Oh, what a fine evening I’ve had…

Matt L. (my hot date) picked me up from my house at around 8:10 PM to venture forth to a public house far, far away… in Locksbottom. Seeing Matt in the flesh was super, as we’ve had limited contact since the dreaded examinations in June. And, as expected, he touched parts of my body throughout the evening.

We stopped off to pick up the Paul B. on the way to the pub. He didn’t touch parts of my body, but it was clear that he wanted to.

Parking in the Sainsbury’s car park, Matt decided to pop into the not-so-super market to see if Nick V. was working that shift. He was, but we didn’t see him for whatever reason.

So we headed across the road to the pub, which was surprisingly empty for a Friday night. We got the first round in (I had water) and found ourselves some fine sofas in the corner and sat there.

Other than Matt, I wasn’t expecting to see anyone that I already knew intimately. So seeing Paul was already a bonus feature. But the DVD extras of life entered into Special Edition status, as ex-RWS lads Tommy C, Dan D. & James S. strolled on in and joined us. They were just as surprised to see me as I was to see them. Hurrah!

Laughs in abundance and Matt fancied a heated chicken. To eat, that is. So off to Sainsbury’s he went taking a couple of us with him.

Back at Sainsbury’s we this time saw Nick. Sadly, he was out of chickens so Matt settled for a cake instead. The cake was great - we went back to the pub and each had a piece. A little while later and Nick & co. joined us in the pub where we all sat and did typical pub things.

I’m not a pubby-person and never have been. But I thoroughly enjoyed meeting up with so many of my old mates, particularly Matt and Tom because I was very close to both in previous years.

However, meeting with ex-RWS people didn’t end there. Walking to the car park at the end of the evening, two chaps ran up behind Matt, Paul & myself, one of them shouting “Oi you lads!”. Naturally, we were expecting trouble. But as the two chaps got closer, Will D. (whom I haven’t seen for about two years) recognised ME.

“Ahh, look who it is,” he said to his mate whilst patting me on the shoulder. And his mate was none other than Rob W, who not only went to RWS, but was also in my form group.

After a wee chat, they ran off to Sainsbury’s to get some booze in. Moving a little further towards Matt’s car, three more lads came running past us from the other direction. Amazingly they were ex-RWS too: Howard C, Tom S. and Richard S.

They couldn’t get over this chance encounter just as much as us. Very peculiar to say the least. But again, an utter delight.

But wait, there’s more…

Parked only four ish cars down from Matt’s were David P, Alec T. & Alex T. Calling to us from their car, we went and greeted them too.

The whole meeting-people-thing was also odd because ’spoons in Bromley was always the usual haunt of the RWS lot. So meeting them all in Locksbottom was most extraordinary. Really, it was just like being in some surreal film, but without the sexual imagery.

Anyhow, ’twas utterly splendid - I’ll probably be doing it again sometime soon.

In the early hours of this morning, I watched a most triumphant documentary on BBC Three about Band Aid’s record and how it rocked the world. It was titled Band Aid: The Record That Rocked the World. An apt title, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Racodac has been mind-numbingly painful so far today. I was in by 9:30 AM and have done absolutely nothing Racodac related as of yet. Two of five other members of my Storytelling group showed up, but promptly disappeared. The disappearance itself wasn’t really a problem, as to get anything done the full group needs to be present.

An hour or so later (having sat by myself doing the same Cisco work for the umpteenth time) and another of my group turned up, said “Hello,” and wandered off to the other end of the Graphics Studio. Not too long after that, I thought it best to investigate…

At the other end of the Graphics Studio sat the three of my group at a table. Apologising for my absence - as I would’ve joined them if I knew that they were there - I requested an update. The gathering hadn’t mustered up any further ideas so I hadn’t actually missed anything. I then returned to my computer to wait for the final two of the group to show up.

As per the email sent by the Student Union, I went to get my NUS card at 12:30 PM. My photograph wasn’t too bad, but I’ve lost the top half of my head where the girlie lopped it off. It’s been put on at a wonky angle too.

When I returned to the Graphics Studio the three of my group had again disappeared. Since then I’ve been sitting on my own typing up this post.

Getting anything done is now looking all the more unlikely, so I’ll probably be making tracks in a short moment.

Heavy traffic on the roads this morning allowed me to pay more attention than usual to the names of roads. And there’s this dirty alley not too far from Racodac called “Queens Passage”.

No apostrophe, I know. But as a cheap joke, I think it stands relatively well.

Being ‘Storytelling day’, my Storytelling group gathered to discuss our second project: Do we need old age? My answer is quite simply: No. Unless of course the government decides to put down new speed-bumps.

On our last project we opted for a flat visual presentation. This time we hope to make a short film. I’ve dressed up as old women on many occasions before, so if it’s required, I may end up donning the gear yet again.

Working with the group was, as always, an absolute pleasure. So many ideas between us, and so much laughter shared.

Jordan A. (who came up with the “Jeff” & “Gustov” names) also got me cracking up today. In fact, I’m laughing thinking about it now. It won’t be funny if I write it down here, but I’m going to include a couple of wee points to jog my memory when I read this back.

• “Of course we need old people - how else would I get this? I’d starve without old people.” - referring to the lunchbox that his Grandmother prepared for him.
• “And what time do you call this, David Brown?” et cetera - at the top of his voice.

Gustov wasn’t in due to illness, so Jeff headed the group tutorials. (I’m going to start calling Gustov “John L.” and Jeff “Keith G.” from now on otherwise I’ll accidentally call one of them by their Internet name to their face.)

After the meeting with Keith, we worked on some more ideas. The main one being: “Think of some more ideas, and report back tomorrow.” So today I was home by 2:00 PM.

The Bill’s not long finished and it was a terrific episode. A little reminiscent of the Eddie Santini storyline (mainly when he sped off from the burning club in the panda car and was spotted by a member of the public), but excellent stuff nonetheless. Gabriel Kent is a nasty piece of work. Let’s hope he causes even more trouble in episodes to come.

I was in earlier than I’d have liked this morning, as the bus came early. Well, technically the previous bus came late, but you get what I mean.

This morning we were again left to our own devices. I knuckled down and completed my LRC Induction sheet due for submission on 27th October. I would’ve made a start on my biographies project, but expecting Jeff to make an appearance, I didn’t want to start without being able to finish.

Thing is, Jeff didn’t make an appearance, so from 10:30 AM to 2:00 PM, I immersed myself in the World Wide Web. An argument on Hob McD’s blog between myself and an anonymous user has been the highlight of my day. Read it if you will.

I’m fairly sure that I know whom the perpetrator is because of the style of writing, the language used, and the speed in which replies were posted. If I am right and you are reading this: no hard feelings, as I thoroughly enjoyed it. And I won’t be revealing your identity, so no worries there too.

If I am wrong, I still enjoyed the whole thing, as it shielded the mundanity of my day. So thanks either way.

Oh, and during the aforementioned argument, I also got myself a date for Friday night! More details to follow on that one though.

Anyway, at 2:00 PM the second of Sian’s Context Studies lectures started in the Lecture Hall, which ran for approximately two hours. An hour into it, we were given a fifteen minute break to do whatever before watching a forty minute documentary. I remained seated, as did Zehra A. who sat in front of me. During this time, Sian came and had a wee chat with us, mainly to learn her two names of the day. Apparently my name is exotic. Wey-hey.

The documentary was really good - all about Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With a Thousand Faces and how it influenced George Lucas when re-drafting a certain script in 1975. Duel of the Fates was excellently used as a piece of background music during the talking heads.

Whilst watching the documentary, I also found out who texted me a short while ago about Shaun of the Dead, and again yesterday telling me “Someones ‘effin eaten’ my Mars Bars!”. The mystery texter was, in fact, The Milky Bar Kid himself.

—
I’m sure the dude at the end of last week’s The Bill said that tonight’s episode was on at 7:30 PM instead of 8:00 PM. But having re-arranged my busy schedule to watch it at the earlier time, it turns out it’s on at 7:30 PM tomorrow. Bah.

Thirty minutes I waited for the bus to come this morning. Thirty sodding minutes. I mean, I could’ve watched an episode of Red Dwarf in that time. Or an episode of anything else that lasts thirty minutes for that matter. And then I had to sit facing the back of the bus. Not good.

Walking to Racodac from the bus stop, Michael M. of the RWS days drove past in his car and, seeing me, honked the horn. Not expecting the sudden break of silence, the honk made me jump - just as it always used to when he honked at me when walking to/from RWS. An unexpected greeting, but very much appreciated. And I did manage to salute him before he’d gone past and out of sight.

The Graphic Studio at Racodac was fairly empty, so I found myself a computer and logged in. Actually doing something on the computer was a little more tricky, as the machine was running like a dog. Well, like a dog with no legs. Okay, scratch that - the machine was running very slowly.

After a system restart, everything ran smoothly. Jeff was running late, so I bummed about on the Internet until he arrived some hours later.

When he arrived, he announced that there wasn’t enough time to do anything, as in twenty minutes we were to see a film in the Lecture Hall. So the morning was a bit of a waste of time. True, I could’ve been getting on with my biographies project, but it’s not due for two weeks and I can do it all (to a high standard) in under three hours. The Internet was also a far more entertaining option.

The film was Fritz Lang’s M; a film noir that I didn’t get to see whilst studying AS Film Studies at RWS due to the absence of a femme fatale. It was great finally getting to watch it, as I particularly enjoyed the film noir unit at RWS. But there was absolutely no need for any of the Moving Image & Graphic Designers to be there, so I could’ve had the day off. Considering I felt awful all day, I wish I had stayed at home.

Now at home, I’m in bed blogging this and listening to the television. It’s not actually switched on; I just wanted to listen to it, as I thought turned off it would sound just like my calculator. And it does.

Woooooey - the bus wasn’t half crowded this morning. Lots of passengers = lots of stops along my journey = delayed arrival at Racodac. Just as well I left home earlier again today.

When I got to Racodac, I started adding finishing touches to my IT resources map, which was due for presentation later in the day. On the way down to the printer room in the LRC (having sent the map to print), I bumped into both Karl A. & Steve P. who were oddly stood together in the corridor talking about me.

Finally seeing/speaking with Karl means that I’ve caught up with everyone now at Racodac from the RWS days. That said, he didn’t hang about for long. So Steve joined me in the printing room, where we spoke of all things Blake & Steve.

In fact, once we’ve both settled in a wee bit more, I should imagine that we’ll be spending more time together (hugs & kisses et cetera), as we used to be very chummy at RWS - even to the extent of holding hands in the whole Sixth Form photograph. Not that there’s anything wrong with the other ex-RWS people. It’s just I used to hang about with Steve & Simon M. a whole lot more than the others now at Racodac. Ah, you get what I mean.

The map printed brilliantly, but printing it on the same printer as my Storytelling project meant that there was two metres of white space that needed to be trimmed. Seeing as I paid for the print-out, René DeL. suggested that I kept the cut-off bit for future projects. But I’ll come back to that later…

Looking over the printed maps pinned to the board at the front of the Graphics Studio, Jeff announced that the project served only to get us familiar with the campus. Thanks for that. He does get points, however, for saying “Alphabetti Spaghetti!”

We’ve also been given our next project brief: To create three front covers using only type for Penguin published biographies belonging to a series of biographies.

After that, I walked home with Elliot S, which was again a pleasure. Whilst saying our farewells a wee while later, Laura C. caught up with us and walked me to my bus stop. Waving the cut-off piece of paper (that I mentioned previously) as if it were a lightsaber, I rid of all who got in our way. On the bus, I even deterred an old lady and a wee nipper from sitting next to me by waving it and uttering “Don’t make me destroy you” in the voice of Darth Vader.

I was proud.

Continuing my re-visit of Star Trek: The Screen Voyages, I’m off to bed in a bit to watch The Wrath of Khan. I’ve only ever seen it once before, and that was fourteen years ago - quite surprising given the amount of times I’ve seen the other ones.

Anyhow, I’ve just spent an hour filling in a self-assessment sheet for my Racodac Storytelling project. Fun it was not.

Other than that, I haven’t done much all day, as my lower back has been constantly aching. This is not a good thing, but it did provide me with a valid reason to generally laze about. (Not that I usually need a reason to laze about.)

And something I forgot to mention late last week: Racodac’s LRC has literally millions of television recordings on video cassette. How Do They Do That? - Red Dwarf and many of the Alternative Comedy rarities that I’ve been trying to get hold of are among them.

So it looks like I’ll be investing in some blank tapes to make copies of all these things. What’s more - we’re actively encouraged to make copies if we require them because of some funky licence that they have there.

Me likes the LRC at Racodac. Yes indeedy.

My body has got so used to the early starts that I’ve found myself waking if I stay in bed past 7:00 AM. This morning, however, I wanted a lie-in so remained in bed until gone 11:00 AM despite many stirrings.

Once up & about, I did very little. So I went back to bed and watched the Spaced 2 DVD extras and the last two episodes of The League of Gentlemen.

After that, I checked my numerous email accounts. Whilst doing so, a virus-infected email prompted me to organise my files, messages and settings into folders ready for back-up on Compact Disc. That’s taken me a fair while, and I’m now going to Work Offline to burn everything to CD.

La-di dah.

Catching the early bus to get to Racodac before the printer queues got ridiculous, I found myself on the same bus as Pete B. of the RWS days. Touching my leg (to grab my attention, he insists) as I walked past him on the upper deck, I turned to see his beaming smile. He’s always smiling, that lad.

Anyhow, sitting next to him for the bulk of my journey was splendid. We got on well at RWS, so it was good having such a chummy chat.

At Racodac, I used my Identification Card for the first time to gain access to the building. I’m also told that you need to use it to register, as after seven consecutive days of not attending, they kick you out. Given that I’ve been there for two weeks now, and have only used the card once, I’m taking that information with a pinch of salt.

When the rest of my Storytelling group showed up, we all looked over our work before printing. Measuring three metres by one metre, our finished product cost £17.00 to print. So it made sense to check everything thoroughly.

An hour and a half later, when the printing had finished, we went to shoot some pool in the Student Union bar. This is because we found out first thing this morning that each group was to present their work to Gustov individually and not in front of all the other students as previously understood. For this to work, each group had been allocated a presentation time. Ours was 4:00 PM.

In the bar, Elliot S. made an amusing observation that the two lads using the pool table when we arrived were spitting images of Jay & Silent Bob - right down to the clothing.

The presentation itself went fairly well. Gustov was able to constructively criticise our work at length because he felt it was worthy of said criticism. But having spent so long on the work, the group felt disheartened that it wasn’t received as well as imagined. Still, we learn from our mistakes and all that.

Our scheduled presentation time overran by twenty minutes. Danny P. again kindly gave me a lift home, which, considering I was feeling quite ill by then, was marvellous.

As for feeling ill, I’m sure it’s just a case of having worked as much as I have done this week. So a relaxed weekend spent in front of the television seems likely.

Shock! Horror! The Starbug laser etching that I ordered a whole year ago finally arrived this morning. Joy! And it looks absolutely magical alongside all of my other Dwarfy paraphernalia. But then, for thirty squiddles AND a yearlong wait, it *should* look absolutely magical.

Today has been my longest spent at Racodac thus far, as I was hard at work by 9:30 AM, and left just after 7:10 PM.

After a wee meeting with my Storytelling group, we presented our project workings to Gustov in his office. I made a boo-boo in handing him a rough shot list that I’d written purely for the benefit of the group - forgetting that some of the content was a little bit on the inappropriate side. However, after pointing out that it was on there, Gustov just laughed it off.

As soon as we got out of the office it was all systems go to get the project finished. So we immediately shot off to Bromley High Street to take the last of the photographs required. This process was more than amusing, as some of the photographed events must’ve looked odd from the point-of-view of innocent bystanders. According to Laura T, my water-proof trousers were also a highlight of the day. I disagree.

Back at Racodac, we all sat huddled around two computers in Convergence editing our work together. Network restraints and a power failure did delay proceedings, but fortunately we knew what we were doing and worked remarkably well together to get the project done. In fact, for people randomly thrown together, we’re getting on swimmingly.

Danny P. kindly gave me a lift home from Racodac, as during the course of the day we learnt that he and Wes live just around the corner from me. No bus ride home = result.

And I’ve got a feeling that tomorrow is going to be equally demanding, as we’ve yet to print our work, present it to everyone and do various other things here & there.

Our project does look good, mind.