Rollercoaster...

This week has been an emotional rollercoaster. We have a wonderful internet system for applying for Part II (3^rd Year) subjects if you wish to go for natsci tripos subjects (Vets at Cambridge do an intercalated year so we can do whatever we want in our 3^rd year. I considered Geography, but thought that the jump to a slightly more artsy subject would probably break my brain). I applied to the PDN department (Physiology, Development and Neuroscience) to do 4 modules in “Development and Reproduction”, mostly as our Veterinary Reproductive Module we did this year was so fascinating! My second choice was pathology and my third choice genetics.

So, it was all going along nicely, and I was getting suitably excited about PDN, assuming I’d get it as I got a good 2.1 last year, but was rejected. The 2^nd choice allocations were 5 days later so I had to wait and see what I got (I swapped path and genetics though, as revising path was painful). So, I came to terms with the fact that I’d be doing genetics next year, and was quite looking forward to it. Then, on the day of 2^nd choice allocations I was told by the internet site that I had been allocated a place on PDN. I was understandably over-excited, and relieved to have got my place. However, the following day I checked my emails I was told that I had been given a substitute place on the, which had really bad modules; so I was back to genetics. Then, a few days later I was told they’d messed up my application and I infact should have had my 1^st choice. So, I am now doing PDN – so far so good :S.

God it's been a while. Haven't even posted news on the may ball. So, once again, in true Wardy style, BACKDATING!

• May Ball
• Post-May Ball
• SveedishConstruction
• Snooker
  

Snooker

Beat Rahul 5-3 from 1-3 down at first. Most of the games were pretty tight though

SveedishConstructio

IKEA. Went to IKEA. IKEA is actually quite alot of fun. Even if they didn't have my chair :( - We did get some SKANKA pans though. Hehe.

Results yr 2

Wow! I got another high 2:1 :) Plus a first in Pharmacology - can't imagine how. AMAZING!

Spent the morning packing – got most of my stuff away in boxes and bags (so sad to have to take down all the stuff off my notice-boards), before wandering round Clare handing in forms and generally sorting stuff out. Then got home and packed some more.

tbc...

Poor Askman

Got up early-ish and met Alex, Vicky and Erika (despite Tom’s squeals of joy he couldn’t make it for he is leaving tomorrow :o) for a trip to Sainsburys. We got a load of picnic-like stuff and went to see the Lashings vs CUCC cricket match at Fenners. It said on the flyer that it started at noon, so we arrived at 11.20 to try to get in on time, and the match didn’t start till 2.30pm – much to our despair. Still, the picnic was great fun. Sachin Tendulkar got 155 before being caught, and Chris Cairnes got a century. Geoff and his mate turned up at about 4pm the day after their may-ball, though I left at about 6.30 with them cos it was getting strangely cold, and CUCC were batting badly (or alternatively being bowled at amazingly).

That evening, Jen and me went out to get Ask take-away pizza, but it was not forthcoming – we were met by a knackered, pissed off waiter who politely informed us he would not be doing take-away for half an hour before poking his head out the door and screaming some order numbers down the road. Hehe – drunken students were running him ragged. We settled on Fish and Chips (well, sausage and chips) to fill our bellies.

Firey!

Post-exam joy. The May Ball has already been spoken of (see post ****). I got back from the May Ball at about 6.30am after the survivor’s photo – it was amazing seeing the trains of knackered students working their way through the streets of Cambridge with their posh togs on, with only the odd confused business man and their equally tired friends for company. Slept till 2, and had a lazy afternoon before going to Nandos (again) for the evening for Omega’s birthday. It’s a sight to behold seeing Omega devour a chicken with lashings (see tomorrow) of Extra-Hot peri-peri sauce without flinching; for comparison I had a “hot” half chicken (and 6 drinks) and nearly died

May Ball

Finally I've got round to making a post about this most herculean(!) of nights. I've taken photos, but they were pretty poor - I really could do with a new camera, tho am disinclined to spend much on one; maybe I'll wait, maybe I'll steal someone else's photos (Erika if you're reading this - pleeeeeeeease, You have such amazing photos!)

Jen, Lyd and me got in a little early at 8.45 to get chance to set up (and have a sneaky peek round (and the first smoothie off the table) before the doors opened at 9). We had a nice little marquee thing in the Master's garden and even got our names in the program (I'll attach a picture of that later). The set went strangely at first, no-one watched until the very end, and instead we had to "blast"out our sound to the garden without any amplification. Suffice to say, from what we heard afterwards, it went ok in the end :). It was good fun anyway, and we got special yellow arm bands for being "awesome", as I imagine Lydia would say.

The rest of the night was superb. We danced to The Rumble Strips, who were pretty good (the headline act, The Young Knives weren't great), Lydia's band "Second Hand Kisses" and to some surprisingly enjoyable Electro - think I must just have been in the perfect mood for it - it was really good fun taking up the whole of the cellars thrashing round. There were boat swings, a coconut shy, a noodle bar, a bouncy castle, huge (and I mean HUGE) numbers of innocent smoothies, which kept our blood pure to make up for the champagne, bucks fizz, bullinis (sp?), beer and whatever else there was that I missed. We poked our heads into the casino, and, though it was packed, managed to get a peek at some of Reece's artwork, which was cool.

I love the way the Clare Ball is big enough for you to wander off and see everything, but small enough that you know you are going to bump into your friends pretty soon anyway. Dunno where I'll go next year - perhaps to Clare and a Snow Ball (Selwyn perhaps?), for it will be my "last" (i.e. 4th from last) year.

Tom

(backdated from 30/06/06)

?

Rain!? For the May Ball!? They're kidding right?

Update: 5.16pm - Went punting with Geoff, Boycie, Rahul, Joe, James and Ally (who was visiting) - that didn't tempt the rain out - they still reakon there'll be rain this evening. Bugger. Still, punting was good - even if it did take us 20 mins to get out of the punting place - Rahul needs lessons!

t h e e r a s e r#

Currently Listening to - Thom Yorke -The Eraser. Apparently it's not out yet, but when it does, I'll definitely be buying it - it sounds amazing. I was told it came out a week ago, and got annoyed that no shops were selling it, so downloaded it. Oops! Anyway, it's Classic Thom Yorke, electro, with those really stirring repetitive refrains he does so well... #it_gets_you_down#, #this_is_f***_up#. Reminiscent of #the Raindrops {x47#} of "Sit Down.Stand Up". Also listening to Keane - Under the Iron Sea. I thought it was going to be horribly dull and sameysamey; somehow it's not. It's still Keane, but it's different. I'm so glad they havent gone the same dull dull desperately dull way of Embrace.

I don't want Thom to go skint, so I would like to reiterate that I am going to buy the album when it comes out. Preorder it from HMV.

Garden Parties and May Ball Prep - So Close Now!

Went down to the CUVZS garden party yesterday afternoon. It was a relatively laid back affair which was quite pleasant really. They had a parrot display, so we got a chance to get some of the birds up on our shoulders and pratt around with the "I'm a pirate" thing that is completely obligatory if you're going to go anywhere near a parrot. They also had a bouncy castle which is guaranteed to bring out the child in ANYONE. Amazing fun :)

Today I have "twitchy eye"; a severe medical condition where your eyelid decides that blinking every few seconds is not enough action for it, and spends almost every intermediate second twiching uncontrollably - not visible, but really bloody annoying, especially when you're trying to play guitar. We had a big rehersal today, and sorted out a setlist - some songs still need brushing up, and it's getting late, but at least Eva Cassidy went great :) Finally got it.

Jen's going to Scotland on Friday, and as her Dad could only come to get her stuff today, she has a completely bare room (she's sleeping in a sleeping-bag) until Friday when she leaves. It's creepy - hopefully she'll be able to keep wandering Myroomwards to keep her sane.

Facebook Status - Thomas is violently bashing Eva Cassidy, which is tough, all things considered.

The Colony is Packed

Not sure why - but the colony is absolutely jammed full of cars. They're everywhere - it's turned into a car-park. Charlie the porter is wandering around madly. Maybe everyone's parents are up cos its the weekend before May Week. This is unbecredibly boring, but here's the view out of my window. Look! Packed!

Family!

The family came down to visit yesterday, and stayed over night. It's the first time they've done that ever, so it was really nice to be able to do stuff at a more relaxed pace than usual. We went punting for an hour and a half, stopping off for a small picnic inbetween - I punted us from the Mill Pond up to Jesus Green and back again - it was nackering, but good fun, and I only lost the pole once this time ;) Unfortunately the Clare punt was out, so we had to hire one from Scudamore's (£12 an hour! Rip-off! The poor tourists have to pay £16 at weekends - they really do pay through the teeth).

Mum was unfortunately a bit ill in the evening, so didn't really enjoy dinner or get to walk with us up to the vet-school and back, but luckily was much better the next morning, so we hopped in the car and drove the few miles to Granchester. It's a lovely little village consisting of many thatched cottages, about 3 pubs, two tea places, and (weirdly) a Hyundai show-room. We stopped off in the orchard for a drink after a wander down by the river via a field of cows. We had to leave reasonably early for them to be able to get home before the Friday night traffic started around London, and still it took them 3 hours to get back. grr M25.

Hannah made cake, I ate cake, twas good. They might send me some photos (hint hint ;) ) that I can put up.

Lots to Catch up On

Now exams have finished, I've been slack about the blog again. Grr. I think overall I worked harder for all my exams this year, but have not a clue how well I've done. So far I know I've passed VRB, NAB, MODA and CVB, but no more than that. Oh well, passing is what needs to be done!

Leedssssss

Went to Leeds for the weekend. Lots of stuff happened.

• Got lots of trains. Four in total

1. Uneventful
2. Got moaned at snidely an old man as we asked an old lady to move out of our reserved seats. Her seat was empty anyway - but she moved with bad grace. Damn this reverse ageism
3. Train broke down... Got stuck in reverse. Had to stop for ages at some random station while they moved the back train to the front. GNER let us down. Got home 3 hours late.
4. Uneventful - just later than expected.

• Fixed Alex's dad's computer. Took us a couple of hours, but we defeated it.
• Went to Ilkley and bought sequins... Well, if I will come on a dress-making trip, I should expect this stuff ;) More excitingly, I saw Alex's dad's practice. Was very posh!
  
• Played lots of frisbee, distracting her brother from AS level revision in the process - it's necessary - he would have melted from the Latin pain if it weren't for us.
• Played lots of guitar - need to practise for the May Ball! So many songs, so little time!
• Went to church... St Wilfrids is a very good looking building.
• Ate Alex's Mum's amazing food of joy. MMmm

Tom
xxx

What a garbled post that was. Sorry - it's 8am, and I still havent managed to repay the sleep debt I owe to the Exam Fairies...

Overoverdoobiedoo

Exams are over! Wednesday afternoon was the pathology practical that was always going to be horrible, but luckily it was on the OK side of horrible rather than the "Oh my goodness what on earth is going on with this pink blob" side of horrible. Went to formal on Wednesday evening - it was very nice to enjoy a formal without the nagging feeling of work in the background. Then, thursday morning was the viva, during which I had to explain about cardiac auscultation and also about the ear. Went ok, was over in 7 minutes and then I was free! Yay. That afternoon I spent sat around playing my guitar, and generally enjoying freedom. Twas amazing! In the evening I went down to the mill pond to see the vets, and had Dojo's take out in the sun - amazing noodles! Later on Alex and me went to see X-men III at the cinema - was actually pretty good - some awful dialogue and flawed stories, but a good fun romp :)

So far we've only got one exemption result - VRB, which all the vets passed! YAY!

Sunny!

It'ssunnyandamazingbutIhavepathandit'sawfulandhistologicalandaaargh

Essays Over

Hooray! Today I finished my last essay exam, still have 3 practicals and a viva to go, but no more essays. For a vetsci, 13 essays in 5 days is craaazy, and it has not been fun. MODA today was alot better that I expected - very pleased they changed the format of it from the impossible paper of last year. Haven't been writing down what essays I wrote, might back-date some at some point if I feel like it, but can't be bothered to type them up, and have an exam tomorrow and the day after (days 5 and 6 of the week of pain - the 7th day shall be a rest day!).

Just had delicious food with Jen, Jenny and Dave - bangers, mash, beans and mushrooms - twas amazing! Have realised that haven't seen many friends for a proper get-together since my birthday - It's so depressing - noone tells you quite how excessive the Cambridge work thing is before you get here. You know it's gonna be tough, but you'd never expect this... Still, a week to go, and only 5 hours and 10 minutes of exams left! Yay!

Tom