Bodie's Aussie Day / Burn's Night Party

Nathan looking ridiculous :p

Woo hoo for a fucking flaming awesome party! The Aussie style barbeque out the back was almost genuine if it weren't for everyone huddling around it trying to keep warm! A solitary haggis sat under a poem, and lots of random Australian and New Zealand food was littered about the place.

I had a great night. Nathan gave me this really funky shotglass with an upsidedown dragon forming the legs! It meant I drank most of my wine in small volumes (I didn't shot the wine though...). I had a nice dance with Jane again, and DPS turned up to show us how it should be done!

In other news I had a horrid nightmare - that my hands were sawn off. It felt so real. I turned to Phil and said "I've got no hands - I'm going to go through life with no hands - I'll never be able to dance again, or play saxophone" and he hugged me and said "don't say that, of course you'll dance again". Then I rested my cheek on my stump and cried. Then, fortunately, I woke up. It took a while to realise it had all been a dream and my hands were fine. I've been admiring them ever since.

Dirk et al.

Me and my new boyfriend.... erm

Huw avec wine, Earl, Dirk, Jonathan & Sam

Dirk invited us all out for a curry at Chutney Joe's before he departs on his Californian adventures. I got Jonathan to talk to me about the VR1 receptor and capsaisin whilst eating dishes of various hotness. It was so good to be with them all, I don't know if I will ever work with such an amazing group again - they all doubt they will :(

Oh, and I suffered complete humiliation. A biologist at Terlings Park nicknamed me "Eye-candy" a while back, and this all came to light on Friday during the day when he came and asked me for a hug goodbye, as it was his last day. I made sure not to tell anyone about this and thought I had escaped but Pat thought it'd be hilarious to tell Huw. Huw thought it'd be hilarious to tell the rest of the group, so I spent the whole evening being referred to as Eye-candy....ahhhh.

Breaking the Loop

Me & the somewhat infamous James, dancing Ceroc (card made by Jennie for my 19th birthday)

As requested by the gorgeous Jane of Ceroc fame, here is an entry about our lovely dance!

As usual Ceroc was packed (no landing space) and rather than join the long list of girls waiting to be rescued by men, I asked Jane for a dance :) Now, my lead has a long way to go, but Jane makes everything easier and I really enjoyed it - I managed pretty much all the beginner moves and a few intermediates too! I felt rather smug at the end of it.

I had a horrid demo last week though, worst ever. I don't think it helped that Paul (teacher) was really ill for it. Also, I'd had to leave work at 4 in order to get to Cambs with plenty of time, so I'd spent an hour solid in the Cold Room and when I came out my whole left hand swelled right up. It didn't go back to normal until the final freestyle. I sent out a plea for sympathy to the more caring of my labs... my favourite response was from Semantha:

Tegwen,
I'm deeply distressed to hear of this. I hope it doesn't explode like tissue coming out of the minus 80. Please keep us updated on any further developments.
Sam.

In Torrs's garden summer before last

I was looking quickly through my photos (to find the scan of Jen's card) and came across this photo. It reminded me of how happy I felt lying on Torrs' lawn - the strength of our friendship. Also of all the day dreams I had that summer, of the Golden Man, before he became the Lord of Darkness. Ignorance is bliss.

But it's also reminded me not to lose my good friends, because I have lots! I'll never lose Torrs because we've done long distance for ages, but there are others where a bit of effort will be worth it. People say that if you're friends with someone it's there forever, which in a sense is true - but I think friendships are strengthened when you go out of your way to make time for eachother etc etc.

I know I've been busy and out of touch a bit recently - but I'll be back :) Just lots of life stuff to sort out (jobs, houses, holidays, travelling, exams, parents......)

New Sixth Month Resolutions

Now, you may think with 6 month resolutions I'm being a bit.. lazy? Or failing to challenge myself? Not at all! My logic is that I can pretty much predict how the next 6 months of my life will pan out - so I can make vague plans about my daily way of living. After these next 6 months there is a fair degree of The Unknown, and I think it'd be silly to tie myself to a routine, or a code of living, that may not fit in then.

In brief, my many 6 month resolutions come under one large one:
Being Good.
(Yes, I can hear you laughing).
There are subdivisions about health, study and sex.
The fact I struggle to do 30 situps in a row, when last year I could do 200 worries me.
I eat pretty healthily, but I'm going to cut down properly on the snacky things.
I will study a LOT harder, I've had my rest now, time to get back on!
All sex comes under 'being good', so long as it's with my boy.


Dad and I cooked our first tagine together

I'm also really getting into cooking at the moment. Made my Dad a really cool risotto the other day, and some funky pasta before that. The tagine which we made together was a bit like hard work, and after everything we forgot the coriander! Bah!