Revision + Detox = ?

Well Revision has been underway since the end of my coursework and project, but have I actually learnt anything? I think the answer to that is probably yes however I can't seem to recall anything at the moment. All a little bit worrying considering my exams start in under a week!

Adding to the joys of revision I'm also in the second week of a detox diet as well. Not so much that I needed to really, but more to give some friends support while they did it. So according to the book one of them has (by Carol Vorderman), we can't eat the following:

–Red meat, chicken, turkey and any meat products like sausages, burgers, and pate
–Milk, cheese, eggs, cream
–Butter and margarine
–Any food that contains wheat including bread, croissants, cereals, cakes, biscuits, pies, pastry, quiche, battered or breadcrumbed foods, etc
–Crisps and savoury snacks including salted nuts
–Chocolate, sweets, jam and sugar
–Processed foods, ready meals, ready–made sauces and takeaways
–Alcohol
–Coffee and tea
–Sauces, pickles, shop bought salad dressing, mayonnaise
–Salt
–Fizzy drinks and squashes, including diet versions

This rules out a lot of things really!! And leaves us with the following:

–Fruit
–Fruit juice
–Vegetables
–Beans and lentils
–Tofu and Quorn
–Oats
–Potatoes
–Brown rice and rice noodles
–Rye crackers, rice cakes and oatcakes
–Unsalted nuts
–Unsalted seeds
–Extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar
–Garlic, ginger and fresh herbs
–Ground black pepper
–Honey
–Water – at least 2 litres a day.

So am I feeling detoxed? I'm feeling hungry if thats the same thing. I do feel a little better as in I've lost weight over the last week and I have softer skin (interesting…) but I think that it does mean essentially I'm cutting out good things too so my immune system is weaker and hence I now have a cough too. I can't wait for the weekend when it ends and I can finally eat meat again! I'm hoping for a sudden boost in energy for my exams, and the renewed power of redbull (it has kind of worn off from overdrinking..)

Needless to say by the weekend the four of us on the diet will probably hate vegtables, crave meat/chocolate and get really drunk on hardly any alcohol. But I'm going to stick with it and prove that I can basically eat nothing for two weeks.

: 10 May 2006 09:58 |  Tags: Detox Engineering Revision |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Project… finished?

Well I have finally printed my Final Project! It's huge too! 65 pages I think and when it's single pages printed in colour, thats a chunk of paper! But its finally done! Now all I hope is that it gets me a good mark! Have the presentation to prepare next, so it's no break in the work for me!

Feeling shattered already and it's only 1.30pm. That can't be a good sign! But must keep working for as long as I can. Once I'm done I can begin coursework and then revision. That's where the real motivation will be needed!

I'm just taking time out of engineering to wait for my project to be bound. There was two copies for the eng dept, and then my supervisor wanted another copy, and I figure I might as well get one for me! So that's four copies! And at 30p per sheet and 65 pages each, it should have cost around £78 if I calculated correctly. I emphasise the word 'Should'... However for some reason it didn't charge this much… So I'm not going to complain!

Now I guess I better walk to Lazerlizard and pick up my project, try and work some more, and also try not to annoy Vikki with too many random texts resulting from insanity due to overwork! lol.

: 18 Apr 2006 13:48 |  Tags: Engineering Fluids Report |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

WiM's over!

Monday and WiM recovery is top on the list of things to do (well project and coursework are really….). Got back last night after a long long week of WiM. This was however a fun, but stressful week.

Arriving on friday 7th at around 7pm we had some dinner, a chat and then went to the pub. Was a good chilled night. However first thing sat morning the guys were awoken by scorching sunlight burning through the windows and devouring their very souls!! Ok, that may be a little extreme, it was bright lets just say that.

Breakfast in spoons was good however and the day was generally chilled. Around 3pm the rest of the choir arrived and the week officially began. Some rehearsal to sing on sunday morning was done, and the evening was good time to chat to people.

Sunday was a little busier with singing and rehearsal and even beginning to notice that Vikki would be busy during the week (being music co and all) and I hoped that it wouldn't be too bad. My job as media co was all about delegation, and later in the week about late nights!!

Through the week there was a lot of rehearsals and singing. We had to learn 7 songs per choir, a joint one and the two Karen Gibson workshop songs. So there was a lot to do. In the midst of this was band rehearsals, singing around the town (Newmarket) and advertising the concert. My job also entailed trips to cambridge to get posters, flyers, tickets, and programmes printed. This wasn't too much of a problem, though it did mean staying up till 4.30am finishing programme design to be printed the next morning!

The week was a fun week, and if it wasn't kind of a big blur then I would write what happened each day. There was a lot of manouvering between two venues and the concert venue throughout the week, and despite trying my best to chill, inside I was a bit down. Just a combination of lack of sleep, lack of food, and not getting to spend any time with Vikki when she either had nothing to run and do, or when there weren't 80 people around! Even though that was expected before we went, it still wasn't always fun!

Saturday, Concert day! This was a hectic day! With running between three places all day and then manning the door after the soundcheck went on almost two hours longer than expected, and the people in the queue had to wait half an hour late to be let in. That was interesting to have to tell over 100 people there was some technical difficulties and they'd have to wait! lol.

We almost sold out though, 169/200 tickets were sold! That was pretty good going for WiM and made me feel happy I'd done a good job advertising. The Tshirts also finally arrived on thursday and the choir all loved them! They do look pretty good to be honest.

So after a chilled day yesterday I finally drove home to get back into the work habit again! Been on campus all day now and it's getting very lonely and boring! Too much work to do though to go home! Just another few days and Vikki will be back from home and it will be easier to be distracted work (I'm hoping anyway!!!) lol.

Back to Work for the meantime!! Damn engineering computer room! So lonely, especially when there is loads of civil engineers around! lol.

: 17 Apr 2006 16:26 |  Tags: Concert Engineering Music Report Rev Revelation Rock-Gospel Choir Wim |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Frustration of work – Friday (Nearly)

Big sigh.... Handed in a semi-final draft of Project to supervisor about an hour ago. Now need to read through it all myself and check for errors and other random bits that need to be changed. Thought I'd end the weeks theme of blogs. The frustration is still there as I still have a lot to do, but won't get to write an entry tomorrow. I won't be here! Heading to Newmarket (Cambridge) for WiM. Week in March that stands for. Interesting since it's in April. Hmm…

Should be a fun and tiring week. I still maintain that it should have been called 'Insomnia!' but apparently that wasn't acceptable. Nevermind. Still waiting to hear about Tshirts though which is getting more worrying! Need to leave at 3 tomorrow with the box of 110 Tshirts in my car, or the concert will look a bit crap! Where are you Dan?!

So it's 4:35pm and I'm still on campus! Waiting to go to Lazerlizard and pick up some laminating/cutting I got done for WiM (hopefully will be ready). The joys of being media coordinator! lol. After a short break I guess I will read through my project and see what needs to be changed.

This is kind of a procrastination blog, but to be honest they mostly all are!!

Food, cinema and seeing Vikki will hopefully keep me motivated to stay on campus til 7pm. That will be a long day! 9.5 hours of campus goodness!! Oh the joys of being a finalist!

When will I get to revise too? Interesting…..

: 06 Apr 2006 16:42 |  Tags: Engineering Fluids Report Rev Revelation Rock-Gospel Choir |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Frustration of work – Thursday

Bloody Laptop!! You get to the final stages of the report you have been working on for what seems like forever, get into the flow of writing a summary… And blackness!!

No I didn't pass out, my trusty laptop decided to die on me! Then also take about 10minutes to restart. By which time I had got out of the nice flow of writing and had forgotten most of what I had written anyway!

So having started again with the summary and tried to write similar stuff to before, I have a feeling it won't be as good. Nearly there though. Finish this, add a couple of pictures, change everything to double line spacing and then make sure its all in the right place….

Phew! Then I can print it and take it to my supervisor to have a look. Hopefully he won't make any major changes or I may pass out!!

Back to work for the meantime!

: 06 Apr 2006 13:31 |  Tags: Engineering Fluids Report |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Frustration of work – Wednesday

There seems to be a common theme between my last few posts. Thought i'd carry it on here. It's now Wednesday, as the title suggests, and I'm still doing project work. Nearly there it seems, but can't seem to get any closer to finishing. All the little bits of finishing it off seem to take the longest. To add to this is the annoyance of having been working on the project since the start of the year, while constantly being interupted by other pieces of coursework!

Well haven't got long to go till I finish I think, then have lots of other work to do! If only I didn't have other work I'd be much happier! lol. And maybe less tired!

What's up with groupwise as well? I can only seem to get on it from the engineering computers, and not from my laptop. Weird methinks!

Waiting to hear from a man about Tshirts for WiM next week too is slightly worrying. We are leaving for Newmarket on friday and if I don't have the Tshirts by then, my job has failed! Let's hope he gets back to me in the next day or so or I will be slightly annoyed/worried!

Back to working I suppose. Maybe will write again later with less random thoughts and more comedy/interesting things to say…

: 05 Apr 2006 13:47 |  Tags: Engineering Fluids ITS Report Rev Revelation Rock-Gospel Choir |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Frustration of work – Tuesday II

Well up to 11,590 words now out of 12,000…. So done a bit more to the project. Guess I need to finish it off and read through it all… Still alive though which is a good thing!

: 04 Apr 2006 15:38 |  Tags: Engineering Fluids Report |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Frustration of work – Tuesday

Back again….. More work… Kind of bored again now! And as the money in my account hasn't cleared yet I'm hungry too! Dammit!

Well as there's lots of sun on my laptop and I'm kind of guessing what to write as I can't really see the screen, I best try and move and get on with more work.

Going slowly today though. But will keep on going until I either collapse of hunger or die of bordom…

: 04 Apr 2006 13:40 |  Tags: Engineering Fluids Report |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Frustration of work – Monday

Again back in the engineering dept. Been here for almost 2 and a half hours now. Not bad going for a monday morning methinks. So project up to 10,542 words now. Only another 1458 ish to go. But when thats over I need to write a summary and to go through the whole thing and format it all properly so all the images and graphs are in the correct places and all referenced properly. (could take a day in itself!) Referencing… That's another part that could take a long time!

I guess this entry is a kind of break from working for the meantime. Checking emails every now and then / hour / 30mins / every 15minutes or so is another (brief) break from work. I think I would go insane if I worked constantly until 6pm though. Attempting to stick around until then to pick up Vikki and go play some badminton with friends. There's not much point in going home really. (although I have a seriously painful back at the moment! So should be an interesting time). RAG quiz after too. If only they asked questions on the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, then I'd be sorted. It seems that this project has squeezed out all the other random information in my head, leaving little room for much else.

Well, back to work for me. Procrastination over for the morning. Lunch soon….(although having only found enough money in my car for a yoghurt… yum..)

Two more random thoughts: I've just noticed that I have had my laptop plugged in for a couple of hours…but the switch off.. No wonder it was so dim!! Rubbish!

Number two: Does anyone else find it hard to read my blog or is that just Ali?

: 03 Apr 2006 11:34 |  Tags: Engineering Fluids Report |  Comments (8) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Frustration of work

Such a nice day and I'm stuck in the engineering building doing project work!! Arghh!! So much to do, and so little motivation time.

Oh well, hopefully Vikki will leave school early and I can have a valid reason to stop working! Awesome!

: 31 Mar 2006 11:24 |  Tags: Engineering |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem