RAMBLE: Moving

   Having been pretty much in the same place my entire life, the only time I've ever technically moved anywhere has been at university. I've 'lived' in a total of 4 different places during my 21 years so far on this planet. Being in my final year now, it's led me to consider the daunting prospect of life after uni, whereby I'll be expected to accept that yes, I am an adult and therefore responsible for myself.

   Granted, my worries are coming a year early (I have a conditional offer for a masters course), but they're still there. Although university has prepared me for some real life things - like bills, they're a real bummer - I still don't feel like I could enter the real world and think 'yeah, I am totally ready for this'. On the outside, I'll still have to pay rent and bills, but without that added security net of a student loan. Getting a job is a prospect that terrifies me beyond belief - what if, a year after graduation, I'm still struggling? Everyone desires independence to an extent, but what if I'm still leaning on my parents?

   I've accepted that eventually I won't be able to live in my hometown anymore (it's not exactly the forefront for music journalism). Although I've never feared new places, quite the opposite, I think it's the unfamiliarity of it that makes me nervous. Like when I moved to university in first year, and had to rely on maps. I like to know where I'm going, both literally and concerning my future, so now that my safety net is nearly gone everything has hit me at once.

   Like I say, although I (hopefully) still have another year to panic about getting a real job, I can't help but be concerned about it now. Sometimes I envy the people who have it all figured out, because I still don't seem to have a clue. I guess the best we can do in life is try, and keep trying, until we're happy with what we have become.  

Feeling Useless: Final Year Stress

   The final year of uni is a terrifying thought, and it's only just really hit me that I have 2 weeks left of official term time before the exam period. 2 weeks. Am I panicking? Perhaps a little. And how's my dissertation going? Well, I've hit a block.

   There comes a stage for every final year student when you have what I imagine to be the university equivalent of a mid-life crisis. You ask yourself all the questions that it is, quite frankly, too late to answer. Asking 'is this really what I want to do with my life, or should I quit and do something irrelevant?' is probably the dumbest question to ask oneself, yet it still happens. Eventually, most will come to the conclusion that unless you enjoy pointless debt, then yes, this is what you want to do. But what about after university?

   These past few weeks, I've noticed a significant rise in the amount of booked slots for the careers advisors. To most students, you have a number of choices: further study, internships/postgrad schemes, employment. For most, it's making this choice that is the first hurdle, which all contributes to the third year break down. Suddenly a question that seemed so simple when you were younger, 'what do you want to be when you grow up?', is more difficult to answer that being asked to single handedly create world peace; it would seem 'Angelina ballerina' is no longer an adequate response.

   On top of having to consider life after uni without that safety blanket of a regular loan, it's dissertation period for most students. After writing, scrapping, and re-writing thousands of words a few times, finishing seems like mission impossible. And it's always now that the library has decided to stock only one copy of the book everyone seems to need (cough cough How Fiction Works) so it's near impossible to get hold of. Unless you buy it, spending more money that, by now, you really don't have. But if, like myself, you miraculously do know what you want to do after graduation, there's the added stress of applications and interviews. Managing time becomes an enigma, and before you know it deadlines are catching up. 

   The main question is, should we be worried? Well, yes. This is real life. But at the same time, whether it feels like it or not, we'll all get there eventually. A full scale freak out is bound to happen to everyone at some point. I think it's important to think of it not as a break down, but as stress release - it'll seem better tomorrow.

Thoughts On A Journey Home

28th February, 19:25 London Midland service to Hereford

   I, like many other people who attend uni, need to get the train back to my home-town for weekend visits and the like. Now, compared to others, my one hour twenty journey seems like it should be a relatively uneventful trip, but on a train that's almost always full regardless of the time of day I find I still have stories to tell - from a girl with a budgie to the ticket woman who liked to lie across the tables because she thinks no-one can see her.

   Mostly, although I'm not particularly fond of public transport, my journeys are perfectly normal; people get off, people get on, not a lot happens. However I still cannot escape a few pet peeves. For example (and I think a lot of people can sympathise) there's always those annoying people that sit in the isle seat seemingly reserving the seat beside them with a jacket or, I once saw, a newspaper. Now I understand that your jacket needs somewhere to sit, but really? There are overhead shelves for that. And there's no need to roll your eyes at me when I ask to sit in the blatantly unoccupied seat (that is, unoccupied by any human). We'd all rather sit alone, but I'm afraid sometimes that's just not possible. 

   My next pet peeve on trains is mobile phones. I know, the majority of us own them, but there's always one person, in my experience, who just shouldn't be allowed one on a train. Like my journey now, for instance; if I hear the samsung message tone one more time I think there's a good chance I might throw their phone onto the tracks. Yes, whatever you're texting about may be important, but all phones have a silent function. Please learn to use it.

   Furthering my dislike of noisy phone users would be the bearded man currently sat in my eyeline. After his dire ringtone invaded everyone's ears, he then proceeded to answer with 'where have you been? It doesn't take a fucking hour to get home'. Delightful way to answer indeed. It was then revealed, between more swearing and angry sighing, that he only knew the caller was safe because they were online on facebook. Oh the wonders of social networking will never cease. I think the people sat near him, and the caller, were very glad when we entered a tunnel.

   I know, my journey could be worse, and now I'm pretty much alone in a carriage, but these little things are sent to try us. Or certainly my patience.

How to waste time

   As a student, I’ve recently found that if there’s something I’m good at, it’s wasting time. Of course one way of achieving this is just sitting all day on twitter and facebook, continually refreshing the pages until something interesting miraculously happens, but there are far more productive ways of wasting time I have encountered.

1.       Find a new TV series to watch, and watch every episode back-to-back. By far the simplest way of wasting time: watching TV. But, instead of channel-hopping, just find an entire series you’ve never seen before and watch every single episode. Although, if you chose lost, make sure you literally have nothing better to do because you will be sat around for a long time.

2.       Practical jokes. Let’s be honest, if you know the person will find it funny, it’s always a good way of spending time. For example, in halls last year I spent an evening putting cling film over my flatmate’s door whilst he was out. He said he especially loved the use of clear tape.

3.       Cooking, because even if, like me, you’re terrible at it, it’s still fun to experiment. And it’s an excuse to google stuff.

4.       Re-arranging things. You know how it is, when you walk into a room and think how something would look so much better in another place. Well, it probably would. Just like how everything in your cupboard in the kitchen would look much better with a little variation.

5.       Finally, the best way of wasting time, invest in the Sims 3. By far one of the most addictive games. Good-bye, degree.

   So, there are many ways of spending time without actually doing what you should be doing. You’ll kick yourself later, but it’ll definitely seem worth it at the time.

I should start by introducing myself

   For anyone who's curious, I'm Mair. I'm a 19 year old second year student at University of Birmingham, studying English with Creative Writing. I hope to be some form of writer one day.
   I've started this blog for a number of reasons, including the fact that my other blogs seem to get forgotten about, whereas one specifically for the things I write (such as reviews - I love live music) I feel I would actually remember to post in.
   So, for anyone interested, you can expect reviews of, for the most part, gigs, and random little rambles about various topics.