Veni Vidi Blogavi

Yesterday i embarked upon the challenge to create my ultimate sandwich, a quest everyone should really consider doing. And it’s harder than i first thought, there’s so many different flavours that i would have loved to include into it, some have been long lasting favourites, others recent discoveries that have been in perfect harmony with my ever-changing pallet. Some flavours bring back memories that are more enthralling than the flavours themselves, whilst others are simply utterly delectable. But as ever the keys to any good sandwich, or other food, are simplicity and harmonic flavours; meaning that only a few ingredients could make a way into it.

A more important event occurred today though, making all this deliberation pale into insignificance. Today was my last ever school day, from now on i will never have another lesson or school lunch, no more teachers or form time chats. Yes similar things will replace them next year with lectures, lecturers and corridor talks; but it won’t be the same. It’s a bit unnerving thinking about it, that for the majority of my life i have been at school, and with more than half being spent at my current school, and so that means it’s all i’ve ever known, and now that’s all over.

So that gave me the idea for this post, maybe this two unconnected events could somehow be linked, might i be able to write down the hidden meaningful connection (something Dirk Gently would no doubt thrive in doing). However, whilst this sounds all fine and well, alas i cannot do such a thing, as far as i can see there is no connection or meaningful metaphors to draw between the two. So this is a challenge really, if you can think of any, then i will include them into this post at a later date, and unusually i will give you credit for it! Now you might think that considering i’ve given up on coming up with my own material, this post would end here… of course not i will endeavor to plough on nevertheless, and just hope that somehow along the way i’ll stumble upon it all, and have a sudden abrupt enlightenment. So here goes…

First and foremost to any sandwich is the base, the bread. Sub it would have to be, no question about that, and as for type, why good old white bread of course, perhaps a link to what i consider a normal childhood. I say “what i consider” as i have only lived one childhood and so to me it was normal, however to you it may not. I grew up in the place i was born, Macclesfield and went to nursery, reception, and year 1 at a local school St.Brides. It was here that i met my friend who has been such for about 14 years now. What about toppings on the bread? That was easy aswell. Everytime i have a subway, i always go for the Italian herbs and cheese, and now was not the time to change that.

So step one was sorted, that was the easy part. Next what meat to go for? Bacon? No that was too normal for me. The meat would definitely have to reflect upon my second school (disclaimer: this was not an actually factor in deciding the meat) Well not my second school directly, but more of the time i spent in California, which i like to include in my life at all possible opportunities by embracing Americanisms, something which i have been ragged about considering i only lived there for a year and a half. So it had to be bbq what other flavour best describes America, and it just had to be minced beef, creating what is also known as a sloppy joe.

There was a key problem to this though. No minced beef in the freezer, well i had to settle for pork in the end, which in the end turned out awesome. And neatly this brings me to the King’s, the place where for the past 10 years i have roamed the corridors (ok maybe roamed doesn’t accurately portray it, but it sounds good)(oh and that’s been at 2 separate sites, so the corridors haven’t been consistent the whole time). You see for various reasons California didn’t work out for my family, so we ended up back in Macclesfield (don’t ask me why i came back to Macc, i seriously don’t know)(disclaimer: the author doesn’t have negative views on Macclesfield)

 However the whole metaphor thing falls down completely from now on (if it ever worked in the first place, ‘twas worth a try though). In case you were wondering to finish off the sandwich i slathered it with coleslaw and threw on a bit of salad, there is a picture below in case you want to try and recreate the majesty of it. So  now the whole sandwich malarkey is out of the way, i can focus on the main event in my life.

I’ve watched many leaving scenes from tv shows, all of them strikingly emotional in their own unique way. However this has never really been replicated in my own life, having experienced a few farewells, they’re always understated quiet affairs and i suppose before today that is mainly down to the fact that i was staying the same school, so most of the people around me were infact not going anywhere. But today would be different right? I mean this time i’m the only one going to Durham, so potentially this is actually farewell for good.

However after saying all that this is not actually the case, first we have leaver’s morning, then exams, then leaver’s ball and then results day, and maybe this explains the fact that for me this was yet again and understated affair. Surely nostalgia would play a part, i mean despite the fact that i might see people again, surely it being my final day ever of school would play some sort of part. I think this was the case for a lot of people seeing their responses to this occasion, but yet again for me… nothing.

Maybe it’s not the occasions fault, maybe it’s me then. I don’t really know, i kid that i’ve got to the point where i’m happy enough to move, having been there for so long, but i’m not sure this is actually the case; i feel like if that were true, then i’ve been happy to move on throughout the entire time spent there, because that feeling hasn’t changed. This would of course suggest that i never felt any attachment to the place or people, but is definitely not the case. So it’s truly a mystery to me really, any psychologists out there feel free to try and explain it.

In case you were wondering (although i highly doubt it) my favourite leaving scene (probably because i’ve watched it the most) is JD’s from Scrubs, and whenever i watch it i’m touched by not only his reminiscing of the past, but also his vision of the future. And yet here i am with neither one, don’t get me wrong i’m leaving with some great memories but it doesn’t feel the same, and as for the future who knows what will happen.

So sorry for rambling on about all that but i thought it was worth sharing, and indeed if you feel similarly underwhelmed by farewells please comment below. As for where i go from here, i’m going into the next 4 years blind and with little plans, so who knows where i’ll be in a year; however, one thing i do know is that i will be having another one of those sandwiches.

So with exams around the corner and university beckoning (if all goes well), i’ve finally decided to embark upon the arduous journey of buying a proper pen. You know one which you refill instead of chucking away and moving onto the next free promotional pen. It time i made the next step into adulthood with the purchase of my very own pen. Now although this sounds like a simple and easy process, it is not for me, for whatever reason, i frankly don’t know what the reason could be, but trust me there is one.

A little side-fact about my pen consumption up till now (and i hinted at it earlier) is that i’ve only ever bought about 5 pens in my 18 years on this planet, all the others have been acquired using various methods (legal methods i might add). My whole of high school was spent fluctuating between various (and probably quite impressively numerous) free promotional pens, and the ones from hotels (which are totally ok to take, just watch friends). For example looking around my desk atm, bearing in mind most of my stationary resides in various locations around my room which aren’t my desk, here are the pens i have: P&O ; U.W.E. ; Edinburgh Castle (which i never nor has any in my family bought) ; The Lake District (same situation as the Edinburgh Castle) ; Holiday Inn ; H.R.M.C. ; Alton Towers ; the obligatory university pens ; and a lot more lurking under the definitely useful junk on my desk.

Once upon a time i used a fountain pen, which was one of the pens i’ve ever bought, although i did have 4 fountain pens at one point, only one i bought. Which leads me one to problemo uno, what type of pen do i want? Rollerball, fountain or ballpoint? Now having been forced to use fountain pens during my youth, they are a no goer, especially since although i can write cursive it is illegible, and thus fountain pens were ruled out very quickly.

Then there were 2… and tbh i didn’t have any idea what a rollerball was since i have never used one before and so ball point was the choice. However it isn’t now, ever since i found (yet another free) rollerball pen from L.A. International, and have been using it for some time now, and it is brilliant. So that was that rollerball was the choice. This was cemented at the discovery of green ink refills for rollerballs, as well as many other colours; that means my notebooks won’t be filled with dreary black inked notes, but awesome coloured doodles!

Then there was just the frankly simple choice of choosing an actual pen left. How on earth can there be so many different styles of pen, and i don’t mean across the whole pen choice, i mean just Lamy and Parker i’m looking at and my eyes have been swamped by so so many different styles and colours. But after some time was spent scrolling down the pics and picking out a few, then unpicking a few because of price (£50 for a pen anyone?), i’ve finally made the Pen-Ultimate decision (just thought i’d make a title reference, since i love title references) and it should hopefully arrive in time for my exams, as i don’t think examiners will react kindly to answers in pencil (something i’ve resorted to lately, since my good pens have run out).

Now if you have a pen story of your own feel free to tell it me, but i can promise i won’t be listening, and if you’ve read through this whole post and enjoyed it, maybe you’re a bit weird. It’s a post about pens for goodness sake, i’ve only written it because i’m bored waiting for the FA Cup to kick off. I mean what else could i be doing with my time…

*”revision”*

 hey shut up conscious, i said i don’t have anything else to do.

So it’s that time of year again, but this year it has a greater precedent as how well i do in the next few months will determine where i will spend the next 4 years of my life studying. Quite daunting thought and you would think that would put me into the right mind for some solid studying over the Easter holidays, indeed that is what i thought just two weeks ago. Oh how long ago does that seem now, because unfortunately even with best intentions in my mind, yet again as many-a-time before it has occurred, something (or as it normally turns out things) have shown a way out of the unpleasant task of having to face the fact that i need to get some work done. And yet again this task of potentially ruining my education has fallen to the ever-brilliant Pokemon.

Ok yes i know i’m 18 but who cares Pokemon is still as awesome as it always has been especially now i’ve managed to get it on my netbook, enabling Dratini to potentially be best ever starter Pokemon. Now for those of you who have never played Pokemon and are wondering what on earth i’m chatting about, there’s one simple solution: get the game, you will not be disappointed (although like Star Wars stick to the original). Of course i’ve been off for a week now, so surely i can’t have spent all that time playing Pokemon, could i?

Actually this time, surprisingly, that is correct. I haven’t spent all that time playing Pokemon, i mean i’m not playing it now in fact… otherwise i wouldn’t be able to focus on typing but instead be writing something along the line of: “Damn you and your hyper potion” (i mean seriously why do the gym leaders always use hyper potion, it’s sooo annoying) or “Enjoy your bath” (as i use surf) or indeed other puns/ awesome Horatio Cane style phrases, i might get my sunglasses out to add to the effect whilst staring into the distance walking in some dramatic style (i have to admit that Horatio’s phrases were the only reason i watched CSI: Miami, and i suspect this might be true for others as well.)

And just in case you’re wondering, no i didn’t spend the holiday watching CSI: Miami. I wouldn’t waste studying time to watch some TV show. No i watched The Big Bang Theory, since that is not just some TV show, it is one epic show, although slightly irritating due to all jokes at the expense of engineering, but hey-ho at least for my final year project i get to build and test something (maybe even race it) instead of sitting around with test tubes or drowning in books and papers of theoretical physics. That is, of course if i stop watching TBBT and get studying for my exams, otherwise i won’t be doing any of that.

Alas there has been a lot of other stuff going on aswell. Last week i stayed in Suffolk, which is filled with very old buildings and anglo-saxon stuff but more importantly 7% cider which was quite easily the best way to end the lent-water diet. Then of course the important morning lie-in, as studies have shown that a good nights sleep leads to good learning state-of-mind, although if the lie-in stops the learning occurring i’m not so sure it entirely works.

So here i am with only a few days left of the holiday with no work done, but plenty of it to do and 6 exams to sit in the summer (including for some reason still unbeknown to me, even though i agreed to doing it (my maths teacher should really be a salesman), a 3 hour non-calculator STEP paper; and the other worrying thought that i’ve self-taught one of them, so that may not end well…) It’s going to be a long final 6 weeks of school, but at least i can be safe in the knowledge that i have study leave and all it’s studying time to come. Which means it can be put to it’s best use: completing my Pokemon game before the summer holiday.

Spring has well and truly sprung, bringing with it the start of the summer weather. Yes i know that it is still a long time until summer actually starts, but let’s be honest the weather at the moment is a great way to warm up for summer, which by the looks of things should hopefully be a scorcher. However this of course leads to one of the greatest problems of spring: when is it the right time to relegate the jeans to the back of the wardrobe and  bring forth the shorts (and in case you’re wondering where all the other trousers go in my wardrobe, don’t bother, all i have are jeans and shorts, because what else could possibly be needed)? 

(Source: venividiblogavi.blogspot.co.uk)