A BBQ with old friends.

Yello! 

As I mentioned in the previous blog entry, I'm now going to talk about a nice BBQ get-together I went to. My sister (Lets call her 'Aie') and one of my older brothers (let's call him 'Chim') came with me, and my eldest bro (Yeah, it's a big family. We'll call him Kay) drove us there. Kay wanted to come along as well but he just had his wisdom tooth removed and eating was currently out of the question. 

At first I wasn't really up for it, I was still kinda tired from my trip to Oxford and for a Saturday, the day looked slightly gloomy. Kay even had to call up the hosts to see if it was still on as the weather didn't look too promising, he said that it was still on. What really made me eventually decide to go was the thought of myself meeting an old friend. A man called Cassius. 

When I was a kid, Cassius and his wife Vanessa were youth workers in my Church. Despite my memories being vivid, we was a laugh. One of my fondest memories as a kid was the holiday club, a kids social club during the holidays that Aie and myself went to. No doubt Cass and Vanessa were running things, it was a cool place to hang out with school mates. I could go on but my last proper memory of Cassius and Vanessa was in the youth room in Church when all the guys had KFC. NIIICE. 

The hosts that I mentioned earlier was a couple from Church (If you haven't guessed earlier yeah it was a Church get-together), Jay and Rach. They had a son and daughter too that go to my old primary school. As I walked in their humble abode, I was pretty shocked by how great their place was. Their living and dining room was very modern and their kitchen was fairly big and they had a... D I S H W A S H E R! ! ! ! ! 

The other guest were already present in the place, it was like a 90's-00s Church reunion. It was pretty...surreal. I think that's the right word. If my old Primary school mates Jaz and Lil were there then it would've been complete. First I was greeted by a woman I didn't recognise at first, so I was pretty shocked when she revealed that she was Vanessa. She looked a lot different but she still had the same enthusiasm like before. When Aie and I asked where Cassius was she said that he was out in the backyard helping out with the food, ah nothing changes eh? 

Unlike Vanessa (sorry, V) I recognised Cass as soon as I saw him. He hadn't changed a bit, we greeted each other with a big Hug. We were happy to see each other. 

After the prayer, we all tucked into the food. The food was very tasty indeed, funnily enough Jay and Rach did what my Mum said about BBQs: People should properly cook the food in the oven and then chuck in the BBQ Grill. The music that was playing was pretty cool too, some funky Christian Rap music. Sounds no different to the stuff I listen to, if not better! I chatted with a few peeps, you know, see how they got on. Some were in uni like myself, some were on to bigger and bigger things. I saw one girl that realy shocked me. Last time I saw her she was this little girl, now she 16 years old going on 20! She's grown up a lot, make-up everything. 

Overall it was a good night, Myself and the rest of the family left when it got late and I thanked the hosts for their hospitality. It was a happy home and it felt weird leaving it, then again I did have to leave home sometime. 

Gotta wake up early tomorrow, I'm gonna help Aie move some stuff in her new place. 4am in the morning? God help me! 

l8rz.

A trip to Oxford

Quite a few things have happened since I last posted. I'm on the third book of the Wardstone Chronicles, the Spook's Secret. It's going good I guess, it's feels nice to get back into reading again. I almost forgot how enjoyable good stories can be, but enough about my books... 

As I mentioned before, a few have happened recently. My sis just got into Oxford Brookes University and she was desperately looking for a place to live, unfortunately for her all the available halls in the Oxford area were full-up and she didn't have enough time to wait around in the waiting list. So with the help of Facebook, yougofurther and the Internet in General, she took matters into her own hands. 

Despite feeling bad at times for doing this I would sometimes make fun of her by singing my own rendition of Sam Sparro's song, '21st Century life'. My lyrics would be as follows. 

21st Century life..., 

I've got no place to live! 

*do-do...do-do* 

For those who have no idea what I'm talking about: 

One other frightening option that she had to consider was lodging in someone else's property. I would also make fun by speaking in an awful farmers voice, and say "So m' lassie, you fancy lodgin' eh?". HAHAHA ooh I was hardly supportive at all, so to make things a little better I followed her to Oxford to look at a few houses with a girl called Abi, a chirpy lass (hehe, sorry) she met on Facebook. When we got to Oxford, we also met up with her mother who happily turned into our Chaffeur. That was extremely nice of her and my sister and myself were really grateful.  

Before things got underway we had a little tour round Oxford. The place seem very pleasant, for me there was mix of the tradtional with the modern. I was pretty sure that my sis would love it here, after all, I would myself. We then rolled up to the Uni office which was nice because I got to see one of the campuses, and for the record it was a very nice campus. When we went up to accommodation office I instantly assumed that one of the workers had a big love for...meerkats??. I saw a meerkat cuddly toy, and on the side of the room were tons of pictures of the creature. There was even a bloody certficate confirming that someone ADOPTED a meerkat! 

The woman in the office said that the halls were still full and gave us a...ahem...LODGING LIST! A list of houses that were willing to give up a room or two for students. Was my light mockery of my sis' situation turning into a premonition?  

Abi and my sis were following the list and were calling houses that were offering lodgings. I hazy on the details but I'm pretty sure that one of the calls were successful and Abi's mum drove up to the house. 

When we turned up the mother went out of the car and knocked on the door. No one home. 

Annoyed we all decided to go back there later on, besides we were all pretty hungry so we got a bite to eat at McDonalds. When we finished eating our food my sister got a call from the guy who was a no-show before-hand, so we rolled up there. He was a nice guy, John I think his name was. He used to live in London but got tired of the rush-rush life so he moved up to Oxford instead. "...I never looked back." he said. 

He told us to take our shoes off at the front because he just cleaned the place. I always get a bit nervous when someone tells me that. Have I got a whole at the toe? Are my socks clean? Luckily my socks were bearable. Phew! When I saw his place properly I immediately knew why he was somewhat picky about the state of his place ("I'm not a clean-freak" I remember him saying) when I stepped in, It was a very nice place. The sofas looked expensive and plushy, a home-cinema projector was fixed on the living room and everywhere was nice and clean. 

After looking at the kitchen (pretty big but...meh.) we all went up to the room where my sis and Abi could've been staying, note how I said (or typed...whatever) the word 'room' singular. There was only one room available for the girls to share, sure it was a fairly large room: TV with cable hooked up, two big spongey-looking beds. However, the ONE wardrobe looked pretty pathetic. In his defence John said he was going to make it bigger but by the looks of things that would've helped much. He did have another room free, but he wanted it kept that way FOR REASONS UNKNOWN! [/killers] 

Surprisingly he advised against lodging. The girls were going to be first years, they should be partying and meeting tons of students and the like, and that would be pretty hard in a place like his. Despite the greatness of his pad we all knew that he a point. 

We went downstairs, put on our shoes and left. Abi and her mum were already at the car when myself and sis put putting on our shoes. Before we left, John advised my sis to go along (like I did) as there would be more options available. As we both hoped in the car we both kept that in mind. 

At first we decided not to it, but we decided to check anyways. You see, there was this house that both girls (and a few other guys who already paid the deposit) were interested in. It didn't look like anything special from the intenet pics but still, worth a look. We called up the letting agent and we all met up in the drive of the place. The agent was a pretty-looking red-haired(A kind I like ;-)  ) fairly short woman who seem very happy to see us. Why wouldn't she? Business is business. 

As we entered the house I was in-a-way pleasantly surprised. The living room had a cosy, homey feel to it, and it had a back garden. Two clean bathrooms (which was nice to see, unlike when I was house-hunting...) and a nice-looking kitchen. Sure, the kitchen and bathrooms were a lttle titch (definitely for the likes of me) but still, not bad.  As for the bedrooms, my sis has her eye on the big one! 

TO CUT A LONG STORY SHORT... 

We tried to head back to John's pad and negoiate about the no-acess spare room. He decided not to budge on that, much to our disappointment. It was getting late so myself and sis decided to call it a day. We repeatedly thanked Abi's mother for playing Chauffeur. I didn't know what we would've done without her help. When we got back home my sis decided to join the boys and chose the cosy, homey house and persuaded Abi, who initially wanted to wait for halls, to do the same. Happy Days! 

I was going to write about my nice BBQ with old friends but that'll be for another day I'm afraid. My right wrist is aching now. 

Cheerio.

I'm back on the books!

Hello again.

I didn't type this part of the last story before but when I went up to Leeds to pay my rent I look at the figures of the PIN machine and realised that the amount was £200 short. They used my deposit that I paid to cut down the amount, the woman that was dealing with my request confirmed it. I wasn't expecting it but to me it didn't matter, either way I was going to get an advance of £200.

A week or so after paying off the debt I was wondering what to do with the extra money in my account. At first I thought "More games for my DS! WOO!", but then I had another think. I wanted something different, something worthwhile. Then a recent Amazon order my sister made gave me the idea.

B O O K S ! ! !

It's been a long time since I got my nose into a nice story book. The last time I read any books was in my college days when I was doing English literature. I read quite a few books throughout my course, my latest one being 'White Teeth' by Zadie Smith. That was a great book, a real page-turner. A bit too 'adult' for the little kiddies in certain places (I didn't mind much ;-) ) but it was really hilarious. I was supposed to read it to pick out parts that linked with Post-colonialism (i.e how things were after colonialism...I think). The book is very long (up to around 500 pages) but that never bothered me while I was reading it. Great book.


So I headed for amazon.co.uk a did a search for some books. I looked up ones that were advertised on trains and on the underground and such, but according to most reviewers some were a bit of a disappointment. For example I go "O.K lets try'the Ressurectionist'...oh dear". Most books follwed that same pattern unfortunately.

To cut a long story (haha) short, my sis then recommended a series of books about a "Spook". Sounds interesting I thought, so I looked it up. The series of books are called 'The Wardstone Cronicles" and they are written by an author called Joseph Delaney. I know that people usually say "Don't judge a book by it's cover" but the covers looked great!



I dunno about you, but I like it a lot. It looks so mystic and ancient, it sometimes reminds me of a spellbook or a Bible. I'm pretty sure that was the author's/cover illustrator's/publisher's aim. The book pictured, The Spook's Apprentice (for those who can't read the cover, then again if you couldn't read why would you be here?) is the book that I'm currently reading now and I'm almost done. I've only had it for a day. It's a great story, very gripping. A great character to think of, a Spook. I've got the second installment with me as well, and the others are on their way to my house. Can't wait.

I order other books as well. One by the well-known John Grisham, called 'The Partner' and my all-time favourite book of my childhood. '45 and 47 Stella Street and everything that happened'. I was never a bookworm but that book...Oh my gosh...I've read that book, like 3 times in my own leisure (that a lot coming from me back then). (Picture from Amazon.co.uk)

Now I better be off, the Wardstone Chronicles won't read themselves. ;-)

Catch ya later.

My three days of travelling.

OK.

Today marked the end of my three days of travelling on the train. Don't worry I didn't travel for three days straight (God no!) I just had to go to certain places and do certain deeds; don't worry it was nothing dodgy. On two occasions my sister came along for the ride so it was all good. Thanks Dad for working on the trains for so long, without you these journeys would've cost an arm and a leg!

Thursday 21st August: My sister's Car theory test.

After finding out that we couldn't book our theory tests in a local area within this week, we (as in my sis and I in case you're wondering) decided to search for areas that did have appointment times this week. I found Luton which did a Saturday (today) and luckily my sis a closer place that had an earlier day available. (¬__¬ ) That place was Ilford on the Thursday.

Despite being in the London Underground zones, we had to do tons of train changes but surprisingly things went smoothly and we managed to find the test centre in very good time. As she did her theory in the test room, I was sitting in the waiting room listening to some tunes on my MP3 (as you do ;) ) . There was quite a few peeps doing the same test as well, some were young around my age and some were slightly older (left things a little late did we? haha). I didn't wait long until she came out all finished, I rushed to her to she how she was (I was a little nervous for her...yeah I'm caring like that.) and she claimed that it wasn't too tough. She passed OK so it was all good. We cruised back home.

Friday 22nd August: Paying the final rent.

OH YEAH! I got my money from the first year from student finance (was never a case of if, remember?), so I had a little debt to pay, and that was my final rent from my halls. The journey was very long (London to Leeds) but it had to be done. The guy from financial services of the uni kept bugging me throughout the year, threatening me with solicitors (and I'm doing a law degree, how ironic) and sh*t. However, to be fair I must thank him for his patience. After all, he was just doing his job. I got a massive A4 reciept to prove the payment, made a few money switcheroos and headed home. I had to help with the food shopping and prepare for the next day...

Saturday 23rd August: MY Car theory test.

After doing a quick mock befre getting changed for Luton, I wasn't too nervous. If my sis could do then so can I. Like before the journey was smooth (only two train journeys this time), but the centre was in the middle of nowhere. My sis kept on saying how Luton looked like "Something out of East Berlin", a quote from the Secret Millionaire. I was cool and calm in the exam room and breezed through the multiple choice (50/50). Despite passing on the whole test I was accused of cheating by the software in one of the hazard perception clips (GRRRR :-( ) . Only 51/75 on that one but still a pass is a pass right?

So yeah, my three days on a train. More adventures soon (If you wanna call them that :-S)

cya xxx

Student Finance - Is my year long battle finally over?.

It was never a case of 'If', it was a case of 'when'. I knew that for around a year so I never gave up when it came to proving to those bloody student finance people that I was indeed entitled to a maintenance grant for my first year at university. It was bad enough that they only paid me my loan when I was eight YES EIGHT WEEKS into my first year. Thank God my sis mentioned the grant when I got paid, otherwise I wouldn't have known about it.

So I drop Student Finance Direct (SFD) a little hint about it and they reply back. The battle begins!
First of all they needed info from my Dad (I'm not gonna go into too much detail for obvious reasons), I call home and things get arranged and sent. At one point I emailed them and they said the info had been recieved and was now being processed and I thought "Great" and went about with my studies. Then a few weeks later I get another email saying that the info is wrong...

WHAT THE F____?

They just told me that everything was all good, what's the deal with that? Then I thought "OK OK calm down, lets see what they're saying". They said that a certain someting was missing so I acted upon it, and a few weeks later...

WRONG AGAIN!

Incorrect year this time. So I made a few calls, documents were sent back home and those were sent to SFD again and guess what???

WRONG!

Now I was getting really annoyed! I looked at their last email thoroughly(sp?) to see what they exactly wanted, and that was what I sent. It was perfect, all the info was there back at home and it was ready to be sent. My sis gives me the email that it was posted so I sit back and continue revising for those first year exams (we're a few months in from the beginning of the year now!).

As I finish my second exam (I think) I get a message on my phone as Im on my way out of the exam room. Someone from SFD saying that they never got it and I have to re-send the info again!

DELIVERY F A I L E D!

Well, to cut a very long story short, It's time to explain why my year long battle could finally be over. Well recently I have just sorted out my financial issues for my upcoming second year in university and that too didn't pull through without problems. All of a sudden my mother's details are needed! Grrr. Once that was needed then both of my years would be financially assessed.

I call them and they said that my account was in it's final stages of assessment, however because of my previous experiences with them I wasn't exactly jumping for joy; I was preparing myself to be disappointed by them once again. Last friday I checked my 2008/9 account online and lo and behold my HE Maintenance Grant amount was shining through... F I N A L L Y !

It was never a case of 'If', it was a case of 'when'.

If my second was assessed then surely my first must have been as well right? Well I can't check my first-year account detailsand no positive changes have yet shown in my bank account so I can't officially confirm yet but things are looking up now. Hopefully they won't stab me in the back!

Laters.

Off to work, and eating cookies!

First of all apologies for the lateness of this next installment, I was in a work placement in a law firm all week. It was pretty cool, a massive change from my last work placement in Barclaycard, shorter hours, not as much "work" and refreshments everyday (The cookies and juice drinks were grrrrrrrreat! bumbleberry anyone?). Ahh, if only the real world was like this. Anyways, you are probably wondering how my visit to a law firm that just gave me treats all week can count as work experience, well for starters I wasn't really meant to be working, it was more of gaining experience in a working environment.

I also viewed many presentations about the different areas my law firm has to offer, which was very useful seeing as I'm doing a law degree, some were very intresting some had clock-watching qualities to it if-ya-know-what-I-mean! Having said that I was glad that I took part in it overall, I had nothing to lose and quite a bit to gain.

You are also probably wondering why the hell I haven't told you the name of the Law firm, well as I was typing this I was a bit reluctant to the idea but now I decided that IAM going to say it. The firm is called Lovells, but I ain't gonna tell ya the location. That's for my mind only I'm afraid. The people were great, If you smile they smile back (I used more of my smiles on the pretty women *wink* *wink*)!

I'm still chilling on through the holidays, I may post a post on the ONM Blog if I feel like it, but until next time...

A new start: One year on.

Wow.

A new chapter has begun in my life and I'm already a year in. Dang, time goes fast doesn't it? For those who are wondering what the hell I'm going on about, I'm talking about university. Yup-yup, and the first year has flown by. I'm looking forward to next year, there's no doubt about that, with any luck I'll reach new heights and meet more people along the way.

I remember moving into my halls like it was yesterday. The whole family helping out getting my things together, and myself realising how big my en-suite bathroom was! I also remember the moment I got left behind, felt weird. Got used to it in the end. I first met my small blonde flatmate, then a slightly taller blonde flatmate, then a short scouser! Wahey!

Kasia, Lucia and Dan. Nice guys but they had closer mates already I guess, which I was cool with.

First night out was, and still is my best night out. OMG A dancefloor that lights up like in the 70s! Danced on that for a good 3 hours and still had energy for more.

This is my blog. I had a similar one in the past on my windows live space, but seeing as it is a new start I thought "New Blog". You're probably wondering why I called my Blog the 4th Chapter instead of something else...well education-wise this is kinda like the 4th chapter. Allow me to demonstrate:

• Chapther 1: Primary school
  
• Chapter 2: Secondary School
  
• Chapter 3: College
  
• Chapter 4: University
  

I'll be using this blog like a diary if you like, I'll talk about any interesting things that have happened or if something is on my mind and even memories from previous years (or "chapters"). By the way I will be also posting on another blog called the ONM Blog but others will be posting there too, you should check it out. The peeps who post there are way more interesting than me. (-:

New post coming soon I hope, I'll try to experiment with different looks and fonts for my site as well.

Much Love

BGZ.