Munchkin Marathon

On Monday 'morning', Steve & I headed for Birmingham to join Reg to celebrate his joining us in being 22. We got there about teatime, and after tea decided to play 'Super Munchkin'.

This is an excellent card game, which I discovered a couple of weeks ago when Tim C brought it over to play. To cut a long story slightly shorter, I went to bed about midnight and Reg & Steve apparently stopped playing at about 4am (having lost count of how many games they'd played).

The following morning, we got up, had brunch & decided to play again, to pass the time until Michael arrived 'about lunchtime', before going into town. He got there about 3pm, and didn't want to go straight out again, so we played another round (yes, really!). By this time, we'd all got the hang of it, and had figured out all sorts of ways of stopping people winning, so that particular round lasted until nearly 6pm, (with a short intermission for Reg to open his cards & presents), by which time it was dinner. Over dinner, we had conversation which seemed to be an antidote to Munchkin, about the situations in Israel/Palestine and Darfur/Sudan.

After dinner, we then played 'Scattergories' (Town, River, Country, Whatsit) briefly before heading off to the cinema "Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest...

Well, I think that was the one of the very silliest films I have ever seen. Superb fun, but it involved a selection of highly improbable rolling objects and some really quite ridiculous combinating of various nautical stories (Davy Jones, the Kraken, the Flying Dutchman...).



Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed it. The 'dual/trial' is hilarious, as is much of the film. However, the thing that (very nearly) spoiled it was that the CGI doesn't match up to the standard of the first. The underwater scenes in the original genuinely took my breath away the first time I saw them. Now, the CGI in the new one is still good - Davy Jones' crew are excellent and actually quite believable (within the scope of the film!).



But... the Kraken just looks like it's been stuck on. Plus, I just don't buy what Elizabeth does at the end (will not 'spoil' it).
All in all, those 2 things are a real shame, because as I said the film is otherwise very, very good and a good giggle. :o) And the final moments (before & after the credits) are just surreal!


After the film, we went home & played *another* game of Super Munchkin, before going to bed. Finally, we got up, had breakfast, played Scattergories (Michael somehow managed to play the whole round with the wrong letter...) & drove home by almost the right route. :o)

I'm sure that's more information than you probably ever wanted, but I'm bored and watching TV, so there! :oP

Coming Soon...
What happened in Birmingham...
And a review of "Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest".

Coming a bit later than that...
A summary/review of my year and my thoughts on leaving the Chaplaincy (& Reading!)

Long time, no blog

Apologies for the long delay in transmission... Not much has been happening, and yet I still seem to have no time. Odd.

So, in the past month I have:

Been on the Chaplaincy Centre End of Year Retreat - A very interesting and useful day on 'Taking Stock & Looking Forward'. The morning involved looking over the past 4 years and looking at what we were thankful for and what we want to put over into God's hands and leave behind. In the afternoon, we were 'looking forward' and had to write a letter to ourselves that will be posted to us 1 year from now. Quite difficult to work out what to write and I'm sure that it'll make interesting reading when I get it back!

Consumed far too much barbecue food - Including Heather's birthday BBQ, the Chaplaincy end of year BBQ & the Small World Cafe BBQ & Barn Dance (all within 24 hours); Alex's birthday BBQ (which included arriving at the usually deserted Thames Valley Park, to find the Reading Regatta going on with about 2,000 boats and canoes, so we all had to transfer to King's Meadow instead - Thank God for mobile phones!); Henrick's farewell BBQ... to date, I think that's it. But I will start to look like a hotdog before long, if I keep this up!

Been to Helen's "Pirates, Vegetables & Cows' Party - just a few of us, as most people were away that weekend, but a good time was had by all. Plus, we watched a lot of Dangermouse! :o)



Helped organise the SWC Weekend Away - Between a few of us (Rich, Annie, Michael & me) we organised a weekend to the Isle of Wight. Sadly, though, it didn't happen, as we only had 1 international student sign up. So, despite being on the team for 3.5 years, I've still never been on an int'l weekend away.

Had Chris & Rebecca come and stay - they were here for about a week. Originally for music making, Chris' PGCE interview & generally seeing people before everyone goes their separate ways. Well, the last one happened, and some of the first, and the second one happened but not in that week. :o) All in all, a good week though.

Attended Reg's surprise birthday party - He was totally shocked, which was great. And Fish provided a legendary (fairtrade, vegan, still warm!) chocolate & strawberry cake.

Attended Michael's graduation - After a lot of stress over Easter, it was far from certain that he'd make it to the end. But he did, and he got a well-deserved 2.i, so he'll be at York St.John next year for a PGCE (Upper Primary). :o) (Rumour has it, he got 68% on his dissertation!)
I also met his parents at the graduation, and they seem very nice. And are very good at making picnics. :o)


So, I think that's my life in a nutshell for the past few weeks. My foot's still sore too. It's been nearly 6 weeks, so it should be better. I may well go see the GP next week, when I get back from Reg's birthday bash in Birmingham, if it's still sore then. I should have gone sooner, but as I said, I don't really know where the past 4 weeks have gone!

In terms of the summer, when I think about everything I have to do and all the different places I have to be, I just want to curl up in a little ball and hide until July 2007. However, I can't do that, so I'll just have to get through the intermittent franticness that this summer is going to be! Oh well.

Best foot first, right?

Update on the foot situation:

On Friday I got a letter and phonecall from the A&E department at the Royal Berks (where I went on Monday) telling me that they'd reviewed my x-rays and that they would like to re-examine me... uh-oh... Well, it turns out, I have indeed broken the bone. I have cracked (but not split) the end of my 5th metatarsal in my left foot.



They said I don't have to have it cast, but I can if I want. They wouldn't let me have crutches without getting it cast though. So, in actual fact, it hasn't made any difference, except that I have to be even more careful, and can't wear high heels, dance or anything much at all that requires moving from place to place.


On a happier note, Saturday was Julie's wedding, which was a lot of fun and the whole event was lovely. I hope to post some photos at some point, when I've uploaded them off my camera. :o)

Other than that, business as usual.

God bless!

Trouble's a foot

Well, I ended up in A&E last night getting my foot x-rayed to find out how badly I'd damaged it. Thankfully, it's just bruised/sprained.

"What did you do?", I hear you ask (well, perhaps!).
Quite simple. I tried to walk. Trouble is, I'd been sitting sort-of cross-legged in the big squishy chair in our lounge, and hadn't noticed that my left leg had gone to sleep. Thus, when I got up to get some dinner and tried to stand on it, it kind-of dragged behind me, and I ended up standing on the top of my foot instead. There was a loud 'crack', and I was on the floor attempting not to blackout. I soon felt fine, but it was still quite painful, so Steve sorted me out an icepack (frozen sweetcorn in a teatowel). After a few hours of this, I was persuaded by Michael & Marie to go and get it x-rayed though, as it was swollen and didn't look quite right, but as I said, it's not broken. Thankfully, for a Bank Holiday, A&E wasn't too busy so we (Marie & I) were only there about an hour and a half.

I have to keep it elevated and not use it too much. (Hmm, not so good for the world's worst patient!). It just hurts to walk on it generally, and it's bruised, but it should be fine soon.

God bless!

Yes, I am!

Just a quick update to say that I got my place at Scarborough and start there on 25th September. Went up there for an induction/pre-course day last Tuesday where they gave me an astonishing amount of paper (6" thick?), all of which I'm meant to read at least once.

eep.

Met lots of nice people though, so it should be all fine.

Other than that, not much to report. Currently attempting to update the 'Local Churches' booklet for the next batch of Freshers, including a map and a short description of each church. Sounded like a good idea before - but it's taking longer than expected!

Book stall in the Chaplaincy Library on Tuesday (12-2), Communion at London Road campus on Wednesday (1:05) and Chaplaincy Social 'Beer & Cake II' at Mark's on Friday (from 5:30pm).

Other than that, just need to sort out Greenbelt things, and read all that stuff for the autumn.

Anyway, hope you're all well. God bless!

24601

Ok, in a blatant bit of plagiarism, I have copied this from Tim's blog. A bit of fun for those of you wrestling with revision, etc. And indeed for those of you who aren't too!

Put the answers to the following questions in my comments box:
1. Who are you?
2. Have we ever met?
3. Give me a nickname and explain why you picked it.
4. Describe me in one word.
5. What reminds you of me?
6. If you could give me anything, what would it be?
7. Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn't?
8. Are you going to put this on your weblog and see what I say about you?
9. What do you love like a fat kid loves cake?
10. What makes you come back here?


Woo! 2 blog updates in 1 day. Aren't you lucky! :o)

Am I going to Scarborough fair?

Well, the answer to that has got a little clearer. I have the date for my interview - Tuesday 9th May. A bit scary, but at the same time, I'm glad that I've got this far.

They've sent me a leaflet thing, all about 'Creativity' which I have to read and I'll have to do some "written tasks" with it when I get there. There will also be group and individual interviews.
All a bit daunting, but I'll give it my best.

The more I think about it, the more I really want to go there! :o)

Yorkshire (and proud!)

Just a quick one to say that I have been offered an interview for Scarborough's Primary PGCE course. (details)
I don't know when yet - I'll update again in a couple of days when I know more... :o)

Major Decisions

Given that I've graduated, this is probably a bit silly, but still kinda encouraging that it thinks I made the right decision. Let me know what you get... What is your Perfect Major? (PLEASE RATE ME!!<3) You scored as Mathematics. You should be a Math major! Like Pythagoras, you are analytical, rational, and when are always ready to tackle the problem head-on! Mathematics 100% Psychology 100% Linguistics 83% Sociology 75% Chemistry 75% Philosophy 75% English 67% Journalism 67% Engineering 67% Anthropology 50% Biology 42% Theater 42% Dance 33% Art 17% created with QuizFarm.com