Episode 465: Payback's A Bitch

If you believe in karma, today's events illustrate it perfectly. After an excellent (and somewhat productive) yesterday, today has been one disaster after another. It started with me waking up to discover that some episodes of Smallville hadn't downloaded properly. As a result, many duplicate files had been created on my external hard drive. I deleted them, thinking all would be fine, and for a while, it was. Until I realised that the thumbnail previews on all the videos were going wonky, which I've found is always a bad sign. Lo and behold, the hard drive went into meltdown. Since this was a logical rather than physical failure, I had some hope that I could resurrect the drive. Thus ensued an afternoon spent in unfruitful attempts to do just that. I managed to find free software that could retrieve the files. I even found something that claimed to be able to repair the partitions on the drive. Lies, all lies. The retrieved files were unplayable, and the partitions refused to be repaired. So just before I left for Jemma's party, in a desperate last attempt, I turned off my laptop and rebooted the hard drive. Hey presto, it's working again! While I'm glad for that, I'm also kicking myself for not thinking of it sooner. Apparently, unplugging wasn't enough because that's the very first thing that I tried. Sigh...

Episode 464: A Good Day To Be Alive

What a day! First up, my iPod Classic has arrived, and it turns out that it's thinner than my U2 iPod, which really surprised me. I'm just waiting for the Ted Baker leather case I ordered off Amazon UK to arrive before I start using this new iPod. Can't wait! Then my Christopher Priest books and Logitech speakers arrived, delivered by someone who had driven all the way from Leamington and was thus somewhat annoyed that I'd taken a few seconds too long to answer the door. You're getting cross with me because you drove all the way from Leamington when it's your job to deliver the parcel to me? Are you serious? Whatever. I've realised that I'm missing the adapter tray that's meant to be used with iPods, as whoever packed this set of speakers decided to put in two iPod nano trays instead. I could send it all back to Amazon for an exchange, but part of me honestly doesn't think it's worth the trouble. Not when I'm hardly going to use that function. I mean, I bought the speakers to plug them into my laptop, from which I can play music just fine as well. Am going to return one of the Priest books though, as it's too badly creased for something that's meant to be brand new. I blame whoever packaged this parcel, since there was practically no sort of padding in the box apart from a few crumpled pieces of paper. Normally, you'd expect the whole thing to be filled with bubble wrap. Has the recession hit Amazon that badly? The last parcel to arrive was filled with my stuff from Diesel. The jeans did not disappoint, and the two pairs of trainers are definitely a steal at the price that I paid, which was about a third of their original retail price. I foresee a lot of heartache when I wear the white pair, as they'll surely get dirty the moment I step out of the house. Finally, to top off an epic day, I did a little bit of work and wrote another poem. This time, less of a straightforward imitation and more of an artistic homage, I like to think.

Episode 463: Travel Plans (Temporarily) Shelved

Have finally started on my work by doing an imitation of Sharon Olds's 'The Unborn'. Was going to carry on with something in the vein of either Thom Gunn or Philip Larkin, but as I can't make up my mind, I'm putting it off till tomorrow. Will probably end up going with Larkin, even though I like Gunn's poetry better. Went onto campus this afternoon to help Mel return books to the Library, and then I hit Iceland and Tesco to stock up on food. I believe that I've bought enough to feed myself until the end of the holidays, and possibly beyond. Bought some creamy coleslaw from Tesco to try it out, which was an ill-advised decision, as the whole thing tastes too sour for my liking. Forced myself to eat half of it at dinner. Will do so again at lunch tomorrow, but it'll have to be accompanied by more palatable fare. As for Easter travel plans, I'm beginning to reconsider if the USA is really such a good choice, in light of the new security measures that have recently been put in place after the latest failed attempt to blow up an aeroplane. Although word is that these measures are now being relaxed, I'm not going to firm up any plans until I know for sure what the situation is like. No way am I paying that kind of money to fly across the Atlantic just to be treated like a potential terrorist while in the air. It already ticks me off that the immigration people at Heathrow always talk to me like I'm some suspicious character, even when all I'm doing is telling them that I'm a university student. Some people really need to lose the attitude.

Episode 462: Am I Developing Healthy Sleeping Patterns At Last?

Woke up really early today, before it was even 8 am. Have been online practically the entire time since, except for a brief span when I was making lunch. Did have more food in the house than I'd remembered, but will still be heading to Cannon Park tomorrow to stock up, after I return Mel's books. Had meant to do work today, which is still a possibility at this point, although I think I'm just going to spend the time reading, once I finish watching Stardust. Claire Dane's lines in it are actually pretty funny. Have already decided that my first poem of 21 is going to be a straightforward imitation, probably of something by Sharon Olds. Have done the substitution thing once before, on Carol Ann Duffy's 'Valentine', which was a class exercise Mr Purvis set. I re-read my effort today, and while I can see some interesting images, some parts don't quite gel together once I think of the poem as a logical whole. Will have to do better this time. By which I mean tomorrow evening, of course. Discovered a new boyband today. They're called Vice, and their first single, 'Bounce', is just unconventional enough for a boyband debut to interest me. Less formulaic than V Factory's 'Love Struck', that's for sure.

Episode 461: Banished To Coventry Once More

Train back to Heathrow took way longer than it should have, but the coach ended up being slightly delayed anyway. Had to make do with sandwiches for lunch instead of the fast food that I always seem to crave when I'm in London. Should've detoured to that McDonald's outside Shepherd's Bush before boarding the Tube yesterday! So here I am, back in Coventry, where the weather feels abysmal even though I've missed the snow (for now). The only thing that keeps me cheerful is the thought of all the books and electronic goodness coming my way over the next week or so. I really hope the speakers are good this time. I have high hopes as they are from Logitech, and are proper full-sized speakers. Have begun work, sort of. Re-read most of the handouts for EN232 on the ride back from London. Am resisting temptation to turn out a portfolio that essentially reproduces endless imitations of that Daniil Kharms story I liked so much. Not saying that I won't include it, or something similar, but it would be very boring if that was all the portfolio consisted of. Am also considering reusing the character of Henrietta. I've already written two stories featuring her, and I think I've got a pretty good grasp of what's going on in her head, so that could go to interesting places. Then there's part of me that just wants to be boldly experimental and do a House Of Leaves, except in 4000 words. It would have to be very, very brilliantly executed though...

Episode 460: Boxing Day Sales

Went to Oxford Circus with Derrick to have a look at the Boxing Day sales. Surprisingly, I didn't buy much. Just two more Topman t-shirts (because they were green) and a new wallet (because my old one has a split seam I never bothered to sew). Need to be more prudent with my expenditure if I'm going to make that trip to the USA. Travel agent has replied to my e-mail inquiry, so I'm literally an e-mail away from being headed across the Atlantic come Easter vacation. Have until the end of January to book if I want a 5% discount, which I obviously do! Shall ask my parents what they think before committing. Attraction of the tour is that everything's taken care of, and STA Travel is reputable enough that I trust them to handle things, even in the UK. I mean, even the tickets to fly there and back can be booked through them at the same time, and all I have to do is cough up the money. (£100 deposit for the tour, remainder payable by February.) Tempting, isn't it? Especially since I'm not operating on the tightest of budgets at the moment, and the itinerary of the tour pretty much fulfils my objective of seeing as much of the USA in as little time as possible. There are very few places in the world that I actually want to visit, let alone within the USA in particular. Said tour has a minimum of one full day in most of them, and terminates in New York, where I may linger on a few more days, depending on whether anyone offers to let me crash at their place.

Episode 459: Merry Christmas!

Since it's Christmas, I decided to do something really useful and catch up Piled Higher & Deeper, a webcomic that's been helping me survive academic life by procrastinating, although I'm not even a graduate student yet. So that's one more webcomic that I'm completely up-to-date on! Reading it kind of makes you despair of ever making progress in the world of academia though. Just a little. Especially since I'm a Humanities major. Nearly stayed up till midnight to read 'The Tain', but I gave up with about 20 pages to go and have yet to get back to it today, due to aforementioned browsing of webcomics. Will do it after I finish watching the new Doctor Who special, which I'm really excited about. The Ood still creep me out horribly though. Also, I'm not sure what Series 5 is going to be like, given that this final pair of specials seems to be tying all the threads of the past four together into one big emotional climax. I suppose fans of Doctor Who are just going to have to keep an open mind, even if David Tennant was an awesome Doctor with a wardrobe I would kill for. Speaking of which, I'm hoping to pick up some stuff tomorrow, if I can survive squeezing through the Boxing Day crowds. Will have to restrain myself, as I've just bought another load of books and am also planning for a tour of the USA during Easter vacation. Now that is exciting.

Episode 458: Empty Plane...

Flight was really empty today, had the entire row of four seats to myself. Should have seized the opportunity to actually get proper sleep while lying down, but ended up watching five movies instead: The Ugly Truth, Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen, The Host, Four Christmases, and About A Boy. Think I actually only slept for 30 minutes throughout the entire flight. Rest of the time, I was reading China Miéville's Looking For Jake. Managed to get through all of the stories in there except for the novella at the end, 'The Tain', so I'll probably finish that tomorrow. I really, really liked a couple of the stories in the book, and even those that didn't endear themselves to me as much had sufficiently offbeat premises to make them interesting anyway. Anyway, I found The Ugly Truth slightly odd because its a typical romantic comedy plot, but I just can't imagine Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl as a screen couple. Having seen Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen, I don't get why Megan Fox gets so much flak. In a show that required minimal acting, she didn't seem any worse than the rest of the cast. In fact, I found Shia LaBeouf more insufferable. Overall though, too much metal crashing around, and it wasn't even that visually appealing. The Host was good until it reached the ending, which was very unsatisfactory because it didn't directly address the implications of its opening scene! Four Christmases began promisingly, but descended into a formulaic, rushed ending, albeit with a slightly more believable screen pairing of Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon. So I guess you could say that I found About A Boy the most satisfying film of the lot. It's quite funny to see how Nicholas Hoult's facial expressions haven't changed between playing 12-year-old Marcus in the film and playing Tony on Skins, five years later. I also now have a renewed appreciation for Hugh Grant's abilities as a comic actor.

Episode 457: Thwarted

Since it's my last full day in Singapore, I decided to give G. W. Dahlquist's The Dark Volume another go, and once I got past the first 150 pages or so, it actually kind of started to pick up! Although I've heard that by the end, nevertheless, nothing much has been accomplished by either the good or bad guys, which seems like a blatant attempt by Dahlquist to spin a two-book deal with his publisher into a trilogy, something that I doubt is going to happen, given the comparatively dismal sales of the two books. A shame, since the first one was pretty interesting. Anyway, disaster struck when I dropped the book into a pail of water. Looks like I won't be finishing it tonight. Was halfway into the novel, and could probably have finished it, but I guess there's no point now. So there goes my goal of reading one book for every day that I've been back in Singapore, foiled on the last day. I guess I'll just make do with having read this short story by Steve Rasnic Tem that I found online, 'The Bereavement Photographer'. The premise is interesting, but I think he hasn't taken it as far as it can go, even for a short story. Maybe I could write a story based on the same premise, but twist it in a way I think works better, and then stick it in my as-yet non-existent portfolio?

Episode 456: Books Packed!

I know I'm a bit late on this, but I've just finished reading Patrick Süskind's Perfume. It strikes me as a very sensual book, in the vein of books like Joanne Harris's Chocolat or Andrew Lindsay's The Breadmaker's Carnival, except it chooses to concentrate exclusively on the sense of smell and what it evokes. John E. Woods's translation is a breezy read, and towards the end, the unravelling of the plot is chillingly inexorable. Now I feel like seeing the film. Incidentally, the video for Mylène Farmer's 'Dégénération' appears to be conceptually inspired by the climactic orgy that Grenouille inspires in the novel. The song itself is the sort of techno-inflected pop that I really like, but I don't think I'm about to rush out and get the album it's on, even if YouTube has proved that the other songs are pretty much in the same vein. Have also packed the books I'm bringing back, and of the ones I was deliberating over, I'm only bringing Only Revolutions, as I managed to find a pdf version of House Of Leaves, which was terribly exciting. It's a proper, scanned version of the book, painstaking work. I am, however, now bringing Elliot Perlman's Three Dollars and The Reasons I Won't Be Coming.