http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:freakette&section=today deviantART RSS for by:freakette en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:52:05 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/28685416/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/28685416/ Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:14:16 PST

Mad
Fad
Dad
Had
Brad
Bad
Ahmedinajad
Vlad
Rad
Egad
Cad

Today I am glad I skipped class to see my girlfriend to make sure she is not sad

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/28622699/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/28622699/ Sat, 28 Nov 2009 02:57:08 PST
According to the girlfriend, Brown Sugar had not paid their rent and had therefore recently been taken over, VERY swiftly, hence the new management and their low-priced breakfast deal. So, around tennish this morning we entered their doors ... only to be greeted by one of the waiters with, "I'm sorry, we're closed."

Hold the phone a moment. You're closed? Why are there signs all over your windows saying you're open? Why are there customers sitting at tables enjoying teas and coffees? This doesn't look like closed to me.

But no, it's early and I don't want to be rude so all I can muster is, "What?", or more accurately, "Wut?". Now apparently some of the staff haven't turned up, so they're having to close for the day. Oh okay. But it gets better, because you see I didn't open my mouth, so to fill the gap he says, "What was it you're after?" and all I can get out of my confused brain is, "Er ... breakfast?"

Amazingly, with a nod from the new manager, it is OKAY to make us breakfast. Despite this being the most complicated thing on the menu and them "not having any staff"(XC) ... ho hum. It gets better still though, because while we're sitting there, more people come in, and if that waiter was busy they just got served, whereas if he was around to pounce on the door he opened with his standard "Sorry we're closed" and do you know what, people actually just said "Oh alright then" and buggered off ... PERSISTENCE PEOPLE(XC XC XC), stand your ground, because actually the breakfast was quite nice.

I will give them 3 or 4 months before I go back though, because they clearly need to sort the place out, it has all the decor and furniture from the last owners, dusty sides, side-dishes that need cleaning (I don't need to see fingerprints and dusty fluff specks on my sugar dish when I order a coffee, thank you), they are using menus printed on sheets of A4 paper which have another restaurant's address on (presumably the owner's previous or simultaneous business adventure), and finally they need to upgrade so I can pay by card instead of noticing the cash-only sign after I'm comfortably seated.

So, worth a shot, but not until they are set up properly.

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/28471467/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/28471467/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:42:48 PST
Me: Hi, I'm having a problem with my card, I think I might need a new one.
Her: What's the problem, sir?
Me: Increasingly frequently, it's not working so well with some chip-and-PIN machines, not letting me pay first time.
Her: Well if that's the problem, I think you need to go to an ATM, and select PIN options, if it's blocked, you'll be able to reset it from there.
Me: ... er, okay, I don't think we're on the same page, it's not that my PIN is faulty or I've forgotten it, or the card is blocked. It's that when I go to pay for goods in some locations, the card isn't working first time. We get there eventually, but it can take two or three goes, and I think the chip part of the card is to blame, because it's getting a bit worn.
Her: No, Mr Freakette, we ARE on the same page, you need to go to an ATM machine and check your PIN settings.

I tried to argue the point with her, that my PIN was valid, I know my PIN, and it is not a PIN problem, it is clearly a CHIP problem, but she was having none of it. Eventually, and I think in the interest of getting rid of me, she said I could have a new card anyway if it would make me feel better - why, yes, yes it fucking would you stupid bitch. There was a clue in the first sentence I said to you, the bit where I said, "I think I might need a new one" ... Honestly, what fucking relation do you think the PIN has with the CHIP in terms of function? If I am typing my PIN in right 100% of the time (and I am), do you think going to an ATM and fiddling with the PIN settings will change this? Please, someone correct me if I'm wrong but she offered no explanation as to WHY my standing in front of a random box in the wall in the side of the high street and pressing a couple of buttons would magically make card readers recognise my PIN when the same card readers DO recognise the card after the shop assistant rubs the chip section with their thumb / clothing.

More to the point, you work for my bank, I give this bank money, if you want me to withdraw all this money and move to a bank where I will be treated like someone with intelligence and not someone to be fobbed off with some shit advice like that, then I will, but I'd hope it wouldn't come to this. Seriously, I hope that she was new or something, and that that was being recorded so she can hear what a bitch she sounded like and learn from her mistakes.

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/28471271/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/28471271/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:33:00 PST
First, the post office in my university student union has closed down. What the fuck?! Apparently it happened in March; this is a big blow, it was a really usefully located post office and from what I saw it was constantly busy. Damn. Now when I'm in uni I have to go over the road to the nearby post office which is usually crammed full of pensioners trying to collect their weekly cash and now lacks any sort of postal apparel you might need (yes, they don't have envelopes, boxes or wrapping paper, and they've done away with their stamp machine, though you can still buy over the counter). As if this wasn't ridiculous enough - I mean, really, a post office without postal stuff?? - there was also the problem of poor management I faced the other day.

Picture the scene, you've been in the post office queue for about 5 minutes, which isn't long but it isn't short either, you've just reached the front, you're about to get served and ... in walks a man and a woman carrying two boxes, who stalk past the front of the queue, chatting in their self-absorbed little world, and prance up to a counter. "Excuse me", says the man behind me, "there's a queue!" ... No response. He tries again. Nothing. With a slightly louder voice, I repeat the man's sentiment, and at this third announcement the snotty young man turns around and says "I'm not blind you know. We have a business arrangement.", as if that explains everything and excuses any of his behaviour. Fortunately I didn't have a problem coming right back with "No you're not blind, you're just rude. Manners cost nowt.", to which he didn't seem to have a reply.

First he's in the wrong for being a snotty little gobshite. But the post office needs to get their act together, and if they're going to have "business arrangement" customers, they need special counters, because this is just not on. What if he had lots more to post? What if loads of "business arrangement" people waltzed in and took up all the counter space? It's hypothetical but it's a valid argument nonetheless.

I am not impressed.

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/27575695/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/27575695/ Sun, 04 Oct 2009 10:30:34 PDT
Long story short, I'm now taking beginner's Japanese with advanced Chinese both semesters, and in semester one I have a Politics module (which I think I will enjoy a lot) and in semester two a module on Chinese Nations and Nationalism (which should be okay). But, beginner's Japanese is rocksolid. It makes little to no sense at all! I'm struggling bigtime, but I need to do well in it, and it's STARTING to make a bit more sense than it did last week (when it made less than no sense ) but I honestly think going from Japanese to Chinese would be a lot easier ... shame I don't really have that choice!

I leave you with two Japanese cartoons from youtube which I think are quite useful / cute / funny

[link]

[link]

The second one was played to us in class no less

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/25981710/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/25981710/ Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:35:18 PDT

*happy*

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/25767783/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/25767783/ Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:08:23 PDT
This morning, after almost 11 months in China, 10 of which I spent in Urumqi with no civil upset whatsoever until last night, I left the city. We saw the remains of a smashed up coach outside our dining room at breakfast, which made for interesting scenery ... I am now in Beijing, uninjured, and heading to the UK tomorrow. Assuming they havent a vendetta against British Airways and are preparing a SAM surprise for when we pass back over Xinjiang, I should be home Tuesday afternoon (BST).

So, people, not that you were before, but don't worry!

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/25668110/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/25668110/ Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:03:33 PDT
So why does it surprise me to find that two institutions have cheated me? Mainly because of their reactions (well one anyway), read on.

1) The lesser of the two is the water machine company. We have a water machine because you can't drink the crap out of the tap and this is quite convenient, cheaper than buying bottles all the time each. We pay 10rmb a week (or however often we get through one of those giant bottles (18.9L?), usually one a week), and this bloke comes round usually within the hour, we swap empty for full and that's that. No problem. We put down a 300rmb deposit on this machine, and they said they could take it back off us when we left. Dandy. Except now it transpires there's no deposit. There's no refund and no collection. We just got ripped 300rmb. Cheers, you fuckers.

2) The more serious one is China Telecom. When we moved in, getting the internet up and running was important, but Marta's Chinese was really shit and mine was ... well, less shit, it was by no means brilliant. So I got the job of setting it all up, and what a palaver that turned out to be. Still, it was done in the end, and we were paid up for a year - I'd given the man in the shop (a sort of unofficial looking fellow, but the assistants told me it was okay to pay him, he was working for the company) a year's worth of cash, plus 300rmb deposit on the wireless router, in total around 1800rmb. The internet stopped working the other day, so of course I went to the office to see what was up, but it was too hard to understand what to do. Luckily my Chinese friend Bruce (who gets a massive thumbs up from me for everything he's done this last year!) was meeting me to go to the hospital (see previous entries), so he popped along. And just as well he did, what a rollercoaster ...

First, we explain the problem. Our WIRELESS (yes, that's right, thickos, not with a special card or dongle, for the fifth time, it has an antenna and NO FUCKING WIRES MORONS) router was working this morning, but ceased in the afternoon, what's up? They don't know, so we go into an office. The whole inside is completely different to when I was last in there 10 months ago as well, it's completely changed and looks much more professional. So we sit with this assistant and try to look up my details (without my original passport they were reluctant to fix the problem - which you'll see in a minute - even after they used the passport number and I confirmed my address without seeing the screen, muppets). And here's the story:

* our monthly bill had been paid each month into a different location, but on time and in full

* this payment ceased two months ago, and we were indeed cut off that afternoon

* when trying to track down this bloke who had our money, there was no joy. I only had his name and number, and a scrappy receipt he'd handwritten for me last year

* phoning other depts revealed he WAS in the company until (surprise surprise) two months ago. at which point he'd resigned. great.

So, the thieving bastard took 2 months of our internet money (our monthly bill was less than he said it would be as well, so he really made off with quite a lot more in all) and the 300rmb deposit. Oh yes, the deposit, which ... yeah you've guessed it ... wasn't. There's no deposit for this kind of thing in China, says Bruce and the lady. Fuuuckk. Another 300rmb stolen. Thieving fucking Chinese bastards. I hope they ARENT the next world business power if this is how they do things the miserable gets.

To add insult to injury, Marta and I were made to pay not just the money he had stolen from the last two months, but also for the coming month that we would still want to use the internet. So we've paid for it twice and then some. And at no point did they offer to help us file a police report or claim or in any other way track this bastard down. When I asked why the assistants who observed me and this guy making a deal let him get away with all his fleecing prices, he said "oh the guy was probably a manager, and they didnt want to lose their jobs" ... one wo... ]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/25667793/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/25667793/ Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:41:28 PDT
Well, there isn't much to say; they were a shambles. For all of the exams (except speaking) the teachers were telling us either what passages to revise, or what specifically would be on the papers. Speaking was a very similar format to last semester and basically if you knew the texts to revise for the listening part, chances are you'd get one of them to read out for speaking. Then answer some basic questions. So, in a nutshell, the teachers made sure we could at least all *pass* the exams, if not do well. A pass here is 60 I think, because its a raw mark out of 100, rather than the odd scale system we have back in the UK (where a pass is 40, but IMHO if you're hovering there you shouldnt be wasting 3k a year on tuition). I missed the reading class where the teacher went through the opening questions, and I only halfheartedly prepared for the grammar exam's essay question, but at least I did them pretty much off my own bat, and without any help.

Here's the REALLY bad bit - despite the teachers' "assistance", the other members of my class (bar one, my friend Tanya) STILL felt the need to cheat! In the grammar exam they were whispering to each other, or had their books, or in the case of Gulaga (the class retard) just plain shouting out. Did the invigilators do anything? Did they fuck ... see, the uni desperately wants to hold onto foreign investment and it will do this to the point of ignoring the behaviour and caliber of the foreign students and making sure they can pass and pass well in order to look good on paper. Twats. Listening wasn't much better, Gulaga managed to be quiet all through the exam and then as soon as it was over, rather than sitting still and waiting for scripts to be collected, he and others got up and ran round trying to look at other peoples' answers (the listening exam was PISS EASY, not just because we knew what texts to revise but because on the tape the actors spoke at snail's pace - so to see people trying to cheat answers was more than sad, it was just tragic). Reading, well, Tanya and I didnt know any of the first answers because we missed that class, so we finished reasonably quickly and handed in our papers. The teacher was upset ("You've got some wrong") but really what did she expect, it's a fucking EXAM. I thought she was a good teacher all year but seeing her standing there in a class full of blatantly cheating people (dictionaries, books, notes, etc) and just saying "Please don't use your books" made me lose all respect for her.

I know I passed Listening, Speaking and Grammar (ha, the grammar teacher apparently felt I did a bit badly and gave me more points for attendance, which is funny because my attendance has been shit ... that's another thing, there's no anonymity at all, which is a bit stupid), but I havent got my results for Reading yet. Even if I did badly, at least I did it without cheating, that's the point of an exam ... but what do you expect from a country where people routinely buy their qualifications (high school papers, degree certificates, having someone else sit your driving theory exam, etc) and don't mind talking about it?

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/25665400/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/25665400/ Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:47:49 PDT
On the basis of these tests I was given antibiotics (intravenously, the Chinese are in love with IVs for anything), as well as oral antibiotics and some herbal medicine stuff. 3 days on azithromycin drips and I went back to see him for a follow up, feeling much better; he tried to give me more drips as part of the treatment but I refused, and instead he gave me lots of oral medicine and told me not to come back if it all cleared up. Azithromycin, by the way, is apparently on the stronger end of the antibiotic range (according to my Dad a UK GP for the last 40+ years), reserved back home for people who have not responded to other treatments. Joy of joys, they were really raping my body with the drugs.

All was well until the weekend just gone; I had been to the gym Thursday (brief session to make sure my cardio felt fine because I'd had some breathing trouble the day before) and tidied the house just before, which had resulted in lower back pain from the short broom handle. Friday I'd pulled an all-nighter, drinking with friends. And Saturday I'd done not-very-much. Coming home from a Korean restaurant I suddenly had the worst upper back pain imaginable. It spread right across my upper back, round to the edges of my ribcage. I couldnt sit, stand, or lie down (any which way) without severe pain. Popping a couple of neurofen and a paracetamol (that's ibuprofen-based medicine and tylenol for my Americanised readers) did NOTHING, which is rare, because I never take pills and when I do they normally knock me out in a fuzzy happy style and I get better ... after 5 hours in agony, unable to sleep, I bit the bullet and took myself to hospital. It was 0300 on Saturday morning.

The docs in the ED were really patient and listened to my explanations (all in Chinese) and went through what I needed to do until I understood it. First, more X-rays and blood tests. X-ray, clean. Blood test showed raised white blood cell (WBC) count, damn it. So more drips of course. Azithromycin (the aforementioned antibiotic) and Rabavirin (an anti-viral medication, commonly used with Interferon in the treatment of Hepatitis - says the internet - and also "high powered", says my father) ... so, guessing as to the cause they pumped me full of both major types of drugs. Fun fun. 3 days on the drips (which are just a short metal needle into your vein by the way, there's no cannula placed because you're not an in-patient with needs for repeat or emergency infusions), repeat blood tests and a close look at my X-rays, revealed I am now healthy. I have some cold medicine which will last until I go home, but the upshot of all this has been I've had to rearrange travel plans with my Mum and am now heading home with her next week. She gets a few days in China at least.

One final thing about the hospitals - it really is unlike anything I've seen. First, there are counters for everything and you go from counter to counter having things done. But remember to go to the payment desk/s first and get receipts or they wont do anything for you at the counters! I even heard of one woman (foreign) in a good hospital in Beijing being asked to sign a form saying she would pay all costs after giving birth (of course she did, she had insurance) or the doctors would do nothing. And this is a woman in labour! It's a horrible situation, I don't even know if there are free clinics like I've heard in the USA, or if it was an absolute emergency if the docs would do anything even. I don't know if they take an oath or anything. Their nurses are not helpful either, and no medical staff seemed to do any patient lifting at all - if someone came in in a wheelchair it was family members who did all the moving while nurses looked on. The medical staff don't seem to CARE, this is a big thing. And in the UK you would get your own bed and people come to SEE YOU. Here, you queue up to see overworked docs in their office, and, being China, no one really queues, and it's common to have three or more patients in the office all vying for one doctor's attention. I will not miss many aspects of... ]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/25658563/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/25658563/ Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:54:13 PDT
* Chest Infection - better now, but not before 3 drips (Chinese love IV meds for anything) and a load of pills and being ill for a few days.

* Exams - bunch of cheaters at my uni, teachers included (giving answers before the exams? make them look good on paper?). Over now.

* New Illness - another 3 drips (slightly different compositions) and now some pills to go home with.

* Trip Modification - both my parents want me home for a UK medical workup so Mum is flying to spend a few days in Urumqi and then we're leaving together. Back in England next Tuesday. Shame it wont be the trip we planned, which was quite good, but better that I'm healthy. Swine flu next stop.

* Getting Cheated - 2 institutions have both cheated us in the past year and we've only just found out about the bigger of the two cheatings.

That's about it for now. I will elaborate on the above but I have no time, must go out and do lots of admin type things today for Mum's arrival tomorrow.

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/24782465/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/24782465/ Sat, 16 May 2009 07:32:31 PDT
Things I Have Learnt:

I am 8100 days old today.

I am 870 days older than my girlfriend.

My BMI is fucking massive (well, 26.3) and I am classed as overweight.

I need to lose almost 9kg to reach my ideal weight of 65kg



That being said, I just searched for "60 bpm heart rate" to see if I could get some comparisons on average heart rates and I must not have used the search correctly, because two of the results were: "60 bpm is 60 times 1 bpm" and "60 bpm is 59 bpm more than 1 bpm" ... yes, very useful.



]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/24647568/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/24647568/ Fri, 08 May 2009 07:29:07 PDT
So, when the next good day comes around (some days are nice but recently the pressure's dropped so we've had clouds or haze) and I can make them out clearly I will try to capture them with my camera (though it probably won't do it much justice, being a snapshot thingy and all) ... This can make me smile even on a shitty day when I don't want to be here at all

Days til I leave China: 74

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/24074859/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/24074859/ Sun, 05 Apr 2009 12:02:47 PDT
When you start a conversation, after saying hi you should offer your stranger a coffee ... if they reply with either "yes but make it strong, i want to see that spoon stand up" or "and some carrot cake too?" you know you've got someone who's been affected by me or someone i talked to at some point

And of course, I'll know that too if you're talking to me!

Also, [link] is a very similar principle (apparently around before, but not as nice layout as Omegle I dont think) and in my first (and only, so far) chat on there I found a fellow skydiver. Whatre the chances?

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/24051386/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/24051386/ Sat, 04 Apr 2009 02:33:21 PDT [link] and use it.

It's like MSN or another chat program but you:

a) only talk with one person
b) don't know them at all - it's just "you" and "stranger" doing the talking

You can divulge as much or as little info as you want, and if the other person is a twat (and a few really are) you can just disconnect from the conversation and get a new one, safe in the knowledge that the other person will never know who just disconnected from them.

You might have to work at starting the conversation, depends on your style and the other person of course, but I've been messing with this most of this afternoon and found it to be quite fun stuff.

Give it a shot and let me know what you think (plus snippets of any funny conversations - most people are using English as far as I can tell by the way though it may not be their first or even second language). Also we should have a code for discovering if you're a pal of mine ... type DIRTY PINK FLAMINGOS ON ACID as your opening line and if it's not me you'll at least have a good conversation to kick off

Or just ask if it's me I guess!

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/23912504/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/23912504/ Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:01:52 PDT So if you have a comment on an ages-old piece of work, that's why.

Also, what with Spring having just arrived and my birthday just been and gone, I think it may be time for a new ID. And possibly some uploading of my better photos since being here in China. See what I can do!

Zvi

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/23686223/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/23686223/ Fri, 13 Mar 2009 23:18:47 PDT
Now I've found a website: [link]

It doesnt have an imaginative name, but then it doesnt need one, and it does exactly what it says on the tin; a free, six-week program to get you from not-very-many-in-a-row all the way up to (hopefully) 100. Since I could do more than 25 when I started I threw myself in at Week 3 like they suggested; it's been tough, but I've made it through Week 3 (Column 3 if anyone is actually interested in looking) ... and having done a "maximum" test just now I find I am able to do 40 pressups without stopping (you are allowed to rest in the pressup position, ie not on your knees, but I didn't bother with this this time, I just wanted to see what I could do)

So hopefully in a few weeks' time I'll be able to do 100. Anyone else want to give it a go?



Last HPC Completed: Week 3 Day 3 plus max strength test
Max Pushups To Date: 40

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/23601148/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/23601148/ Sun, 08 Mar 2009 22:16:21 PDT
Also, I have about 109 deviations that need looking at, from waaaaay back, I'm just too lazy to get onto it. Sorry if I only get round soon to commenting on something you did months ago

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/23482499/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/23482499/ Mon, 02 Mar 2009 04:07:21 PST
It was my first day back at uni, classes having started on Wednesday (but no one told us properly) and also I've been so down lately I didn't WANT to go in, see anyone, etc. Actually I quite enjoyed the classes today though there are loads of new words (help!). Anyway. On a break I went to the teachers' office to try and find my exam results; while waiting, I bumped into some friends and got chatting a while, but really I needed to see the teachers on limited time and didn't want to be hanging around chatting. So, it was with some annoyance that, as I left a friend and turned round, some girl I've never seen before asked me a question.

Now, had she said, "Hello" in that dippy foreigner way, she may have (if I felt nice) received a "Hello" in return (but said in a tired-of-your-stupidity manner), or (if I felt less than nice), a "Get Bent", because let's face it if you only know "Hello" you won't understand I'm being rude if I tell you to slag off someplace.

Had she said, "Excuse me, which country are you from?", I would have said, "England" and probably left it at that, making the point that I was busy. Instead she went with the dunce line that I have heard far too many times and have no patience for:

"Excuse me, are you American?"

It doesnt really matter what nationality you put in there, but American irks me somewhat. Like just because I have white skin and talk English I must be AMERICAN? It's called ENGLISH for a reason you fucks.

So I told her politely, verbatim, "Am I fuck. I'm English", and walked off without giving her second glance. Afterwards I felt a LITTLE guilty, but to be honest it's her fault for making an assumption and asking a shit question.

On the plus side I think I've done okay in my exams, I will find out for definite tomorrow

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/23188168/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/23188168/ Sat, 14 Feb 2009 05:20:55 PST
This isn't (for now) going on my main blog. But I would welcome suggestions as to how I can deal with this - yes I could just SHUT UP about it for now I suppose, but is there any other way? Last night for example we had a huge debate (shouting match?) which started with the Olympics (he made some points I hadn't thought of but in my opinion they are as nothing compared to some points I HAD thought of - not so in his opinion of course), and moved to language and he tried to tell me about ENGLAND and ENGLISH and HOW WE LIVE ... despite never having left China, and learning his stuff from the web (oh what an accurate source of info) and books (yes he quoted Dickens as an author who wrote about how bad England is - DICKENS WROTE 300 YEARS AGO DAMN IT!) - I facepalmed a lot and I was very close to headdesking, because his sense of academia and logic is so far off true North.

So, do I just bite my tongue a lot? Move out? Go travel elsewhere and say thank you for your hospitality? I have no idea. I really don't want to offend him but I know I will, and I really don't want to suffer some crappy arguing - DECENT arguing maybe, but not halfbrained stuff that makes no sense at all.

FUCK.

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/20432867/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/20432867/ Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:46:27 PDT
Details of my 11 months in China will be updated at [link] so be sure to bookmark it / tell all your friends

Anyone can leave a comment, regardless of whether or not they are a member of blogger / wordpress / google / and so on.

My dA site will probably not get used so much.



H

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/19886987/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/19886987/ Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:37:17 PDT ) ... taking a break before going to China is seeming like the best idea ever. Despite only having been here one night already (less than 24 hours), I already think the city is lovely, and I think Lucy summed up the cost of living with the line, "this is much more within my price bracket". A quick run-down on the kinds of costs we have incurred so far (not inc hotel bill or flights, which were reasonably high but then we did want a NICE trip away!)

- 550Ck for 2 starters, 2 main courses, 2 beers ... we were absolutely stuffed out by this meal, and it was good quality food. so that's just 15 pounds for 2 people to get absolutely stuffed in a good restaurant.

- 92Ck for a 20pack of cigarettes (Marlboro) and a lighter (cheap) ... just 3 pounds altogether! the cigarettes alone would be about double that in the UK!

- 11Ck for beer most places we've seen except the really touristy areas where it's ridiculously expensive. yes, 30p for half a litre of beer. spirits not badly priced either (we go in search of them today )

Breakfast starts in about an hour. I've locked myself out of the room (oops), no idea what I'm going to do til then. Check my massive backlog of mail and deviations here maybe.

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/19534424/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/19534424/ Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:07:45 PDT
Am glad I have not updated my subscription. I think I will be closing my account at some point, in favour of some kind of Flickr or Photobucket jobby, which I can use for my year abroad, and maybe to upload some of the photos on here too ...

Anyway, the £15 I will not be spending on updating my dA can be spent on Skype or something actually useful while I am away.

An eyesore, this new layout, honestly.

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/19280599/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/19280599/ Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:50:36 PDT
me: good afternoon, training and development, XXXXXXX speaking
her: oh hi, i'd like to book myself on some training.
me: okay, what kind of training would you like, and i'll see what i can do.
her: i'd like to go on a boyfriend appreciation course ...
me: ... what??! (oops, lost my professionalism there, d'oh!)
her: a boyfriend appreciation course.

*it clicks in my head*

me: *LOL* hi, honey.

was only the gf getting me by surprise made me giggle all day long, still making me smile now.

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/19089117/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/19089117/ Sat, 28 Jun 2008 08:23:05 PDT
I arrived on the top floor, (yes, SML reception is as far away from anywhere as they could be), and asked when the second year results would be out, eyeing the masses of brown envelopes in front of the two secretaries. Turns out they were just going to be posted, but in the spirit of a Friday afternoon when people are generally happy the weekend is round the corner, both of them sat down and rooted through these carefully elastic-band bound piles of envelopes just for mine Not being particularly bothered about the outcome I decided to open it there and then - I mean, waiting to be in private isn't going to change my marks, and I'd only worry for that much longer. So here, ladies and gentlemen, is the breakdown of my second year final mark:

73 - Level B Chinese (a lot lower than I was expecting)

71 - Introduction to Chinese Society and Culture (that was an architecture essay I wrote, worth 100% of the module mark)

71 - 20th Century Chinese History (from an exam consisting of 2 essays and 1 gobbet, together worth 100% of the mark)

70 - Political Geography (from 2 essays, one worth 30% and the other 70% <--- I must have done a lot better on that second one for my mark to be as high overall )

64 - Traditional East Asian Political Thought (based on an exam in which 2 gobbets were written, worth 50% of the mark, and a group coursework worth another 50% <--- I must have done pretty badly in the exam, because my group's coursework mark was amazing )

Unfortunately, no overall mark was given, so I did the maths myself.

(73+71+71+70+64) divided by 5 ----> 349 / 5 ----> 69.8 <--- oh no, "only" a 2:1!

But then I read the paper properly, and realised that Chinese is worth double all the others (which is why I thought it was quite a low mark, because in semester 1 I was getting something like 85, so in semester 2 I must have got only around 60 to end up with 73 overall. I digress.) So I redid the maths, doubling my Chinese mark to account for its extra weight.

(73+73+71+71+70+64) divided by 6 ----> 422 / 6 ----> 70.3 <--- wahey, I scraped a First! ( people who read about this time last year may recall that I got exactly the same mark for my first year but from wildly fluctuating grades, at least this time I'm consistently good).

And in other news, on Friday I got to use a funky IR keyboard to program next week's meetings schedule on the announcements board at work. Yay.

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/19039440/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/19039440/ Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:21:40 PDT especially when you have a monstrously expensive habit to support . anyway, balancing my bankbooks just became easier, because i have a job for the next 6 - 7 weeks i am working in the training department of a hospital (the admin side of training, not the actual training side). my first day was really good fun, the people are laid back and the job itself is not too hard, though it is difficult getting to know everything, and there is a lot of stuff to take in (names, roles, depts, etc) ... im fairly sure i will find it a bit tedious after just a couple of weeks, but the staff there are lovely and that's gotta make up for any lack of fun (it's a job after all, im not supposed to be having fun ).

point is, im happy, and i might even be able to afford my little skybinge before i go to china, if the weather holds, fuel prices don't get crazier than they are already, and i have the inclination to do a bucket load of jumps over not-so-many days

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/18922991/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/18922991/ Thu, 19 Jun 2008 02:17:02 PDT

turns out it was held in a depot absolutely miles from where i am. i thought i was going to have to walk about 5 miles and take a train and two buses just to reach it. luckily i did a bit of research before leaving home, and there's a bus runs from the station in newcastle to about a mile from the depot in gateshead (probably a bit closer actually, but i didnt know where the buses stopped so i got off where i felt safe about my location). to top it all off, a woman at the busstop in newcastle had a ticket spare, so i got a free ride! anyway, it was a long enough journey, and i easily got 2 miles of walking in yesterday (despite it being my "day off" exercise and stuff). i did have to pay a whopping great fee of £76.79 (£26 customs charge, £42 VAT <--- WHAT?!!, and the rest was a Parcelforce handling fee) ... so the total cost of the contents once it was in my hands was somewhere in the region of £460, which i am okay with, but wow what an import charge!

anyway i got it home and took it out to have a look - it does look lovely, and it feels like it will pack very nicely too (not slippy or trapping TOO much air, it does have 650 jumps on it after all!) but the lines are nice (they were replaced 150 jumps ago) and i reckon getting it in the 190 bag will be do-able. the idea is to have it hooked up to my rig on saturday (rig currently being jumped in spain, coming home tomorrow), and i will take it for a test jump (or two) to see how it flies, what the flare is like, etc, before handing it over to the person i plan to hire the rig to for the coming 12ish months.

it's had a long journey, and im sure it will be happy to see flight again

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/18868401/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/18868401/ Mon, 16 Jun 2008 07:50:13 PDT
Hounds dash madly, and the horses, startled by the noise, leap into the air, their riders' faces twisted with concern.

Yes, it would be more interesting if I was actually writing about a man-chasing-animal kind of hunt. But I'm not. I refer instead to my summer nightmare, the trawl to find a job. Every year I think "yes I will get registered early and find a place sooner than later" and every year my plans are knocked down. This time I was thwarted by:

* Exams - revision takes priority!
* Injections - just didnt feel much like doing anything some days
* My own apathy and laziness (see injections)
* A job agency point-blank telling me that registering early was fruitless because they only start looking for work about a week in advance.

That last one got me the most. I couldn't be bothered if they weren't going to help me until they were ready for me to be ready. I needed advance searching, finding me something before I ended up with free time on my hands ... like now

Anyhow, I registered with an agency and they were quick to offer me jobs, but equally quick to tell me I was unsuccessful in my applications (boo). I remembered the university jobshop, and put in several applications there (but the responses have been slow to come) ... and finally I went back to an old agency and re-registered (about an hour ago). Since then, it seems things are turning around a bit. Within minutes of looking at my CV the old agency had arranged a meeting for me (tomorrow, 1400) to come in and see about starting work similar to that which I did two years ago, data entry in a blood bank. Yes it was boring, tedious work, but hey it was quite easy and it paid the bills! And, in the same hour, I have received a phone call from the uni jobshop asking me to come in for an interview on Wednesday at 1400 (they seem to like that time, these jobby people) for the position of a Temporary Security Officer on uni campus (the pay is amazing by the way).

If I get the blood bank job I can work (some money is better than no money!) and if I get the security job I can quit the blood job (because more money is better than some money ) ... The likelihood is that I will definitely get the blood job and may get the security job. So by next week I should have employment.

Now, coming back to the original theme of this post, the horses' jolts knocked their riders to the ground, and the hounds, enraged by the lack of animals to chase pounced on their masters, ripping them limb from limb. And that's why hunting anything other than jobs is dangerous and bad

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/18856632/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/18856632/ Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:31:37 PDT
* Woke: with the sun around 0600 - I wanted to get up 0635 so I went back for a doze.
* Out of bed: 0635, get dressed, make breakfast, run around in a panic to find stuff.
* At the bus stop: 0720, bus comes 0724 but he didnt have change so I got a free ride.
* Arrive bus station 0735. Bus to Peterlee expected 0800, doesnt come til 0810.
* Arrive A19 slip road at 0845 and begin the walk to Peterlee, about a mile up a couple of hills (fun fun) - arrive at the DZ 0905, nothing is happening (WHAT THE FUCK, THE WEATHER WAS PERFECT!)
* Settle into a pattern of packing a parachute every now and again, making a bit of jump credit on the side I had planned to jump a lot, but parachutes need packing and there was no one for me to jump with.
* Finally get jumping in the afternoon - people were around to jump with, and I just had the itch. Managed 2, one "low" (7000ft, was supposed to be 5000ft but the pilot forgot we wanted a low pass before the high one!) and one high (10500ft) which went very well (jumping with a lower-experience jumper, managed to stay in very close proximity).
* Back to the city on the 2008 bus, arriving around 2055, then another bus home (for which I paid this time!) putting my back at my place around 2120.

I'm now absolutely knackered but still need to make supper (or else I will feel ill), and just chill out this evening. What a wonderful day

Oh and because I am not subscribed at the moment I will just fill in the Jump Number part of my Skystats ... currently 137 descents. Woop.

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/18806146/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/18806146/ Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:32:32 PDT
Housemate issues continued.

I havent been "getting on with" my housemates in some time. One's alright, but only because he's mister neutral. The other two ... well one was okay with me until about 2 months ago and then suddenly changed his colours. The other was iffy with me pretty much all year until mister change-colours went home for a bit and all of a sudden there was conversation to be had and he seemed halfway reasonable. Then old changey came back (2 weeks ago?) and things went almost instantly back to "normal" ... where "normal" means they both hang out far too much together, ignore me (which is quite okay I think), have their bitching sessions as they used to, and because they are by and large ignoring me they have reverted to their snide communications on little slips of paper asking / telling me to do whatever. I'll admit, I sank to that level on one occasion but it was worth it. They kept going into my cupboard and moving my stuff around the kitchen (some hilarious practical joke I'm sure), so I put a note on the inside of my cupboard explaining they had no business there, and then a little rant at them followed by "remember kids, you're not supposed to be in here so you never saw this". Two days later and I go in a communal cupboard to use the rice, and I see on the outside of their collective funds box the words "remember kids, you never saw this" and the same smiley face I put after my comment. For a start, there was nothing in my cupboard for them to have reason to go in there, and they know it. At least we keep the communal rice in "their" cupboard, damn it. So I feel somewhat justified when I say they are cunts. Oh and their washing up still takes for-fucking-ever to get done.

Mister neutral will be going home for the summer in the next couple of weeks, and mister chameleon is supposed to be going home for most of the summer around the same time. I say "supposed to" because I don't know anything exact about his life (I can only hope he is fucking off soon), and that just leaves me and mister iffy upstairs. But to be honest, once he's on his own he's bearable, it's just when he's with the other one ... they chose to come into the kitchen at just after midnight to have a chat (these chats can go on for hours), which involves a lot of girly-pitched giggling and squealing. I went out the other night and was talking to someone who knows them both, and it made me feel normal when this other person agreed that those two are boring bastards and almost certainly closet gays. I believe the conversation went along the lines of:


Them: So, your housemates arent here. X said they were ill.

*I make wanking gesture*

Me: To the best of my knowledge they really are not ill, I saw them going to the supermarket earlier, they seemed quite fine. They're just antisocial.

Them: Yeah, they're probably at home having sex right now.

(so it's not just me who thinks like that!!!)


Note, I'm not homophobic, but there's a certain kind of person (gay or not) that absolutely does my head in, and they just seem stereotypically to be associated with gay guys - the sort of whiney, nasally voiced, giggly, annoying types. If you don't know what I mean I guess the only way to find out would be to live with these people. Every time they go in the kitchen all i hear is girly screams and giggles for a while, then it simmers down, and they just sit around chatting for a couple of hours. I think the next time Lucy is here we'll do that. Go into the kitchen at midnight, put a kettle on, start cooking something nice and simple, or make a fruit salad or something to keep us occupied a while, and have a chitchat, and a bit of a laugh.

And god help my housemates if they complain.

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/18788455/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/18788455/ Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:57:49 PDT [link] to see what all the fuss is all about

Journey itself starts on August 21. Pre-travel ramblings are available now.

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/18758854/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/18758854/ Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:54:39 PDT
I'm having a bit of a stagnant period with my dA at the moment, much of which stems from not having got round to renewing membership (seriously, if you have never subscribed, it makes a BIG difference to the site's ease of use) - it's not expensive, I can afford it, I just haven't upgraded again. The reasoning is something like this:

* If I upgrade now, I will have to renew in 12 months time, while I am in China, and I don't know what my funds will be like then, it could end up like this again.

* I've not been uploading very much because of exams, nor have I been browsing as much as I would like - and I don't know when the next chance I will have to make use of a subscription will be.

* I plan to open a blogspot account for my journal - whether or not this affects my choice of subscribing / not subscribing I have yet to see.

* Finally, until I get a job sorted (this week?) I am hogging that £15 subscription for jumping.

I would still appreciate suggestions for a blogspot name (see previous journal entry), and will still be checking dA, but if you don't get commented on for a while, or I'm slow to reply to anything, it is because I am currently just a lowly user and the site use is just too annoying for me to bother with

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/18134776/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/18134776/ Fri, 02 May 2008 14:51:58 PDT
* i will be in a place called Urumqi / Wulumuqi
* this is in northwest china, near kazakhstan, kyrgyzstan, russia, mongolia, tibet, etc
* it's in the middle of a desert
* i have the feeling it will be the arsehole of nowhere in many respects (though i do not want [link] as my title!)
* you might want to use my name
* climate - freezing in winter, hot in summer, it's a desert after all.

happy naming! i look forward to seeing your ideas.

i had 6 vaccines this morning ... apparently because they are all dead vaccines that makes it okay, where "okay" means "you won't die" but still means i get all the other normal side effects of an injection, but manifested 600%. thinking like this reminds me of a line in a show i was watching:

A: what's three times as bad as war?
B: three wars

kinda sums up how i am feeling. anyway, im now full of hep A, hep B, typhoid, tetanus, diptheria and polio. things couldnt be chirpier. i have had a minging headache all afternoon, brought on by these jabs and lack of sleep, and probably by being outside in the sunshine (what? england? sun?) for a while this apresmidi. lucy is going to get me a hat as a belated bday present, but i have to choose it myself, lol, so it might be a while before i get one (so little time for trivial things like sunhats).

on the plus side, i got a phone call from the advisor i went to see at barclay's bank yesterday to thank me for having made several people very happy today.

1) the staff at that barclays branch
2) some woman in london who deals with bank fraud
3) the owner of a stolen chequebook i would imagine!

apparently the account registered to the cheque i received is real, but it belongs to a student in london who has less than zero in their account (ie heavily overdrawn), and whose account has very recently been rejecting several large-denomination cheques across the country. it would seem that whoever has stolen the chequebook has been sending cheques to other people (what?) for huge sums of money, currently the total runs between £40 and £80k ... what made this woman in london's day though was that my cheque, which is being sent to them for investigation, is the largest one theyve seen in a while, and everyone in the office is laughing at the stupidity of this fraudster, to the point that my cheque may even go on the wall as the best one of the month. so that's nice to know ive made people happy by being honest and not trying to cash a £6000 cheque

anyway, that's news for now i think.

SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is.

* Jumps: 128
* Chops: 1
* Canopy: Sabre2 170 / Techno 155R
* Container: TSE Teardrop SuperFly
* AAD: Cypres Expert
* Approx W/L: 1.11

NEW NEWCASTLE UNI PARACHUTE CLUB WEBSITE

WISHLIST

* someone to buy my gear for sale!
* heaps more skydiving
* my radio ops licence

stay safe kids, and dont do shit i wouldnt do (like receiving 6 vaccines in one go)

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/18111115/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/18111115/ Thu, 01 May 2008 01:37:14 PDT before going to the GUM clinic anyway, last week saw the end of that, with blood tests etc (I still dont like having my blood taken, give it back, it belongs in my veins!!!) ... and today is results day.

Took me about 45 minutes to get through to the results line ... but worth it when I did to find that I'm negative for HIV, Syphillis, Gonhorrea and Chlamydia (spelling on those last three, anyone?) ... wooyay. I have travel injections coming up soon, followed by more bloodtests to confirm / disprove my immunity to Hepatitis B (last time I had this test I was not immune, so the nurse is hoping after one booster injection I will take immunity as a sort of kickstart) ... And then some more booster jabs for Rabies, Typhoid, Japanese Encephalitis and possibly TDP (Tetanus, Diptheria, Polio) if needed.

But back to the important news. I'm not HIV positive!

SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is.

* Jumps: 128
* Chops: 1
* Canopy: Sabre2 170 / Techno 155R
* Container: TSE Teardrop SuperFly
* AAD: Cypres Expert
* Approx W/L: 1.11

NEW NEWCASTLE UNI PARACHUTE CLUB WEBSITE

WISHLIST

* someone to buy my gear for sale!
* heaps more skydiving
* my radio ops licence

stay safe kids, and dont do shit i wouldnt do (like stressing you might have HIV)

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/18067868/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/18067868/ Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:14:08 PDT this song is excellent. Below I've included a transcription of the lyrics as I hear them. They may not be very accurate ...

(Love a cup. I would ... oh god yes ... Oooh that is gorgeous ... Yeah ...)

I need a cup of the brown stuff the shade of an acorn,
Made warm by the same source that I take my cakes from,
Using a teapot, a mug, or fine china,
Been hooked up to IVs, need constant supplies,
And a bid for my urges might verge on perveted,
But for earthy brown tea, I'm certain it's worth it,
With sherpas who work herds and use a fresh fountain,
I've discerned brews from Peruvian mountains,
I've slurped up a cup from an elephant's trunk,
With a couple of monks, who utterly stunk,
I've had bourbons with Sultans and creams with Queens,
And I've bathed in Earl Grey, I'm really that keen,
A missionary's ...... for my single epiphany,
The diff between him and me's a simple sip of British tea!
So when times are hard and life is rough,
You can stick the kettle on and find me a cup.

Now when I say Earl Grey, you say Yes Please!
Earl Grey! Yes Please!
Earl Grey! Yes Please!
When I say Assam, you say Lovely,
Assam, Lovely, Assam, Lovely,
When I say Ooh, you say Ahh,
Ooh, Ahh, Ooh, Ahh, Ooh, Ahh
(some kind of backing exclamations of joy at tea, possibly "oh, god, we're not wrong, yeah")

I've been around the world in eighty brews,
To see the place they take me to,
To make a brew that tastes like the cream cakes made by angels do,
I'm not the same as you get shaky but hey (?)
That swig amazing fluids but don't make it the same,
Now using fine leaves, picked by pretty maidens,
In a bag knitted by a seamstress who lives in Copenhagen,
Brewed up in a pot made of semi-precious metal,
Let the blessed contents settle in my very special kettle,

Now when I say Ooh, you say Long,
Ooh! Long! Ooh Long!
When I say Herbal, you say No Thanks,
Herbal, No Thanks, Herbal, No Thanks,
(hmmm, no ... no, I want milk in it, strong though, I want to see that spoon stand up!)

[If you're tired of tea then you're tired of life ...]
That's right! I'm madder than a hatter and it fires my mic,
Liken me to Earl Grey, Assam, or Ginger, Lapsam, Sushon, raise my pinky finger,
Keep your sodding coffee in a proper copper coffee pot,
And spot me lobbing teapots in your poncy rotten coffee shop,
Coffee clots, nodding off,
Lost the plot, sodding off,
Need some caffeine-tannin and a Battenberg to top it off,
Cut them off some different cloth,
A different lot can take their play,
On eighty cups a day I haven't slept for eighty years

You can say I'm mad for tea or ... or just say I'm mad,
Oh you can't stay any longer, oh, oh actually I'm quite glad,
All the more Battenberg for me,
I can barely pour, my hands have gone a bit shaky from the caffeine,
Ohh, lovely though,
I'd sell my own grandma for a cuppa ...
Well, I'd sell your grandma for a cuppa.

_{Also this is mad but wonderful. Credit to Lucy for introducing me to that one.}

SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is.

* Jumps: 128
* Chops: 1
* Canopy: Sabre2 170 / Techno 155R
* Container: TSE Teardrop SuperFly
* AAD: Cypres Expert
* Approx W/L: 1.11

NEW NEWCASTLE UNI PARACHUTE CLUB WEBSITE

WISHLIST

* someone to buy my gear for sale!
* heaps more skydiving
* my radio ops licence

stay safe kids, and dont do shit i wouldnt do (like listening to too much crap)

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/18019736/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/18019736/ Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:08:33 PDT
* useless english
* different email personal name to the account name he used on the selling site
* first claiming to be buying for his son, and thereafter referring to his son as "my client"
* not having a clue about skydiving equipment

... in fact, he wasnt just "quite" dodgy, he was REALLY DODGY. with all caps intended. so, i took my time with him. i said, no i will not remove the advert because i don't trust you (about as bluntly as that, too). no i will not accept a bank transfer, it will be by cheque or nothing. the prices i am asking are not out of this world, a cheque will be more than sufficient. and still the same stupid responses from him, copied and pasted, crap english and all. a cheque was supposed to be with me on weddnesday (sic) but nothing came. probably because i'd pretty much told him to fuck off. however, today, possibly the stupidest thing ever happened.

a cheque for six thousand pounds payable to me arrived. nothing else in the envelope. no return address. from the bank account of a mr g singh. if this doesnt scream fraud i dont know what does. the only g singh i ever knew was someone at school, not in my year, and with whom i had very little contact after the age of about 12. if he is sending me six thousand pounds i would very much like to know why

so ... next steps anyone? do i take this to the bank and have them verify authenticity? is it a police matter? god knows it's going to take up more time than is worth whatever i do (apart from burning the offending cheque or blotting out my name with permanent marker and framing it as the first fraudulent cheque i've ever received ...) what a pain in the arse. i dont think it's even a decent quality fake. but then i've not seen cheques from Barclays Bank Woolwich Branch before, maybe they really do look that shoddy.

anyway, it's the weekend, i couldn't care less about this right now i'll put a photo in my scraps soon.

SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is.

* Jumps: 127
* Chops: 1
* Canopy: Sabre2 170 / Techno 155R
* Container: TSE Teardrop SuperFly
* AAD: Cypres Expert
* Approx W/L: 1.11

NEWCASTLE UNI PARACHUTE CLUB

WISHLIST

* someone to buy my gear for sale!
* heaps more skydiving
* my radio ops licence

stay safe kids, and dont do shit i wouldnt do (like receiving dodgy money)

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/17990576/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/17990576/ Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:23:40 PDT
* Did my first talk-down to new jumpers under the watchful eye of a competent instructor (talk-down involves chatting the new parachutists down to the ground safely, though most of the time their training kicks in and they know what they're doing) ... no mals, no one died, it was a good day out.

* Comedy Moment Number One (that sticks in my head, anyway) ... two new jumpers on the flightline, have just received their radio brief from the instructor who was watching over my talkdowns:

Instructor: any questions?
Jumper (no pause): is that tea or coffee you're drinking?
Instructor (momentary pause): ... tea.

Completely unphased Genius question, I'm keeping that in my list of things to ask when prompted.

* Injections - had an appointment to see about travel vaccinations Got told how much they cost Mum says she'll pay ... I love this "being a student" thing.

* Travel - finally getting somewhere on the travel front, probably book tickets on Friday. It's going to cost around £550 for a 12-month return ticket to China. Most likely flying London to Shanghai. But it could be Beijing if we want it. Via Dubai ... oooh, exotic! Of course there's still the cost of getting from Beijing or Shanghai to Urumqi to consider! But these are quite good prices, and I think worth it. More on that later.

* I must do some work. Like, now would be nice. I think that's about all the news for the moment anyway. At least nothing pressing stands out in my head.

SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is.

* Jumps: 127
* Chops: 1
* Canopy: Sabre2 170 / Techno 155R
* Container: TSE Teardrop SuperFly
* AAD: Cypres Expert
* Approx W/L: 1.11

NEWCASTLE UNI PARACHUTE CLUB

WISHLIST

* someone to buy my gear for sale!
* heaps more skydiving
* my radio ops licence

stay safe kids, and dont do shit i wouldnt do (like stressing all the time)

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/17756985/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/17756985/ Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:02:13 PDT
it's 0745 as i start this very brief entry. what the hell am i doing up at this hour??? okay, so it's not so early any more, but it doesn't feel right. since lucy returns to the northeast tomorrow, and i want to see her, i have the following to get through today:

* 1 draft Chinese essay (600 - 800 characters on renting an apartment i think)
* 1 final Chinese essay (600 - 800 characters on going to the doctor)
* Revision of characters in Lessons 12 - 19 (approx 35 characters per lesson)
* Learning of characters in Lesson 20 (too many to think about )
* Lesson 20 Worksheets

and, just because i will need a break from all the Chinese, and because i've already spent quite a lot of time this week on Political Geography, i've decided to do all the reading from a specific book for my History module in advance of the lectures for the next 4 or 5 weeks. it's a total of 80 pages, but there are two saving graces:

1) I read 51 pages yesterday
2) I actually enjoy it - sometimes a bit tedious, but it's interesting at least. And well-written too.

i leave you with this final thought, a conversation from last night when lucy rang me from a party to say hello, while her friends drunkenly shouted around her:

me: goddamnit im still struggling to work out how to use this bottle opener ...
her: what, you're drinking on your own?
me: umm ... yes
her: that's ... sad (tragic)
me: oh good, you didn't use the other word. most people would describe this behavious as alcoholic.

and for the record i did eventually manage to open the bottle, and let out a great big manly "HURR!" in triumph.

SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is.

* Jumps: 125
* Chops: 1
* Canopy: Sabre2 170 / Techno 155R
* Container: TSE Teardrop SuperFly
* AAD: Cypres Expert
* Approx W/L: 1.11

NEWCASTLE UNI PARACHUTE CLUB

WISHLIST

* someone to buy my gear for sale!
* AUDIBLE ALTI (SOLO) HAS BEEN ORDERED
* heaps more skydiving
* my radio ops licence

stay safe kids, and dont do shit i wouldnt do (like hammering through your workload to see your girlfriend)

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/17589470/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/17589470/ Sun, 30 Mar 2008 12:30:30 PDT =tar-vanimelde 's visit (Sunday to Thursday) and our trip to Airkix (indoor vertical wind tunnel for skydiving simulation) along with my Mum and *aizxana 's family were both rocking success-stories. pictures from Airkix to follow - definitely some of those taken by *aixzana's Mum on my camera, and maybe some stills from the DVD when i get it

i've since taken a few days off everything to visit my girlfriend in Devon, which has been really good fun (again, photos to follow, mostly scenery and wildlife, there's a lot by the coast!) ... highlights of the week:

* Airkix - everyone enjoyed themselves, my Mum loved it as her birthday present and when she'd calmed down she even got to experience flight (as opposed to rolling up in a ball on the mesh flooring). =tar-vanimelde took to flying quite easily, and was let go by the instructor fairly early on, allowed to float around the air-chamber. aizxana's twin sisters were brilliant, as was *aizxana herself! and finally, after three 2-minute solo flights, i was given the signal to move over a bit and make some tunnel space for her to join me, so we could try destroying the tunnel together kick-arse day out.

* Tuesday - =tar-vanimelde and i intended to go skydiving (me jumping, her watching ) at Langar with a friend from NUPC, ended up sacking it off because of weather, gorging ourselves on Pizza Hut (heart attack anyone?) and then spending six hours round my friend's house chatting with his parents until after midnight!

* Bag-Shopping ... i might be turning into a girl, hmm ... now the proud owner of a new daysack which has space for my laptop (inside its carrycase) as well as countless other stuff, as demonstrated over the last few days down in Devon.

* Devon - having seen =tar-vanimelde off to Edinburgh on the 1203 (the wrong train incidentally, but really, i blame the rail companies having two trains leaving for the same destination at the same time - useless), i got on the 1210 to Exeter for a three day break with my girlfriend (Lucy) ... with only one good-weather day predicted it was a gamble taking jumping gear, but one that paid off i arrived at 1445, was at the skydiving centre by 1530 (where Lucy had been jumping since midday), and by 1600 i was on a lift. between 1600 and 1830 i managed three jumps, all from above 13000ft, and all of groups of 5+ people ... marvellous day out. most of the photos to be uploaded from Devon are from the Friday, when Lucy and i made the best of a break in the weather to get a walk in, to the top of Peak Hill, overlooking Sidmouth and the coast before rain started again. it was beautiful and i hope the photos do it justice.

* 77-point word in Scrabble my crowning board-game achievement of the year (so far), shame it was with Lucy's letters and not mine, though by this point i was pretty much playing myself while she read the paper.

i'm back up north from tomorrow evening, hopefully i'll get back in the gym on tuesday and hammer out some work as well!

SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is.

* Jumps: 125
* Chops: 1
* Canopy: Sabre2 170 / Techno 155R
* Container: TSE Teardrop SuperFly
* AAD: Cypres Expert
* Approx W/L: 1.11

NEWCASTLE UNI PARACHUTE CLUB

WISHLIST

* someone to buy my gear for sale!
* Protrack / Solo / Optima
* heaps more skydiving
* my radio ops licence

stay safe kids, and dont do shit i wouldnt do (like taking time off revision to see special friends )

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/17438470/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/17438470/ Fri, 21 Mar 2008 07:35:20 PDT

i got home on monday afternoon, and quickly settled into doing not-very-much, ah the joys of student holidays. still, a break is never a bad thing (unless you consider that i spent the last week of this second term also doing very little, what with having zero assignments due until may) my work ethic is currently out the window. tuesday i arranged to meet some old school friends in town, and everyone made it! "huzzah!", thought i, "i have been home 48 hours and already caught up with 4 out of 6 people that i wanted to see in birmingham!" ... of course i followed this monumental event with more procrastination, it was only fitting.

wednesday's weather looked alright - not AMAZING but alright - so i took a chance and drove to hinton dz, which turned out to be a good call since there was jumping all day long. because peterlee has been the source of so many solo jumps, lobs, and the like, i have almost made it policy not to do solos or low lifts at other dzs unless i actually HAVE to (aircraft emergency? ) ... i got 3 wonderful jumps at hinton though (only of interest to skydivers im sure):

1) a 4-way in which we made about 9 points (yee-hah)

2) a 2-way in which we made about 5 points before i decided it was more fun to dick about with levels and then misread my alti and turned to track at about 5.5k (instead of 4k, oops)

3) a 2-way with the same guy in which we launched an awesome horny gorilla and held it for 5000ft before breaking off, redocking, doing simultaneous 360s, backloops, and then tracking off "a bit low" at 4k (note: 4k is not low at all, it's just lower than we planned) ... open by 2.5k, lovely sunset jump!

supposedly that cleared my system and i should be able to work now ... that appears not to be the case, i got through 3 lessons of chinese revision last night, and i aim to do another 3 today (having already recapped yesterday's learning), but how much of that happens remains to be seen the plan is to do the final 3 tomorrow and then consolidate on sunday. then, once i know the vocab, i can work on grammar it's a plan anyway.

next week is already shaping up to be fun:

sun - arrives.
mon - we take a trip to airkix (vertical wind tunnel) and eat heaps of bday cake.
tues - vani's bday! maybe meet my friend for lunch. maybe go skydiving. (vani can watch )
weds - same as tuesday, whichever day we dont go to lunch, i go jump, and vice versa.
thurs - vani goes to edinburgh, i go to devon to see the girl ^_^
sun - i come home
mon - i go back to newcastle, continue procrastinating

and that's pretty much Easter

oh yeah, and i have my parachute packing certificate (again) and this time i remembered to get it validated by the BPA, yay.

SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is.

* Jumps: 122
* Chops: 1
* Canopy: Sabre2 170 / Techno 155R
* Container: TSE Teardrop SuperFly
* AAD: Cypres Expert
* Approx W/L: 1.11

NEWCASTLE UNI PARACHUTE CLUB

WISHLIST

* someone to buy my gear for sale!
* Protrack / Solo / Optima
* heaps more skydiving
* my radio ops licence

stay safe kids, and dont do shit i wouldnt do (like heavy procrastination in the holidays)

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/17295453/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/17295453/ Wed, 12 Mar 2008 01:42:29 PDT

i've noticed that i become less and less bothered about what i actually do on my birthday in recent years ... this year the plan is very simple - tipsy baking tonight in my house (making cakes for the big day tomorrow), and a couple of hours in the pub with some friends on the day itself. sorted. considering the big deal some (read most) people make of their 21st, this is decidedly tame.

thankfully i have not lost the excitement that surrounds other peoples' birthdays and thinking of ways to amuse or delight them has not lost its appeal. to this end, i am taking my mum and vani () to a vertical wind tunnel for their birthday presents, where we will be joined by and her family for some airtime fun i also get quite a big discount on some airtime myself, so in a way this is kind of a birthday present to me from me.

and finally, my girlfriend wants to get me something, but i dont know what she should get me, or what kind of budget to give her (i thought a tenner was reasonable) - i have said that she doesnt need to get me anything for the day itself though, it can wait. suggestions?

SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is.

* Jumps: 118
* Chops: 1
* Canopy: Sabre2 170 / Techno 155R
* Container: TSE Teardrop SuperFly
* AAD: Cypres Expert
* Approx W/L: 1.11

NEWCASTLE UNI PARACHUTE CLUB

WISHLIST

* someone to buy my gear for sale!
* Protrack / Solo / Optima
* heaps more skydiving
* the ability to untangle parachutes
* my radio ops licence

stay safe kids, and dont do shit i wouldnt do (like not giving a damn about being 21)

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/17128752/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/17128752/ Sat, 01 Mar 2008 06:32:05 PST
My Dad is supposed to be visiting today - in fact he was supposed to be here about 2 hours ago - but he's just this minute rung me to say he'll still be a while, so I thought I would take the time to journal. I'm sure there's been loads to update recently but I've just not felt the urge. Instead, since I'm about to have to shell out a load on some kit servicing, I thought I might sit down and try to work out just how much money I have spent on skydiving in the last two-and-a-half to three years (be prepared for a disgustingly large number).

* £0170 RAPS Course (Royal Artillery)
* £1800 AFF Course (Spain, inc flights, food, bed, etc)
* £1450 First Rig (totally ripped off for it )
* £0850 Second Rig + AAD (about the right price)
* £0600 Sabre2 170 (great bargain!)
* £0185 Reserve repacks (rough total for both rigs)
* £0085 New Handles (after dropping the originals when I cutaway)
* £0206 (Jumps 20 - 32 in old logbook)
* £1535 (Jumps 32 - 118 in current logbook inc coaching fees)
* £0100 Beer Fines (approximate, based on £20/fine, at 5 fines total)
* £0010 NUPC Fines (approximate, based on £1/offlanding at 10ish total)
* £0117 BPA membership 2006 / 2007
* £0151 BPA membership 2007 / 2008

TOTAL £7259

and factoring in the kit servicing and BPA membership renewal over the next month

* £80 Reserve Repacks
* £120 AAD servicing (approximate)
* £140 BPA membership 2008 / 2009

NEW TOTAL £7599

There's probably a +/- £200 tolerance on all that, but even so ... that's more than i had previously estimated! O_o The mind boggles.

SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is.

* Jumps: 118
* Chops: 1
* Canopy: Sabre2 170 / Techno 155R
* Container: TSE Teardrop SuperFly
* AAD: Cypres Expert
* Approx W/L: 1.11

NEWCASTLE UNI PARACHUTE CLUB

WISHLIST

* someone to buy my gear for sale!
* Protrack / Solo / Optima
* heaps more skydiving
* the ability to untangle parachutes
* my radio ops licence

stay safe kids, and dont do shit i wouldnt do (like spending an average of £3000 per year on skydiving)

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16941836/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16941836/ Mon, 18 Feb 2008 08:21:35 PST
when i think about it (which i try not to) i seem to have a lot going on. i also seem to have my priorities tangled up, in that i would so much rather be in the sky than on the ground working at uni. still, at least i have the self-control to limit the amount of time spent at the dropzone, and furthermore the amount i currently spend on jumping, although sometimes the lines i draw become a little hazy. take today and tomorrow for example - i am carefully working out what NEEDS to be done and what WOULD BE NICE (but is not essential) so i can potentially whizz off to the dropzone on wednesday afternoon ... and i might not even be jumping when i get there, i have a couple of other things i'd like to get involved with on the ground.

jumping has taken up most of my weekend though, except this time i didnt stay overnight at the dropzone ... i managed three jumps, 1 from "the top" (10k) and 2 from 5k each, so i could deploy immediately after leaving the plane and have some time to experiment with my parachute one of the results (sadly the less pleasing one!) will hopefully be up as a new display picture on my profile, whenever i get sent it. anyway, long and short is i had a lot of fun, and it was good to see so many people (both newcastle and durham students) progressing, including one girl who thought the plane we had this weekend was scary so i spent a long time persuading her to jump, and at the end of it she discovered that a) the plane really isnt so bad, and b) she did well enough to be upgraded and progress to her first freefall jump! magic.

right now though, and for the next day at least, my priority is uni work, consisting at the moment of:

* reading around the subject of Trad East Asian Politics
* reading around Chinese 20th Century History
* reading around Political Geography (which is interesting but some of the reading is so dull ive stopped bothering for the past month or so, oops)
* keeping up with the Chinese. or even keeping ahead of it, so long weekends and half-days off work are at least justified a little more!

right now im sitting in the language centre, and when im done typing this up, im going to finish some forms for the Chinese university to which i am applying, and get a bit of Chinese language work done before heading over to the gym to wake up. (only on the bikes today, i managed to injure my left arm through overuse last week, compounded by performing hard-input manoeuvres on saturday and sunday's canopy rides )

i leave you all with this comedy conversation between my friend (with whom i will be studying in China) and me:


me: are you okay? (she looked down, i know she'd just been home [Poland] to see her mother who was a little unwell)

her: oh yes, im fine. my mother is well too - the doctors ran some tests on her and they came back okay. she has something in her stomach and they need to take it out. but it's okay my brother will do it.

*i look at her, with mental images of some sort of barbarian society in which surgery is performed in-house, literally. or maybe i just misunderstood her*

*she sees this look*

her: oh ... no no, my brother is the oncological surgeon!



SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is.

* Jumps: 117
* Chops: 1
* Canopy: Sabre2 170 / Techno 155R
* Container: TSE Teardrop SuperFly
* AAD: Cypres Expert
* Approx W/L: 1.11

NEWCASTLE UNI PARACHUTE CLUB

WISHLIST

* someone to buy my gear for sale!
* Protrack / Solo / Optima
* heaps more skydiving
* the ability to untangle parachutes
* my radio ops licence

stay safe kids, and dont do shit i wouldnt do (like cramming your life full of jumping)

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16834392/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16834392/ Mon, 11 Feb 2008 14:50:04 PST
* 3-way in which i floated above the formation for probably the first time ever, thanks to the baggy jumpsuit i was wearing, my own being at home covered in mud from hibaldstow. everyone on this lift landed (way) off, because the spot was given along the heading 290 when the correct heading was 230. 60 degrees is a fucking way off. put myself down safely in a field next to a road, with a fence down the middle, and pylons (both telegraph and electric) crossing it. so, hazard free, really.

* 4-way in which we nearly got someone his FS1, not bad for three inexperienced / rusty FS jumpers. the bloke in question flew his slot pretty much perfectly, he'll get his FS1 no problems. also my first time as proper JM, yes there was an experienced instructor on board, but he was getting out with a RAPS student so the spotting was left to me! a mite deep but everyone made it back without hassle.

* re-learning how to flat pack and being told i can take my packing test next weekend if i want to (sadly this means another tangle test because i am still woefully unable to remove tangles without thinking about them for four hours solid) - i made £12 through my packing though! and no one had a mal off it. yay.

* saturday night in the clubhouse with the durham lot - quite good fun, why we dont encourage our guys to stay over i dont know!

* sunday's hop and pop was lovely. sunset lift, 5000ft, freefall down to 4000ft, deploy, sit around and take in the view before having a heap of canopy time (no wind so no worries about getting back!) including putting myself in a 1500ish degree spiral, swooping around the sky. next time i think i might try some riser inputs smooth landing, could have flared a half-second earlier but i stood it up nonetheless.

coming back to earth for a moment (both figuratively and literally) i now have a heap of work to do in order to stay on top of uni, but it has been worth it. today, tuesday and wednesday will be spent mainly hammering through reading, notemaking and sorting my life out, as will thursday (and possibly friday) evenings, so i can maybe let my hair down a bit this weekend without worrying about work! most of the NUPC regulars are off to the wind tunnel for a BCPA (British Collegiate Parachute Association) Valentine's party, so i might find myself packing more than i expected, if i get that certificate sorted!

SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is.

* Jumps: 114
* Chops: 1
* Canopy: Sabre2 170 / Techno 155R
* Container: TSE Teardrop SuperFly
* AAD: Cypres Expert
* Approx W/L: 1.11

NEWCASTLE UNI PARACHUTE CLUB

WISHLIST

* someone to buy my gear for sale!
* Protrack / Solo / Optima
* heaps more skydiving

stay safe kids, and dont do shit i wouldnt do (like getting "stranded" at the dropzone when you need to be working instead of getting hammered)

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16768825/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16768825/ Thu, 07 Feb 2008 11:54:42 PST
today, walking through town, i wave goodbye to a girl in my chinese class as she goes to get the metro herself. as i turn to walk further down the high street, someone calls my name. i find myself face to face with a complete stranger. there's a silence. i glance over at her companion, and recognise girl B, at which point it clicks in my head that this is girl A. i remember her name (lol more amazing than you would think) and say "hello". so far so good. unfortunately this is where it all goes wrong, as i come out with the immortal line:

"im sorry i didnt recognise you, i just turned round and thought 'oh, generic brunette'"

the look on her face was enough. i found myself apologising for my bluntness, and then digging ever deeper by remarking that it was an easy enough mistake, she has no distinguishing features which is neither a compliment or an insult. oh wait, says my brain, she's a girl. that was an insult. fuck.

aaanyway, i reckon i'd have said it to anyone, regardless of how well i knew them, and if she gets over this we may one day be friends i think im going indoor-bouldering with Ama next friday, if i dont see him before then im sure we'll have a laugh about it next week.




unrelated news, the weekend away at hibaldstow dz was cold (-40C at the top ) and i spent a lot of money, but only got 2 jumps in. one of those was a 10-way though. that and we have a new bin. kickarse.

SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is.

* Jumps: 111
* Chops: 1
* Canopy: Sabre2 170 / Techno 155R
* Container: TSE Teardrop SuperFly
* AAD: Cypres Expert
* Approx W/L: 1.11

NEWCASTLE UNI PARACHUTE CLUB

WISHLIST

* someone to buy my gear for sale!
* Protrack / Solo / Optima
* heaps more skydiving

stay safe kids, and dont do shit i wouldnt do (like calling people "generic brunettes")

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16623552/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16623552/ Tue, 29 Jan 2008 05:55:35 PST

my timetable now looks a little bit like this (times in 24 hour clock, of course):

* Mon: one lecture, 10 - 11
* Tue: two lectures, 9 - 10 and 11 - 12
* Wed: nothing!
* Thu: my busiest day (one variable slot, five constant slots, day from 9 - 16 at busiest)
* Fri: three variable slots, two constant (day always over by 15 though)

so for anyone wanting to visit, mondays, tuesdays and wednesdays are really quite good. that being said, im beginning to develop the side of me that actually wants to work, and this means being a bit more conscientious, damn it. i might get a job on the wednesday as well, bring in a bit of cash (i wonder what for ...)

in other news ive now had at least one lecture in each of my new subjects (Chinese History: 20th Century, and Traditional East Asian Political Thought) and they are good fun. i will be required (or at least heavily recommended) to buy several books, none of which come too cheaply - i believe a trip down Amazon lane is in order. next stop, bankruptcy.

and many thanks to =Tar-Vanimelde for teaching me how to do that clicky link thing which has come in very handy (i bet it doesnt work because ive forgotten something important now!)

[EDIT: there ya go, i did forget something important. inverted commas around the URL, not apostrophes. d'oh! working now i think though.]

SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is.

* Jumps: 109
* Chops: 1
* Canopy: Sabre2 170 / Techno 155R
* Container: TSE Teardrop SuperFly
* AAD: Cypres Expert
* Approx W/L: 1.11

NEWCASTLE UNI PARACHUTE CLUB

WISHLIST

* someone to buy my gear for sale!
* Protrack / Solo / Optima
* heaps more skydiving

stay safe kids, and dont do shit i wouldnt do (like letting scallies steal your bin)

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16580156/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16580156/ Sat, 26 Jan 2008 11:19:37 PST
our first bin was taken at the five-finger discount bargain price of free around fireworks night last year (nov 5th for anyone not in the know about UK traditions and customs). after searching for our lost comrade (it had a distinctive melted handle on the top) we duly rang the council and they arranged for a new bin to be brought round. yippee, a new bin; slightly different shade of green, but pretty much the same. despite my adamant tones that i would spray paint number 82 on the side, i never got round to it. my housemate however did put it on using permanent marker, not particularly visible but better than nothing.

now, it would seem, someone with a fetish for the number 82 has stolen our bin. i think i might have a bit of a hunt tomorrow (rather late, considering it was nicked on wednesday), but it's really hard to look over people's garden walls without them thinking you are some kind of thief / perv / weirdo. our next port of call will probably be the council. again.

if we get a new bin, i plan to make it unmistakable. our house number will feature prominently, most likely in spray paint, and there will be some other kind of garish marking (pink stripes? excessive neon tape?), and possibly a warning that if you steal our bin we will fuck you up. and by we i mean me, because riled as the others in my house might get, i doubt they would ever "fuck someone up". in addition to this i am considering devising some kind of lead that will allow the bin to be taken by the binmen and emptied into their truck, but prevent someone running away with it fullstop. or i could just get up early and take it inside immediately after rubbish collection, which is usually around 0700.

in a strange twist of karma, we now have two recycling boxes, after someone left one on our front drive. it's been there for about two weeks now, we really should bring it inside, dry it off, and give it a home - we usually have too much for one box anyway. this bin-stealing business has fucked me right off.

SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is.

* Jumps: 109
* Chops: 1
* Canopy: Sabre2 170 / Techno 155R
* Container: TSE Teardrop SuperFly
* AAD: Cypres Expert
* Approx W/L: 1.11

[link] <--- NEWCASTLE UNI PARACHUTE CLUB

WISHLIST

* someone to buy my gear for sale!
* Protrack / Solo / Optima
* heaps more skydiving

stay safe kids, and dont do shit i wouldnt do (like letting scallies steal your bin)

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16560266/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16560266/ Fri, 25 Jan 2008 01:21:56 PST

the first bit is about my exams. quite detailed. skip it if you dont care.


exams are almost over - i have to submit one assessment, but it's pretty much done (i locked myself away in the library for four solid hours yesterday to get it finished), might need a little bit of rewording but overall it is complete and should be handed in today. in general i think exams have gone okay , though im quite anxious waiting for the results of these papers because they will be the first real test of whether changing my degree programme was for the better. im not particularly worried about Chinese - i scored 85 in last term's exam and i think this term's paper went equally well, if not better. my Chinese Culture and Society paper (a 2500 word essay on Chinese Architecture and how today's buildings both reflect the past and the future) took a very long time to write, and im not sure how well it went - if i got 55 i wouldn't really be surprised. of course i am hoping for more. finally, the paper to be handed in later today, a 1200 word commentary on a letter i wrote to a newspaper (this one concerening the National ID Card Scheme to be rolled out across the UK shortly) is both good and bad. i dont think i have covered enough, and maybe ive overquoted from some sources ... not to mention that i find the topic quite hard because i didnt study Political Geography last year. again, if i get 55 or something like that, i suppose it'd be alright. Chinese is worth double marks effectively because i take 40 / 120 credits annually. Cultural Studies makes up only 10 credits but the paper was worth 100% of my mark, maybe this will make the examiners (my lecturers!) more lenient and Political Geography takes up 20 / 120 credits, though this exam is only worth 30% so if i have ballsed it up i can try to redeem myself on the next assessment (70%). i hate essays like this, they are generally marked harder because you've had longer to prepare them. in-exam essays tend to score quite highly. bah.

still, that means ive had a chance to relax since yesterday. i hit the gym, came home for supper, and then went out across town to meet some friends in a (noisy) bar but it was fun and probably the most social thing ive done in a while! shame that when i got the train back i had to change halfway but there were no more trains running ... nor buses i discovered ... *sigh* i tried the taxi number but no answer, so i thought screw it i'll chance walking. two-ish miles later and i was home, saved myself about a fiver there quite glad it wasn't too bad out - a bit breezy but otherwise mild - right now there are gale-force winds howling around outside my house. the real point is that i got out and saw people and had a good time without stressing over work (i no longer work in the school either, just waiting for the cheque to arrive! )

and thinking of my house - we now have a second shower! hurray. the accommodation services said they would ask the landlord about it last year, and finally it's been installed. i think we are waiting on someone to come round and tile further up the walls (to prevent damage of course) and install a shower curtain / rail / thing so we can use it without soaking the floor but this is a wonderful improvement. scott and i can use the downstairs bathroom almost exclusively now - yes going upstairs is not a chore, but the downstairs room is smaller and usually warmer, thus eliminating that "ive just turned off the water now im freezing in the cold air" situation

so all in all things are looking good, i have new courses starting on monday (no more Chinese Cultural Studies, instead i am continuing with Political Geography, starting two modules, one in 20th Century Chinese History and the other in Traditional East Asian Political Thought, and of course i am continuing Chinese Language ) ... im quite looking forward, and of course i really want to know the results of the exams / essays i have just done!!!

SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is. ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16503398/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16503398/ Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:26:43 PST
sunday i took a trip to see in edinburgh, because it beats paying out to go see her in florida typically i did not ignore the content of her text which said she would be waiting "near the ticketing office" but made the assumption that this office would be outside the station, and headed outside up the stairs to princes street in an attempt to locate her. turns out they have signs inside the concourse pointing out the (large and rather obvious) ticking office. my bad. eventually though i did locate the girl, and we set off because fun as stations are, there are comfier places to rest up.

first order of the afternoon was grocery shopping in an unfamiliar tescos, stocking up on lunchables and snack-nuts for me (i was having a very unhealthy weekend) then on to her residence a little over a mile away. over lunch i met a couple of her flatmates who walked into the kitchen while we were eating / drinking tea / chatting, and followed this with setting myself up in her room (they have a spare mattress no floor-sleeping for me!) while watching skydiving movies. before anyone says anything, she asked to watch them!

dinner was arranged, we were to meet her friend jeannessa who lives in the block next door, and then walk over to meet andrew at his residence, before working out where to eat and how late to stay out. a quick note on these three:

* lari - bubbly floridian, well-travelled, easily amused, charming intelligent and funny. also puts up with far too much of my shit, and has done for the past 5 (?) years. can't keep a secret though

* jeannessa - laid-back oklahomian (what's the correct adjective for an OK native?), smiley, red-haired, and was once told she is "enchanting" ... i have still not found a better adjective.

* andrew - WA (that's washington not Western Australia) student, apparently suffers panic attacks, makes droll table jokes (a legacy of his father's he says) which are so bad they're great.

we headed out to The Mitre (a local pub) for supper, and if andrew was a skydiver he would have had to buy beer, what with consuming his first steak and ale pie, interestingly cuboid. usually they are shaped more like enlarged mince pies. perhaps this is a scottish thing. stayed in the pub til quite late doodling on a napkin (buffalo x7 anyone?!) and then headed back, splitting from andrew so i could be shown a "confusing" road layout, which turned out to be quite simple but i suppose when you're used to roads that are laid out in grids, don't make winding wiggly lines around a city, and dont have odd triangles in the middle of them, this might have been considered difficult ... made it back chez lari after dropping jeannessa off 30 seconds before. received a lovely text from her though, something along the lines of:

"i would have invited you in for tea, but i was so tired. that's why i stood outside and paused so long."

stayed up for a bit talking with lari before she went to put her pajamas on (i was visibly falling asleep, nothing to do with her conversation just i haven't had more than 5 hours a night for the last week) and when she got back we managed about two sentences before i conked out inside my newly-sutured sleeping bag (don't ask). i think i woke up once in the night before dropping off again, the best night's sleep i have had in at least seven days.

monday morning, off to wake jeannessa up at about 10, leaving her place at 1035 so we could head over to a lovely little cafe for breakfast - a worthwhile £5.85 i might add - complete with tea and mountains of toast mmm, late morning, full stomach, what more could i ask for? leaving jeannessa to finish her meal (sorry!!!) we set out into the gloomy edinburgh morning to make the 1205 train back to newcastle and see me off to england. wonderful.

post-scot-addendum: there was thick snow resting at morpeth station, sadly newcastle was just rai... ]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16484125/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16484125/ Sun, 20 Jan 2008 03:04:19 PST
i am sitting on a train from Newcastle to Edinburgh to visit and they have free wifi on the train ... okay it's a bit slow and for some reason i have to use FF instead of Safari (which keeps shutting down) but this is fantastic. wonder if the CrossCountry service back tomorrow will have the same. doubt it, everything only seems to get better as one goes further north

T-1hour til im in Edinburgh.

SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is.

* Jumps: 109
* Chops: 1
* Canopy: Sabre2 170 / Techno 155R
* Container: TSE Teardrop SuperFly
* AAD: Cypres Expert
* Approx W/L: 1.11

[link] <--- NEWCASTLE UNI PARACHUTE CLUB

WISHLIST

* someone to buy my gear for sale!
* Protrack / Solo / Optima
* heaps more skydiving

stay safe kids, and dont do shit i wouldnt do (like putting up with shit in the classroom)

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16420365/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16420365/ Tue, 15 Jan 2008 16:18:13 PST i have another 2 days (did a full 7 hours today you see), but only realised today how much paperwork is needed to "show evidence" of all the things i have done. this is most definitely not bodacious, as bill and ted would say. the day itself was okay, not great though - i couldnt believe the number of awful students i saw:

* one just talked and talked all the way through the lesson, when he wasnt talking (twittering) he was singing to himself and generally being disruptive. he backchatted, argued, was obstinate, and the teacher nearly ended up losing not just her temper but a battle of will between them as to whether or not he would hand over a drink he had been playing with. put simply he was an annoying little shit.

* one girl in another lesson was just as bad; the whole class isn't very good at controlling themselves, people shout out a lot, make random guesses (it is painful when someone who has been "learning" french for 3 years cannot identify "soeur" as "sister" and instead, for the third month running, makes rash guesses as to its meaning in the hope one time he'll be correct), and generally cannot concentrate. this girl however took the absolute piss. she would shout things out, argue back, be lippy, mutter under her breath (so far this is kind of normal from what ive seen of at least a few students at this school), but two incidents really stood out.

1) the teacher had tried to explain over and over that we were on page X looking at a specific box and were to use the questions in the box to ask the french assistant (S - a frenchwoman whose english is impeccable) questions to learn more about her. quick as a flash little miss gobbymouth is shouting out questions, much to the annoyance of the teacher and the quiet dismay of S (who up til now i think has been a bit sheltered in the classes she's seen!) ... finally, when the teacher thinks this girl will ask something sensible, she lets her. does she? does she fuck. something stupid comes out and when the teacher points out she isnt asking questions from the box, this idiot responds angrily with: "but you said we could ask anything about her personality!!!" ... for the record, the teacher said nothing of the sort, but then again i suppose if you arent listening you wont know.

2) following this, the girl just fired a question at S, "dyunotmissyafamilywhenyaoverere?" ... poor S made the error of asking "sorry, what?" and the following ensued:

gobshite: er, i think i need a translator over here!
teacher: no, you spoke far too quickly. you just need to ask again slower.
gobshite: do ........ you ......
teacher: (clearly shocked) NO! Not like that!
gobshite: (withering look to teacher) do ...... you ...... not ...... miss ..... your ...... family?
S: (straight off) yes ......... i ....... do.

laugh? i could have pissed myself.

* there were others. to carry on about them would require me to use the function and i dont think that's been invented yet

seriously though, if i had my way there would be duct tape and electric shock therapy. who am i kidding, i would shoot some of these kids and not even think twice. i have to say that particular teacher is wayyyy too lenient, i would lose my patience with the kids a lot faster, and i think they probably pick up on this within the first few lessons with a teacher - if you're soft they will walk all over you. sadly i think this happens a lot.

fun and games over, i went home for a quick bite to eat and then headed out to the gym to destress / make some progress on this gym challenge thing. if there's one piece of advice i will give to anyone using our gym, make sure you know what calibration the treadmill uses. i hopped on one, and set it to a leisurely 10km/h pace for a warm up. "shit, this is quick", i thought to myself. "maybe im just super knackered from yesterday's running" ... well i had to take it down to 7, then 6, then up to about 8 and hover around there until i had done 3.2k which took forever and i felt awful about my fitness (or lack thereof) ... turns out everything on that machine is measured in mph which meant i had actually improved slightly on yesterday! who puts 2 mph treadmills in with about 18 kmh ones???! had a mixed workout... ]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16403529/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16403529/ Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:57:27 PST

she and i are also taking part in this gym-organised thing ... i tried it last year with another friend who let me down a bit. it's called "Beat the Bulge" (im sure there's a journal entry around somewhere) and the aim is to complete the following in order:

* 40 miles on the treadmill
* 25 miles on the rowing machines
* 125 miles on the bikes

we have until march 9th between us, so it's not like we have to run 40 miles each, and the exercise can be split however you like. so if i end up doing 60%, no bother ... teams who complete this are then entered into a prize draw to win a trip for two to amsterdam. and let's face it after all that exercise, a weekend away would be quite deserved!

today i go to the gym, safe in the knowledge that estelle has been in the morning (i went to bed at 0500, long story), but still struggling to come up with a team name. it would appear that she not only dresses well, she thinks fast too. yes, people, Lady and the Tramp is our team name. i had to smile when i saw it. (not least because i looked particularly trampy, i shaved tonight for the first time in about a week)

anyway, i did 3 miles, went upstairs and hit the weights for a bit, then came downstairs for another 2 miles. i hate treadmills, and the A/C was off, yuk yuk yuk. im pretty shattered and have things to prepare for tomorrow, which includes a "nice" early start (0655) and a full day in school. as does wednesday. and thursday. and then i get paid!

SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is.

* Jumps: 108
* Chops: 1
* Canopy: Sabre2 170 / Techno 155R
* Container: TSE Teardrop SuperFly
* AAD: Cypres Expert
* Approx W/L: 1.11

[link] <--- NEWCASTLE UNI PARACHUTE CLUB

WISHLIST

* someone to buy my gear for sale!
* Protrack / Solo / Optima
* heaps more skydiving

stay safe kids, and dont do shit i wouldnt do (like going off first appearances!)

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16301028/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16301028/ Mon, 07 Jan 2008 13:10:54 PST
Me: Are you B-certificate?
Him: No mate, A.
Me: UK A-certificate?
Him: Yeah, UK.
Me: ... umm ... Well in that case, you can't do flightline checks.
Him: *blank look* Well can you check me?
Me: *sigh* Yes.

I explained while checking him that only B-certificate skydivers and above can perform flightline checks in the UK, it's part of the qualification. I also had to explain that regardless of the checks he had received at other dropzones (and by virtue of his appearance I would assume that both he and his mate were regularly overlooked as being B-certificate jumpers or above) I would still need to visually inspect his AAD to make sure it was turned on. This proved to be a bit of a problem since it was located in a similar place to mine, pressed against his back. I managed to get him to lift his rig high enough without taking it off to get a cursory look at it, before finishing the check and moving on to his mate. Fortunately he had the sense to be watching, realise he was in the same boat (same kit and all) and loosen his equipment so I could get to the AAD quickly. I signed their names off, and found someone to check me. Was it over? Not quite. As I had my name signed off I suddenly spotted another kit anomaly, a fullface helmet. He took the news that he couldnt jump it until B-certificate quite well, fetched his other helmet and was fine about it.

I'm not sure I want to know where these two have been jumping in the UK (they say they have been ...) because they claimed they had only been asked "Is your AAD switched on?" without the check, and had been allowed to jump the fullface. My assumption is that whoever checked them was not aware they were only A-certificate jumpers and had not done their job properly. In which case I don't want to know what else they assumed. Sometimes it's a good thing to be out of your comfort zone and put in situations to test your ability properly. I'm just glad I've had all these months at Peterlee with people I know to regularly check, check and check again until I know what I am looking for, asking, and saying as nicely as I can, especially when I am telling someone as "just another jumper" that they can't do something.

SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is.

* Jumps: 108
* Chops: 1
* Canopy: Sabre2 170 / Techno 155R
* Container: TSE Teardrop SuperFly
* AAD: Cypres Expert
* Approx W/L: 1.11

[link] <--- NEWCASTLE UNI PARACHUTE CLUB

WISHLIST

* someone to buy my gear for sale!
* Protrack / Solo / Optima
* heaps more skydiving

stay safe kids, and dont do shit i wouldnt do (like going off first appearances!)

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16281655/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16281655/ Sun, 06 Jan 2008 06:37:11 PST Still, when the offer of a newer, up-to-date, top-of-the-range canopy comes up, and the selling price is far below the true value of the product, I can't turn a blind eye. As luck would have it the selling price even matches (exactly) the overall payment for this teaching job of mine. So I'm not even making a loss, how cool is that?

And so it was that I set off to Hinton (dropzone close to Oxford) to meet Chris, the seller of this fine aerial specimen. Sadly he turned up late, but that wasn't a problem because the people at Hinton turned out to be really friendly, welcoming, and I was soon squared away and ready to rock in the form of an impromptu 3-way, details sorted out on the kit-up call, and finalised on the flight-line. That went quite well, except my left bootie came off (or wasn't properly on?) on exit, meaning not only did I have less control in that leg, it was also fucking freezing the whole way down! Still I managed to fly my slot quite well, and landed without incident where I was supposed to.

Chris arrived shortly afterwards (good thing I didn't bother packing my gear away!) and we got down to the business of having the canopy checked over, lines inspected, etc. A quick transfer of his equipment to mine (for the purposes of a test jump) and off I went ... to pack, that is! A frustrating hour later and I was getting nowhere fast. the hardest bit was getting the parachute material in the bag (new parachutes are very slippery and the zero-porosity [ZP] material is designed to retain air, so the process of squeezing air out of the material while trying to fold it over itself is quite hard! Performance Designs canopies are said to be the most slippery anyway, so even with 150 jumps this canopy was sliding all over the place) ... Another 30 minutes and between Chris, another jumper, and myself we had sort of got all the material in the bag, and reckoned it might just open okay. Yes, this really is how skydivers think.

With the mantra "They're designed to open anyway" firmly in my head, I manifested for a solo from the top, and set off to enjoy some FREEZING freefall before opening at 5k. The opening was wonderful - far slower than my normal Merit-slap, a bit of a twist which never actually happened, and none of the end-cell closure I was expecting! I sat there for a few more seconds once I had lifted my visor, because about 500m in front of me I could see the tandem plus videoman who had left the plane last, still in freefall, deploying, and the videoman falling away. "Eyecatching" is an understatement.

On to the business of flying this new canopy and I found myself cursing the winds for being so strong, necessitating a lot of time spent staying facing the wind and not doing very much. I did have a couple of practice flares and turns, but if I wanted to land on the dropzone I would just have to sit there for a bit. I came in nicely to land right where I wanted, and waited until the ground appeared to be racing up to meet me, before flaring and ... WHAT ... I'm going back up???! ... ah shit this is a good canopy, it actually generates entire feet of lift not just a few inches. I was very, very happy.

Long story now cut short, I had everything swapped over to my gear, paid Chris, paid the riggers at Point Zero (Hinton's rigging service) and set about packing away. To my surprise I managed to get the canopy in the bag in only 10 minutes, though how jumpable it is I am not sure!

We set off from the DZ at about 1625, arrived at New Street at 1735, and I went for my train at 1831. It was cancelled due to vandalism so I ended up taking the 1903, which was severely delayed for the same reason, arriving into York at 2220, and the replacement bus service into Newcastle arriving at 0010. What a day.

SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is.

* Jumps: 108
* Chops: 1
* Canopy: Sabre2 170 / Techno 155R
* Container: TSE Teardrop SuperFly
* AAD: Cypres Expert
* Approx W/L: 1.11

[link] <--- NEWCASTLE UNI PARACHUTE CLUB

WISHLIST

* someone to buy my gear for sale!
* Protrack / Solo / Optima
* heaps more skydiving

stay s... ]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16200850/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16200850/ Tue, 01 Jan 2008 06:21:31 PST is just another night. That being said, for someone as apathetic as I am, I still managed to have a good time; found a friend from school to hang out and drink with, watched an hour of an old old old tape of Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned, went to town to see a free fireworks display, and came back for more drink coupled with Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. Better by far than last year!

RESOLUTIONS

I dont know where to begin really, because I can't remember making any before! I think it's important to resolve to do better in areas that will make a big difference to my life, present or future (in this case, mainly education-related). Here goes:

* Actually read around my subjects. (That means not just looking at the cover of the books I check out of the library. That also means using the library more!)

* Revise more often (because I am like a sieve, forgetting things so easily)

* Organise my time better (as it was once put to me by a friendly SSgt, "sort your shagging life out") - with next semester's busier timetable I'm going to actually have to work. Damn it.


GOALS

Different to the resolutions, by virtue of being far more specific. And mostly skydiving-related! (I think a major difference here is that on the whole they aren't life-changing and I should have many years to achieve them, so I won't be as bummed if I don't get them right away!)

* FAI C-certificate before I go to China (that's another 94 descents in about 7.5 months, or an average of 3 jumps a week). This means I need a job.

* FF1 and / or learning to safely fly around a tandem, from exit to landing

* CF1, time and money permitting. All these training things cost!

* Start running again, even if it's on a treadmill before or after a workout. Specific goal, run 1.5 miles (2.4km) in 9 minutes and 30 seconds or under. If I make this goal I want to up my standards and try keeping that pace (just over 9mph or 15km/h) for a minimum of 2 miles. Seriously my running at the moment sucks.

That's probably enough to start with. I might add more if I think of any or if I start getting loads of this stuff done!

SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is.

* Jumps: 106
* Chops: 1
* Canopy: Merit 170 / Techno 155R
* Container: TSE Teardrop SuperFly
* AAD: Cypres Expert
* Approx W/L: 1.11

[link] <--- NEWCASTLE UNI PARACHUTE CLUB

WISHLIST

* audible altimeter (even an old dytter)
* canopy reline (Merit170, see parachut.fr)
* Spectre 170 / Triathlon 160 / Triathlon 175 / Sabre2 170
* heaps more skydiving

stay safe kids, and dont do shit i wouldnt do (like long weekends)

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16105189/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16105189/ Wed, 26 Dec 2007 07:03:56 PST
that's about it.

SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is.

* Jumps: 106
* Chops: 1
* Canopy: Merit 170 / Techno 155R
* Container: TSE Teardrop SuperFly
* AAD: Cypres Expert
* Approx W/L: 1.11

[link] <--- NEWCASTLE UNI PARACHUTE CLUB

WISHLIST

* audible altimeter (even an old dytter)
* canopy reline (Merit170, see parachut.fr)
* Spectre 170 / Triathlon 160 / Triathlon 175 / Sabre2 170
* heaps more skydiving

stay safe kids, and dont do shit i wouldnt do (like long weekends)

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16073627/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16073627/ Mon, 24 Dec 2007 09:18:14 PST You'd think I would calm it all down once I got home, but no, I have to pack in more things in my holidays than I do during term time (it's the same with my weekends, I'm usually busier and more knackered on a Sunday night than any other time in the week).

Friday morning I had one of my bi-annual trips to the dentist, which as usual lasted about ten minutes, consisting of a quick check, clean, and the dentist telling me that there's still absolutely nothing wrong with my teeth. Excellent. Then off to town where I spent about five hours with Alex (friend from Hereford), who I haven't seen in months

Saturday, after very little sleep (my fault, I stayed up to watch two movies), I found myself behind the wheel of my Dad's car, driving to Manchester. He has an automatic (this might not be strange for anyone in the USA but it certainly is not the norm round here - and I find adjusting my mind to driving without a clutch or gears to worry about really quite hard) ... unsurprisingly the first few minutes of the journey (my first proper driving for about three months) were a bit shaky, and the motorway driving wasn't helped by poor weather and traffic jams, meaning I had to stop and start quite frequently. My Dad's wife was in the passenger seat, and decided that about 25 minutes into the journey she felt a bit carsick (apparently my Dad drives less jerkily) but fortunately she wasn't actually sick and we made it to Manchester in relative comfort. Spent the day there with one of my older brothers, his wife and their two children (aged 6 and 4) which was great fun and the kids loved it because I was willing to give them shoulder rides, throw them around, and so on. My nephew (Ben) wants to be a "marking tree" when he grows up (apparently that's a type of tree that walks around and puts marks on people, he's only 4 bless him), or a "stupid bunny" (no I'm not sure either!) ... We left incredibly late and Dad (who had the luxury of a mid-afternoon sleep) took the journey home. I crashed out in the car, and woke up to experience the last ten minutes of the ride back - "less jerky" my arse. Dad was worse than I was and the only reason his wife didn't notice was because she was fast asleep in the front. Bah. Took the car back to my Mum's house the other side of town (don't ask that's just how it works with the cars), and walked in to find in my kitchen, ready for jumping Sunday. Mint.

Sunday morning, after even less sleep, the two of us managed to slowly get up and out, the weather looking really good from the Birmingham end. As we hit the motorways everything looked great still (and the driving was easier, in my Mum's car!) but this was not to last. Fog set in, covering stretches of road and then clearing up but unpredictably so By the time we made it to Langar though, they were optimistically setting up the flightline, and manifest was about to open; a perfect gamble that we took in going then Got on the first lift, and did a fun 2-way from the top, though I didn't quite realise Jenna wasn't set up in the door and ended up just dragging her out of the plane It was quite successful, we didn't kill each other and even made a few points, and our fall rates aren't too dissimilar despite obvious size differences, maybe she just learnt to arch harder On packing, and planning for a second jump, she went to cock her pilot chute (the small parachute that extracts the larger one) and part of it broke - not a good sign! It wouldn't take long to fix, or cost much either, but the guy who would be able to do it for her was going to be busy for a bit. So, lots of sitting around for her ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16011383/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/16011383/ Thu, 20 Dec 2007 08:11:18 PST
je voudrais etre voiture

i actually laughed out loud when i read that.

SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is.

* Jumps: 103
* Chops: 1
* Canopy: Merit 170 / Techno 155R
* Container: TSE Teardrop SuperFly
* AAD: Cypres Expert
* Approx W/L: 1.11

[link] <--- NEWCASTLE UNI PARACHUTE CLUB

WISHLIST

* audible altimeter (even an old dytter)
* canopy reline (Merit170, see parachut.fr)
* Spectre 170 / Triathlon 160 / Triathlon 175 / Sabre2 170
* heaps more skydiving

stay safe kids, and dont do shit i wouldnt do (like low low lobs)

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/15960026/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/15960026/ Sun, 16 Dec 2007 13:43:49 PST

the weather was freezing - for students to faceplant themselves this weekend would really have been just asking for a broken nose, the ground was that solid. the clouds were pretty low as well, and while the highest jump i got was from 6000ft (standard low lift altitude is around 5 or 6k) the second jump i made was from 4000ft, and today's ceiling was even lower. saturday's highlights included being very cold, hitting my hand on the step as i left the C182 (the pilot said to another jumper on that lift, "one of your lot hit something on the way out - the whole plane shuddered" - my left thumb was not best pleased about the situation either!), and putting some cash behind the bar for a bit of a party in the evening, yay!

i ended up doing a delightful hop and pop from 2200ft this morning, because there wasnt really anything else to do (we went above the clouds at 3000ft ) and i wasn't going to land with the plane! it was quite a rush leaving the plane and pulling almost straight out the door - at that altitude there isn't a lot of time to fuck about. landed safe and sound, and it's something i would definitely consider doing again!

i am also the owner of a sign language book - courtesy of the author who jumps at peterlee - i owe him a drink i think!!! i managed to learn the BSL alphabet in about 10 minutes, the book makes things that simple! recognising other people signing at me is a bit hard still but i am going to work on it sorry to all you yanks, it will probably be a bit different to ASL

and finally a very happy birthday to , who is now only 2 years away from being all grown up.

SKYSTATS :: The Sky's Not The Limit. The Ground Is.

* Jumps: 103
* Chops: 1
* Canopy: Merit 170 / Techno 155R
* Container: TSE Teardrop SuperFly
* AAD: Cypres Expert
* Approx W/L: 1.11

[link] <--- NEWCASTLE UNI PARACHUTE CLUB

WISHLIST

* audible altimeter (even an old dytter)
* canopy reline (Merit170, see parachut.fr)
* Spectre 170 / Triathlon 160 / Triathlon 175 / Sabre2 170
* heaps more skydiving

stay safe kids, and dont do shit i wouldnt do (like low low lobs)

]]> ~freakette http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/15865291/ http://freakette.deviantart.com/journal/15865291/ Sun, 09 Dec 2007 15:43:52 PST

i wanted a 7-way out of the airvan, but it wasn't really going to happen since the dz party was saturday night and most people got blitzed and didn't turn up in the morning (hmm no surprise really!) ... the morning weather was lovely though - even if the ground was more water than solid - and of course i was right on the first lift. without any flat fliers around, the options were go to the darkside (FF) or go solo. not exactly a tough decision! a quick "briefing" on the exit (linked at the knees) and "how to sitfly", including the important "don't go on your belly because you will cork!", and we were away.

kit on was great fun (sarcasm?) - there was a tannoy announcement that this was my 100th (yay) followed almost immediately by me cutting away my main while still kitting up! oh no! "but how?" you ask ... well the guys i was jumping with didnt want me in my FS suit, i would be too fast and it's just not practical for FF work, so i had put on one of the NUPC boiler suits that all the cool first-timers use not knowing it had a pocket cut into it so you could fish through the gap and reach inside your trousers, because of course in freefall it's all about getting your wallet or phone and paying for drinks or making calls ...

anyway as i swung my rig around my back, thinking (as i have done for the last 60+ jumps) that i was wearing either my normal smooth jumpsuit or a tshirt or something without snaggy parts, i noticed the rig stick halfway. i turned and saw something odd ... yellow teflon cables floating behind my back! oh joy, i just performed an unintentional cutaway on the ground because my delightful neon pink handle which cannot be missed at all had caught in this "pocket" and pulled clean off the rig. gah! fortunately, when the laughter had subsided, the rigger was next to me and reconnected it without needing to take everything apart - boy am i lucky!!! on with the jump. huzzah.

well, for anyone wanting to get into FF, they say it's good to start with sit. personally, after today, i would say it's good to start with:

a) anything not belly! (duh!)
b) the easiest thing not belly, and where you will be a LOT to begin with, backflying!

yup that's right folks, sitting in the sky takes some effort, but you also have to be relaxed - go figure - and there's a lot to think about. especially when it's not a proper coached session but a very informal funjump! the exit went okay except i wanted to arch for a couple of seconds (quickly suppressed THAT) and when we broke links i think i drifted off somewhere. to my credit i didnt go on my belly at all, and once or twice even managed to get into a semi sitting position. mostly however i was well on my back, at a slight angle which really started to stress the back of my neck and upper torso, but im sure that's just because i was too tense / doing it wrong!

wave off (on my back, facing one of the other jumpers) at 5500ft, barrel roll and deploy in place at 4000ft, smooth opening and a nice ride down with a muddy touchdown in the newly formed quagmire that was the PLA. i think when i have FS1 as well as being open to flying with other FS jumpers and picking up experience there, i will be well up for practicing sit, with proper coaching and solo lessons, etc. i think C-certificate before i go to China is achievable if i throw money at the sport, and i think i will be able to have a lot of fun on the way!

that's about it for now - im in the middle of negotiations to see if i can't sell my first rig (the guy who wants it would like it this week and is prepared to pay 800. my lowest offer is £850 plus p+p, yeah it sounds like im being picky but postage will be about £25 and the rig value is pretty much £850 on the head. im being firm and standing my ground here, especially because i know this guy has money!) ... if it doesnt sell then i wont be able to shell out as much in the way of jumps as i would like, but i can hang onto the gear until about feb and sell it at the start of the... ]]> ~freakette