Super Busy

The past few weeks have been a total blur really. I've been so busy and I just haven't had time to sit and update. I've hardly been online at all.

On the 27th I failed my EU exam, and to de-stress went on this. It didn't exactly work. I ripped my toenail in half backwards and had to spend 3 hours having it sorted/pushed back into place in A&E, sending my stress levels through the roof. So much for a fun surfing session.
Wednesday and Thursday were revision and do very little due to pain days. Friday however was much better. It started with a 3 hour Criminal exam, that I think I failed, but at least it was better than I expected. From there it was food, nap and tidying before Lowri arrived. A quick trip to Siro's was had before we popped home to change and get ready for the big night out. Seeing as Danielle and Rachel were visiting, and quite a few of us finished exams that day, it always was going to be a drunken affair. Starting at Siro's then heading to all you can drink at Jak's and finishing at Monkey made it really good fun. The only downside was the awful queues at Jak's for the first half of the night. They really need to get more staff and open both bars on nights like that. With the amount of pain I was in (toe is more painful than it sounds) I really didn't want to be queuing for ages. Luckily they eventually died down somewhat as most people moved towards the dancefloor, having drunk as much as they could early on. This left me the opportunity to grab as much to drink as I could. The tiny amounts of lemonade used allowed me to down an Archers & lemonade without it even touching the sides and going straight back for another. This = fairly drunk Amie. You know it's been a good night when you're totally hyperdrunk and hobbling down the road at 4.30am as it gets light.

The weekend started with a café breakfast before Lowri and I headed to Swindon. It was nice to see everyone for the first time in 8 weeks. Having relatives visiting from Melbourne was good too. I haven't seen them in 5 years so it was nice to go out for a big family meal. I'll definitely be heading out to see them next Summer. The weekend was fairly quiet really, but gave us all a good opportunity to catch up. I spent a few days recharging before coming back to uni for the madness that is the end of year.

On the 3rd I spent 4 hours on trains. Or at least that was the plan. Two lots of delays and a broken train pushed it to over 5. I would have got quite pissy about it, but I saw Black Kids so that made everything good. Grabbing my usual spot at Clwb Ifor Bach helped as I could lean on an unused speaker stack, but wearing shoes for the first time in a week HURT. A fantastic set by them and a surprisingly good opener in Collapsing Cities (who were better live than on myspace) made me smile. I was in the perfect position to sing and half-dance and grab my first setlist at the end. Spending the nightmare journey home on a train full of hyperactive Girls Aloud fans was...interesting.

The 5th was Playzone! After going there for the CIN Dance social, I'd been looking forward to going back, even with an injury. As long as I didn't overdo it with the toe and start it bleeding again I thought I'd be fine. Thought being the key word there. James came running towards me, we collided and I flew through the air. In true Amie style, I was left in a ball on the floor, half struggling to breathe and half trying not to laugh and make it worse. Being badly winded is not fun. Whoever thought of opening a kids play area to adults is a genius though. Loads of drunk students, some sober students and a kids play area is a recipe for organised mayhem. It's quite tempting to do something there for my birthday party. I'm v proud of myself too. I overcame my severe dislike of heights and went down the big red slide. I was too scared to do it the first time I went, but this time I was determined and got on with it. I'm so glad I did, just so that I can say I did it. It really wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be, but then again things like that never are.

The 7th was the yearly village carnival. Going back to where I lived last year was slightly surreal, and I knew it could never be as good as it was last year, when i could run in and out of my house for supplies all day. It was still a good day though. There was a bouncy castle, drunk students (when are there not in Swansea!), sun, some semi-decent bands, a doughnut stand, general fun stuff... If it had rained it wouldn't have been anywhere nearly as good, but luckily the weather was kind to us for the day.

Monday 9th for everyone else was spent on the beach, in most cases getting sunburnt. Seeing as I have PLE and Lowri was arriving that night I thought it would be a good idea to stay out of the blazing sun and tidy my room. I swear my room has never been so tidy. After picking Lowri up from the train station, we had a fab beach BBQ. I love living so close to the beach. I also love taking pictures of fire. I'm quite proud of some of them. There are far worse ways to spend a Monday night than with food, a fire and friends.

Tuesday was chilling in town, getting nails done, last minute ball shopping and drinking wine on the beach. Luckily the heat had dropped since the day before so I could enjoy it a lot more. Sunbathing on the beach in the late afternoon with a bottle of wine is a good way to do things.

Wednesday was THE day...Ball day. I always love getting dressed up for a big event with my friends. Sadly it poured. I got some good photos before the rain started, but nowhere near as many as I'd have liked. I ended up very cold and very wet. Luckily I'm happy with the photos I got of me in my dress. I did my first spot of drink-driving on the dodgems and proved that I am definitely better at driving than Paul. We had a good few goes on there. By the time it had been raining an hour I was bored and ventured out to the main stage. Killa Kela was surprisingly good. It's not my sort of music at all but he was definitely worth seeing. The announcement that Mutya Buena was on next instead of The Vengaboys was time for a toilet/jagermeister bar run, and I arrived back at the front of the stage a couple of songs into her set. By this time most people had disappeared as everyone fought for space inside the tents. I braved it out with Matt, James and Emily right to the end. Dancing to The Wombats in pouring rain is probably even more fun than doing it in the sun. I was quite surprised by the number of crowdsurfers, even girls in dresses. There's no way I'd have done it in mine. It was bad enough being on the barrier in a silk dress.

Since then I've just been chilling really. This update has been somewhat delayed by the fact that I've just been busy doing not much so I've not massively been online and the laptop has been off for repair. Yes, even this one has problems. My phone is away at the moment too, but I've been borrowing one, so that's not been so much of a problem.

Update...

It's been a while since I last updated. Too long really but I've been busy. I keep starting posts and never getting around to finishing them before I'm distracted. I've got so much to do at the moment but I never know what to do first so nothing gets done.

5th May: CSS/The Futureheads/MGMT
It's fairly safe to say that that day led to me hating Arriva Trains Wales more than ever. First Great Western have a pretty poor reputation, but at least they have nice trains and in this case at least they got me to Cardiff. Getting on a train, it breaking and having to get off again without even leaving the station was not a good start. I then found out that the next train wasn't running and I wouldn't be leaving until 6.30. With doors at 7 and the band I wanted to see on first, I wasn't happy. Pulling out of the station an hour after we were supposed to didn't leave me exactly confident that we'd make it in time. This wasn't helped when we pulled out of the station and stopped for 10 mins. Luckily catching up time on the way and crossing Cardiff in record time meant that I'd only missed 5/10 mins of MGMT. I'd heard various reports about their live shows, so wasn't sure how much to expect from them, but I was really glad I've seen them. They didn't play the one song I really wanted to see, but at least I didn't miss it. When I was at the bar after they'd finished, it became apparent that a lot of people had gone purely to see them. The Futureheads followed and weren't that great. They have the odd song I like, but just didn't seem to be on form. After the stage was reset and loads of balloons appeared for the end of filming. I tried to get one of the balloons passed into the crowd but spectacularly failed. It made for fun spotting people as they walked through Cardiff afterwards anyway. CSS were good, but not as good as MGMT. The songs went down well but the set was full of new songs, as it was being filmed for a MTV special and it was the first time they'd ever played most of them. Overall it was good, but the best band were on first and I came out still singing Mystery Jets songs from a few days before.

Since then I've not been to any more gigs but I have had fun, with the exception of getting ill for a few days. It wiped me out last weekend, but at least the weather was good so I relaxed on the beach and eventually I'm feeling better. I fail at revision in a big way so I'll do something I'm good at by having fun. Foam party, a stupid number of beach parties in glorious sun, BBQs, trips to Siro's, shopping and a trip to an Indian come to mind. I may fail the year, but at least this year is memorable. Cramming really is my only option.

Music: Delays - Pieces
Socks: Not worn any in days, it's flip-flops weather :D

Illness

Being ill is not fun. Anyone who has ever been ill will realise this. I have found one major advantage though. Last night I went to bed at 6.30 and slept for 14 hours. Usually I'd quite enjoy sleeping this long, but I'd feel bad about going to bed so early or sleeping for so long. It's as though sleep is necessary, but only allowed in minimal doses. Today I don't feel bad at all. I can answer every little bit of doubt in my mind with the words "So what I'm ill"

After all, I don't wake up at 8.30 very often, even if I have set my alarm.

Music: Art Brut - Blame It On The Trains (interestingly about staying in bed)
Socks: Give me a chance I'm still in bed! :D