A Quick Update

After posting nearly every day for almost two months, I’m aware that this blog has looked a little empty of late. My explanation for this is simple: I had a dissertation to write. But as of 10pm yesterday evening that is complete, all 8,000 words of it, and now a more regular posting schedule can begin.

Despite the stress, I have been watching some fantastic television recently (Upstairs Downstairs, anyone?) and I even escaped to the theatre yesterday evening to catch DULOG (that’s Durham University Light Opera Group for those not in the know) performing RENT. So over the next few weeks you can expect a review of that, as well as a few more reviews, and maybe even some creative writing. Don’t you all feel lucky?

This is me right now. Too much to do, too little time in which to do it!

Theatre Review: FRESHER The Musical

Last night, thanks to Durham Theatre Review, I got to see Tone Deaf Theatre Company’s production of FRESHER The Musical. It was a fabulous evening, and while I won’t write about it here, you can have a look at my review (as well as that of the lovely Hannah Buckley) on Durham Theatre Review’s website:

http://durhamtheatrereview.com/reviews/event/TxaQ_q1YRtm9NRcCXDx6yg

Travelling

Today I read this comic on The Oatmeal. It did amuse me, but it also made me sad, because I started thinking about travelling.

I haven’t been out of the country since September. This may not seem particularly unusual, but between September 2010 and September 2011:

• I went on fourteen flights.
• I visited eleven countries.
• I travelled on six overnight trains.
• I learnt to call three different countries home.

At the time, I didn’t realise how lucky I was, but now I miss it. I miss the freedom to go wherever I want, whenever I want. I miss the cheap train fares. I miss having the rest of Europe on my doorstep. In short, I miss being on my Year Abroad. I still hope that I can incorporate travel into my career, and be paid to write about my worldwide travels, but I realise that there is only a slim chance of my dreams becoming reality. And so, tonight, I am nostalgic. And if anyone is reading this who is currently on their Year Abroad, make the most of it! It slips away far too fast!

New Klute (or How to Accept Change)

Image: Facebook

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the refurbishment of Klute, my favourite Durham nightclub, and my fears that the changes would not be for the better. Well, I went last night, more than a little apprehensive but drunk enough to put my fears aside, and I’m happy to say that I was wrong. The floor is a little less sticky, quaddies are fifty pence more expensive (incentive not to destroy our livers quite so much?), the old rugby video has been replaced with scenes from the film ‘Klute’ (the existence of which I was unaware of until last night), and the loss of the graduation boards in the entrance will be mourned by many (myself included), but the refurbishment has somehow failed to have any effect on the skankiness of the toilets (something which most people would have been happy to see a change in) and, most importantly, the atmosphere remains the same. And, at least on a Thursday night, the cheese lives on! They’ve introduced a bizarre system of only playing the first two minutes of a song before changing, but as someone with an extremely short attention span, this didn’t actually bother me. I was far too excited about the new cheesy additions (Teenage Dirtbag, for instance, a song which takes me right back to primary school discos) to worry that some of them were being cut short. They also played That’s Amore at the end of the night (although  it was not quite the same having it followed by another song rather than the dulcet tones of the DJ proclaiming that “That really is all we’ve got time for!”), allowing my friend and I to waltz clumsily into the other dancers in traditional fashion.

In short, the night was a success, proving that good friends, good music, and free-flowing alcohol make for an enjoyable evening regardless of minor aesthetic changes. And, perhaps, that students have a tendency to overreact! Get yourselves back down there everybody, it’s just not right having room to move on the dance floor!

A Photographic Interlude

My bed - not quite a double, but close enough!

The desk and, more importantly, my food supplies for the term!

At night, with the curtains drawn.

And then opened in the morning to reveal...

...the view!

Beginnings

As this month’s NaBloPoMo challenge is meant to be all about beginnings, I decided that I ought to dedicate at least one post to them. Luckily, the BlogHer website provided some prompts to inspire me!

Are you superstitious about beginnings? Do you do anything to start out on the right foot?

I wouldn’t say that I’m superstitious exactly, but I do believe that if something starts out well then it’s more likely to continue and end well. So when I start something new, I’ll often buy new things: notebooks and pens for a new university term for example, although as a self-confessed stationery geek I’ll take any excuse to buy such items! I do find that new things help with the “out with the old, in with the new” feeling though.

I also like setting goals for myself at a beginning, especially a new year of university, again because beginnings hold so much opportunity and I want to achieve as much as possible from it!

What is the hardest part about a beginning?

The unknown. Oddly enough, this came up in a conversation last night, not in the context of beginnings, but of endings. I fear the unknown in general, which can often make me nervous at a beginning because I don’t know exactly what to expect. I don’t let it stop me though, because in the end the things which I don’t expect to happen can be the best parts of an experience: I just have to learn not to worry about not being prepared!

Do you wish the start of the year was in a different season? Which one?

I’ve never actually wished for the year to start in a different season, but I suppose that it would be better if it started at the very beginning of spring, rather than just before the coldest, most miserable part of winter. That would make it feel more like a beginning.