May Ball Photos

Finally, some May Ball photos!

Don't they all look so beautiful!


Jen and Dave, overexposed sadly (overexposed in the photographical meaning of the word I would like to clarify)


Fi! (again Overexposed. My apologies for the poor camera work).


Jen and I. (aha! Overexposure not my fault this time!)


Alex and I, my face looking half plastic...?


The entrance... Old Court Transformed


Pegasus - a (anatomically correct - except for the wings, not sure about those) sculpture in Old Court. I really liked it!


Fi bowls! Can't remember who won. I remember having chocolate fondue at the time though :)


Alex with fondue beneath the green willow. I love this photo.


Andrew's Painting - blurred by my unsteady hand. Proper bo it was too!


Pre-british sea power.


British Sea Power! In Clare!


Me, falling off the bouncy castle.


Laura Plays Batak!


The fellows' garden.


Blurry, but, Matt, Davy, Lydia and Me.


Taking the survivor's Photo


Helterskelter!!!!


Bear Dances (was it Fiona bear... tom's short memory avails him again).


Aw... Ella and the punting hat!


Jen and Tom Punted poshly.


Alex and Fi also punted.

A little pose for y'all.

Hehe. See you later!

Ball Prep.

I have just witnessed the great soul-destroying hell that is shirt ironing... I managed to do the back and front (although it is pleated, which scared me) but the arms left me a quivering wreck on the floor. So, I dragged my sorry carcass over to Alex's who, luckily, is a Goddess and solved it all by doing them in about 5 minutes... wow.

Misc Stuff

Today be the day of the may-ball! I have had my haircut, bought shoe shiner and new laces and now only need to iron my shirt before I'm ready to go!

Last night, to protect the newly-erected marquees from budding arsonists, we slept under the stars in the Scholar's Garden. It was a surreal feeling being out in the open - it was such a clear night, that I really got a feeling of how small I was - you kinda felt like you could just get thrown off the face of the earth.

I found a few pictures from our post-exam celebrations on my camera - have a look:

At Mill Pond on the day they ended.


Andrew's Bike joins in the celebrations.


Formal again!


Charmed, I'm sure.


More like it!


Sleeping under the stars


The sun is shining, the weather is sweet yeeeeah.

What a Day! [16-06-05]i

This morning was our vet trip breakfast punting trip with Dr Holmes (Anatomy supervisor and d.o.s.) - we met at 9am (:o) in Queens and punted for 90 mins most of the way to Granchester before stopping to have a picnic. There was some impressive Bridge hopping from Gary and Thad who both managed to get over the same bridge at the same time, out-of and into the same punt. I managed to shame myself twice, both involving evil trees (humm... that sounds a bit rough - I shall explain): I was punting along, when we went under a rather thick overhanging branch. In my confusion as to whether to go under or over it, it kinda just lodged in my stomach and I was left hanging off it as the punt drifted away down the river. I had to wait for the next punt along (lagging vets, formed more slowly by Okavetsci fragments) to pick me up.
Getting back into the punts on the way home, Alex put one leg on the punt, at which time it duly drifted away from the bank, sending her leg into the water. As if to out-do her (sadly it wasn't - I was just clumsy), on the way back I was swapping punting duties with Gary, and as I stood up, I didn't see a tree coming towards my back as the punt drifted. Next thing I new, I was pulling myself back into the punt soaking wet. So, Andrew and Mary having left earlier to go to rowing, Alex and I were left to walk back to Mem Court alone, both looking worse for wear. What a pair.

Picnic in the afternoon by Mill Pond - was really nice, Alex and I fell asleep for an hour in the sun while everyone else wandered off to the pub - we really are incredibly tired after those bloody exams. This evening, refreshed after my afternoon siesta, I joined everyone in the LCR for a Pirates of the Carribean watching session with wine, cheese and oat biscuits. With a bit of chocolate and Big Brother interspursed within the Depp/Orlando fest (:jankrolleyes:) we used up a good 3 hours :) was great. Then, we decided to go punting - I seemed to think I wasn't traumatised enough having had a good splash in the river and having spent the last 3 hours watching boats being sunk. We got to the porters' lodge at a quarter to 1 am. Apparently you can't take it out after midnight. Grr. So, we went to the Fellows' Garden for a bit and sampled the wonder of the Clare College security system. Apparently we're not allowed in there after 10pm, and the porter had watched only 2 of us leave (Reece and AlexTB) but 5 of us enter. Ingenious.

AAAAAAAAAAAnyway, that was a mighty long post -

Tom xxxx

Look look! It's noon, I've been up an hour and a half and I've done NO work! Huzzah! I don't need to! I've read a bit of The Catcher in the Rye, reminding me of my 15 year old days, and eaten ALOT of Marmite on Toast. It feels so good!

Last night was good fun. Post exam we went to Mill Pond and sat in the sun, then came back for formal. Had weird Nochi (sp?) stuff for starter, then salmon (dry) and a weird vanilla pudding in a plastic bowl. Nice...

We were gonna go to Cindies afterwards, but by the time I got back from getting changed everyone had left. Still, the queue was huge, and from what I've heard it wasn't that great (although Reece enjoyed himself!)

So, Alex and I (oooh look at the correct syntax there!) came back and watched Father Ted - classic stuff!

OOOOOOOOOVER

Exams over. What a relief. I'm off to formal

Bye!

We have a bedder

And she's cleaning things! She even offered to clean my room! I'm scared.

In four hours time, I will be freed from the shackles of exams. YAAAAAAAY

Addendum to "We have a bedder" 11.49am
She's hoovering. She's cleaned the showers - I mean, properly scrubbed the floors, sinks, toilets, showers. Now she's scrubbing the skirting boards. Has the long search for the R staircase attic bedder ended, or has Clare College finally given in to the obvious and brought in the contract cleaners to sterilise the place?

Addendum II 1.17pm
Now my sink is clean. She is called Alison and is only temporary. Dammit. Now... off to histology - only 2 1/2 hours to go :D:D

Tied by Hate, Bound by Love

Alex on The Cambridge Examination System:
"Exams are like saltmining. You stand there chipping away at an insurmountable pile of salt; then, sometimes, salt being what it is, it collapses on you a bit. Then you dig yourself out and start over again. Now, the end is in sight, because the communist regime has been dissolved, and we will soon be free of these gulags."

We ventured out to the centre of cinematic genesis that is the Cambridge Arts Theatre (next to Wetherspoons), and saw "Strings". It's about puppets. Lots of puppets, but, rather than being wooden humanoids pretending to be their larger and more agile superiors, they live in their own world, held up by strings to the heavens. It was well done, surprisingly un-corney (is that a word?). It had a little bird in it. It chirruped. It was funny.

Humm...

Also, today was the day of Anatomising, for the second time. Luckily, this exam was much happier than the last and I have now regained my faith in canine-kind.

Tom
xxx

Showers, Beans and Chewits.

News of the day:

• I was attacked this morning, by an evil shower head, that decided it didn't like life hanging off the wall, and wanted to have a bite out of my cheek. Now I have a beautiful bruise just below my eye. Grr. Defaced I have been. Deformed beyond recognition by a water delivery system.
• Economy food is economy for a reason. I just had a tin of economy beans and sausages on toast. Yeowl. The salt levels were astronomical, and the pork sausages vanished as soon as they touched my lips - water and fat with a few E numbers in there no doubt.
• The new coldplay album, X&Y is incredible - I am really impressed. Parachutes grabbed me instantly, but AROBTTH took me a number of listens to get into in. I loved X&Y from the first moment. Speed of Sound is a beautiful song. Fix You sounds like an Oxfam advert - good old Chris Martin - living up to the Make Trade Fair thing.
  
• Have watched the second series of Black Books over the last few days, it really cracks me up. I love Dylan Moran's smug grins when Bernard has done something "despicable". Hehe.
• What else...
• I have eaten 4 packs of chewits in the last 24 hours... and some minstrels... and almost an entire pack of Cambozola cheese with Oat Biscuits.

I have an anatomy test tomorrow. AArgh...

Got sleep!

I slept in till 11.40am... Oops! I guess I needed to catch up!

In other news, Andrew Bates has just been round and has informed me that Andy Crutchley has spoken to Dr Holmes who informed him that the biochemistry department was up-in-arms because the MIMs exam was too hard. Humm... that was the one I found easiest. They are going to lower the pass mark. Lets hope that happens for all the other subjects too! :S

Now I should begin anatomising!

mid-exam break!

Yay! 12 hours gone, only 3 to go! And we get the weekend off. Phew! These have knackered me out horribly. Homeostasis on Thursday was ok... the mcqs were evil but I actually did some OK essays. The Clare Vets all went punting afterwards which was SOOPERB

Oh, and I have finally put up the photos from Davy and Helen's wedding!

Mid Exam Punting

Vetscis went punting to celebrate the end of the week's exams (only 2 left - woooo!) Piccies!

Tom didn't expect to be attacked by the Mathematical Bridge, but then, you can never trust those bridges.


If you venture far enough along the river you reach the long lost college of "Darwin". I wonder what weird and wonderful creatures we shall find in this jungle?


Look look! Small weird creatures! What have I discovered?



Oh... only geese. Dammit


Punter's eye view


Thar be Andrew


Andrew prepares to joust?


This is the life.


Andrew's hands are be covered in Leptospirosis so Mary has to feed him oranges like a baby. Awww


Evasive Action

essays *yawn*

Again, for some reference, my MIM essays were:

1. What are the three types of cell surface receptor? How does their structure relate to their function?
2. Discuss the mechanisms by which transcription of DNA is controlled in eukaryotes.
3. Complex functions within the cell are often performed by multi-component assemblies. Discuss, using examples, how such assemblies contribute to cellular function.

HOM essays:

1. Discuss the factors controlling the velocity of conduction in nerves. How would you expect a demyelinating disease to affect nerve conduction. *
   
2. Why is control of blood pressure important? What are the homeostatic mechanisms that regulate blood pressure?

* Actually my best essay! Somehow the one about resistance and capacitance that I hate, actually turned out to be my best essay. Weird eh?

makepovertyhistory

makepovertyhistory. Added a banner. Can't be a bad thing I guess, although I think there is scarily obsessive amounts of optimism in their website. It's clearly not going to do much. Feeling critcal today.

MIMS today was alright - i could do the essays which is always a bonus. The afternoon was HOM practical paper... wasn't nice - some evil physics questions, but I think I passed.

Tomorrow is HOM. OOOOH dear :S. This could quite possibly go pear shaped, although I have finally mastered cardiovascular and kidneys this evening.

Right. BED.

Tom
xx

Rich

Oh marillion how I have missed you so

Dede de de de de de AAAR. Reality is something that you rise above, we don't see things as they are, we see them as we are... Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run... The fearful fall foul of fate as often as the reckless. You don't need money to be rich anyhow, spending yourself is whats it's all about. NO TEARS NO LIES NO PAIN NO DOUBT NO DARKNESS NO CONFUSION, NO loneliness despair no more, no more it's all illusion. De de de de de de de de de de de de deuh.

God Bless them.

MIMSical MIMS should be OK, and that anatomy paper was only worth 33% of the VetMB, so I can make it up on the Steeplechase (which I'm hoping I'll be better at).

Also, Dr Holmes gave us all a little good luck note in our pidgeon holes on Sunday which was bloody nice of him! I needed it!

Tom
xxx

Examo Numero Uno Overo

^ I speak spanish. Yeeeaaaah!

VAP this morning was, how can I say... EVIL! They asked me horrible questions. I had to do the essays on viscera because the locomotion ones were so tough. I wrote an essay on the horse and rabbit on the basis of knowing the sacculus rotundus and the fusus coli... I f***ed it up to be polite. Never mind, I think I passed. My heart and Displaced Abomasum essays were okish...

Now I am going to have an hour or so off before I start revising for MIMS.

It's nice to have them under-way.

Tom
x

Just putting this here for my own reference (essay questions):
1. Give a comparitive account of the heart in the domestic species.
2. The colon and caecum of the rabbit is essentially just a miniature version of that found in the horse. Discuss.
3. How important is a knowledge of the anatomy of the bovine abdomen in an understanding of the causes, signs and treatments of abomasal displacement?

One day left

The day before my first exam. Alex and I did loads of revision last night, and we both seem to be remembering anatomy which bodes well. I'm not too stressed this morning, but no doubt that will all change by tomorrow.

I had a petit stress yesterday so Jen took me out to buy haribo. YAY!

The new Coldplay album comes out tomorrow. YAY!

£500 is alot of money to lose

Nationwide lost a £500 cheque... they decided it was ok to take it out of my natwest account, but not to put it into my nationwide one. I spent £5 making phone calls and wasted 90 minutes of the 3rd day before my exams sorting it all out. To be fair both the people from Natwest and Nationwide were very helpful, but it was a hassle I could do without.

In other news, Alex is muchly ill. She has a nasty cold thing. I got her some beechams tablet things which I always find help; hopefully they will for her too.

I have worked pretty hard today, and have been much less stressed. That AARGH post was more directed to Thursday which was a bit of a stress out. I'm much more confident now! I tried a MIMS practical maths question and got the right answer, just one order of magnitude too small. Luckily Alex realised it was just cos I was using the calculator wrong. 10^4 is put in by 1 EXP 4, NOT 10 EXP 4. Silly me....

Tomorrow the vetscis are all off out to search for our exam halls, in the Guildhall (which we know about) and Wesley Church, wherever that may be!

Also, Jen has now finished her exams. I am veeeery jealous. Very jealous indeed. Still, I'm pleased for her (he says grating his teeth ;) )

Right, it's 2.26, so I'm off to bed!

Night!

Tom

x < AARgh

Went to borders again, and feel better! Best place to work ever.

I understand the cell cycle and changing volumes from BTPS to STPD and ATPS.

YAY!

Now my x is <> pure relaxation.

AARGH

AAARGH.

Is blogging Self-Obsessed?

Do you think? I don't think so... It's just a way of me procrastinating, showing everyone my beautiful pictures, and letting people at home know what's going on!

Correct me if I'm wrong and I'll moan at you for being anal.

Tom

p.s. why did I have that cup of tea? Now I can't sleep
p.p.s. we ate half a kilogram of curry sauce today. Between two of us... Holy cheese monkeys...

Batman Quotes

Batman Quotes. Thanks to Vicky's favourites folder. Not sure where she got it from... neither is she worryingly! They're hilarious though - never saw this in Batman when I'd seen it before. Maybe it's fake, or I was too young. Probably the latter.

This one particularly entertained us all:

Robin, looking at Batgirl: "You know something, Batman?"
Batman: "What's that, Robin?"
Robin: "She looks very pretty when she's asleep."
Batman: "I thought you might eventually notice that. That single statement indicates to me the first oncoming thrust of manhood, old chum."

Shoes, Smartness, and Llama Sex

Been a few days. Sorry people.

I have ordered a new suit. It cost £150 for the jacket and trousers. It will be the single most expensive piece of clothing that I own, but it is so smart :) Yayhooray. I should buy shoes too. I bought shoes last term, but then Davy sold me Davy-shoes of joy so they haven't been used. Grr... I have girl-like quantities of shoes and it hurts... in deep metaphysical places (best phrase EVER).

Currently, I am sat in Vicky's room having just learnt exciting things about hom, one of which I will write to help me remember it. Arterial Resistance can be used to maintain blood pressure, but will not affect cardiac output as this is controlled by the Starling Mechanism of the heart and autonomic inputs. I made that small because it's boring for everyone, BUT useful and clever :)

Also, Alex says she needs llamas to breed for wool and milk for Vicky (for maybe she will not be lactose intolerant to Llama milk!!). Like this I guess...



Ok.. so that was a weird post... I'm sorry. It's late. That's my excuse! Muwaha!