Dec
23
Lots of Rain but no Snow!
Filed Under Daily
The weather’s dreadful in Manchester. Mainly Fog and Rain! If things go well, this will be the last winter of this type. I do not intend to have a lot of these in the future. Out of 6 flatmates, 4 of us stay here, quite unusual since many other people went back home.
I’ve received two french comic books: Thorgal and “Les Chroniques de la Lune Noire”. They are my favorite comic books before I left France 9 years ago. Van Hamme is no longer the scenarist for Thorgal and the story kind of drags on a bit. It was really a good story to start with. I wish someday there is a movie about Thorgal. That would be really nice. “Les Chroniques de la Lune Noire” has always been fun to read, a bit dark but quite sensual. No wonder why once the oracle was free, there was a sex scene right after! That was ackward especially when the end of the world was coming just few pages after.
Dec
22
Little Events!
Filed Under Daily
An old lady at the pool complained with the staff about a poor dude who grabbed her leg while doing backstroke. The poor chap has a bad style and large arms span while doing the backstroke arm move. She should be honored at her age having her leg grabbed by a man, methink!
I like the shower in my room and at the pool. Compared to the tiny little flow I had in Dublin, this is like heaven on Earth!
My superannuation fund has not arrived yet and it bothers me. 5 months in total!
Sandeep, an Indian born British girl asked me if she can join my revision team with Chebet. I laughed since we have not started yet and I have not found the courage to open my books. But I know how to get a A :). Let’s just find the courage today to apply my plan!
I installed and played Civ 3 again. It was fun!
I lied to a hiking buddy who asked me if I wanted to go hiking on Tueday to the Peak District. The weather is so bad and I enjoy doing nothing that the only idea of spending a full day hiking is killing my joy! I replied in an email saying I got the flu :). It was a white lie. I did not want to hurt his feelings and I am sure he was happy not to go also but he would get upset if I just said no!
I promised myself never to lie to people, but I think when the purpose of the lie is not to hurt people and it gets me out of trouble…WHY NOT?
The GBP currency is going down…. YIPPPPIE!
Dec
21
The Desert!
Filed Under Daily
The majority of students are gone after Friday. It was the last day of school. Now the University and the city itself is empty. I am used to these strong moments in the life of a university. For a university with 35 thousand students located in the heart of Manchester, the event is shocking nevertheless. I am sure the shopping center is still full of people but I do not feel like going there today.
Dec
19
That is awesome! It will be the movie tonight. I cannot wait! The Uni is getting empty which is fantastic! I need a quiet time all by myself to brush up on my law material.
The swim was really nice. I had my own lane for an hour and I even shared it with the team squad later on. They opened it right away today and I moved quickly to it. The other people were happy to get rid of me in their fast lane and they did not move. I love it when people are being reasonable.
Dec
17
Trade Mark Law: 19/01/2009
Intellectual Property: 20/01/2009
The countdown has started. Let’s pass if possible with distinction! There are quite a few job advertiments for a trainee attorney in different Law firms based in London. I just applied for 4. Let’s try to send as many as possible til June 2009. I will graduate by then!
Dec
16
Talking About Computer!
Filed Under Daily
I had a very late discovery of computer and internet. I had my very first pirated version of Star Wars,The Phantom Menace in 1999. I was so excited then when I hold 2 CDs of a very very crappy CAM version of the release. Funny though, I will never forget this moment. I still remember my very first time cracking Microsoft Office premium. I did crack the code completely by myself using a debugger written in C. I went through the checking process and I read the code between the lanes of symbols. Computers are my friends! Nowadays when I talk to other people, I realize how far I went and the huge gap there is between my current knowledge of computer and internet in general and the common knowledge. I tried to help Chebet, Rafiq, Hassan and Amy with their computer problems. It was so simplistic to me but to them, it was like if I was talking Chinese.
All they do with their computers is checking email, using Facebook or Myspace and reading news. I tried to mention about games, software, etc… The hardest thing they’ve ever done is to install a torrent software and search for a TV show to download. They are all surprised to know that I do not use Facebook. I told them I have my own blog that I modify at will and that I do not like letting third party software or sites controlling my data. I want to be the only person controlling my database.
I am currently using Rapidshare to download anything I want and to store some programs I might need later. It is faster than torrent and I do not have to upload anything to anyone. It takes less than 10 min to download a full CD of 700 Mb of data at the speed of 1.1 Mb/sec. I pay 17 Euros for 3 months to Rapidshare. Google is the search engine and the keywords are NAME + Rapidshare and VOILA! I use WordPress to write my blog. There are other programs but WordPress is the most popular and it is regularly updated and improved! I bought a one year subscription to Flickr, 25 US dollars. These are the only things I need to be like a fish in the sea on internet.
Dec
15
Tired Already on Monday!
Filed Under Daily
I had a short sleep, I stayed up to watch the movie: The Day The Earth Stood Still, it was a pirated telesynch version. Keanu Reeve is really a bad actor but the story was excellent! Of course, it was an adaptation of a classic, so no much risk, as long as the script sticks to the story. I will try to put my hands on Inkheart, the preview looked really good. The swim was excellent, I was almost all the time with only one other swimmer and the dude is a very good swimmer. People were well coordinated and they stayed in the lane corresponding to their level. One girl tried the fastest lane but she quickly changed her mind. She was not too slow but she was not fast.
Dec
14
A Seemingly Quiet Week!
Filed Under Daily
Someone died at Tesco, a supermarket, yesterday. They had to close the store for few hours. I learned about the news in Lidl, its competitor next door. The staff was talking about it.
Not having class/seminar nor having a hike give me a lot of free time in the next month or so. Time to concentrate on the most important events to come: my exams and a job!
The movie, the Dark Knight, was canceled last Friday and replaced by a Christmas party to which I gave no interest nor attend. I gave two pounds to a homeless dude and he was happy! Funny thing is, after the generous event, I went to buy a Subway sandwich and they were on a “half price deal” so I got my two pounds instantly back! Also I did not have to pay the bus fair yesterday on my way to the city for unknown reasons. I bought a roasted Chinese duck and rice to eat and the Chinese dude still doesn’t understand English! He gave me a take-way menu instead so I paid 50 P less.
I kept on saying cents instead of pence! Here they have funny expressions for money: 1 GBP = 1 Quid, Pence = P! So between friends, it costs 50 QUIDS, and the bus driver will ask for “80 P” and not 80 pence!
Dec
13
I went to the pool for the first time on Saturday. It was very nice. Only me and another person in the lane for a whole hour or so! Looks like British people go out on Friday night and they would not go to the gym early Saturday. I will attend Saturday sessions more regularly then.
My computer crashed. Nowadays, I am so used to store my data on the USB enclosure HD and the 2nd partition that I do not loose anything during these tragic events.So it was quickly reinstalled after 30 min. I do not have a hike tomorrow which is very good also. A whole weekend by myself!
Boshit gave me this very nice song: Human by The Killers. I kept on listening to it.
Dec
10
Angry at 4 am!
Filed Under Daily
One of my flatmates had the bad idea of having guest over and they went to have a very late snack at 4 am. I was very angry when I went out and asked them to go to their room. In the night, every little move people make are like a bang for me. It was very inconsiderate, I do understand they needed to have something to eat but staying there and having a chat like if it was daytime was a very bad idea! I do not have a swim today so I could use an extra hour or two in bed due to the stupid interruption.
I did a summary of my finance and things are okay. I force myself to do it regularly even though it hurts to see my savings decrease like this :(. I also have to force myself to study hard for the exams in January. It is a good thing that I do not have hiking again because it does take a whole day off and one more day to recover. I checked the time table and it looks like the pool has the 50 m setup on Sunday between 6:30 pm and 10:30 pm. I might just go there on Sunday to have my extra workout of the day. So I should have a full month of study without any event to disturb me in between.
I hope my flatmates will all go away! That would be the cherry on the top of the cake. Since Amy left the flat has become very quiet already. “The Dark Knight” is scheduled for the movie night. Excellent choice!
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