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.