If you don't want to read about what I did in London, all you need to know are these pictures:





( enough of my face )

Yeah, apologies for the rant earlier, just needed to blow steam, so uh. Yeah. I'm okay really, I can live like this, just... things.

Anyway, recently I've been considering my options for next year

1) Do a 4th year in maths and get a Masters degree (£3000+)
2) Do a course on Video Game Design/Development (£5000) whilst having a job
3) Get an actual job

The idea of another year in maths really... yeah. I doubt it'll happen. I'm not sure I can really take another year of studying and not having money going int my account, and going into a further £6000 debt (since I also get about £3000 for living). I always always thought I'd do the forth year. Until I started this year and 1st and 2nd year have not prepared me for this. And next semester will only be worse, I'm taking more classes and doing a project (it's because the credits balance out that way everything this semester is 15 credits, next I'm doing some 10 credit modules).

So yeah.

As for jobs, you know, I would love to get into gaming, but I have no idea HOW without having doing the course on it (it's a course on game design run by a games cooperation, not just, like, by a college). To develope games you need loads of computer skills that I don't have, and to design them, I presume you can't just walk in with a degree in maths and say 'I'm creative! Give me a job!' yeah.

And then the job thing.

The job thing.

What the fuck kind of job. The onlt thing I can think of is... finance... because dammit, I don't have the experience or confidence for like, whatever, management and that, stuff that degrees are usually leading into.

And I dunno, the last thing I want to do is work for a financial company. I would hate that. I couldn't bear it. The idea of companies like that makes me want to be ill. I would rather work in the financial department for a company.

And the this comes full circle, I could work finance in a games company, if they're like, offering any jobs. BUT the problem with finance DEPARTMENTS is they [I don't think] train new people, fresh graduates like I'd be... Bah. I don't know, I guess I could just e-mail a bunch of people.

Oh yeah, and then I don't want to move from Leeds, so really I'm looking for work in Yorkshire. Awww man if I lived in London, that'd be fine... every company has it's HQ (and financial department) in London... But I'd never want to live there because it's a big big city and big big cities don't go to sleep at an hour I'd like them to sleep at.

Stupid ranting, I'l get on with addressing Christmas cards and stuff.

Oh yeah, everyone has something drawn, but most of it is rubbish, I really rushed them, because I'm away this weekend or I'd have spread them out so they weren't all done last weekend. Sorry guys.

Nnn, okay, at the minute, I'm really stuck. Do I get a job next year or do my Master's degree. Keep in mind, if I don't do it next year, I probably never will.

The idea of a job frightens me, but I really actually want to be a useful member of society. And man, doing a maths degree, everyone says can lead you anywhere, but all I'm seeing is FINANCE FINANCE AUDIT FINANCE and I don't want to. I know, it's rare someone like their job, but... And if I was to do that kind of thing I'd NEVER want to be a part of a big financial firm, I'm rather be in the finance department of a company as a whole.

And then here's the other thing. I was told years ago that VIDEO GAME COMPANIES Looove people with Maths as their degree. I'd love to work for a gaming company! I've been looking at local companies, and all the jobs they have going are either in the Art side of things or Require you've done programming on Program X and Program Y. Or the company has gone bust. I'd never EVER want to do art for a job, and I don't want to learn programming, I'm not interested at all. I dunno, maybe if there was a finance department there or something... I've e-mailed a few of them, and only one's got back saying 'Yeah, we went bust in Febuary' - Well why is your website still up!?

Anyway.

( Too much real life, moving onto KH: Days )

Today I have to open a savings account, because my Uncle has transfered a lotof money into my account temporarily, so... I'll put it away so I don't spend it.

Also, from Jan 30-Feb 3 I'll be in Germany, visiting Deborah, who's currently teaching English there. It's well exciting and very sore for my bank balance. For some stupid reason it costs more to fly within the country than it does from London to Germany. The reason I'm flying Leeds-Gatwick, is because I'd have to take like, over 9000 trains to get to Gatwick, and the more trains I get, the more likely it is that I'll miss one or one'll be delayed, and I can't afford that risk. ut now I have to wait at Gatwick airport for hours and hours... oh well. It'll be worth it. I'm meeting Saumon at some stage, so it's well good.

I didn't update solely so I could use this icon, nooo

Okay, hope you all read the post below this one...


Anyway, recently I've had some trouble with the Yorkshire Bank, and it's annoying me, so in LJ it goes.

A while ago: Yorkshire Bank's Machine ate my debit card for no reason at all.
A week or so later: I get my card back and decide to complain to Yorkshire Bank via Internet, because their engineers ought to know that their machines are shit.
A few days after: I get a response requesting my account details even though I am not with Yorkshire Bank and have stated this - ie they have not read the e-mail in any way, shape or form.
Yesterday: I went to the Actual Bank to complain about the machine and the Internet people.

Her response: Well, sometimes the cards machines do have glitches and all I can do is apologise on behalf of our staff.
Me: No, that is not all you can do, can't you at least forward this complaint to the relevant department? Like your engineers or the online guys - because they're not doing their jobs.
Her: *not writing any of it down* I'll let my manager know...
Her: *going away because I know that means 'I'll do fuck all so just go'*

Anyway, even if I was ever considering getting an account with them, not anymore! Ahhh stupid people.

It's been long in the waiting

( Kingdom Hearts II review )

Last night, I was social and went out to the Halloween Party at the boy's. Seeing Jo had work at 10am, we left at 1 or so. It was good fun. No one danced, but it was just... good. I got sleepy, and yeah. My non-drinking came in handy, so that's good I'm useful for something. Oh, I was The King of Hearts, I have no camera... I'm so tired right now, but I didn't wake up all night, which was amazing.

We got KH 1.25 yesterday, joy. I've not finished KHII yet (I'm going into the final boss, and sort of can't be bothered), so yeah.

Okay, I'm just going to tell you some random things that happened yesterday.

1) Ross gave me the Eurovision 2006 CD. And I told him that this year he should have a Eurovision Party. The conversation afterward:

Ross: It'd be so great we could all come dressed as...
Me: Countries?
Ross: YES I'M GOING TO BE GERMANY.
Me: ... good for you. Jo'll make meatballs, she can be Sweden and I'll be... I have no idea.

I don't even know why he decided he wanted to be Germany. There is basically no reason for it. Also, out of all the things Hetalia ruins, it really really ruins Eurovision. Sadface.

2) Just a random thing that happened in Electromagnetism.

James: *about to come and sit beside me, doesn't, let's Ross go in the row first*
Me: Oh, you don't want to sit next me?
James: Well, we were in the library together earlier, Ross hasn't had a chance yet.
Ross: I sat next to her in Transformation Geometry!
Me: Oh thanks, I feel really loved.

Also, Avoding Tom has become a game between all of us. I do it every Tuesday, and always tell James how it happened, and he informs me of other stories. It's a strange pastime of ours.

Uni is... alright. Getting better I think I'm understanding it more, and I'm catching up with my Algebras and Representations homework that I didn't know I had to do.

Also, AQA say I'm not allowed to mark exam papers because you need one year of teaching experience. WHY?! I've completed 2 years of university level mathematics, and you're saying I'm underqualified to look at exam scripts of 14-18 year olds and give out points? Why do I need experience in TEACHING A CLASS? All I wanted was some extra money.

Exciting times! Last night I went to see The Ladyboys of Bangkok perform in Leeds. It was really good fun. It was an All-Male Cabaret-esque show. They performed to well known songs, and sometimes with audience participation, which was great. I'm pretty sure it would have challenged a lot of men's sexualities - they're fantastic women-impersonators. There was a song where one of them changed from a woman back into a man, and it was incredible. They did look very feminine, and then a few minutes later, completely masculine. There was also some incredible gymnastics by the men (I mean, there were me AS men there too) and it was a good night.

Currently deciding whether or not to go to aerobics or not. I've missed a few weeks of it and I'm not actually that good at it, I've not got enough stamina. Maybe I should go to the gym just.

Eh, I never have anything important to update about any more, so I'll just talk about random things.

I've finally gotten into a routine at uni. Go to uni, if I have a break 3+hours, go to gym, then home for shower/lunch, and then meet Jo after work/on her break. Do homework in smaller breaks or at weekends/on Wednesdays. Hate Tuesdays.

Tuesdays are 9 o'clock start: 1 lecture, 2 hours break, 4 lectures. 4 lectures in a row really kills me. I just can't pay attention for that long. And 2 of those lectures are Algebras and Representations, and if I'm not late, Tom will sit beside me. Right. Tom is this guy who has plauged our friends group since first year, because he went to the same school as Phil. He wasn't friends with him, he just knew him from school. And Tom is... annoying. And he smells, has no concept of hygiene. And we were nice to him for a year and then not so nice to him in second year and he still keeps bothering us. And the thing is, during a break or after uni he WILL FOLLOW YOU. It's bloody creepy and really annoying, he doesn't get the idea that you might want to work independently. He always follows me after class. It's really annoying.

Anyway, so uh, Uni's still really hard work, but I'm getting the hang of it.

Yesterday, I went to get my hair cut. You should know by now that I have a vendetta against hairdressers, because they always do what they want, and give lousy customer service. But I got it cut because I keep pulling it out, and it's a really really bad habit. It's really gross. So I made sure to get it cut short, so I can't grab it. I went to a hairdresser, because Jo's friend Ben is a trainee, and I've met him before, and trust him. He was still learning, but was really nice and gave it to me for $5. I gave him £6 because otherwise, he's charging less than minimum wage for the time spent. But yeah, I've never been to a hairdressers that washes your hair or gives you magazines, but apparently it's common practice over here. At home we always went to really local ones, where the standard price is less than £10 to get your hair cut, which is why I'm always shocked when places ask for about £30 or whatever. I don't actually WANT my hair washed by a strange person, it's WEIRD. It doesn't make sense, because they use their water spray anyway... But Ben did a good job. Yeah. The woman who was supervising him sort of just admitted 'Yeah, a customer asks for one thing, sort of try to go towards it, but just do whatever suits you' and I was like 'THIS IS WHY I HATE HAIRDRESSERS'. They make it up as they go along... Good thing all I knew about my haircut is I wanted it short...

But yeah, yesterday Jo and I finished watching CSI: Miami Horatio Series One. It's good for lols, because it's not accurate at all, every case is solved within a day or two etc etc, but I do like the characters. The finale was a jailbreak, and I was all "This is a perfect chance to bring back some old villains" and they had to pick THE CREEPIEST ONE to bring back. They gave us all the flashbacks of the Kiddyfiddler episode, which was a really really horrible episode, and ewww why did they have to bring back that guy, he's SO GROSS. But yeaaah. I love Horatio, he's beyond cool.

Also, recently, I ordered some Moomin DVDs off Amazon. Because I was compelled to. I really loved that show as a child, and I STILL DO. Funny enough, I remember most of the characters, but the only episodes I remember are the ones that scared me when I was little. Also, Snufkin remains my favourite character. He is the definition of amazing. I need some Snufkin icons. He's got to be one of my all time favourite fictional characters.

RANDOM ENTRY IS RANDOM.

I now have two icons, but one is a 'meh' icon and the other is a 'waaah' icon. This post isn't either, I'll get some more soon.

This post is about a video game I recently played, which is not Layton like everyone else (I own it, but have not played) - it's a game called Kingdon Hearts that everyone played what... over five years ago. It totally doesn't have a masive fandom or anything.

( My review under the cut )

First week of uni is done.

I'll tell you about my classes.

Transformation Geometry: He seems really nice, but I don't actually know what we're supposed to be learning, it all seems random to me. And he gives out problem sheets but DOES NOT MARK THEM. It's rather annoying, it gives me no motivation whatsoever to do them.

Electromagnetism: This is going to be really really hard, I can tell. The homework just looks... really really difficult. It's supposed to follow on from Vector Calculus, and it DOES, but it's the HARD part of Vector Calculus... I mean, I follow her lectures, but... I think I'm going to struggle. If I struggle, I'll see if I can change from Advanced to Normal Electromagnetism (The lectures are the same, but the exam is harder if you do Advanced). OH, and as part of our exam we have to write an ESSAY. Wrry.

Algebras and Representations: This could be alright, but the guy teaching isn't always 100% clear on where he's come from and how he's done things. I have yet to see an example of this. I have no idea what the questions'll look like. OH, apparently he has the homework on the VLE - not helpful! I never check it! Give it to us in person! I guess he doesn't mark it, because there's no due date. Nnn.

Groups and Symmetry: This sounds pretty okay. She teaches in a very High School way, which is a little patronising, but it's also very clear. She seems really approachable. This is the only one of my subjects this term I'm convinced is do-able.

This isn't very important, but I just had an icon-cull. I'll get new ones eventually, I just know I need new icons.

No, the important thing is, I was woken up at 1:30 this morning by Jo crying. Turns out she was having a god-awful sinus heache/migraine/unsettled stomach, and having never dealt with them myself, I was at a loss, but I just gave her some ibuprofen/lots of water/hot water bottle, and eventually it went away. It's just she gets them sometimes, but never that bad, and I feel really bad when I don't know what to do. She says it's better now.

Oh and 3rd year maths is already kicking my ass.

Yesterday I was active. I went to my first pilates class, which was... interesting. And I went to aerobics, but no one else turned up...

Then in the evening, I went to the boys (James, Karl, Ross and Phil) house for dinner, chocolate fondue and games. We played some card gmaes, and University of Leeds Monopoly, which I ended up being the first to go bust. James owned about half the board, and there was a really dangerous corner of the game where it was hard not to land on a well developed site that took away at least £700 (Million, whatever, it's just 'pounds' to me). I landed twice and just gave up. We played by the proper rules where you morgage and all that - each one of us had simpler/different rules, so we decided to actually read the rule book.

Since we were playing monopoly, and it goes on forever, I ended up home after midnight, whoops. Good thing they don't live that far away, mind you I didn't exactly know where I was going... But I got back in the end.

Okay, past few days my family have been here. We went to see Leeds United play, and in spite of having no interest in football, I really enjoyed myself. We were sat behind the goals, and saw one really brilliant goal - he scored within 30 seconds of the second half.

Then we went to York yesterday, and out for a Turkish meal in the evening, which was the nicest restaurant meal I've had in ages.

Today I'm taking Jo to Thirsk, would have gone last night, but no rooms where free. It's her birthday tomorrow.

Okay, important things that've happened to me recently:

1) My family is coming to Leeds today. That is my mum, sister and Grace. For Grace's birthday, they're going to see Leeds United play, since Grace is a supporter. We don't have much interest in football, but it's for a birthday. They arrive tonight, seo I'm away to get shopping so they can have food. Will cleanafter that. They're going to York on Sunday, and Jo and I'll come meet them later on (Jo's working).

2) I got an e-mail saying I'd chosen to do the project in Stats, when I'm pretty sure I didn't choose that. Turns out I must have, so I changed it to pure. I'm planning on never doing stats ever again.

3) I finished watching every last episode of YuGiOh! There are 224 episodes. I took a break from watching for about a year, but now I've finished. Next series to watch is CSI: Miami.

4) Started playing Kingdom Hearts for the first time. I'm pretty bad at it, but I'm worse at finding my way around than anything else. I asked Jo: This is the game with Organization XIII, right? And she's all, no that's KH2. What kind of fandom comes from a sequel!? Oh wait, I guess it's because the first game has no pretty men. Shallow fandom is shallow...

Jo has a job! It's at Headache City AKA Tacky Maxx (TK Maxx, it's a big clothes shop where everything is on hangers in no particular order ad it gives me a headache to stand inside it). It's only 20 hours (plus overtime) a week temporary work, but there's the oppurtunity to stay on. The induction is today.

She's also waiting to be called back by Maya (a jewellery shop) which offers full time permanent work. If she gets this job, then se'll works there and not TK Maxx.

Either way, a job is a job /o/

I do free advertising so...

Who would like some hand made, one of a kind jewellery?



It's just, Jo, my girlfriend has started to make some, and is selling it for quite cheap. Check out jleake_designs to see the kind of stuff she's making at the minute. It's mostly beaded necklaces and bracelets so far, but she is willing to take requests on these kinds of things. If you have a design or even just colours that you'd like to see, give her a message/e-mail with details. She posts all around the world.

At the minute, it's only cash-in-mail (or cheques if you're from UK), but she's setting up a paypal account soon, so yeah... All prices in pounds, so you 'Merkins and other non-Brits can take advantage of the cheap Sterling at the minute...

Just thought I'd let you know. If you could get the word around to people who may be interested, that'd be good.

Okay, so today Jo had a job interview, fingers crossed.

Also, we went to see Dorian Gray. We're both familiar with the novel, so... I'll tell you about my favourite part.

( Major Spoilers for the film )

Actual important update.

Okay, right, for those of you who aren't aware: my mum is French. Therefore, her relatives are French.

Recently, her younger brother, Henri, who is fifty, seems to have gotten himself into the property market (or something). He wanted to buy a flat in Nice or Cannes to rent out to people, but if he did that, he'd have to pay very high taxes or something, I don't know the ins and outs. So basically, he's going to be buying it in the name of myself and my sister.

That is, when he dies (which will hopefully not be for a long time) we will have a flat in Nice, no death fees no nothing. It's a very small place, aout 9 square metres or something, but the point is, it can be rented to students in Nice, and it's a place to live free of charge if either of wants to ever go there.

The scariest bit is, I'm going to get 20,000 EURO transferred into my bank account soon. But in a month or two I have to transfer it back out again, sob. I really hope my account allows me to have all that money all of a sudden. I know my savings account only allows £x a year, but I'm not sure about my current account. 20 000 euro... but it isn't for me, but to see that on my statement... that's so weird...

Yeah uh...