Message from the Author

The crux of this post is held below in the video but I would like to make a few points about said video before you watch it:

• Firstly the video is rubbish but, as I mention, I attempted it a few times and the lighting was rubbish so I've settled for it.
• I didn't get dressed up for the occasion.
• I don't grow facial hair - not because I don't want to, but because I can't do it. I've not shaved for a week now and so I apologise for the mess on my top lip - adds character as far as I'm concerned.
• I clearly don't have a concept of night and day. That might be down to the fact that I've been up for ages and I had to close my blind to get the lighting right but I'm an idiot first and foremost.
• I don't have an itchy arm (or armpit at one point), I just don't know what to do with my arms when I talk apparently.
• I don't plan to stop blogging but if needs must then ROATSomething will be having a hiatus during the tougher parts of my exam diet.

 

Thanks for watching.

Martin 

Tragedies and Their Futures

A week not of tragedy itself but of the memories of tragedy. In the last week we've seen the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic and in the week ahead we'll see Anders Behring Breivik go on trial for the atrocity that he conducted last summer. Two events that seem are so far removed from each other but which share such a bitter common factor: the loss of lives of many innocent people. In the Titanic's case 100 years is a poignant anniversary but people seem to have missed the point. The commercialisation of the anniversary (talked about below) can only but make you cringe - not the desired response to the memories of over 1500 people. In the case of Breivik, a madman will be dumped onto the conveyor belt of justice this week and rightly so. Why, though, do I pick up on these two things in the same post? Well read on and let me explain.

The Week I Needed

I walked out of my university's lecture theatres for what appears to be the last time a week ago today and I wondered where I was going to go next. Obviously what lies ahead are my exams and all of the fun that they hold but I wasn't quite sure how I was going to get there - I wasn't even sure where to start. So I went to bed on Friday night with a sort of empty feeling inside of me, hoping that a week away from home and from university would do me good. We're a whole week on from that now and I here I sit with a rekindled fire in my belly and a new found confidence in myself - I couldn't have asked for a better outcome really.

My Fish and Chips Theory

There is a particularly sad fact in my life: when I'm meant to be thinking about one thing I'm probably thinking about something else. Just now I'm meant to be concentrating on my exams that are now less than a month away but I've got fish on the brain - something isn't right. Actually, I tell a lie. I was thinking about this last night when I was having dinner (yes, you guessed it: fish) when I wasn't actually meant to be studying - there is still a light at the end of the tunnel; a beacon of hope for my bizarre and sometimes worrying head. I've not theorised since I made all of those pretty pictures about sleeping back on Ramblings of a Teenager. Those halcyon days of frivolity and youthful exuberance are behind me now and new ideas must be sought from my old, decrepit mind.

Procrastination Proclamation: A Juggling Idiot

It was a good use of a holiday I think. Over Christmas I taught myself how to juggle to an OK standard using a couple of pairs of balled up socks. I've since been upgraded by a good friend of mine and below is the result. It might well get to the stage that I'm going to have to hide them somewhere for my exams but it's a nice way to relax. Apologies for the bad dancing and for the number of times that I attempt (and fail miserably) the trick behind my back - I've honestly done it only 2 times out of the million that I've tried it, hence the reason why I go a bit mental when it doesn't come off for the camera. Enjoy!

Thanks for watching!

Winding Up is in Order

What an academic year it has been. After a tough first semester ending in a successful exam period I stepped into this semester full of vigor and enthusiasm. The latter of those has wilted somewhat over the period of the last 12 weeks or so but the vigor remains and has carried me through to the other side - well almost anyway. All that is left for me to do now is to get through my exams and I'll be half of the way through my law degree which is pretty scary. You don't really notice change in yourself when you're going about your daily life but when I've been away from university and with people that I don't see an awful lot, I notice a change in who I've become - I think it's fair to say that this degree is having the desired effect on me.