Seeing as 2007 is drawing to an end, I think it’s about time for the obligatory end of year post.

Let’s see, what happened in 2007 then? I’ll keep it brief (promise)

The good stuff
First year of my site. Passing 2nd year of uni. 2 kickass Bryan Adams concerts (Murrayfield was simply amazing). Being third row at Murrayfield (black marker no 113). Bryan Adams jumping into the crowd 5ft away from me. Meeting new people because of that gig. Awesome Foo Fighters gig. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows being released. First time I voted. First time I left the country (wooo Paris). First time being on a plane since I was a tiny kid. Getting a message from Keith Scott. Talking to Bryan in chat. Getting a new laptop. Got one of my photo’s published in a calendar. Had an awesome job at uni, looking after a games exhibition. Starting 3rd year of uni. Choosing computing. Being class rep again. Dying my hair for the first time ever. Friends, family and pets. Witnessing the Perseid meteor shower.

The bad stuff
Loosing a good neighbour. The sore jaw fiasco. Coursework stress. Inconsiderate people causing stress. A friend becomming seriously ill and having a stroke (thank goodness she’s ok now). Falling on my head on polished laminate flooring. Friends loosing people. Getting my first ever grade D at uni. More stress

The weird stuff.
Turning 20. Seeing a man run down the terrace wearing a santa hat and flourescent coat (it was on Christmas eve….perhaps it was Santa). Monster bugs on the railway.

Roll on next year! It can only be even better, right!? I wish everyone a happy new year and I’ll see ya in 2008….just over 2 hours hehe. Bye 2007! It’s be awesome

The 365 photo challenge begins tomorrow. There will be a link on the sidebar to my flickr account.

PS- Check the song I was listening to while writing this….suits me, huh? Maybe it should become my theme song haha.

Mood : bouncy   Music : Little Miss Can't Be Wrong  by  Spin Doctors

The painting is done- in fact, I finished last night.

I started at 9am in the morning and have to clear the space. I wasn’t actually allowed to take much out of my room (mums “rule”) so with great difficulty, I had to paint around it. Basically had to do half of the room, wait ’til it dried, put everything back and do the same for the other side.

Did half the room by 12.30 and took a half hour break. I ended up having to use a brush because I was painting on top of woodchip (don’t get me started on that because I hate that stuff. Oh to have smooth plastered walls….

Came back up and started taking the posters on the other wall down and started to put stuff back. The putting stuff back took a long long time. It didn’t help that I had to start slowing down because my hip was getting really sore and stiff (nope, wasn’t imagining this, yes, it really hurt).

Anyway, I was still painting at 8.15pm (I was very nearly finished) when my mother appeared and told me I was doing it wrong and had taken a helluva long time in the process. Well I’m afraid you can’t use a roller on woodchip for the first coat- the roller pulls the paint off again and it looks rather patchy (I’ve had the misfortune of paint 2 other rooms covered in woodchip). I had to do it ALL with a wee paintbrush then a second coat with the roller. If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing properly.

Another hour of disagreement ensued…..

Mood : annoyed   Music : Fly Like An Eagle  by  Steve Miller Band

Hope everyone had a good Christmas then!

I got a whole bunch of nice presents- clothes, money, dvds, chocolates, gorgeous mug, cuddly and an aquarium (minus fish) which bring me onto the main subject of this post.  I can’t have fish in a room which is about to stink of paint.

Yes, that’s right- I’m about to paint my bedroom.  NB- I’m painting it another shade of purple, not some black satanic shade because lets face it, that would just be scary.

I was in town on Friday (for a haircut) and decided to go get some paint.  What has possessed me to do this?  Well, in my time off, I’ve been watching a lot of DIY programs because that’s the only thing on in the mornings (DIY SOS, Extreme Makeover and the like).  Not only that, but I’ve noticed that my walls are in a bit of a sorry state- all scored.  Once my room is done, I’ll get my fish.

Work starts tomorrow.  Lets see how it goes huh?

Just want to wish my readers out there a Merry Christmas.  Hope you all have a good one!

Now, has anyone noticed Santa is an anagram of Satan.  Is there a conspiracy here?

Mood : blah   Music : Kiss Me  by  Sixpence None The Richer

Ok, I’m not usually someone who is “up” with the latest music but for once, I think I might be.

Heard of a band called the Foxboro Hot Tubs? No?  I’ve downloaded their 6 track ep from their site (it’s free) and am listening to it at the moment. Sounds like 1960′s influenced rock ‘n’ roll. Have to say I’m really enjoying it.

But who are these guys? Well no one knows for sure but they are rumoured to be Green Day in disguise (and the singer sounds awfully like Billy Joe Armstrong).

Check out their myspace page

Mood : tired   Music : Stop Drop and Roll  by  The Foxboro Hot Tubs

I meant to say in my previous post I had a bit of an experiment with some Henna last weekend.

It was a bit messy to say the least.  I bought a bar of it from Lush (Caca Marron was the kind I think I bought).  I broke a wee bit off the bar and mixed it in a tub with really hot water, to the consistency of yoghurt.  I slathered some on a small strand of hair (note wear gloves) and wrapped it in clingfilm.  After leaving it for 2 hours, I rinsed it off and it hadn’t changed my hair too dramatically- given it a nice auburn tinge, replacing the area which had been bleached by the sun.

At this point, I decided to do the rest of my hair which was considerably messier.  Oh, and I had to wrap all my hair in clingfilm (apparently wrapping it up gives a redder tinge: leaving it unwrapped gives a brown tinge).  I went to sleep for a couple of hours and rinsed it off (big mess!!!).

After drying it, it actually looked quite good- like the auburn tinge.  It makes hair so shiny, soft and sleek!

I’m definitely using henna again, despite all the mess I made!

Mood : pleased   Music : Paranoid  by  Black Sabbath

Just to let you know, I am still here (just!).

What have I been doing then?  Well, it’s been a stressful week, to say the least.

I finally finished uni on the 14th December.  I had a bit of panic though- if I’m handing work I always check it for a third or fourth time right before I go to bed.  I did that with my internet development website and it turned out I’d missed the fact one page was broken in IE7.  I did manage to sort it though (was up ’til 4am in the process).  Next day I was zombified to the point I thought I was going to fall over when I arrived at uni.

That night I went home and set up my subscription to World of Warcraft again.  If you’re out there, wandering round Azeroth, I’m a night elf called Gypsum (yes the plasterboard stuff) on the Quel’Thalas realm.  Come say hi.

Chilled out over the weekend and decided to try and install XP on the new computer.  I’m not going into it again because it was very very stressful (in the past 24 hours I have installed windows 3 times and been on with tech support for 3 hours).  The issue will be resolved very soon and it’s bye bye Vista forever(good riddance).

I hate computers.  I really, really do.  Oh, and I hate being a computing student who has to call tech support.  Newsflash guys, I’m not an idiot.  Grr *stops before she has a MAJOR rant*

It’s basically ended with me calling tech support again, getting passed onto 4 people and finally repeating several times “I don’t want Vista on this machine anymore, I don’t want Vista on this machine anymore, it’s useless, it keeps crashing and it’s not fit for purpose.  This machine is useless to me with Vista on it, I want XP, I don’t want Vista on this machine anymore”.

Anyway, that’s me off for the now!  Haircut tomorrow!

Mood : satisfied   Music : Kiss Me  by  Sixpence None The Richer

…I’ve just booked tickets to go see the official production of High School Musical in Aberdeen, October 2008.

…what am I letting myself in for?

That’s right, I’ve almost finished all my coursework for this semester.

I’m currently writing up my report for the prototype website I’ve built (most of what I need to submit comes from small reports I’ve done over the course of the past few weeks).  Once that’s done, I just need to update my log of the development process and print it all off.

Printing might be a little difficult though….

I have a Canon ip1500 printer which is fantastic- fast printing, cheap ink, very reliable however, it keeps flashing up an error related to do with the waste ink absorbers.  I cleaned them myself but of course, the printer doesn’t know this and won’t let me print ’til it’s sorted.  Just need to locate a reset code for the printer and I’ll be a happy shiney person .

Anyway, back to work….

Mood : tired   Music : Hate This Place  by  Goo Goo Dolls

Well folks, today’s the day: exam day.

In 9 hours time, I will be starting my 3 hour database exam.  How do I feel about it?  Bloody terrified.

I know I haven’t done nearly as much revision as I should have.  In all fairness, I have been feeling knackered (so have spent quite a bit of time sleeping) and I’ve had work for other modules to do.  Because I did ok in the first part of the database exam, I think I’ve lulled myself into a false sense of security, thinking that it’s all going to be ok.  I’m seriously beginning to doubt that.  I really need to pass this module though.  All I need is 20 marks out of 90.  Just 20.  I can do that right?

In fact, today is doubly unfair: I don’t just have one exam, I have 2.

At 3pm, I have a Java test/exam.  I’ve been through the practise one and it seemed to be ok but there were a few areas which were quite tough.  The way I’ve worked it out, I don’t think I need to pass the exam to pass the module.  I think I’ve already passed with the 50% of the coursework that I’ve done.

Anyway, roll on 4.30pm.  That’s when exam day is over.

I’ll only have one more thing to finish after that- my internet development coursework and luckily, that is well on it’s way.  I know this is totally unhealthy, but I think I’d like to stay up all night, into Wednesday morning, just to get it finished off.  Then I’ll be very happy indeed.

Mood : anxious   Music : If It Makes You Happy  by  Sheryl Crow