The Black Star

A blog dedicated to the series of unfortunate events that always happen around me. Not so much unfortunate, more like funny.. but unfortunate sounds better.

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Saturday, October 29, 2005

In-room

So today is another glorious day. Why? Because as of today I won't have to leave my room at all (for the exception of lectures). How's that, you say. Well, I've finally been granted a mini fridge, so now I can keep all my... erm, food... in my room. Not that my flatmates steal too much from me, just the odd bread, cereal, milk, bacon... you get the point. But that's the end of it. Having said that, the only thing that they don't steal--the only sacred thing--is the beer. It's heavily condemned if you take someone else's beer. But if you take their milk and leave them without breakfast it's okay.

Today I also got a computer in my room. Mind, it's hardly the best one in the market (in fact, it runs Windows 95... yes, it still exists), but I was able to connect it to the network. How? Through a lot of work and suffering. The network doesn't support Windows 95, yet, I managed to connect to--and use--it. That's where I'm writing this entry from. And yes, it is 6:45 in the morning... and no, I didn't just wake up. I started configuring the computer at around 1 in the morning... just finished. Damn. Lots of credit to my flatmate who was a great help with supplying information via the net. And also for his support (and occasional cruel jokes about my machine). Also lots of credit to my other flatmate who supplied the computer. So what was the first thing that I downloaed when the internet started to work? Firefox, that's right. It was either running a slow Firefox or a crappy (and I mean crappy, I'm not just saying it because I'm against IE) IE 4.

Anyway, I won't go into too much detail as I'm exhaused... but happy. I look forward to spending most of my future nights stuck here in the computer surfing the web... it's Valencia all over again... fuck me!

Weather watch: Another beautiful day... temperature around 16-17 degrees and lots of sunshine.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Aja

So I'm exhausted today. Not to mention crippled from yesterday's crusade. I was expecting to wake up and have this muscular body because of all the effort that I put in yesterday, but everything seems to be the same. Damn.

Anyway, I didn't drink the whole box of beer yesterday; actually, I didn't have a single beer. In order to celebrate my truimph over linux, I went to play some pool with my (flat)mate. Let's just say they weren't the best rounds of pool we've ever played (two cripples doesn't seem to be the best combination for a game of pool), but it was entertaining. I know you won't believe this, but I lost again because of... yeah, pocketing the 8 ball (well, the 2 ball... there was no black ball, aparently someone stole it).

Anyway, when we finally arrived back to the flat we decided to make ourselves something to eat, seeing that we were overstocked in the food department. I made myself a pizza (fine, put it in the oven and waited) and he made himself tacos. I finished off my pizza and he was only starting to eat his tacos, so he offered me one. They were delicious. Spicy as hell, but delicious. I ended up having about half of his tacos. Yep, I was full as hell. So full that I managed to go on today until 3pm without breakfast. I was starving by that time, but usually I wouldn't make it to 11 without breakfast. It was a good meal, I haven't been that full in ages.

Anyway, while I was waiting for him to arrive (we agreed to meet at the metro station as we were in different places), I decided I'd sit down and listen to some music as it was a pretty warm night. Well, after five minutes of being in the same place I started to get cold, and that's when it hit me. Newcastle is one of the safest cities in the UK. Why? It's too cold for muggers to stand around waiting for someone, it's that simple. I don't have any facts to back me up, but you know it makes sense.

Now this is the..uhm... messed up part. As I was waiting (and getting cold) I'm just looking down at my mobile, and I happen to look up and I see these two guys streaking. They weren't fully naked, they were wearing their underpants, but that's the closest to nudity that anyone will get to here. It's too cold to go the full monty. Anyway, they ran from the street onto the city centre, and then they ran back to the street... I've got no doubt at all that they were drunk.

Oh, I just remembered something that also happened yesterday when we went shopping. I leaned over to shift things from one bag to the other to make them more or less of equal weight, and this girl (with a group of girls) squeezes my bum, making a honk sound in the process. My flatmate and I just look in disbelief, and then she turns her head around, laughs, and semi-winks (whatever that means). First the boobs and now this... girls are crazy (no shit!).

Anyway, I'm surprised no-one picked this up from the last entry. I even left it there to get a response (a freebie) but no. Is no-one reading this shit! Damn... I'm wasting my time. Anyway, I said yesterday that finishing the linux assignment and making it work was the best feeling in the world. I was expecting someone to comment "you've got to get laid...". You missed it.

Weather watch: Lovely day really... sunny all day long, decent temperature. Trying to spend as much time outdoors as I possibly can. (Edit- Bloody hell! I just checked and it's 18 degrees! I'm gonna go tan myself!)

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Victory at last!!!

So today is a day to saviour. Why? I've confronted my demons and I've come out victorious! I've finished the fucking bloody linux practical. I'm not joking, I did. I haven't been happier in a long time. A moment to treasure, so much that as soon as I'm done writing this entry I'm heading back to the flat to get pissed.

So here's the story of how it happened. I actually made my script work yesterday (there were four scripts to make, within other things... the scripts were the hardest of the lot, but there were loads and loads of questions... anyway, the point is that I was stuck on the third script, that's the one I'm talking about right now) but when the instructor checked it out this morning he told me that I had to change it as it was too simple... I'd practically get no credit for it (and there's why programs keep getting harder and harder every time, and why they keep on crashing... people just don't accept the simple things). So I get all pissed off (like really pissed off) and have a sort of arguement with the guy, telling him that my script does what its supposed to do and all, but the bottomline is that I had to change it if I wanted any credit for it. So I storm off after that, now having to do two whole scripts, even though one of them worked just fine.

So I'm sitting in my programming class (my proper programming class) and I'm just nodding along, I know this stuff, whatever, I just want to make my script work. It's a fucking simple thing, it just seems that in UNIX it is impossible to add numbers. Anyway, there comes a time when I snap back into reality, and that's when it comes. My professor utters the magical words--a ray of light comes in through the windows and splashes on my face--and once he said that I knew that I was in for a treat today.* I was so excited I almost hugged my mate who was sitting right next to me (we haven't known each other for too long, so it would've been very awkward... not to mention gay). So I rush home after that lecture (okay, walk home) and grap a sheet of paper and a pen and immediately write the code for the script. How? I thought of code in terms of what I know (what I'm being taught in my programming course... aka code I actually know) and then I just translated it to bourne shell (that shit the UNIX reads). In fact, I was so into it that I also wrote out the code for the final shell. All that took me no longer than two minutes.

So later on in the day (now) I came to the clusters and opened ran linux and then opened the editor, typed in the first code and much to my amusement it didn't run. I curse. I check it and notice that I left the increment part of the code out (pajuo), so I add it (or copy it from the sheet of paper) and then run it again. Runs like a charm! Then I type in the code for the fourth script, run it and it runs perfectly! I wish I would've seen my face...

In other news, today I went shopping for food (in between the time that I wrote the code and typed it up in the computer). I bought enough stuff to last me until Christmas. Smart move, eh? That way I don't have go shopping again for a while. My mate did the same. The problem was bringing it back. We made it, else I wouldn't be here, but we almost died while carrying all the shit from one side of the city centre to the other. And that's an understatement. I had three filled up bags in each hand and my backpack was filled with stuff (to be fair, there was only some sauce, Frosties and a 12 pack of beer... I know, I should've gotten the beer, but it was too cheap to let it go). We were so fucked, that when it started to rain halfway through our trip (we called it our crusade... we were "marching in the name of food and nutrition, through the pain, rain and... something else ending in 'ain'." We were too fucked to come up with another word ending in "ain", yes.

Now I'm off to celebrate the end of my torture. I'm downing the whole 12 pack of pints... damn, so much for lasting me until Christmas...

*Okay, so I might be exagerating a little bit... there was no ray of light, it was bloody clouded (surprised?)

Weather watch: not too bad... might've been cold, I'm not sure, I was sweating like a pig. Loved the rain.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Untitled

So I'm not sure what this entry will be about. I'm tired--exhausted to be precise--yet I'm here reading about this guy refuting some classicist theorist. Could it get any worse? Yes, indeed. I'm reading it off the computer (pdf) because it was given to us via the electronic teaching thing, so that mean... that's right... internet! I seriously don't know how I'll survive working in the IT industry... for the past three days (well, excluding yesterday... read on for information on "yesterday") I've been sitting in front of the computer, determined to work, and end up chatting or reading some news or doing something that I shouldn't have been doing. Damn distractions.

Today has been a rough day, too much linux. The bloody thing is driving me insane, even if I'm about to finish it. I'm even obsessing about it. It's all I'm talking about now, and, even dreaming about it. I took a nap this afternoon (at 5 when my lectures were done) and I only managed two hours of sleep (I was looking for something like 4, seeing I'll be up until late today reading the useless report) because I kept on dreaming about different ways to make my scripts more efficient! Now that is obsessing about something. Not even Little gave me this much trouble. Damn you, UNIX, damn you...!

Anyway, yesterday I went out with my flatmate. Neither of us had any money (the term is "skint") but we figured we could pull it off. We went to this bar/cafe/club and well, we had a pretty good time. The music was shit as you'd expect (gasolina came on... I felt like throwing myself out the window... I did have the opportunity, but it wasn't high enough to kill me, so I decided against it), but we got free drinks. We each got three beers and an alcopop (like a Breeze Ice but a different brand). Not bad... and meanwhile we played pool, and the bastard beat me because I pocketed the damn 8 ball when I wasn't supposed to. Good time, anyway... I'd tell you how we managed to get free drink in England, but I'm not daft enough to do it. Plus, if they happen to be reading this (I really doubt it, but you never know) then they might fix the loophole and where would that leave us skint bastards?

Weather watch: I'm not sure... sun in the morning (shock!) with a pretty warm temperature (say 12?), but then light rain and lots of fog in the afternoon (sock! (sarcastic this time)) but then traces of sun in the late afternoon... average of 11 degrees, I'd say.

Monday, October 24, 2005

It's a BEAUTIFUL day!

Today is a glorious day for I have seen the sun. That's right, you might not believe it (I know I don't) but it's true. I was walking from my flat to the CS building and I see a mate coming the other way. He says hi, so I say "what's up"... and he answers "...the sun!" and in that moment I turn around (slow motion-like... a movie moment) and there it is, setting down in the sky, the rays reaching towards me, covering me in it's pale gold colour. A magical moment.

Okay, so I had to put up with rain for most of the day and with a temperature of a single digit... but it was all worth it, because now I see the sun, yes now I see it! Oh, and the other good news is that the temperature at the moment is two digits... 14 degrees! What a glorious day, indeed!!!

On other news, my business professor is a homophobic. He was telling us about this workplace, one where there were only women... well, there's a guy, but he's gay... he doesn't know if that's considered to be a woman or not...

Weather watch: Read the main entry... loving it!

Sunday, October 23, 2005

My trip to York

So I went to York yesterday. I'll start by saying that York's a really nice place, a really historic region. There were plenty of things to do, and I was always doing something for the full 7 hours we were there. So I got some history lessons, some spooks (although I didn't get to see any ghosts! Too early! :( ) and loads of exercise.

Now the other side of the coin. It was a miserable day. We got there and it was raining, and I figured it would rain for the whole day so I just carried along. I went over the the castle thing (I already forgot the name... I guess I could've Google'd it up and passed it as if I remembered, but that'd be cheating...) and I even went to the real top... with the rain slapping me in the face and the wind almost throwing me off. Perhaps that's why it said "restricted access"... lol. Yeah, I know, it's not the smartest thing to do to break the rules in England, but I didn't get caught.

So after a while (well, minutes really) I'm all soaked and there's no sign of the rain stopping, so I go into the Dungeons and when I come out it has stopped raining. Yay! Well, not really... now the wind is strong, and as I'm all soaked the cold really hits me. So much that I'm trembling--so much that it looks as if though I'm having a convulsion. So I have to go about my business for the rest of the day like that... I had some time to dry up in the Railway Museum where I watched an orchestra play for half a hour... and then I went to the York Brewery for a tour where I finished drying up (except for my socks and shoes...). That had to be the best tour of them all. We got free beer lol (well, not free beer, but included in the tour).

So as you've guessed, I'm a bit sick today. That's great. But again, aside from that, it was a great trip. When I got back to Newcastle I was all "home!! I'm home!!" and then when I got off the coach it was as cold as York (well, it was 8pm) and that's when I said "damn England..."

Today's been a really cold day. Therefore, I stayed in my flat all day. I was sick, anyway, so I decided to rest it off in the worst day of the week. So nothing much thrilling today, just reading for my marketing class (so much reading!) and now testing a program and then I'm going to start on an essay. Ah, uni life...

Weather watch: Miserable day. I guess that's all you'll hear from now on. I won't be seeing the sun again until April, apparently. 7 degrees (but no rain!) at the moment.