Greetings from Stafford!

You are Jack. Self-appointed hero and doctor
extraordinaire, it's your job to save everyone.
You have little time for fun and games, but you
do like a good stiff drink every now and then.
You prefer your stitches black and have been
known to make gross pasta comparisons. And if
anyone needs CPR or a tracheotomy, you're the
correct person to go to.

Which Lost Character Are You?


i like the sound of that, but its probably wrong. and i couldnt be a doctor, i cant even watch Trauma.....but that might have something to do with the fact that all the programmes where they show you very graphic footage of people operating on people seem to be on while you're trying to eat your spag bol. i doubt i'll have been able to cope with the responsibility Jack has. im much more suited to Hurleys role.
just less fat...

anyhoo... onto the important stuff. University life!

SUNDAY 18th SEPTEMBER
parents woke me up stupidly early, especially as i closed at McDs (my last shift of Grill Monkey-ing til December!) the night before and we were in the car an had left by 7:30.
i was squashed in the back with my stuff and not even enough room to go to sleep comfortably (although apparently i managed it)
We arrived at Staffs at about 12/1-ish. it was all really organised, i'd registered and got my key within 15 minutes of arriving and was in my room shortly after.
im quite happy with my room. its MUCH nicer than my sisters halls were at Bangor and its a nice size. i will post pictures later.

there was no one else in my section of the halls while i was unpacking, but they turned up not long after we'd finished.
they're quite friendly, but they are all already in their twenties and knew each other before uni, which makes things slightly awkward for me. plus they're all Malaysian and only speak in english when they're talking to me so most of the time i have no idea whats going on, which doesnt help.

i went with the parents to the Asda in town, arriving at about 3:40, remembering it was sunday and having to dash round the whole shop before they closed at 4. then we came back to the halls (i have started calling it home...) and sorted out all my shopping

then my parents left.

it was quite strange. watched them driving off and walked back to my room. then i realised that they wouldnt be coming back. i spent the rest of the day sat in my room, trying to get used to seeing all my stuff in some strange room, with my 800+ tracks on my computer on random. The first track to play was You Can Have It All by the Kaiser Cheifs. it sounds like a depressing song, but if you listen to the lyricss its not and it really makes me feel good. then i had All Alone by the Gorillaz (which i skipped), then We Gotta Get Out Of This Place by the Animals (also skipped) and then Oh My God by the Kaiser Chiefs (was fine until they got to the "all i want to be is a million miles from here, somewhere more farmiliar"). after that the music improved and i cheered up a bit.

i decided to stick on a DVD before i went to bed and selected Zoolander because i've only seen it once and thought it was funny. i should probably have remembered that it was about a male model being brainwashed into assassinating the prime minister of Malyasia... fortunately my door was shut and i dont think my neightbours heard.

im having to live without TV because i found that i couldnt connect my TV card to the ariel socket because i needed a cable with a pointy bit on both ends instead of a pointy bit and a hole. my parents are looking for one and are going to post it to me. i hope it arrives before Lost tomorrow....

MONDAY 19th SEPTEMBER
woke up at about 7 then remembered that i didnt have to be anywhere till 11, so spent a few hours drifting in and out of consciousness. at about 10.45 i found my way to the Octagon (you'll never guess what shape that building is) and then up to the Red Lecture Theatre where we had a brief talk by various people high up in the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Technology including our Award Administrator Sally Brown (which ammused me. fortunately i didnt laugh out loud).

we split up into groups and i met the others doing Digital Film, Animation and 3D Technology. they seemed quite nice. i got chatting to someone called Matthew which was handy because im crap at remembering peoples names. in our groups we had to fill in a big form (it was A3!) and get it signed by our lecturer. ours said she recognised me from the open day. im not sure if that was a good thing or not. While i was in the queue to get my form signed i had to double take because i thought i saw Maddie. i decided it wasnt her because this girl had a different shape nose and, although she sometimes sounds like shes in her thirties, Maddie is still only 15 and probably wouldnt have been able to get into uni. plus she would have mentioned it.

after the form was signed we had to take it to the sports hall and give it to someone who then gave us our student union card.
after that i think i just went back to my room and put my 800+ track playlist on random again.

at about 8 i went through to the kitchin and was trying to work out how to operate the tin opener to release my chilli when the malaysians said i could have some of their curry. it was full of bits of gristle, but otherwise very nice. i had a brief chat with one of them who i think was called Hi.

after that i went back to my room, stuck Bad Taste in my DVD player and then realised that i didnt know what sort of meat the curry was made from...
after Bad Taste i watched episode 1 of the 80s tv series of Day of the Triffids, which was quite good, and an episode of the Goodies, which was also good.....ie.....
after that i finished reading Frankenstein and went to sleep.

TUESDAY 20th DECEMBER
was woken up by Chris Moyles at 7, then drifted in and out of consciousness again until 8:45 when i got up and found my way back to the Red Lecture Theatre in the Octagon, this time to decide what optional module i was going to do in my second semester. i decided on Programmig for Virtual Reality Applications because A) it sounded impressive and B) the other options were Internet Technology and HTML (which i already know enough to get by on) and Introduction to Multimedia Applications (where 50% of the marks are from a 3000 word written piece)

after that i wandered down to the bottom floor of the Octagon and got onto one of the computers. i spent the rest of the morning just wandering around the campus, getting to know my way around. at the start of the afternoon i went back to where the computers were and registered for ResNet, paid £75 for the installation software, walked back to my room, installed the antivirus program, plugged in the cables and completely failed to connect to the network. i walked back to the computer concourse and met the IT Technitians, one tall thin and greying (would make a good Sam Vimes if they ever made a Discworld film) and the other was short and slightly fat with a hairstyle that looks like he'd had it since the 70s. must find a way to stand around with them drinking tea....like old times back at Springfield.
they said they were having problems with the server and to just try again later.

i wandered around a bit more and found my way to F14 for 2pm to watch 6 films made by last years third year students. they were all very good....

then i came back here, found i could finish connecting to the network, then caught up with everything i'd missed online. will have another crack at that tin of chilli later.

all this uni business made me forget something quite important. my birthday is in just over a week and a half!

the plan for the rest of the week is to get lots of free stuff at the commercial fair tomorrow, then go to the showing of Madagascar, and on thursday theres a welcome party for the film students.
Friday theres a trip to Drayton Manor theme park (not the Manor pub in Drayton back at Portsmouth) but im not a huge fan of rollercoasters etc, so im going to go into town to explore and see if theres anywhere geeky enough for me to get a weekend job.

must remember to look up my timetable on the website. if anyone wants my address to send me nice things, then email me or leave a comment or something and i will email it to you.

toodles, guys!
-x-