Election Time

For those of you who are reading this in America you might be surprised that here at a University in the UK we too have elections. It has come to election time here at the University of Aberdeen. This past Sunday was the election for the committee of AURA (the roleplaying society). For those of you who remember my posts from Spetember then you will remember that I have spent the last few months on the committee as First Year Representative. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time on the committee this year, so I decided to run for the committee again. I ran for secretary, but unfortunately the guy I was running against was ill on Sunday. That means that I feel bad about being the new AURA Secretary, but I'm sure I will get over it. Though, I have decided that I should stop trying to tell jokes. They don't work for me.

It is also time for Student Body elections. I spent about 2 hours last night helping my friend put up banners around the campus. We weren't allowed to start putting up banners and posters until 12:01 this morning (which might be why I'm drowning myself in caffine). I say putting up posters for 2 hours, but really I spent an hour waiting around guarding a place that we would eventually put up a banner and then we ended up putting the banner in a different place. :P

Voting closes this Thursday, so for those of you who are reading this at Universtiy please remember to vote!

Houses, Flats, and Lost Keys! Oh My!

So, you know that house viewing that Marlene, Lisa, Amy, and I had yesterday? Well, the house was perfect. We absolutely loved it! We went in, looked around, and basically said "yes, we want it." The real estate agent directed us to the office in town where we could sign the papers and definitely have a place to stay next year. Sounds like a happy ending huh? Well, unfortunately, it was not meant to be. As we were walking from the house to town we decided to call the agency to tell them that we were on the way to sign papers for the house. Amy called. She said, with a fallen face, that just as she was on the phone someone else came in to sign the papers who had viewed the house earlier. Oh well, it happens right? The only thing that gets me is that we could have had scheduled our viewing Monday if they had been able to make a viewing booking online and might have possibly seen the house before the four boys who ended up making it there before us. Means we could have been on the other side of the bridge signing the papers while the four boys had to find somewhere else to live. It's not worth worrying over really, because we won't get the house even if I do worry. So, I say "Oh well!" and will move on. We'll find the place we're suppose to stay in.

Actually, we walked down to the agency anyway to see if there was anyway we could make a better offer to get the house (which was a little awkward because the boys were still there dotting the final I's and crossing the final T's). We found out we couldn't, but we did get to view a four double bedroom flat today. The other three thinks it's nice, but looks a little grotty. I honestly don't think it looked all that grotty. The bedrooms were a wonderful size and the kitchen was nice and the living room was spacious. We'd even have our own garden. We did tell the agent that we wanted to lease it, but he had to get in contact with the landlord and with the Easter weekend we might not hear from them until this coming Tuesday. We're still looking just in case this one falls through, but I actually have a good feeling about it. Plus, I think if we decide to view something else and wait on this one and we end up hating the other things we view, then this one will be taken by the time we decide. It's a fickle thing to do; looking for a place to live. But, it's just a waiting game now with the flat we viewed today. We shall see...

Speaking of places where people live. I have lost my key. I don't know how it happened. All I know is that I stuck it in my purse after I locked my room door and when I came home from the pub quiz last night it wasn't there anymore. Let me tell you, getting back into my flat was a difficult task, but I did it. I went back to the pub today and asked if anyone had brought it up to the bar...but they didn't have it up there. I left my name and mobile number with the guy and he said he would ask the night staff who worked last night. But I'm not holding up much hope for it being found. Tomorrow as I pay my rent, I might just suck it up and pay the 20 pounds for a new key. I have a temporary one right now that I won't have to pay for if I find my other one, but...hmm...I don't know. Maybe I should just wait until Monday and if the pub hasn't contacted me by then, then I should pay for the new key. Or, I could pay and if I find it I could get the twenty quid back. Damn housing! Causing me so much trouble this week!

The Death of a Good Student

I tried so very, very hard to study for this vocabulary test I have today in Gaelic, but I must admit that I haven't done nearly as much studying as I should have. I think this was kind of a wake up call for me. I need to work an hour a day on Gaelic (like I used to) in order to do well in my final exam scheduled for the May 30. Today though, I have resigned myself to fail (or, at least, not do half as well as I should) and realise it is my fault for not doing any Gaelic over my three week Spring Break. (Though, would it be too much to ask for to have a test NOT the week after we get back?) So, as a recap, here is what my life is going to be in a few hours.
See, the plane represent my "Good Studentness" which has been falling out of control for sometime now. Today, it's going to crash and then eventually explode. All because I've been slacking in my work. This explosion allows me to start anew in my "Good Studentness" which I shall do and pass all of my exams with flying colours! How's that for determination?

In other ground-breaking news! Marlene, Lisa, Amy, and I have a house viewing today. We're hoping this is the one. It looks nice enough from outside, but we're hoping that it turns out to be our dream house. Wish us luck!

You Say What Now!?

So, you've all had those days right? When you get into your first class of the week, first class of the morning, and first class back from Spring Holiday and you're feelin' pretty good because you know your English essay isn't due until the NEXT Tuesday and then your friend comes along and says, "Erin, what are you talking about? It's due tomorrow." and then you start hyperventilating. I can't be the only to have ever had one of those days right?

8 hours and over 1,600 words of pure CRAP. But, it will be in on time and that's something.

Back

Well, I arrived back in Aberdeen yesterday early afternoon. There is absolutely nothing to say about the flights. They were uninteresting and boring as usual, though I did finish one of the books I am reading (I'm a really slow reader, but I finished over 200 pages yesterday. I suppose that isn't saying much as I was on one plane for over 9 hours and on another plane for 45min and the other for 1.5 hours...still). Anyway, it wasn't what happened on the plane that was interesting. It was what happened in the terminals.

First off, I didn't get to sit next to any cute guys. Which is disappointing, but unsurprising. I did get one seat next to me empty on the plane from LA to London which is always lovely. I also got upgraded to...I don't think it was business class, but it wasn't coach either. More room and the flight attendants care about you more. Hooray! Though, I did get to see the seats in Business class. They recline ALL THE WAY! And they have bigger screens for in-flight movies and outlets and... *sigh* someday, when I'm Queen of Awesome, I will be on Business class during a transatlantic flight. Someday I even hope to be in First Class...oh yeah, that would be LOVELY! Anyway, back to the terminals.

From my home terminal to LA absolutely nothing interesting happened. I got there after saying a long Good-Bye to my Arwen, got on the plane, and landed in LA. Boring. But I was on an American Eagle flight and all American Eagle flights come in to an isolated terminal. This means I have to get on a shuttle bus to the terminal I need to get to. I showed the person running the shuttle buses my boarding pass and he ushered me to the first shuttle. Now, when I get to "my terminal" I start thinking, "This doesn't look like the Tom Bradley International Terminal, but the guy must have known what he was doing so..." I looked at the screen for my gate number and it said "TBIT". At this point I was still under the impression that I was in the Tom Bradley International Terminal so this confused me just a little. I decided to sit and read for a little and after that chapter was over and the departure screen was still telling me that my gate was "TBIT" I decided to ask someone and behold! I got on the wrong shuttle because the guy didn't look at the whole ticket that said "LAX to LHR British Airways". No, he just looked at the top that said American Airlines. *sigh* Second time this has happened to me. Note to self: Don't show your ticket anymore, just say which airline you're on. So, I had to go out of security and back through. Now, at this point I'm a little nervous thinking whether or not I can make my flight. The security line doesn't seem too long so I decide there's no need for me to politely ask to get to the front of the line and make everyone mad. So I stand at the end and have to go through the whole body screen thing, not the medal detector, again. That's twice in one day and two TSA agents who owe me dinner. Then, of course, half of the screen on the conveyor belt is cut off and they have to do a rerun on a pair of shoes. Of course they're my shoes and of course it takes 10 minutes for the rerun to happen. After I was all put back together again I rush to the screen, check my gate, and rush to the gate. All that rushing was unnecessary as the flight had been delayed. I must admit, I let out a sigh of relief. At this point I was upgraded (Hooray!) which meant that I didn't have to sit in the back with the EF Tour teenagers. Another sigh of relief. Unfortunately, what was suppose to be just a 10 minute delay ended up to be an hour and a half delay, but the seat next to me was empty and I wasn't ridiculously tired so I was ok with this. Except for the fact I had to sit in a steaming hot airplane for about 45 minutes. That wasn't so fun. But, I finally got to see MegaMind (which is really cute by the way) and there was actually a vegetarian entree I could eat so I didn't have to wait for the muffin they served at the end of the flight to get some food. That always makes a flight just that much more enjoyable.

Well because of that delay we were late getting into London. Fair enough. We all knew it was going to happen. We were instructed to stay in our seats and let the people on (insert flight numbers here) get out first so that they might have a chance of catching their flight (what I found out later is that my flight was scheduled to leave just 10 minutes after this flight to...Nice I believe it was, and they didn't call my flight number which I think is weird). Anyway, I let them all off first then rushed out myself knowing I had a quick connection too. I pretty much ran to the UK Border Control and guess what. I was second in line for the Non UK or EU passports and a guy who worked there stopped me from going through to let the people in the UK and EU passport line go first. When I started seeing people who had got in line about 5 minutes after me go, I started to get mad. There were two people in the "All Other Passports" line. I didn't understand why he couldn't just let us go through. It's not like we were in line to get to our next flight or anything. So I said, probably a little more upset and angry than I meant to, "Excuse me sir, but I got in line before them, have been waiting for 15 minutes, and I have a flight that leaves in like 20 minutes. Do you think you could let me through?" He did and at least had the grace to look mildly ashamed that he didn't ask, "Do you have a quick connection?" or something to that extent. I really want to call the Border Control people and complain and say, "Just because I don't' have a UK passport doesn't mean I didn't pay for my flight and want to be able to get on it." But I know it won't do any good. But, believe it or not, this is also the second time this exact thing has happened. Anyway, got through security a little slower than I was hoping (at this point I was really hoping they would allow me at the front since my flight was leaving in 20 minutes instead of just letting into the "fast" line which really isn't all that fast. But, beggars can't be choosers.) When I saw on the board that my flight was "Closing" I had to run to the gate. Managed to get on the flight and that was that. Though, if I had missed the flight I might just have stomped back out of security and given that guy at Border Control a nice slap in the face...or that might have been the sleep talking.

The flight into Aberdeen was nothing special. I got off and waited at baggage claim. And I waited...and waited...and waited. Finally, I gave up and went to Baggage Services. Apparently, my bag did not make it on the flight but was on the next flight in from London. Now, my foul mood hasn't completely left so...I might have almost started crying before I told myself I was just tired and being silly. What gets to me is, there were two or three people on the flight to Aberdeen who were also on my London flight. Their bags made it on why didn't mine? *sigh* So, filled out the form and they told me that it would be delivered to my building tonight. Ended up waiting around for an hour after I got a text saying that the courier people had picked it up before I called the courier people. They told me it would be delivered tomorrow at some point. At that point I had to say that there was no one working in reception tomorrow and I didn't have time to sit around and that I had a few things to do tomorrow (which is really today) and really couldn't wait all day for my luggage that the airline lost...or didn't get on the right plane at the right time. Thankfully the guy understood and thankfully a driver happened into the room at that moment and said he could deliver it tonight (which is really yesterday evening). So, around 20:00 or 8pm I got my bag and was able to wash my face. After the face washing I promptly went to sleep.

I slept for 12 hours. And now that I am rested, showered, and fed I should get dressed and get food for the week and then... *sigh* do that studying for the vocab tests I have on Monday that I neglected to do all break.

Erin's Grumpy

I've been sort of in a bad mood as of late. Well, since Sunday late evening at least. I know why, but it's not something I wish to discuss on here. I can be a secretive person when I want to be I suppose. Anyway, you know what I do when I get in these, "I hate the world" moods? I listen to this song that my mom gave me on a CD. I doubt she ever sang it to me when I was little, but I always feel better when I hear it. It also helps that I got to sit in the sun and tan today with a friend and get my hair trimmed. Now it doesn't look unkempt shaggy, but intentionally styled shaggy. Still, my mood isn't the greatest. Not even Arwen's wonky face can completely cheer me up. Hopefully I sleep off my bad mood tonight, but I think I'm going to be a little cranky and sour for at least a week. Ah well, I'm still having fun while I'm home. I got to see my Rocco on Saturday and will be a little sad to go back, but I'm looking forward to being busy again.

Non-Smoking

In my dreams I am always a smoker. Sometimes I'm also a hard as nails lady detective, but that's really beside the point. The point is that no matter what I'm dreaming, I will eventually pull out a cigarette and light up. This I find very odd as I am not a smoker. Never have been and never will. Now, I'm not one of those people who goes around trying to get other people to stop smoking (though, I would be very happy if my brother stopped. Mostly because I keep imagining my life without him if his life gets cut short due to the cigarettes and you know what? It's not a happy life. It's rather dreary and bleak) because, the way I see it, it's their lungs not mine. I've have been known to ask people to move upwind from me if I can't move so I don't have to smell and inhale it because then it is my lungs. Once my lungs are involved I will say something. Now, some of you might think, "Well, Erin...don't you think that's a little rude?" No, I don't. Because I'm always polite about asking them just to move just a little and I have really bad asthma so I think it's alright if I protect myself for having an asthmatic fit. Anyway, off of the side track rambling.
If I am so adamant to never become a smoker then why is it that I'm always a smoker in my dreams. I really am quite set on not smoking. I mean, besides the whole asthma thing smoking makes you smell and, I'm sorry but no thank you. I like smelling like flowers not an ashtray. I've thought a little about why I smoke in dreams. The idea of secretly wanting to rebel against society and my parents and my lungs crossed my mind. Then I remembered that 1 out of 4 parents is not really rebelling and I already rebel against society by bringing a puppy into establishments and my lungs...well, I don't really enjoy doubling over in coughing fits no matter how much fun rebelling sounds.
So, why? Is it that I secretly want to slowly end my life. Ok people, if you are a smoker out there and have the disillusion that smoking doesn't actually shorten your life span, the hard truth is that it does. Sure, you could get some of the same problems by sitting over a campfire too often. But, I doubt you're sitting by a campfire every single day and campfire smoke doesn't generally have several different types of rat poison mixed in. So, sorry to break that lie for you. Back to me wanting to shorten my life. It seems a little dark doesn't it? Slowly killing myself with a single stick of tobacco and poison every day. I don't like to think that the reason I smoke in dreams is because I secretly wish to kill myself over a long period of time.
Still, it leaves the question, why do I smoke in dreams? Is it because it's something I'll never get to try (asthma people...asthma) and so I try it in my dreams. Do I want to smoke? You know, self consciously? I'm afraid I do not know the answer to this.
All I do know is that Katherine DeMarco, AKA Kat De, PI, looks awful sexy extending her long legs to perch on her desk while exhaling a slow train of smoke. ;-)