January 2006

25/01/06 - 25th January 2006

Well this is first entry that concerns 2006 events and it certainly has been a busy year so far, not only in context of university work, but also other topics... "social", "hobby", "political" and of course the ever-popular English topic - "weather". So in light of these topics, this blog will take the form of "headings" whereby all my "events" and "news" will come under these "sub-headings". Sorry for the "over-use" of quotation marks...

University Work

Not really much to say, but on an average week, I must prepare for 6 seminars, which may consist of an analysis of a German text (whether book or film form) or the production of a translation/grammar piece or even an economics related essay. On top of that I usually get assessments to complete for the collection of those "ever-important" CATS - the universal points accumulator "scoreboard". This term so far has been especially busy, due to the handing in of an economics essay, a QMA (Quantitative Methods of Analysis - i.e. "Statistics") assignment and the giving out of an Oral assignment, Writers/Media essay and another QMA assignment, all of which go towards the percentage marks for Year 1 as a whole.

3-Legged Bar Crawl - © Warwick Snow 2006

Socials/Hobbys Well what can I say... it certainly has been a massively busy term so far on the social-side of life; week 2 being the most predominant, being involved in three society socials and activities... The first to spring to mind is the 3-legged bar crawl through Royal Leamington Spa - which unfortunately (for me and my neighbour, Jenna) turned into a 14-person-attached "crawl" through the roads of Leamington. The first picture "half" shows this - cutting off Jenna, whose boots can just be seen on the very left of the photo, with me looking not very sober - even though I wasn't drinking... must be the adrenaline from the sheer hilarity of the situation! Unfortunately this descended into an ill-fated "fall" for me and Jenna as the pair of legs to the left and right of us decided to split. If this is hard to imagine, just picture the splitting of a "wishbone", whereby one of your legs goes one way and the other the opposite - see the picture anyway for the consequence - I still ensure that I was sober! - Look carefully at the "bin-bag" that ties my leg to Jenna's and her left leg to, I believe, Charlie's. The end of this night, we ended up in a Local Leamington Club. This was an excellent night out and it must be said that Naked Rob and Clem did an excellent organising job and we're all looking forward to the next "sober" night out! Also in the "sober" social section - following through in chronological order, I was involved in the fabulous opening concert for One World Week - the biggest student run international awareness event. The concert opened with Music Theatre Warwick's rendition of "Fire In Your Heart" by Sissel Kyrkjebø, the theme tune to the Winter Olympics in the 90s; a very cheesy but excellently composed piece that neatly set the opening for the Week in true Music Theatre style. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any pictures of this, but sure it was a great even to get involved with, warmed up my vocal chords in the true 4-part harmony that is was!

The second half of the concert consisted of us one again treading the boards for our rendition of "Circle of Life" - not the Disney, Elton John version, but the true Broadway musical, complete with "Ingonya ma nena we nama bala". Perhaps I'll teach you how that sounds in my new and exciting "Blog Podcast" that can be subscribed through itunes or equivalent RSS program - info coming soon!

The last big "social" event that I was involved in was the Live Video Mixing and camera work that WarwickTV "hired" me to do. The picture shows the team involved and was simply fabulous opportunity to work with broadcast, professional equipment in pursuit of real "live tv". The 6 camera setup consisted of a huge number of cables, communications equipment and plasma screens, broadcasting all our 6 camera "mix" to the whole of the union and even included a "steadycam"!!! Never before have I been so directed by "professional communications". Through our headsets, our "director" got us to co-ordinate our cameras for the best possible live mix of the One World Week events, which turned out to be a stunning mix of videography! Look out for more pictures and even sample video clips from the event very soon!

 Political

Well, this entry wouldn't be complete without a reaction to the beginning of 2006 politics discussion. What is going on with UK politics? First Charles Kennedy admits to alcoholism and is very badly-managed "forced" out of leadership in what was simply a complete mishap of events for the Liberal Democrats! Add to that the inclusion of the infamous George Galloway to the "Celebrity" Big Brother house, now evicted (as of tonight) he can get out to knowing his award for libel has not been overturned despite the Daily Telegraph's efforts to do so. Add to this news, the "over-publicised" news that education secretary had let so-called "sex-offenders" back into teaching and you get a very potent mix of politics for the start of 2006! Who ever said politics was dull(!)

Weather

Any English blog would be incomplete without the mentioning of the weather and its dire turn for the freezing. Having survived the first half of January I thought we were out of the "chill" but this simply wasn't the case; waking up on an absolutely chilling Monday morning I went out without a coat (what a mistake that was) and all after not putting my radiator on for the morning - very cold - and the "trustworthy" bbc inform me of the ever-colder weather!

"The week will start with around average temperatures but the story will become increasingly chilly as the week wears on. The weather on the Continent has been extremely cold of late, and it is air from this 'pool' that the high pressure will be bringing our way. The high is also likely to bring with it extensive amounts of cloud and persistent fog. It will be a week of frosty nights and for some, particularly those stuck with thick fog, the temperatures may only crawl up a couple of degrees by day." - BBC Weather Centre
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/ukweather/monthly_outlook.shtml

Oh well, more skiing next Wednesday on the agenda I believe to take advantage of the cold!

And lastly, this blog must be dedicated to the poor whale that got trapped in the Thames. Unfortunately for us, this isn't what it seems. In the form of Doctor Who, aliens have indeed landed, this whale was simply "pilot fish" to "test the water" so to speak for their up and coming invasion.. Watch this space for more news

Until Next Time... "Be Safe! Be Happy!"

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19/01/06 - 19th January 2006

And yet another year has passed! 2005 went out in style with the London firework spectacular, a £1 million investment by the kind taxpayers (Photo ©2006 James O Jenkins. All rights reserved). As 2006 is nearly in my mind (i.e. I'm no longer writing 2005 after each date I do) I started pondering the achievements of the past year and thought I'd share with the world, a recap of 2005. As of today, I'm sat at a monitor typing my memories of the past year and the shear massive events that have passed before me.

Now in the famous words of Julie Andrews... Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start...

(In the original entry this post contained the 2005 A Year in the Life Special, which has now been archived to its own section and can be accessed by clicking the link below or the links to the right of this page. - Ed)

2005 - A Year in the Life - 2005

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