I think I'm on fire...

Kryptonite

Sam — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:43:11 +0000

Yesterday morning, 7:20 am, ten minutes before my alarm was due to go off, I feel a sharp pain in my knee. Obviously as this hurt enough to wake me up, I was bemused. I pulled off my duvet, and a wasp flew out. I was bitten by a wasp, in bed, while asleep despite my bedroom door and window being closed. I proceed to get ready for my first day of uni; I shower, dress and after laughing off this weird incident with my flatmate, leave the house to walk to the tube. On my way, somewhere around the Spitalfields church I notice my tongue is swelling up like a balloon, and that I can barely breathe, nevermind continue walking

Nearly passing out, I dial 999, and make it to A & E.

Turns out I was suffering from anaphylactic shock.

Turns out I’m also rather allergic to wasp stings, and could have died.

After being med-ed up, I continue to Harrow feeling like a corpse. I had my Uni ID photo taken. It shows a pale, dead-looking boy who looks nothing like me.

At least my first day of the semester was memorable.

Fucking wasps.

Moved.

Sam — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:33:20 +0000

Finally, I felt like I could be bothered to update. I have moved from EN8 to E1, and am now a resident of the East End. Obviously it gets very busy, and noise polluted, but being on the third floor has it’s advantages. Mainly that you can’t really hear the street from up here, bar the odd reversing HGV and screaming tramp.

My room is of an average size, though smaller than the rooms downstairs, due to a lower ceiling and a smaller window. I do however have an amazing view out of my window, which more than makes up for it. I can see the Gherkin and the Spitalfields Church, which is pretty ace.

To the left:

To the right:

Despite being all moved in, I am currently in need of a desk. I am typing whilst sitting on the floor:

It’s alarmingly comfortable.

The other day I bought a studious looking jacket which makes me look like a true academic, complete with suede patches on the sleeves. I might wear it to class just to intimidate people. Jak enjoyed a three day residence here, we basically sat in Saeed’s room and watched Peep Show for most of the day. He dined on some Al-Halal. I brought out the Korg and wrote a theme song for his job as an attorney. I think I’ve found my niche. Theme songs. John Williams, watch out.

Tomorrow I start a job in a pub in Soho, on Dean Street; this is quite pivotal, as I am quickly running out of money. The day after I start uni. I think my life is in order now. Go me.

Moving…

Sam — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 01:24:40 +0000

I move out in a week.

I’d like to pretend that I’m organised, but haven’t yet packed a thing…

Today…

Sam — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 02:07:57 +0000

…I have been listening to nothing but David Bowie. I also spent a lot of time selling a ridiculous amount of things on eBay. I am currently sipping a Mexicola.

Friday we surprised Jak for his birthday, and setting up involved me cycling with a barbecue. I accidentally fell asleep with my shoes on for the first time, and overslept, yet miraculously got to work in time the next day.

I finally have a room for September. Well, I say that, but I have yet to sign anything (this will be happening tomorrow). I’m glad to have finally settled on Brick Lane as a location; as the other alternatives would have been West London (too pricey) or living at home (constraining). With the flat being a few minutes walk from Liverpool Street it means it’ll only take just over half an hour to get to uni; and it would actually only take me as long to get to home. Though after three years of living 200 miles away from everyone, anything short of an hour is amazing. I’m aware of the uber-presence of amateur artists/photographers/musicians and geek-pie-wearing scenesters in the vicinity, but I’m confident this won’t really bother me, as pretty much all of inner London is like this nowadays.

I’m slightly daunted by the prospect of studying a new subject at a new university, but at the same time, I’m excited to be where I’ve wanted to be for so long, and reading what I’ve been aiming for.

I still need to find a job. I’ve been thinking possibly bar work as I can do it with my eyes closed and it will fit in best with my course, which constitutes 28 hours a week. Of course it would be a pleasant change if I could find something that doesn’t involve serving drunk people…

I realised today that I haven’t properly been out, at least to a club, in a while. Probably not since the end of May sometime. I miss going out.

Somebody take me dancing please.

Put it out.

Sam — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 01:15:07 +0000

Giving up smoking now is not as difficult as my previous attempts at doing so

Though, it can be when the black-toothed, chain-smoking lady at work keeps offering you cigarettes every hour. Thankfully I’m capable of saying “no”. I seem to be getting there. NRT is a godsend.

Also went to Brick Lane earlier this evening with Hannah. Man, I love Casa Blue.

Smoking is for doctors

Sam — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:51:26 +0000

I spent the other day, in the confines of my illness, browsing videos on the Internet to entertain myself. Oh the hilarity of advertising from times past:

I found this rather amusing being a Camel smoker. They agree with your throat huh? Well I’m sure that may be the case, but I wonder how ‘mild’ those things really are on the lungs and circulation. This also reminds me, I intend to quit in the next week or so, as soon as my duty free supply runs out. Smoking’s too damned expensive, and as that advert points out, only for the elite such as doctors, and dolled-up women. I actually don’t really enjoy smoking anymore, it’s become something of a chore, and [obviously] is of absolutely no benefit to myself. In fact my recent spell of illness is more likely than not down to frequent inhalation of toxic tobacco smoke. I need to find a replacement habit. Any suggestions? Or maybe I should just revert to how I was prior to my addiction to the colonial death sticks.

I also stumbled upon this amusing, yet epic Chesterfield advertisement from the 1950′s:

I like the idea of someone smoking while surfing. I wonder how many of those men are alive now…

COUGH

Sam — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:30:52 +0000

So, today I am feeling a bit ill. I got barely any sleep and am a little aggravated at feeling like this when the Sun is shining and it is fairly temperate. Thankfully, I think I am starting to feel a better than I was this morning, though I’m certainly not feeling TOTP yet.

Last night I saw The Dark Knight and it was…erm…a-…?!@??……ACE!

It took me a while to find the appropriate word, though I think ‘ace’ is nowhere near powerful enough a word. The only problem now is I am rather hungry for another installment. I was expecting to be completely underwhelmed by Heath Ledger’s performance given the amount of hype, his other films (pretty much all of which I thought were awful) and his much-publicised death this year, but ultimately, I don’t think any actor could hope for a better final performance. Nobody could be more Joker.

I was also astounded to find out that getting the nightbus home from Wimbledon did not take forever; it took all of an hour and three quarters, which is impressive given the fact I had to get two very slow buses through most of SW and N London, including a bit of a wait around Trafalgar Square.

Back.

Sam — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:23:52 +0000

So. I am now back from Spain. What a nice holiday, shame about missing two days of it though, due to my aforementioned passport crisis. In all honesty, it was nowhere near as awesome as last year. though I still had a fantastic time. It was simply liberating to leave the country for a week; upon arrival I recalled how much I love the atmosphere, the food and the people. I ate so much garlic-heavy seafood, and it was amazing. Oh yes, and the bands were pretty good too. Leonard Cohen made the trip completely worthwhile; even if the week had been terrible, Cohen would have made it all worth the effort. I was surprised to find out that Anthony is a secretly big Mika fan.

My anti-climatic 21st was made up for a day later by a faux-birthday. I got a Pinguin Burguer with a candle in it (thank you Saeed):

I have polaroids, but I haven’t been able to scan them yet; they should be up soon.

Since getting back to an empty house (my family’s away on a cruise for two weeks) I have missed being there. I am without consistent work (still temping) and need to try to finalise moving out with Saeed; I am also currently looking for a more ‘permanent’ job. I start my MA in exactly two months – how time flies!

Oh, and the day after getting back from Spain, nothing important happened, except the fact I graduated.

I am now a graduate. Sexy.

Happy Unbirthday

Sam — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:59:32 +0000

Today may have been the worst birthday I’ve ever had, and it certainly didn’t feel like much of one, so my 21st has been notably forgettable. I had to wait around for 6 hours in Victoria, and effectively spent the whole day waiting for my passport. Due to the overcrowded building, the only place where I could wait was in a pub across the street. I sat waiting, sipping Perrier, where some guy called Laz was moaning nonstop about the situation.

To add insult to injury I got a parking ticket at the train station, despite paying & displaying; apparently due to my car ‘being an obstruction’. Since my car was actually in a parking space in a car park, I’m appealing this nonsense. The car park attendant must have had a row with his missus this morning or something. I’m leaving home at 3:30 tonight for Spain. I should really finish packing.

Damn you Saeed/Pete/Ant/Tessa/Matt/Luke and your valid passports.

I’ll be back in a week.

It sucks to be me.

Sam — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 14:19:10 +0000

Having been so excited about Spain for weeks on end, I was packing up things last night, and when it came to finding my passport I discovered the damn thing had expired without my knowledge. As a result, I cannot fly to Valencia tomorrow morning.

Instead, I have to go and get (well purchase for a hefty sum) a new one on Tuesday….my 21st birthday. Brilliant. I will be spending my birthday waiting around for hours to obtain a new passport. I was able to change my outgoing flight to 7:30 Wednesday so I’ve at least managed to salvage what’s left of my trip. I’m gonna have a faux-birthday on Wednesday and try to get over the fact I’m missing two days of potential awesomeness.

I’m not pissed off so much as horrendously upset.

I’m gonna go hang myself in the barn.

(On the flip side, I can at least view my full uni results tomorrow.)