So, let’s get this blog going. Yesterday I bought, started and completed (finally) Portal. As the end song kinda fits the theme of this entry, I thought I’d use it as a little background music. The animation accompanying it is by Scott Ramsoomair with the actual song being written by Jonathan Coulton and sung by Ellen McLain.

So I am now back in Telford and have just over two weeks left until I head to Japan. Last week was the London Orientation for the JET Programme where we were told moer about the programme itself, met the other UK participants, and had some Japanese language classes. It was really good to meet the other guys, especially those who will be joining me in Yamaguchi Prefecture. I now know more specifically where in Yamauchi I’ll be, the village of Takibe.

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Monday marked my official graduation from Leeds University. Though I already knew my marks beforehand, I still didn’t want to believe it until I had the paper in my hand. Some marks were close to failing, especially my Japanese written module which could have held a lot of problems had I failed, but thanks to some higher marks in other modules I was able to finish with an Upper Second Class with Honours degree (aka a 2:1). If you’d like to watch my ceremony online, click here. Don’t be shocked though, for reasons unknown (and yes I did ask many staff members and google’d it) Leeds University graduates (first degree that is) don’t wear the hat!

So what now for me? Well as I say I’m back in Telford now, after having to say “see you later” to a lot of good friends, reminding them we can still stay in touch through Twitter and the like. Since I’ll be heading to Japan and not taking all of my belongings with me, I’m on a bit of a mission to try and sell as much of my stuff as I possibly can. I’ve already sold a few things, but if you’d like to have a look and what I’m flogging, have a look at this list, and please share it with your friends. Besides that, guess who’ll be doing a carboot sale this weekend!

Return of the Car Boot

So bad, I self-facepalmed

For those doubters of my ability to get a house closer than my previous one (which, traffic pending, would have me on campus within 20 seconds) I say … well, can’t really be bothered to think of a clever and witty reply but I have done just that. My new house is right on campus, mere seconds from the Student Union Building, and my room itself is pretty damn awesome. I’ll be honest, I’m in the basement so I’m not sure how it’ll do come winter (especially if there’s heavy snowfall), so I’ll update you on that when the time comes. It’s a 10 bed house (somewhat’s larger than … anything I’ve had before, bar the dorm in Japan), but the housemates I’ve met so far seem pretty cool.

A very quick update on the bear from the last entry. It didn’t sell.

Last weekend I had the privilege of having two of my Japanese friends come down to Telford. As well as having a couple of trips to the pub (including a not so bland time at the Cross Keys thanks to a couple of awesome dancers), we had a look around just a few (time wasn’t really with us) of the things Telford has to offer.

We started off with a trip to the Blists Hill Museum, a living museum set in Victorian Ironbridge. Surprisingly I actually learned quite a bit, despite having gone there numerous times as a kid; like the origins of the terms ‘Come a Cropper’ and ‘Mind Your Ps and Qs’. Oh you crazy printer. SilverTiger has many pictures and explanations of what goes on at Blists Hill, so feel free to pop over and have a gander. By the way, their bread is unrivalled – Up yours Kingmill!

Before heading over to the Shopping Center, we also have a look at some of the other museums (having bought the passport ticket we thought we’d get our moneys worth), and of course the world famous Ironbridge itself. I’d not been to Enginuity before due to it being relatively new. Something told me it seemed to be more aimed at kids, possibly the 300 little buggers running around, but it was quite an enjoyable museum with some very frustrating quizzes.

Copyright Gordon Cragg and licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Licence (click for bigger picture)

On the Sunday we headed to Birmingham to enjoy something sweet at Cadbury World. Again somewhere I’d been numerous times as a child, but this is a place that always changes. Somethings were missing, like the spicy drink you get at the start, but some new features have been added, like a room explaining the chocolate process in a manner similar to the Room of Living Dolls, though less terrifying. But somethings stay the same and you are given chocolate at various stages and arrive at a cheap chocolate shop at the end (misshapes, yes!).

My friends enjoying the Cadabra ride

We then headed over to Selfridges and the Bull Ring shopping center. Unfortunately I had completely forgot about Sunday trading hours, and we were left with just a few minutes to nose around before shutters started coming down. We then went for a wander around the city before making our way back to the car, and eventually Leeds.

Before I head off and continue unpacking (go get a pizza and then come back and contemplate unpacking) there is one thing that has bothered me during my time back in Telford.

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I’ve been living in Telford all of my life (when not buggering off here and there) and in that time I’ve always lived in Leegomery. Apply was always a small area just past the hospital where Maxell was, however now it seems like the area I grew up in is being rubbed out like an unwanted smarmy comment on an eBay seller feedback. Signage for Leegomery has gone down and been replaced by (very dull, if really must pick fault) Apley signage. Driving around I was unable to find any ‘Entering Leegomery’ signs.

But why has this happened? Officially I don’t know, as I haven’t been in the area due to Uni I’ve not seen any notices in the news etc. After chatting with a couple of friends (who also didn’t recall being told about it), we’ve come to one pretty unpleasant theory. The houses nearer to the hospital are without a doubt nicer than those further towards Hadley, and ‘problems’ normally are less associated with the hospital area. It was our theory that the nicer area is trying to seperate from the riff-raff in an “I’m better than thou” fashion. Of course this is just a theory, but still. I wonder if it’s this easy to get a divorce.

Apley Replaces Leegomery

My exams are finally over here at Uni, and that means I have a bit of time before I need to start panicking about resitting them. Hoorah pesimism. So what do I plan to do now that I have a bit more free time? I’m going to go back and work on some of long over-due projects that’s what.

The Lotaku webcomic is in drastic need of an update, and since I have a half complete page already I really should crack on with that. The last uploaded page was a dramatic shot of Simons mom being wheeled into the hospital.

On a similar topic, my should also crack on with my contribution to the Leeds Uni Anime Soc Manga Project. My section is going to be a part side-story of one of the Lotaku characters, but I won’t say much more on it just yet … mainly because I’ve not bloody decided.

I also want to do another animation this year for LSTV. At the mo, I’m thinking of doing one to this song, Funny Man by Rodney Carrington. So I guess if I start that during the summer I can get it in early. I’m also planning on doing a few more TV shows for LSTV this year; possibly remaking some stunning Japanese TV moments.

Finally, one thing I MUST do is upload the rest of my photos from Japan. Yes folks I know I’ve been really slack on it, but I’ve already posted a chunk on now. Go ahead, check them out. It’s already been scheduled to do another set tomorrow, so I’m planning (again) to get a new set up every day. I can’t believe it’s already been a year since I came back to the UK.

Oh yeah, need a house for next year too.

Fly Julien!

The bins! Oh yes the bins. Finally I’ve had my bin emptied by someone (not sure if it was the actual binmen or the contracted collectors), and so the mess outside my house is gone. However I think the strike is still going on, which is going to suck the big one come the time our bins fill up once again.

And finally, I have taken up the Japanese martial art of Iaido. I went to the Leeds University Iaido Club give it a go session on Monday and really enjoyed it, so tonight I’m heading to my first proper session. Though I could give you a full insight into what Iaido is, I’ll just give you this quote from the Wikipedia article.

Iaidō (居合道) is a Japanese martial art associated with the smooth, controlled movements of drawing the sword from its scabbard, striking or cutting an opponent, removing blood from the blade, and then replacing the sword in the scabbard.

Four of us decided to run for the position, which normally changes annually, so we each announced why we’d make a suitable candidate. In front of a lot of people I ended up initially forgetting to mention the fact I’d previously set up and ran an anime club in Shropshire, and other things I thought after would have swung votes my way. Votes gave a two-way tie between myself and a well known society member. A second round of voting, for which we were asked to leave the room for vote by show of hands, also resulted in a tied vote. However after yet another re-vote (and what I can only imagine as a lot of luck, for which I’m very grateful mind you) I won the election.

The result of ongoing strike action in Leeds.

I open my front door and across the road there’s a matress and a fridge, both dumped there from one of the neighbouring restaurants/landlords. Cheeky buggar initially put the matress to rest on our house; we put it right back. I look to the right from my front door and 10 meters down the road there’s another matress, sodden and covered in oil from a restaurant and the recent rain. But worse is when I turn the corner of the house. Full wheelie bins and bags of crap lying in wait to be collected by someone, anyone!

The council (apparently) have contracted private refuse collectors for now, but collections are few and far between. It didn’t really help that people walking by from the takeaways would use our bin anyway, but now it’s seriously getting nasty. The advice the council have given is

Residents should continue to put all their bins out – black, green or brown – on their normal scheduled collection day.

If your bins have not been emptied by 8 p.m. (please note new time) on your day of collection please take them back into your garden or yard and put them out on your next scheduled collection day.

If your bins are full, put any extra rubbish into bags, store them safely and put them out next to your bin on your next scheduled collection day.

You can also take any excess recycling or waste to your nearest Household Waste Sorting Site. More containers have been provided for both recyclable waste and rubbish at Household Waste Sorting Sites – please check for a full list of our sites and their opening times.

but this leaves a few problems. We don’t have a yard or garden, and we’re sure as hell not having this crap in the kitchen or living room. I’ve also looked at where these Household Waste Sorting Sites are and unless I fancy carrying bags of shite for miles, I’m not budging. I also don’t think I could take a bus with them either. I’m not going to pretend like I know all the ins and outs of why the binmen are striking, but as long as they’re holding the city of Leeds at randsom, it’s pretty hard to sympathise with them.

I made a change in my modules this morning as a few new ones had been added onto the system since initial registration, dropping a 20 credit Japanese history module in favour of two 10 credit Japanese Economy/Management/Environment ones. On arrival to my environment class this afternoon, it seems that not many other students had thought about it either (I only found out about its existance on Friday) as I was the only student. After a short while we were joined by one more student, doubling the student population of the room. I’m intrigued to see how the class progresses from here.

On Saturday I had a rather fun time at a Jiu Jitsu “give-it-a-go” session, thanks to Leeds Uni Jiu Jitsu club. Tonight I’ll be heading over there again to see how I feel about it. I still want to try a few other clubs before I settle on a sports one (to add to Japan Soc, LSTV, Anime Soc and possibly LURPS).

Now for those who don’t know or just plain forgot, this exam that I took this morning is as important to my degree as non-linear narratives are to a Quentin Tarantino film (I haven’t seen Inglorious Basterds yet so don’t know how that goes). As I said in the pre-exam entry I did sacrifice a Summer, which I should have been working and earning money, to study every single thing that we were expected to know but was held back my my crappy memory.

So how did it go?

We won’t know until next week (possibly Monday or Tuesday) but incase you can’t tell from the tone at which I’m whacking the keys on my keyboard, I don’t think it went well. If I had passed then it would be by the skin of my teeth, and not knowing what will happen if I do fail is what is really eating me up inside.

I guess my next entry will be the result.