Tuesday 4 August 2009

We Apologise For The Delay

Sorry this is so late guys. I'll try to make blogging more of a priority from now on.

Wow, many things have happened since I last came here. Probably the most important is my graduation, so I'll start with that.

My actual ceremony was the last in the day so I had plenty of time to get ready before we set off. Nevertheless, because this is me there was any amount of running around at the last minute making sure I had all the paperwork (most of which it would transpire I wouldn't need anyway). I also wanted to get to Southampton early enough to wish History people luck before their ceremony, but as it turned out I only had enough time to grab my wizard's cloak and silly hat (Academic Dress) before the History ceremony began, which I watched on a screen in the Family Tent or whatever it was called. I had to wait until afterwards to chat with Vicki and my other History buddies.
There were a number of Archaeology people floating about who I had some quick chats with, but mostly they were all about as irrationally nervous as I was - I say irrationally because we could hardly fail a ceremony, could we? All we had to do was shake hands with a man in a different silly hat to us and collect a certificate, and I have no problem with being in front of a crowd. Yet despite this there was a quivering in my stomach which lasted until I had done my part and sat down again.
For the moment I am very glad that I won't have to do another graduation ceremony, but in the years to come I think I'm fairly likely to attempt a Masters and so will have to go through the whole rigamarole again. I'll be prepared next time though.

Now that university life is over what else is there left for me to accomplish? Off the top of my head I would say Learn To Drive and Get A Car come as a pair, as do Find A Partner and Have A Family, although I'm quite willing to put those last two off until I've accomplished everything else, them being something achievable mostly only through luck, except in the cases of websites like eHarmony, and I'm far too proud to ever use one of them. No, partners and families will take care of themselves, I am sure. Other than those two pairs there is also Find A Job, although as I have now done that perhaps it should be upgraded to Find A Career, of which I have a vague idea in mind but only minimal opportunities to fulfill it. There is also Move Out Of My Parent's House which will happen some time after I Find A Career, I expect.

Speaking of Jobs and Careers, this is what is going on so far. I'm currently working as a warden at Windsor Castle, just like last year. It's a pretty good job for someone just out of uni, the hardest part being a little rushed trying to find audio guides for 103 Chinese students (we actually had c.300 Chinese school children come into the Castle within minutes of each other the other week. I felt so sorry for whoever was in Group Hall that day), while the easiest is standing around chatting to tourists about the Castle and occasionally nipping downstairs for a sandwich or a flapjack. Considering how little I normally spend I am fulling expecting to have paid off my overdraft by the end of the summer and have a nice little hoard in the bank to buy winter clothes, or possibly train far to my next job. After all, I am only at Windsor for the summer, unless of course all my other plans go pear-shaped and I have to stay there.
My Other Plans, at the moment, consist of applying for as many appealing jobs as possible. It may seem quite silly but I really don't want to get stuck in some office as someone's PA or end up back in a shop. I know many people go for these options because their chosen field wasn't very receptive to newcomers at that point, but who then get stuck in a job they hate for years and years. I don't want to become one of those people so I'm fully relying on Windsor to keep me on if none of my other plans come to fruition. Appealing Jobs so far consist of an Assistant Archaeologist job back in Hants, Winchester to be precise, and whatever Family History contacts Colin's dad can provide me with. Working at the National Archives seems like the sort of thing I would really enjoy but given they are currently in the process of trimming down staff members there's unlikely to be a vacancy there for quite a while, so I'm looking for the next best option. I do enjoy researching my family tree, although until I have the time and money to launch into the old, old records before the Censuses I'd be happy to research someone else's tree. For money, of course ;D

I will tell you briefly about my evening at the Science Museum on Weds 29th, as this post has gone on quite long enough.
I arrived at the Museum after a great day with Sarah in which we played Upwords (I won by a single point), walked Archie round Richmond Park and generally caught up about everything. She's so much better now she's out of the hospital, it's really good to see.
I was supposed to be meeting a number of other 'young' wardens from Windsor, but as I had come via a different route to them (i.e. not through a Gourmet Burger Bar) I was both alone and hungry. I decided that the hunger was the first thing to sort out, and so once inside I bought a not too expensive Thai Green Curry from the café and proceeded to eat it with relish, noticing about half way through the rest of my group walk past the café without noticing me. After finishing my meal I scoured the Museum for them, eventually bumping into them on, I think, the first floor. Following that much fun was had, namely up in Launchpad where the toys are and in the Silent Disco, which wasn't really all that silent - headphones were provided and there were only two available stations to tune them to, so everyone was able to sing along with at least half of the rest of the dancers.
Once the evening was over Ollie made a concerted but ultimately doomed attempt to get the rest of the group to go to a pub. Personally I was indifferent, but as the plan fell apart around Ollie's ears I decided to go home and get some sleep.

I think I'm now totally caught up on events since my last post. I promise I won't let stuff back up like that again. For now I am going to head into Staines for Millets (part of looking forward to Momentum), HMV (part of looking forward to new music) and Argos (part of getting Vicki off my back about the new catalogue :P).

The next main blogable event is going to be Momentum, but if anything else happens I'll be sure to report it. I may even do a review of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince if you're lucky.
See you all soon, my lovelies.

Blogging to the sound of: Lust Lust Lust, The Raveonettes.