biased either way!
I was wondering if you guys would mind giving me some feedback on my craft journal though?
It's over here, Second Fiddle Crafts, it will have a pretty banner at some point soon as dearest Vicky is working on that for me :-)
I'm blogging about my crafts, other people's crafts (on the internet and in the real world) and thrifting in general (charity shop shopping etc). I mean, it's stuff that interests me and so that's the point of a blog, but I'd also like it to be things other people might find interesting or inspiring to read and I'm not sure it quite fits into that yet. I read so many craft blogs and find them really inspiring but my own feels kind of dull. I don't know if that's maybe because it's mine and so you always see the faults in your own work but I guess you guys are best placed to tell me that!
Also, I'm thinking of starting to blog about our 2 African pygmy hedgehogs over there as well, there's pretty much no decent information out there on keeping them as pets so I thought it might be interesting for prospective hedgehog owners to gain a bit of an insight into keeping them. They could click on the hedgehog tag and it would bring up everything that I've written about the pair of them. Yay or nay d'you think?
It was a really lovely day, the ceremony was short and sweet, I didn't fall on my face and I remembered to smile, so all went well. Photos are under the cut for those who're interested :-)
I know I shouldn't be getting excited about this just yet since I don't start the course for another 6 weeks but when I graduate from vet medicine in 4 years time I'll have a gown that's edged with black silk, maroon silk, yellow poplin and white fur. How brilliant is that!
Oh, and my folks are thinking of buying a flat in Edinburgh for Andrew and I to live in, so life is pretty damn good right now *smiles*
I was wondering if my thriftstore friends would mind commenting here in case any London TSUK meet up stuff is planned in the next week? Just I'm heading to Sweden for a friends wedding from tomorrow until next Monday (14th) and I really want to go to this meet up (though on the other hand I'm scared!) but I know how quickly stuff moves on thriftstore and I don't want to miss anything. I've asked dear Chloe to text me but I know she's got a real non-internet based life so on the off chance she misses anything, I'd really appreciate you guys keeping an eye out for me!
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milkysea any news on the logo front at all? There's no rush at all but just thought I'd ask! madamclaire I hope your hips are feeling better, are you thinking of coming to the meet up?Mongolian Rally/Andrew update: Left Aberdeen on Thursday to drive to Edinburgh, left Edinburgh on Friday for London, left London yesterday for France and at the last text is somewhere in Europe past Germany! Though that was at 2.30am this morning so he could be anywhere by now!
I'm still reading everyone's posts, keep it up :-) I'm just not getting much time on the net at the mo, between pig farming and stables for work experience, packing up mine and Andrew's flats, graduation (next week, eeep!), starting to get ready for vet medicine and the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh, which was AMAZING!
Anyway, here's some pony photos, I was offered the most gorgeous little pony on loan at the stables, everyone thought I was there for the summer and they wanted someone to ride this lovely little 6 year old Connemarra cross. He was so lovely, exactly what I would want in a horse and it's totally gutting that now really isn't the time to be taking on something as huge as that. Blatently when I do have the time and money to take on a pony he'll be gone to someone else *sigh*
On the plus side though, I had my second jumping lesson and jumped half a metre!
pesky33 and wearitlikebones. Someone also sent me an anonymous LJ present, so thank you whoever you are! If you've text me, I promise I'm not being a rubbish replyer, I'm at Dyces without my phone charger and my phone's died! I'll be going back to mine after my exam this afternoon so I'll charge it then.
Right, must go cram for the next 3 hours *sigh* But then I'm going to the ballet with Dyce!
I'm contemplating getting one to open an etsy store since I've been turned down by pretty much every other bank because I'm a student with no regular income but it seems rather expensive and I'm not sure it's worth it for etsy since I'd only be spending a pound or two every month on it to list items.
You have to pay £9.95 to get the card in the first place and then a percentage of each transaction you use on it, with the minimum payment being 50p. So for a payment of 5p to list an etsy item, I'd have to pay 55p to pay with my tuxedo card, which would bite into my profits quite massively if I'm regularly listing things. I plan to open the store with 25 items at least and then I want to aim to list about 3 items a week after that, so the charges will soon add up.
You can go for a pay monthly option where you pay £5 a month and don't incur charges on any payments you make, which might be more worthwhile. So long as I list 10 items a month, it'd work out cheaper than paying-as-I-go but it just means that my first 2 or so sales will be covering the £10 charge to get the card and then at least 1 sale a month will be covering my monthly fee. Which is fine if I sell more than 1 item a month, but I'm not going to hold my breath initially.
Gah, it's all so annoying. Why can't you just pay via paypal or debit card!?
Anyone got any opinions/heard anything about the Tuxedo card?
In other news, I got the ring! She listed another one for me *smiles all round*
God, how materialistic and capitalist have I become?
The woman said she might be able to make me another one but it's made from vintage cutlery so I *really* hope she's got a second one she can sell me. It's so pretty! It makes me all excited for my own etsy store as well.
Keep your fingers crossed for me, I'm sat with etsy open pressing refresh in the hope she'll get back to me today. I am officially the saddest woman on earth.
I feel quite frustrated at the moment and it's starting to really bother me. I'm sure it's just a product of finals and revision stress and all that, but I just feel like everyone is heading off after uni to new and exciting things and I'm still going to be stuck for the next 4 years.
I mean, I know it's my choice and I do *really* want to do Vet Medicine but right now all my friends are finishing their exams in 2 weeks along with me but they're all jet-setting off to do turtle conservation in Australia and national park work in America or just plain going on holiday. Whereas I start work experience on a pig farm literally the day after my last exam. No breather or anything, I don't even get a lie-in, it's going to be up at 5.30am to drive the 30 miles out to the farm to work all day FOR FREE and then come home in the evening and repeat for a week. Then after that it's straight to Inverness for 2 weeks work experience at a stables. My first holiday in 2 years is going to be with my mother instead of my boyfriend because Andrew is driving to Mongolia in a charity car rally. Even Andrew-computer-nerd-Dyce is doing something exciting with his summer.
I can't move work experience because I've got to do 3 weeks and it's the only way I can fit it all in and still make in the to Highland Show (with my grandparents, the glamour of my life) and back to Aberdeen in time for graduation week. Then after that it's off to Sweden for a friend's wedding, then home for a week before another wedding.
That's the other thing that's bothering me, everyone who's not going travelling or getting amazing well-paid jobs (Dyce's flatmate just walked into his first job straight out of uni with a 2.2...£27,000. Seriously. Why do I even bother?) is getting engaged or married. I had a friend get married last easter, then one this easter. I've got 2 weddings this July, then one in October, then one April next year followed by one July next year. I'm in no desperate rush to get engaged or married, but it seems like everyone I know has got something amazing to look forward to, be it seeing the world, getting engaged, getting married, or just simply chilling. I feel like I've worked so hard the last 4 years, only to have another 4 years in front of me. I feel burned out and frustrated. People who worked half as much as I did seem to be doing twice as well right now.
Then I've got the whole flat situation. I need to find a flat in Edinburgh and I really want to get one sorted for the start of August so I can move straight in there before term starts. Except Dyce doesn't know where he'll be as he's applied for a job in London and won't know for a while whether he's got it or not. It's his dream job so if he gets it he'll be moving to London. So there's no point me sorting out a 2 bedroom flat for us to rent if he's going to be in London. I'm past the point of living with randoms. So I'm thinking, look for 1 bedroom places. It'll be squashed to have the 2 of us in there but at least if he ends up in London I won't be stuck with a flat I can't pay rent on. Except even with a 1 bedroom place I'll be lumbered with the rent plus any deposit for August since he's not going to be back from Mongolia until at least the 2nd or 3rd week in August. So I should really be looking for a flat to start at the beginning of September, except then I have to stay with my grandparents for 3 weeks since my term starts on the 11th of August. My grandparents are lovely but I like my independence and I really don't want to live with them for 3 weeks.
If you're still following at this point then bravo. I might just remove myself to the kitchen and throw myself off the balcony....
Here's a photo of my friend Heather and her new husband Colin though, I went to their wedding about 3 weeks ago now (and made them the Blue Crocheted Blanket of Yore over on
geekzoidtastic). It was lovely, I was only invited to the evening reception and I was quite glad of that, I barely knew anyone and ended up spending the entire evening with my friend Karen's (who was a bridesmaid and so busy with bridesmaidly duties) parents. Who were both really nice but not quite the way you plan to spend a friend's wedding. Karen's dad bought me a drink and danced with me though and Karen's mum and I sat and disected what everyone was wearing. Heather baked lots of little cupcakes instead of a wedding cake, which I thought was such a sweet idea, each one was topped with white icing and a pink rose. Sadly by then I'd filled up on cheese so only managed half a cake. I managed not to drink too much and wasn't hungover the next day as well so I was very proud of myself. Though I was staying with my gran and she forced a bacon sandwich down me the next morning, my stomach was not impressed with that.There was only one photo taken of me and as per usual, I look really strangely proportioned. If my graduation photo doesn't come out alright, my prospective kids are going to think I was the ugliest child.
Best described in Dyce's own words (though please ignore the retarded misspelling of 'believe', honestly, 4 years of uni and the boy can't even spell properly!)
If you're interested in knowing more, check out this site, the official Mongolian Rally site. If you fancy making a donation, the Just Giving site is here and the bebo page is here if you want to check back later on their progress! :-)
Starting on the 5th of July, 2008 Team F7F7 - otherwise known as Andrew, Michael and Ben - will embark upon a journey of epic proportions. Setting off from London in an old, second hand car, they will attempt to travel roughly 10,000 miles - over mountains, deserts, rivers and (sometimes) roads - to Ulanbaator, the capital of Mongolia, all in the name of charity.
As you can imagine, this is quite a daunting feat! However, we beleive that we can accomplish anything and, as a result, have set our sights not only upon reaching Mongolia, but also raising £1000 for our chosen cause - Save the Children - who participate in both important and engaging work throughout Mongolia.
By supporting us through this site, you can help us achieve both of these targets. Donating via Justgiving is simple, fast and totally secure, and, if you are a UK taxpayer, will also allow Save the Children to benefit further from 'gift aid'. Any, and all, donations are greatly appreciated!
If you are interested, you can find more information on our adventure at http://www.mongoliarally.com/ or on our team website (Coming Soon!).
Thanks in advance!
Team F7F7
Andrew Dyce, Michael Middleton & Ben Clough
Like, from the very small and insignificant, I've decided to stop buying Vogue even though I do love reading it. I read in the Guardian that 60% of the pages of Vogue are adverts (and this was an article written by a woman who works there, so she's not lying or biased) and they make £32 million a year from advertising. That in itself annoys me (since the magazine is quite expensive to buy so you'd have thought from £32m/yr just on adverts, they could afford to lower the price a bit) but not enough to stop me buying it as just flicking through the magazine you can see how many adverts there are. The thing that worries me enough to stop reading it though is that they have to give a certain amount of space, in both photos and words, to items from the current collections of the people who buy advertising space. So for about £18,000 you can get a double page spread advert in Vogue and that buys you a certain amount of mention in the editorial. So all the style pages and articles about the hot new trends, they're not necessarily talking about what is honestly fashionable, but about the companies that have the most money to buy advertising space in the magazine. That just strikes me as really awful, it's almost subliminal advertising as you read the article and think, "I must get a pair of those fabulous new Chanel pumps, Vogue *raves* about them" (or at least you would if you weren't a penniless student and cared enough about stuff like that!) when in fact the only reason Vogue raves about them is because Chanel bought a few pages worth of adverts. What about small up-and-coming designers who can't afford advertising space? Are they worth less because they're not finanical big-hitters? If I give up buying Vogue then I'll be able to afford to buy Craft zine every quarter and still have money to spare so it's a saving all round I feel. Though it won't stop me reading it in the doctors surgery...
On a more important scale though, I'm really struggling with this 'speciesism' concept we've been discussing in bioethics. Speciesism is the idea that animals are treated as lower beings just on the basis that they are non-human, kind of like racism or sexism. On the one hand, I firmly believe that all living organisms have a right to life and that just by virtue of being born human doesn't give anyone superiority over any other species. On the other hand though, I eat meat and wear (second-hand) leather and take drugs (aspirin etc) that were tested on animals so I obviously assign some kind of inherent value to humans that I don't to animals as I wouldn't condone eating humans or wearing human skin or testing on humans (except in the obvious volunteer clinical trials that they do at the moment). But I can't work out exactly what it is about humans that I innately assign value to. It's not speech or reason or self-awareness as there are examples of humans who can't speak or reason (some handicapped people and babies for example) and the majority of animals are self-aware and it's not the idea of a soul as that's an entirely anthropomorphic creation but I can't work out what it is. My lecturer suggested the concept of time, in that humans have a concept that tomorrow will be different to today that animals don't (or at least don't display in any way measurable by humans) but I don't see how that ability would make humans more valuable than animals. Dyce suggests its just a species thing, in that every species is out to protect it's own when it comes down to it and hence you'd run into a burning building to save a baby but not to save a dog. I guess that's about as close as I could get to putting my finger on it, but it's a shame you can't quanitify belonging to a species.
*sigh* Shoulder ache...back to work :-(
I keep telling myself, only 8 more weeks, but I'm getting to the point now where I just can't bring myself to look at my notes any longer. And the frustrating thing is, I never do as much work as I want to. I always get distracted doing ANYTHING other than revising. For example, today I got up at 9am and by midday had done about half an hour of revision and been to the post office, sainsburys, filled in 2 funding forms, watered my plants, done my handwashing, put my clothes away, sorted my wardrobe and packed up 3 more bags to go into storage (which I'm going to have to unpack and re-do tomorrow because I filled them too full and the bags will blatently break). So although it was a productive morning, I might as well have stayed in bed an extra 3 hours for the amount of revision I got done.
This evening I planned to catch it all up, but instead I've sat in bed and watched Frasier on the internet whilst knitting
____nightingale's mittens (nearly finished m'dear!). Seriously, if I spent as much time revising as I did watching Frasier, I'd be well on the road for a first. I keep telling myself that I only need a 2.1 to get into vet school, but I'll be pretty gutted if I don't get a first I think. Though the way I feel at the moment, I'm going to be glad just to be finished and out of Aberdeen forever.On the plus side, I finally got a reply from London, they rejected me. So whilst on the one hand my pride is bruised, on the other hand I can now choose Edinburgh with a clear conscience. I always thought I'd love London but when I got there it just wasn't what I wanted from vet school (although ponies on campus = big plus!) whereas Edinburgh was just perfect, I can see myself being really happy there. The problem with Edinburgh though is its almost 7 times more expensive than London so I felt like if I got into London I'd really have to choose there for the money. But now I can go to the place I *want* to go to with a totally clear conscience! Although I'm going to be in so much debt it's not even funny...
I didn't realise but the Roslin Institute, this big research facility that shares the campus with the Dick Vet is the place that they 'created' Dolly the sheep! I'm going to be rubbing shoulders with pioneers! Well, probably not, but it'd be nice to think that I might see them in the corridor or something. Maybe they'll smile at me.
I really hope I end up with a flat or house with a garden next year. They had this 2 part free guide to growing your own veg in the Guardian this weekend (probably the best paper *ever*, I can't believe I used to read the Independent, psh!) and I'm all fired up about growing my own. Although it has become slightly sad, apparently Dyce woke me up in the middle of the night a few nights back and was asking me questions about what I was dreaming about and I was answering, "gardening" and "raised beds". I don't recall any of this, I must have been at least half asleep. I'm a sad middle aged woman already *shakes head dispairingly*
In case you're wondering, I do actually *want* to live with him, just at the moment it's so irritating not living together that one of the things I'm really looking forward to when we move in together this year is how much easier life is going to be.
For example, not having to think a day or two in advance with what I'm going to wear or do so that when I go down to his at night I've got clean clothes and things to keep me occupied in case I don't want to go back to mine the next day. The number of times I've had to go straight into uni from his wearing his boxers or t-shirt because I've forgotten to bring my own clean clothes. I would leave stuff at his but then invariably when you want to wear something, it's at the other flat and he doesn't really have the room for it anyway.
I'll waste so much less food when we live together because at the moment I go back to mine to study during the day (so buy food to keep me going) then head down to his at night. If I don't go back to mine the next day, anything fresh that I've opened invariably goes off before I get back, it's such a waste of food and money. The amount of Sainsbury's fresh stilton and broccoli soup (*love* that stuff) I've had to throw away this year is obscene.
Being able to go to bed when I want to is going to be bliss. At the moment his computer is in his room as he shares with another guy so can't really have it anywhere else, which means if he wants to sit up and play computer games into the wee small hours, I've either got to sit up bleary eyed with him or go snooze on the couch till he's done. Normally he quits and comes to bed, but even then I feel bad because he'd love to play more but I really need to sleep so I'm keeping him from doing what he wants to do. When we've got our own place, the computer is most definately not coming into the bedroom.
Not sharing with people is going to be amazing. My flatmate is brilliant and away most of the time so I've got no complaints but Dyce's flatmate and his girlfriend...not so brilliant. They're both lovely but untidy and they leave washing up out for days. Kess uses *tonnes* of toilet roll when she does her make up but never buys any to replace it. I've had to run into uni twice this year to use the loo because there's no loo roll in the flat. I buy food and whatnot occasionally since I'm always round there but she doesn't seem to do the same. The bath is always covered in scum which I find really annoying since I like to have a bath in the evening and there's nothing to ruin the relaxing part to that than picking other people's hair out of the plughole and from round the edges of the bath.
In short, it's going to be goooooood.
I've decided to go to Edinburgh for vet medicine so that's where we'll be moving to. I love Edinburgh, it's going to be so much more fun than Aberdeen.
EDIT God this sounds so petty and immature! I think exam season is making me fret about the little things. 8 weeks to go and it'll all be over!
Hobbes has this habit of pooing in his wheel as he goes, meaning every morning when I go through to check on him, he's got poo all over his feet. So every day we fill up the bathroom sink just a few centimetres and let him paddle around in it until it all comes off. The animal is most definately retarded.
But, the other day I was wondering if hedgehogs could swim. I'm sure they can in the wild but I thought if I filled the sink up and he got distressed, I'd just hoik him straight out. He took to it so well! He looked a bit weirded out at first but after a minute or so seemed to sort himself out and looked like he was almost enjoying it. I only let him do it for about 2 minutes, I didn't want to scare him or over-do it, but I'm thinking I might make this a regular thing, if nothing else it's a bit of exercise for him!
Photo under the cut, excuse my enormous, James Van Der Beek style forehead, I'm wading in the shallow end of my parents gene pool sadly.
I've spent tonight reading in the bath, with Dyce keeping me company on the floor, reading with his back against the radiator. He's a weird one for that, he likes to sit in the bathroom when it's all steamy.
I'm now all snuggled up in a dressing gown, watching old Frasier episodes streamed off alluc.org and crocheting Heather and Colin's wedding blanket. I've ordered some woven labels to stitch onto hand made gifts, I thought it would make them look more professional.
Tomorrow I plan to spend the day altering a dress to enter into a Craftster competition and making Danny's ipod sock. I'm going to eat pasta and pesto and drink hot chocolate and buy myself a really nice bottle of wine for the evening. It's going to be so good, just me and my flat for an entire day. I can't wait, I haven't had a day off like that since September!
I've binned pinkdoodle for anyone who's interested. It's too small and quiet, I'm ditching geekzoidtastic all together and starting a new professional business in the summer on etsy. In the meantime I'm busy collecting ideas for products, packaging, business names etc. This is going to be the business that works, that I'm going to spend time and money getting just perfect. I'm excited but frustrated at the moment, because uni has to come first and it's annoying not being able to get on with it when I'm bursting with creative vibes! But it at least gives me time to practice making things and experimenting with different designs. I want to name it after Jools somehow but I'm not sure how just yet.
But enough rambling, cheesy garlic pasta, Frasier and crocheting calls. Ahh, I'm so happy right now and it's so sad that I'm practically a middle aged woman already!
I vote for the Green Party because I don't believe we should do anything without factoring the environment, and our impact on it, into it and I agree with their policies on nuclear arms and animal rights.
But who do you vote for?
Apologies for typos and grammar errors, too much wine on an empty stomach :-)
