The move, Sofa, and superior henchness.

Well it's been a busy and stressful week. I never knew there could be so many hiccups involved in moving house; emails not being received, papers to be signed by various people who are all over the country, 1500 quid randomly disappearing for 4 days etc...

But finally! The money's in the bank, the paperwork's done and it's move in day tomorrow! So excited!

So I've been driving my dads car as it is bigger so I can more my stuff more easily. I'm going t be honest - I hate it. The steering feels like I'm constantly dr

iving on ice it's that light, and in these hot days, opening the windows initiates a small scale hurricane within the car when travelling over 20 mph. I'm getting used to it now I guess, but I'd have my Fiesta back any day! We went to Croydon the other day to go to Ikea. Meatballs, swedish gravy, cranberry sauce and chips. Now that's what I'm talking about. Then I bought a chest of drawers and a new desk - not nearly as exciting as the fine blue and yellow cuisine! Haha.

Then yesterday saw the worlds most ridiculous task. Picking up a sofa. So although i'd made the effort to employ this larger car as my own for a week or so, in order to move such awkward items with ease; it just wasn't happening. After numerous attempts, and the sofas previous owner getting more and more visibly frustrated with us eating up his time, we decided that this monster of a sofa was never going to fit in the car. Ever. So, with reluctant groans, sweat already pouring off us after removing the sofa from a first floor flat with newly painted walls, we walked the Sofa through Eltham back to my house. That was a painful journey. Blood, sweat and tears were literally shed.

Then came the mammoth task of getting the sofa into my already over furnished, claustrophobic house. The sofa took up the entire hall and then wouldn't fit through the door into the living room. Armed with a hammer, we removed the 2 inch feet from the bottom of the sofa and after rearranging the house, rammed the sofa into position. Luckily it's only here for two days!

You would have thought; 'phew! it's done' at this point, but no! We had to go back and pick up the car.

Still, for a fiver, this sofa is immense. So unbelievably comfortable, despite the pain it caused.

With all this heavy lifting and moving about, we shall be hench. Muscles popping out everywhere! GET ME SOME SPINACH!

Speak to you on the other side!

Flan x

Longest chill out of all time... yet still stressed.

If you've known me long enough, you will probably know by now that I can't just do nothing. My mind NEEDS to be continuously stimulated, even if that is by lazing about in a field chatting with friends.

Naturally this ridiculous 6 month break was a terrifying thought for me - 6 months, of potentially nothing. It doesn't help that seeing as last terms loan is long gone, and I'm already in my overdraft in order to pay for the new house (which I will get onto later); I have no money. At first, I thought to myself that you don't need money to have fun, only terribly materialistic and spoilt people think like that. However I've learnt to see things from a whole new angle. In this day and age, even a quiet, chilling walk through a country park can't be done without having cash.

Firstly, there's the petrol money, which this year seems to have increased to some almighty sums, just the other day I saw petrol being sold for £1.26.9 a litre. Absolutely scandalous. Then, once you've filled your car up, you have to pay to park.

Of course there are other past times, but everything seems to cost you money in some way or another. There's only so many times you can see how far you can walk from your house, or go cycling to some 'far off distant land'.

So with this in mind I've decided to put the whole cash flow issue aside, and although still being really careful, the 'no spend' limit has gone out the window.

I start work soon, I met George, a guy with Cerebral Palsy who I'm 'befriending' over the summer the other day. It's really difficult, in all honesty. Although I know it will get easier. With my sis, Chloe, she makes it VERY clear what she wants in some way or another and considering I've grown up with her, I can understand her speech, even if to others it sounds like some kind of alien Language, but George isn't vocal, and you have to work with 'Yes / No questions', or at least thats how I have to start until I get a better grasp upon how to communicate well. Although my first meeting was quite awkward, I'm looking forward to starting. It will be a really good experience, as well as being highly rewarding, and needless to say, helping with the money situ.

I'm also starting with my guy with Asbergers soon, which I'm also looking forward to. I'm running a film making course with him, to hopefully inspire him into something other than trouble making.

I've been back in Loughborough for a bit now, and it's weird...

...I feel like in many ways things arn't the same anymore. I feel drifted from the old friendship group, and for the first times we're all shouting to each other from different levels of maturity. I don't know what it is, but the spontaneity and 'randomness' isn't there anymore, and although I hate to admit it, maybe we're all just growing up? I'm 20 next year - eugh.

I went to the pub last night, and saw a load of people I hadn't seen for a long time. After the night was though, and I'd decided to 'let my hair down' after a long spell of going without, I got home, covered in mud after rolling around in Quorn park, or what was Quorn park and falling asleep. I woke up this morning feeling dreadful, and have decided to stop drinking. I hate myself drunk, like really genuinely hate how I act so although it's not a complete cease in drinking, the student cultural thing of drinking till you can't remember is leaving my lifestyle.

Back to London in a few days! Moving house, that's gonna be fun. There's a hell of a lot of cash exchanging hands next week, but our new house is amazing and I really can't wait to move all my stuff in and explore etc... I'm driving my dads car there so that I have more room to move stuff about. Wish me luck!

I've just realised that this is probably the longest entry I've ever done... so I'm going to stop blabbing! I'll write after the move with some pics!

Loves!

Flan x

Chillls

Well sitting here with my epic playlist blaring out from the 5.1 surround sound system which I will soon have to let go seems like the perfect time to write a blog.

I've had the house to myself for a while and to be honest it's quite enjoyable! However it has been a strange week - my moods seem to be swinging as much as Tiger Woods - and not his golf clubs! Having written that, I'm not sure if that's even remotely funny, but I'll leave it anyway, I guess the idea of blogs is for the text to be as transient as speech.

So I'm coming to the end of my backwards and forwarding between Luff and London for a while. I'm in Luff for the whole of July, and then pretty much the rest of the holidays apart from the move. Being here and there has been pretty weird tbh, quite confusing for the mind! Just as I settle in back in Luff I'm gone again.

Last week it was the Rawlins Film Showcase, it was a great night with some really awesome films. Afterwards we decided to go to the pub with some of the staff and students, again, a good time followed by a random walk through the fields of Loughborough with Guy, Duncan and John.

Then I came back to London where I have been chilling out, and just generally winding down ready for the storm of moving and starting at the new college, as well as working in the second half of my uber long holiday. I'm working with a guy who has Cerebral Palsy, taking him out and generally showing him a good time which should be really nice and rewarding! I've also heard today that I'm wanted to make a film with someone else who has Asperges, which again will be really rewarding!

I've decided I'm going to really miss this house when I leave, but I'm still really excited about the move! Our house is gonna be MAD! But hopefully really productive too, best of both worlds :)

Well I shall continue to let the subwoofer vibrate the dust off of the floorboards, write soon!

Flan x

Doss times and shizzzle

Had quite a busy while of doing nothing in particular - the way life should be occasionally! :p

It's been a really nice break from all the work, and to catch up with things that have been residing at the bottom of my to do list for quite some time.

Last week I went to get my new contact lense from Moorfields. Wow that was a palaver... after waiting around I was finally seen, and had my eyes checked for probably the 700 millionth time in my life. Then they got my lense and put it in to check the fit. I had to let it settle so was left for 20 NHS minutes, meaning around an hour and a half, and was then crowded round by a load of concerned optometrists. They were all umming and arring without actually telling me what was wrong. Eventually I was told that the lense was so close fitting, I could damage my eye by taking it out if I did it wrong, and would only be allowed to take it if I could show them I could do it safely.

I was taught how to put it in, and take it out about 20 minutes later, and they decided I was fine to take it. Wow that lense makes me realise how bad my sight is without it. Everything is so much more crisp and colourful! I am still waiting to see whether I can see 3d or not!

The rest of the week was filled with other various activities. On Sunday I went into London with Ray to take some photos - we got some quite nice ones, for example:

*insert picture here...* Blogger won't let me show you them. How unfortunate.. :p

But yes, take my word for it, there were some quite nice aesthetic delights from that trip.

On monday I got a phone call from The Farm Group - the biggest post production company in the UK, calling me in for a job interview. It will just be a runners job if I get it, but tbh I would clean toilets for The Farm, it's a way in! Later on my friend from Luff who's at York St John came to the o2 and then crashed at mine with his mate from York, Rachael. We all drove back to Luff the next day and I have remained here for the Film Showcase later tonight! Can't wait to see the films this year after last years, will be a good night with most probable pub times afterwards! Good stuff!

So that in a summary of my past 10 days... bizzle!

Flan x

Summer!

Done! First year of Uni done. Wow.

And it's been the first 2 weeks of my long... long summer. First I went home for a week or so. It was nice to be home and catch up with friends, although some are still not back from uni. My first weekend at home was spent at the Glastonbudget music festival - Europe's largest tribute and new acts festival. I was working there as a steward and had a really good, but hard 4 days, and met some really cool people. Going by myself was pretty out of character to be honest... It seems that my confidence has severely improved in recent months - good stuff! That's always been one of my weak points.

Tuesday was Duncan's flat party, but having got home on the monday morning and then being late that night too I still hadn't caught up on sleep. I was asleep much before a lot of people even arrived! Not good!

On Saturday I went to my cousins 18th party with various distant relatives, you know the drill ;)

It was nice to catch up with my cousins, uncle, auntie and my Grandparents, I'm pretty sure since I've started living more independently, I see them more!

Was awesome being bought a pint by my cousin - seeing as we used to sit under the slide in the park and tell each other Noddy stories. Wow we feel old! :p

I'm now back in London and have had quite an eventful day! For the past 6 hours, I've been cleaning our kitchen, which was quite literally a health hazard. I managed to clean everything and the kitchen is now spotless :) I kind of don't want to use it now and leave it in that state forever!

I've managed to burn myself with oven cleaner. Good times :)

I also saw this fox out of the window during my cleaning shenanigans:

So my plan for the summer is still pretty much incomplete - I plan to go back to Loughborough for a few days to see my old colleges film showcase, seeing as we won it last year, and then back to London for the rest of June. We are talking about going away for a weekend too which'll be cool :). July; I plan to go on a road trip for the first week and a bit, from Cardiff to Lands End, camping wherever we can. And then spend the rest of my time properly catching up with people in Loughborough, once everyone's back.

Although I'd love to be in London August, September and October too before the new term starts, I won't be able to afford it, so I'll be in Loughborough for another month as well.

Well, that's about all I can say for now. I'll check back in a week or so, I'm sure I'll have to interesting tales to tell!

Flan x

Rave Live, End of Year 1, Crazy summer!!

Starting with a similar theme to previous blogs; where has the time gone??

I think it's more than safe to say that time has definitely flown this academic year, and although the start was rather shaky, overall it's been amazing.

So Rave Live has just been. It was a truly fantastic event, and made me proud to be a Ravensbourne student. For those of you who don't know, Rave Live is Europe's largest student broadcasting event, and involves a day of live TV broadcasting over two Freeview channels and internet TV as well. The event this year also had it's own radio station, and has an on demand service much like the likes of BBC and Channel 4.

The event allows industry professionals to walk around the college as we work, talk to us, find out more about the college, and hopefully pick up our CV's and offer us some sort of work.

Originally, Rave Live 2010 was going to be held at Matter at the O2, however, 3 days before the event, they pulled out with no reason. All of us pulled together and turned the event round to continue as planned, from our own campus. Personally, as previously mentioned in other blogs, I, along with Ray and Andy edited all of the Talent Showdown auditions and VT's, as well as ingesting all of the on demand content and editing VT's for the award ceremony. We were very busy! The event was a huge success, and I think the best way for you to see the summary of it is by watching the round up at www.ravelive.co.uk.

It's been a hell of a journey, with regular, on average 13 hour days. We slept well the following night.

So, with Rave Live over, and only one more presentation to deliver before the end of term, everything feels like it's wrapping up. The last 9 months has seen the building of such strong and amazing relationships (even if they do involve me being the butt of every joke :p) that I would never have imagined materialising back in September.

So now it's onto the summer. Wow, it's a long one. Now through till the beginning of November pretty much. But I have so much planned! Next week I'm kicking off my summer by being part of the stage crew at Glastonbudget music festival, Europe's largest tribute band and new music festival. I am then back in London until July, chilling out and generally getting some well earned rest, along with a few editing jobs on the side.

July, I'm back in Loughborough for a month, well, sort of. I'm catching up with friends from back home, going on a road trip along the west coast, camping wherever we can. It will be amazing!

August I shall be back in London, moving house and, (fingers crossed) finding a job to keep me going. We're also going to V fest which I've been waiting for for too long! I want it to be here now! That leaves September and October, where I plan to be back and forth, living the best of both worlds.

So, wish me luck as I embark on this epic journey though what is supposed to be a long and hot summer.

Write again soon! Flan x

Workload, time and caffeine.

Well I haven't written an entry for quite a long time.

Time has been full with non-stop work, socialising and sleep. For a start, I have been living, breathing and dreaming Talent Showdown - a talent show due to be broadcast at this years Rave Live event. Along with my fellow editors Andy and Ray, I've been working hard producing audition tapes for online distribution, ready for voters to vote; successful auditionee's VT's for the live show; and above all, ensuring everything is legal and ready to broadcast from tape; bars, timecode, clocks and all! All together, we have probably worked around 504 man hours on the project - ridiculous!

It's been hectic, stressful, depressing, overloading, but above all a truly amazing experience, packed full of steep learning curves, new relationships and that ever closer feeling to my ultimate goal.

Today was the penultimate day. By this time tomorrow our work shall be done, and all we can do is sit back and watch our work be used on the day of the live broadcast.

Along side this project I've also had other stuff on. Firstly, my other editing jobs. The first is the 'Slugline Productions Training Project'. This is a project (entitled 'Adolesense' - I know that's not how you spell it - it's spelt wrong to enable a play on words.), working with actors from my final major project from last year. They have written a script, and are currently shooting it using my kit. As they shoot, I am receiving footage and editing it for them. This is proving a strange and long process, utilising various pieces of software and equipment. However, the project is going well, and I'm keen to see the final piece!

I've also been working on a short paranormal drama / thriller - details of which I cannot spread around too much. The piece is for a professional company, and looks really amazing! I'm the offline editor - another credit to my name, and some more awesome material for my Showreel!

My life isn't all Final Cut Pro and Avid.

I started a diet. Well, not a diet exactly, but watching what I eat. It started off really well, I was so pleased with myself, eating good food, exercising etc... but these great habits slipped as my workload increased... I still go swimming, swimming's great, and I hope to resume my habits in the gastronomic area very soon!

Well... just a random thought which doesn't really fit anywhere....

It's now nearly one in the morning, and after over estimating how long a job was going to take earlier on, and necking a big can of Redbull, I'm pretty wired. That was a pretty silly thing to do - I need to be up at half 6!

So...

It's nearing the end of the year - I really can't believe it! It's seriously flown by. It's one of those things where you can't wait for the holidays, but then realise that you really don't want this time to go so quick. People always told me that Uni is the best few years of your life - and they're seriously right. Although my Uni life is very different to friends at different uni's, I'm absolutely loving it.

Well, I should probably attempt to grab some sleep. Roll on the weekend! My first one in weeks where I have nothing planned, and I can seriously just chill, catch up on washing and sleep and pub. Hooray!

Peace x