Sunday, 14 November 2010

Busy bee!!

I finally started my new job, the CRB came through at long last. It's not the most exciting job in the world, and not something I want to spend my life doing, but it's a job, another note on the CV, some money in my pocket. I started on Thursday, so far so good. Here's to my first full week at work. I can tell I'm going to be knackered.

This weekend I got to see comedian and musician Bill Bailey live. I love him, witty and funny. If you're in London, beg, borrow or steal a ticket to see him. Hilarious and brilliant. (It's sold out).

Unfortunately my stupid phone crashed and deleted a bunch of stuff, including some photos I hadn't uploaded to my laptop yet, so I'm a bit fed up (if you're following me on Twitter, you might have seen this.) The software seems to be refusing to work, so I can't fix it. Very frustrating. Anyone know how to get a Blackberry to do as it's told??

I also have two essays due in this week, so far I've barely started writing one of them. Excellent studentship. I actually forgot that one of them was due in. I got my dates muddled up, so annoying. So now I'm under the pressure of getting it all done while tired and busy. Fun.

My friend is in a play this week, so Thursday night I'll be there, luckily the essays are due in before then (I say luckily) so I'll still be able to go. It should be really good, I'm sending her lots of luck!

Once again, a brief post. As soon as I have a little time and am not so rushed I promise a decent post or two. and to get around to people's blogs. I miss reading your posts, but I just don't get enough time to read any more. Have a good week.

Tuesday, 9 November 2010

Blogging Admin!

Hi, it's been a while I know. But I'm still here, floating around in cyberspace while trying to get my life organised.

First thing's first. My CRB finally, finally came through, and so I start my new job on Thursday. Yay!! Obviously admin is not something I really want to do, but it's a job, and I'm broke and it'll look good on the old CV. Plus they're flexible about uni and hours, so it's where I'll be spending my week days (minus uni Wednesdays).

Speaking of uni, I couldn't get there last week as there was a tube strike which pretty much crippled the whole of London and made me really grumpy. I missed 2 classes and a meeting, all in all, bad day. But it seems to be going ok, I'm getting really into being back in academia, reading furiously, writing essays (I should be doing that, not blogging), discussing ideas and training myself to stay awake on the underground so I don't miss my stop!

Things with The Boy seem to be going well too. We've had a few minor disagreements, but nothing major, I don't like the video games he plays, they're really noisy and violent, and it's hard to concentrate on reading or anything when they're on. I'm not allowed to do the washing up, but he's quite happy for me to do all the cooking, which is a point of contention. I like cooking, I don't like the assumption that I'll happily be on my own making his dinner while he plays video games. That bugs me. But I know we'll work it out, I want this whole relationship to work out (my track record isn't great), so I'll have to adjust, so will he. Compromise is key.

I'm still uncertain about the fate of ABADBW (aka my other blog), apart from the occasional book, I'm focusing on uni reading, which I won't blog about because it's too boring and I have essays to write, so there's less and less being written for it (having said that, there should be a couple of reviews etc up there at the moment worth a look.) Part of me wants to merge Note to Self with it, and just have more book related content here, but I just don't know right now. Any ideas/suggestions/comments welcome on this.

Ok, well that was fairly boring. I suppose I'm an Administrator at home as well as at work now!!

Monday, 1 November 2010

The trouble with Dickens

I'd suggest any hardcore Dickens fan skip this post.

I'm a lifelong book geek, bookshops and libraries are my idea of Heaven. Reading is both a pleasure and a source of joy to me. I have a Bachelors degree in English Literature and am currently studying for a Masters in the same. I wouldn't do this if I didn't enjoy it.
But I do have a problem with the next book I have to read for class. It's Bleak House by Charles Dickens. I don't like Dickens, never have, probably never will. I can just about tolerate Great Expectations (because I feel for Miss Havisham) and A Christmas Carol (it might be the Muppet version that makes this one ok), but beyond that, thanks but no thanks.
Part of the problem is that many of his books are the same. Poor little orphan, terrible trials, benevolent benefactor, happy endings. Even Great Expectations follows this pattern. I know it isn't exactly the same in each book, but the basic plot is.
I'm not negating his works importance at the time in raising awareness of poverty, workhouses and the contribution his writing may have made to changes brought about to alleviate the suffering, but, like many of the other C19th members of the literary canon (Brontes, Austen, Hardy, Eliot) I just cannot get along with him.
So this week's reading assignment is going to be oh-so-much fun.
My friend has lent me the recent BBC adaptation, but that may take longer to watch than the book takes to read, so no joy there. Off I go to read a book that is described in the title. Bleak.

Are there any books/authors you can't stand?