A Quick Word

A watched kettle never boils. I've not had my eyes on this blog for about 2 weeks (or at least it feels like that) and so there must be some kind of analogy to be had for the whole thing turning to steam in my absence. It's happened before as a lot of you will know but the reason why I noticed this time was because I didn't notice - yes, I'm running in circles tonight. I didn't really notice that I hadn't been blogging until a good friend of mine posted on his but I have my reasons.

The first is that I was working a lot last week: working, sleeping, drinking, working etc. Then there is the small matter of my honours years starting at university. It seems like the new academic year has come out of nowhere and here I sit after only two days with summer but a distant memory. I can't say I'm not happy to be back but I've read more in the last two days that I have in the whole summer - and I was reading a fair amount to pass the time!

So this was just a brief note to say that I am still alive and blogging (the poor sister show of 'Live and Kicking') and to get that terrible kettle boiling analogy out of my system before I use it somewhere that my words actually matter. You, my trusted and much adored readers, get the best of me - I promise.

I'm hoping to get a post out over the next few days in between university stuff but if I don't then I'm sure you'll have something better to read anyway. Someone jokingly (or at least they claimed to be joking...) said that they only read my blog over the summer because they were bored. I take no offence to this except for the fact I'm the one that makes the jokes around here!

I'll stop blabbing because I need sleep/stop staring at my laptop. Thanks for reading and hopefully something funny/interesting/embarrasing will happen to me which will be conveyed in the form of a blog post in the coming days.

Martin

Legacy? What Legacy?

So the summer of 2012 officially ended today. Well, we didn't really have a 'summer' in the traditional sense of the word but it certainly has been a few months that none of us will ever forget for one reason or another. This afternoon in London there was a parade for the British Olympians and Paralympians and it was a fitting end to a summer of drama, excitement and pride. As much as I enjoyed seeing all of the GB team in one place to celebrate everyone's success there was one word that annoyed me throughout the coverage: legacy.

The New Beginning Brought in by the Cathartic End

It suddenly occurred to me the other day that I still go to university. It's been almost 4 months since I set down my pen for the last time in a 2nd year exam but it feels like even longer. At the time not a single part of me was disappointed to see the summer - I'm pretty sure I clicked my heels after that exam - but never did I think it would get to the stage where university felt like a memory rather than a reality. Thankfully that reality came running back to me today as I finally sat down to clear out my notes from last year - it was nice to see it again.

Everything that I did last year was brought home from my flat in Edinburgh in the summer and left in a drawer under my bed to be dealt with at a later date - I'm sure that's a familiar experience for a lot of you. I occasionally opened the drawer, looked at it and then quickly remembered that I had something much more important to be doing. Throughout the summer I thought that this was just a symptom of my prevalent summer laziness. Today, however, made me realise that there might have been another reason for the fact that this much needed clear-out remained in an almost permanent state of 'pending' in my head.

The Art of Drinking and Self-Alienation

We've all seen those 'don't let good times go bad' adverts which basically tell you not to binge drink and make an idiot out of yourself. I've decided that I might submit my own idea to the organisation that put out said adverts and this is what it would consist of: a short film of my day today and its many highlights (or 'lowlights' as they should probably be termed) culminating in me standing looking at myself in a mirror shaking my head. In short, today has been, hands down, the worst day of my summer and I've only got myself to blame. Yes, last night was quite fun but my 'post-fun' experience has been, let's say, less than palatable.

I always find it amusing when people say that they'll never drink again after a particularly heavy hangover. I've even said it myself in the past but I have long given up kidding myself that I will follow through on such a groundbreaking statement. Even this morning when I was standing in a cold shower having re-coated the toilet I wasn't even tempted into self-delusion. I will drink again and I'll probably drink more than I did yesterday but I won't enjoy it and here's why.