Last Week's Shenanigans: Graduation, and Wifi at last!!

This week has been quite busy compared to the last few, and pretty exhausting. I've come out of it feeling really happy and proud of myself though and I can't wait to share my activities with you guys!

Monday 15th: We had a bit of a lay-in, before packing up and heading back to Ashford in preparation for my Graduation Ceremony on Tuesday. We were picked up by Mat's Mum and went to his house first to see his family and catch up on some TV that we missed (seeing as we had no Wifi at the Flat). I had a lovely dinner there before heading to see my parents and sister! We had such a lovely evening in and I was so happy to get to see them!

Tuesday 16th: Tuesday was Graduation day! We set off late morning so that I could collect my robes and have my picture taken before the ceremony. I took a quick trip to Clarks in Canterbury to see my old work colleagues and it was pretty emotional. I have missed them all so much! The Ceremony itself was quite long, but I sat with everyone that I had known at Uni and it made me really happy and proud to be part of it. The whole day seemed to go so quickly and it felt like a bit of a blur. In the evening, Mat and I returned home to London (after a delicious curry) and we got back fairly late.

Wednesday 17th: I went back to work today, though still felt a bit emotional and tired out from the day before. To be honest, after Graduation, there wasn't a whole lot to talk about. I had finished reading 'Aristotle & Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe', which I really enjoyed! I probably spent most of the day cursing that our Wifi had not been sorted.

Thursday 18th: I had work again, though not before enjoying a nice lie-in as I didn't start till late. I really am enjoying working at Clarks in London, the people who work there are so friendly and have really helped me to settle in. Other than work, I made a good start on 'Carnival Of Shadows' and wrote my 'Life Of A Blogger' post.

Friday 19th: I spent a good part of this day living in vain hope that the Wifi would finally be activated. They told us it would be on this day but to give it until Midnight because they would probably run tests. we did. It didn't. As well as this, I had work again. The best part of the day however came in the evening, when three of my friends that I went to school with came to visit me!We went out for a lovely dinner at Cafe Rouge, and then back to my flat for a cup of tea and a chat.

Saturday 20th: An engineer came out today, and hooray! We finally got some Wifi! I mean it was only two or so weeks late, right? Still, we were happy to have it working and so I spent most of the morning fiddling with the blog and changing my address on important things. In the afternoon/evening, I worked.

Sunday 21st: A day off? Splendid! Mat and I decided we would spend the day in and watch a lot of TV, as we were both pretty tired. I decided that instead of a shower I would run myself a nice, hot bath. Unfortunately I soon discovered that due to the hot tap having no real power behind it, it's cold baths or a shower in this flat. It was still a lovely day off and I was sad that it went so quickly.

Daily Shenanigans, 01/07/2014: I have passed my Degree!

Today has been quite a day and I'm both really happy and totally exhausted all at once! To start with, I spent the morning typing out my Planned Reads For July post and my Top Ten Tuesday list this week! Both were a lot of fun to make and while I did that, I got ready for work in the afternoon. My shift went quickly but I had so many jobs to do and so I ended up getting a little stressed out. But when it was over, I got home and received some of the best news of my life! I have officially passed my BA Hons Degree in Performing Arts. In fact I've done more than just pass. I received a First Class Degree! I am immensely relieved that all the hard work and stress has turned into such a good result and I'm actually really proud of myself (I don't often say that). I drove over to Mat's and spent the evening at his, which was really good and a lot of fun after such a stressful day turning into a really good one!

Tomorrow I'm seeing my friends Rosie and Imogen again and we plan to spend a really good day together. I've seen them both fairly recently I suppose, but have missed them immensely! I can't wait to catch up with them and hang out like we used to! I plan to really make good progress on Divergent too, in order to have a review up soonish!

Daily Shenanigans, 12/03/2014: 'Tithe' has finally arrived!

Yes you heard me correctly! After weeks of waiting, Holly Black's 'Tithe' is finally here! Man I am so happy and relieved that I don't have to go chasing it up, that I thought I'd tell you about it before talking about my day! It has been one of the books I've been looking forward to reading this month most! I ended up having a pretty good day overall actually, despite an early start that I did not want. Firstly, Uni Tech stuff went fine and finished really quickly. I keep switching between feeling fine about next week, and feeling like I'm going to have a panic attack about it. Thankfully today, I was so tired that my mind decided to be relaxed about it all.

After Uni I had work and that too went really well. I hadn't been looking forward to it at all because I've got so much on my plate at the moment that I really didn't need a work shift on top of it all. It turns out, it was exactly what I needed. I spent all afternoon smiling and laughing, had a good day at work target-wise and managed to actually forget about life's other stresses for a while. Bliss! Also, a strange thing to say, but I really enjoyed driving today! Normally I'm a bit nervous and cautious because even though I started driving ages ago, I still feel like I'm new to it. But today I managed to see why other people enjoy it. This evening mainly just consisted of me relaxing to be honest. When I got home, I realised just how exhausted I was and every part of me aches. Still, my book has arrived and I received my Giveaway E-Book win from the lovely Jackie at Bibliobrat, 'The Invention Of Wings' by Sue Monk Kidd! It really looks like such a good read and I must thank her again for hosting the giveaway in the first place, I can't wait to get round to reading it!

I did take part (though I was a bit late) in a Book Chat on Twitter this evening as well. The topic was 'Sidekicks/Side Characters' and it was really really fun. We discussed our favourites, what qualities we liked in a sidekick, whether we like them to have a back-story of their own, etc. and it was really interesting to interact with other bloggers/readers and hear their thoughts on each question. It was hosted by Saira at Growing Wings, and Zara at Page 394. I would thoroughly recommend going to the next one, they're a lot of fun and a great way to meet new people! Every Wednesday, 7pm GMT if you're interested!

On a final note: I have 22 followers on Bloglovin' and 16 now on Google +! I'm so eternally grateful to everyone who reads and enjoys my posts, I'm very proud with what I've achieved over the last couple of months and long may the books/new friends/blogging fun continue! 

Daily Shenanigans, 09/03/2014: Fixing Phoebe.

Well I've ended up having a pretty busy day today. My morning was completely filled with sorting poor Phoebe the Fiat out, we took off the wheel that had the nail in it to take it to the garage so that we could leave it there and not wait around. It's a good thing we did, they ended up taking a good couple of hours to get round to it because they had so many other jobs to do. As well as that, we put the tyre pressures to where they should be and I had a quick test drive round the block. Phoebe is as good as new! Hooray! It didn't cost too much either which was good!

In other news, today I got a hell load of portfolio work done! I avoided the blog/Goodreads/books as much as possible because deadlines are fast approaching and I need to spend the next couple of weeks focusing on those rather than letting this take over (as much as I enjoy it). My Weekly Wishlist post (that I was so excited about) went up today and I was quite proud that I got it done yesterday in order to concentrate better. While I worked, my Dad put 'Oliver!' on and reminded me just how much I love that film. Ron Moody is a legend on Earth, he really is. His Fagin just makes me laugh every single time I watch this film.

Tomorrow I'll be at Uni till very late, then staying at a friend's house so I don't know what the blogging situation will be like. This particularly concerns 'Top Ten Tuesday' as I haven't had time to plan the post and I've got a busy few days coming up! I'll see how it goes. Time to get back to work!

Daily Shenanigans, 27/02/2014: To sing or not to sing?

So, I finished 'The Perks Of Being A Wallflower' today, which I was rather surprised about because I didn't think I'd get it finished that quickly. I enjoyed it and posted my review earlier, so check that out! That marks all of my February challenges complete! Yay! I have scheduled a 'Planned Reads For March' post for tomorrow to come out, so as you can see, it has been quite a productive day in terms of blogging and reading. As well as this, I've got a lot of Uni work done, schedules and rotas have been completed and just need to be printed out which I'll do tomorrow.

In terms of the Musical auditions I'm still unsure. I didn't get time to practice a song so I'm a bit under-prepared any way. But on top of that I have a lot of work that still needs doing and only a few weeks left before a good number of my hand in dates. I would rather use the time to be productive with work, particularly my Multimedia Piece, than practicing and preparing for an audition at the busiest time of the year. On the other side of the coin, this is my last opportunity to be in the musical, and Jesus Christ Superstar is one of my all time favourites! I'm in two minds and it looks like it'll be a last minute decision! I spoke to Mat about it, who thinks that I should only go for it if I really want to do it because my stress levels are starting to rise. I'll see how I feel tomorrow, after sleeping. Hopefully in a better frame of mind!

Two books arrived today, both giveaway wins! 'The Telling Error' by Sophie Hannah and 'Days Of Blood & Starlight' by Laini Taylor. I was pleasantly surprised as I won them quite recently and wasn't expecting them for quite a while! I'm still waiting on Adam Smolka's 'The Hotel Fakir', which I won a while back so I'm hoping that will arrive soon. My main focus for now is finishing 'Wolves' and then getting started on March's planned reads, though reading and blogging in general will have to take a bit of a backseat because of my upcoming assessments. They are the priority, as much as I enjoy doing this!

Daily Shenanigans, 26/02/2014: Parking problems!

I got a lot done this morning in terms of planning for the next few weeks at Uni, we spent the lecture organising the Tech Rehearsal slots for the shows we have been allocated. It's a bit of a weight off of my mind to finally have that sorted, though at the same time, show week creeping up on me at an alarmingly fast rate and I don't like it. Thankfully, the Rehearsal I was meant to be attending this evening was cancelled meaning I could go home straight after lecture rather than having to hang around for four hours with nothing to do. Phew!

My morning did not start fantastically in terms of driving. The car was fine, but my parking strategy was just appalling! Normally I have no problem but today I just couldn't quite do it. A man actually took pity on me, came out of his house and directed me into the parking space (as well as pointing out a much easier one that I could have pulled straight into). I didn't know whether to yell at him or hug him, but luckily I went for neither option and just meekly thanked him instead. Nightmare! This afternoon, I got a bit more reading done (I'm about a quarter of the way through 'The Perks Of Being A Wallflower'). I'm pleased with how quickly I'm getting through it, it's a bit of a slow starter but I'm enjoying it! I aim to finish it before February to complete this month's challenges so a review for that should be pretty soonish, especially as I have a day off tomorrow. Other jobs I have are to type up various schedules, send some emails and practice my audition song for the Musical. I'm a bit unsure whether I still want to do it or not but I think that's the stress talking, and so I'm going to go for it and see how far I get.

Also, I checked out a website today that I've seen posted in various blogs and Goodreads reviews. Net Galley allows people who consider themselves 'professional book readers' (including bloggers like me) to request books, which are advance copies more often than not, and download them onto their E-Device to read and review. It sounds like a lot of fun and something I'm definitely looking into joining, but I need to read up on it first! So I guess actually that's one more job for tomorrow! Wahoo!

Daily Shenanigans, 24/02/2014: Ridiculously tired.

I had a grand total of two hours sleep last night. Don't ask me why, I just found it really hard to and had to get up at 6 in the morning. So this blog post is a bit early so that I can go to bed early tonight. First, I drove to Uni. No problems with Phoebe the Fiat today, so that pulled my mood in a more positive direction. 

When I got to Uni, I began working a little more on my Multimedia piece. My arty friend who is helping out sent me another cheeky picture, a rough draft of one of my introduction scenes. I am literally so excited about this project, and it's looking like she may be down this weekend, so hopefully I'll meet with her and will have more to report then! As well as this, I managed to get my background music sorted today. Another friend of mine and Mat's studies composition and agreed to knock up a few ambient tracks that can loop while my piece is being performed. I'm very happy with my progress today!

We had a momentary power cut today at work, which was a bit scary! It took out the shop lights over the road completely (luckily not ours) and quite a few of the traffic lights in the surrounding area (which I discovered while driving home). When I got home, my other two books that I ordered from The Works had arrived; 'Stealing Phoenix' by Joss Stirling, 'The Law Of Angels: An Abbess Of Meaux Mystery' by Cassandra Clark. I probably won't get to read them for a while, particularly as I will need to read the first books in both series first (Kindle here I come). Tonight, I plan to get a lot more reading done. With any luck, I will finish 'Pure' within the next couple of days because I really need to read 'The Perks Of Being A Wallflower' too! Eek!

Daily Shenanigans, 19/02/2014: Train Troubles.

I swear I have the worst luck when it comes to modes of transport. Seriously, something just always seems to go wrong! I hopped on the train this morning and settled down to read a bit of 'Pure' on my way to my lecture. About two minutes after we set off, we stopped. Apparently, the railway lines on the journey were flooded, meaning a slow journey to where I needed to be. Slow indeed, I arrived at my lecture an hour late! This wasn't too much of a problem, it was a free slot to practice rather than an actual lecture. However, the journey home was just a nightmare! My friend kindly gave me a lift to the station so that I could catch the half past seven train, which was lovely of her! The problem was, there was no half past seven train. Instead there was a replacement bus service. Apparently, that track flooding hadn't gone away and it was worse on the line home. So about ten minutes later the bus set off! Ten minutes after that...it broke down. I was hoping to be home by a bit before eight o'clock tonight, but I finally got into my house about quarter past nine. I was not a happy bunny.

Other than minor travel nuisances, my day has been rather good! Uni was actually relaxing today, in a sense. Work too was pretty good, busy, but good. I had to run from work back to Uni to watch a Show Preview (which I actually ended up missing anyway) but that went well and I had a productive meeting afterwards with the Stage Manager of that show. Lovely. I will also just say,  because this is the most exciting part of my day, that my first 'Goodreads Giveaway' win has arrived! 'Wolves' by Simon Ings has now been added onto my currently reading list, as I plan to get a review of it posted ASAP. The front cover looks great, and the blurb is promising so I can't wait to get a review of this one up for you guys! Tomorrow I am spending the day with Mat, who has a lot of work to do so that means more reading time for me! I can't wait!

Daily Shenanigans, 12/02/2014: Phoebe the Fiat has a tantrum.

Well, today certainly did not go to plan. It started off well, I got a lie in because my lecture was not due to start until 11 o'clock, so about an hour before I set off, all prepared to go to my lecture along with the numerous meetings and show previews I had to attend. It all went downhill from there. I knew I would be late because I had left later than intended and the traffic was absolute murder. But what I was not prepared for was my lovely little car (or Phoebe as she is affectionately nicknamed) to break down. As I tried to make my way to my usual parking spot, the engine began cutting out on me numerous times for no apparent reason. It was not an impressive start to my morning. I ended up just about getting the car to a handy nearby car park, paying to keep her there for the day and walking a twenty minute walk to University. I missed my lecture, I missed my first preview and I barely made the meeting I had arranged.

As well as this, as the afternoon went on it began to rain. And when I say rain I mean the sky literally turned into a waterfall. My poor boyfriend came all the way down from London after receiving my panicked and tearful phone calls about the car (luckily he has a day off today) and came to meet me so that we could get it sorted. His train arrived much earlier than my preview finished, meaning he was standing in the torrential downpour for a long while waiting. We walked back to the car (not a fun experience) and after much thought, decided it would be best to go home. The road between my hometown and my University is prone to flooding and the rain did not look like it was going to let up. This of course meant that I couldn't watch the show that I mentioned last week, the one that I have been desperately looking forward to all week! After testing the car, Phoebe the Fiat decided she was working absolutely fine again and so we hastily made our way home before she changed her mind. As devastated as I am about missing the show, we made the right choice. The river was bursting its banks as we drove past, and we had to drive through a few ponds where the road dipped. That would only have got worse as the day had gone by.

So yes, a gut-wrenchingly horrid day today! The only good part was that I got to see Mat for a few hours (he has gone back to London now) and if it weren't for that I would be wanting to curl up under a duvet for a few days and hide from the world. I don't have to worry about University tomorrow, as I have a day off and so I can get a few bits and bobs done. And the previews did go well (the ones that I saw anyway) so I suppose that's something. I just hope tomorrow is better.

Daily Shenanigans, 10/02/2014: Multimedia Piece sneak peek!

I have had such a good day. Mere minutes after I blogged yesterday's nightly post, I got a message from my lovely friend (deviantART here) who is doing the art for my Multimedia piece. She has drawn some character concepts for it and was in the process of doing some sketches for the environments I'm after. She posted them on Facebook for me and I am going to put them here because I am just so excited about them! The piece will be based on the story of 'Little Red Riding Hood', to give you some context, and will basically be a fully immersive performance which involves a live narrator telling the story, and the audience choosing the path that this particular Red Riding Hood should take. It therefore involves a lot of research, a lot of scripting and a lot of art which as you can see I'm receiving some good help with. I had a lecture today on the topic and I am so happy about how it is progressing so that certainly started off my day well. I was completely taken aback just by how much she had understood exactly what I wanted and, despite claims that she isn't psychic, managed to draw the environment art exactly how I imagined it in my head! The character concept too was beautiful and has given me so many ideas for my Poster/Programme design that I have been planning like a trooper in my notepad all day!

Next up in my day was work. As knackering as it was, I actually had a really good shift today! It went pretty fast, despite a quiet afternoon customer wise, and that meant that this evening's activities came quickly. As it was one of my friend's birthdays, she invited me and a couple of others out for dinner. I had a lovely time! The food was delicious and it was so nice to be able to relax after a busy day and have a laugh! Three cheers for a good night out! Despite having to wait 45 whole minutes for the train afterwards in the cold (that will teach me not to check the timetable properly) I still went home in good spirits, as a 15 minute train journey means? Yes! You guessed it! Time to read some more of my book in an effort not to fall asleep and end up goodness knows where! I'm about a sixth of the way through Andrew Miller's 'Pure' and I am pretty intrigued to see where everything that has happened so far is leading up to. 

Time now for bed, I have another day off tomorrow though a lot to do in terms of work and going out (so not really a day off then). 

Daily Shenanigans, 05/02/2014: Up and coming opportunities?

It's that time of day (well night actually) again readers. My daily update. I had originally planned to have a little more to talk about this time, what with Uni and all. But I got an email last night telling me that my lecture had been cancelled (my lecturer is ill). Although I was pleased to have more time to get things done, I was a little disappointed that this meant another day of doing not an awful lot but work. Thankfully, as promised, I did get some done. I have stayed off the reading today (though I'll probably do a bit now before bed) so that I could focus more so I'm not much further through 'It'.

I did get some exciting news tonight. In an email sent a few days ago (which I haven't properly read until now) we were told that Strangeface Theatre Company are visiting our Uni and performing their newest production 'Shooting The Moon' for us! Having watched their re-imagining of 'Pinocchio' last year, there is absolutely no way I can miss this! It was charming, funny and a very original piece of work and I loved it. Reading up on this show, it looks to be equally as exciting, based around the life of Georges Méliès. I honestly cannot wait for this, I love the Theatre and would happily go every day if I could. Obviously, I shall post a full review in a weeks time after I have watched it. After tweeting about it, my Uni lecturer then informed me that I would in fact be helping to rig the lights for it. I'm very excited about this prospect, to even be part in some small way of this production would be an incredible thing to do.

Other than having the 'Frozen' Soundtrack stuck in my head all day, there's not an awful lot more to tell. I have signed up to the Masterclass Newsletter (worth doing for anyone interested in Theatre, both on and offstage) because I am considering pitching a play for them when they open for entries. This is at the moment a thought and depends how it will fit into the rest of my year but it's one I'm definitely thinking hard about. I will be off to bed now for a quick read before sleep, as I did not do so too well last night. The wind and rain were ridiculous last night and kept me awake until the early hours of this morning.

Daily Shenanigans, 31/01/2014: The weather outside is frightful!

Let me start this blog post by telling you that as I write, the weather outside is absolutely vile! It has not stopped raining and the wind has been blowing for a number of weeks now (I think any hopes for any kind of snow this year are well and truly dashed) but tonight it is just dreadful. Right. British rant about the weather over, back to the subject of my post.

My day started early readers, I am without a car this week meaning I have to get up at ridiculous o'clock to catch a train for University. The lecture, luckily, went quickly and soon I was on my way home again. On he way back I wandered through the town, bought myself a lovely cake from the bakery and had to physically talk myself out of buying anything in the Oxfam bookshop because I already have a huge pile of books in my room and nowhere to put them. It was heartbreaking. Totally heartbreaking. I managed on both train journeys to get a bit more of 'Cloud Atlas' read (which made me feel quite productive) though in truth I probably got no more than a few pages further. I'm really enjoying this book and cannot wait to write a review of it, which should be up in the next few days (hopefully by Sunday if I can give myself a good enough kick up the arse).

After coming home, I got to spend the rest of the afternoon/evening with my partner. He currently goes to Uni in London so I only really get to see him at weekends when he comes home. We didn't do all that much to write about though I'm afraid, just relaxed at his house and played on the Xbox One (the lucky sod has one and I don't!) Assassin's Creed 4 is a great game, in case you were wondering. Tomorrow, we are off to the cinema to see 'Out Of The Furnace'. I wasn't terribly enthused at first as it's not my kind of film, but the more I hear and read about it, the more I actually can't wait. I'll give you a small review of that tomorrow!

In other news it's the 31st, marking the end of January and the beginning of the Chinese New Year. This year's animal is...drum roll please...the horse! I don't normally follow this stuff really but I've seen it everywhere today, so if you do, then I wish you a prosperous new year!