Listening: The Pogues The Best of the Pogues
Reading: Sharon Penman The Sunne in Splendour

First of all I want to wish all of you, especially Heather, Liss, KB, Lee and Claire a very happy holiday season. Belated as it may be, I hope you all had a fantastic time!

Many apologies for the severe lack of bloggage. Those who know me may have figured out by now that I'm not the most organised person in the world. Basically, after the whole presentation thing that I rambled on about at length in other entries, we had officially finished the first term as MA students. Hurrah. So to celebrate, we obviously went to the pub posthaste for a few bevvies. The idea was to have two or three drinks, go home, pack for Cardiff, post a message in my blog and on my various pages stating I was away, get dressed up in a proper Christmas way, and go into town to meet up with everyone else. Needless to say the plan failed miserably. I got to the pub, had five pints, realised I was starving and didn't care that I looked like crap, so I decided to go to another pub with some guys from my course and get some pizza. Pizza - yeah! Woo! So, by the time we'd done that, it was already past the time we were supposed to meet the others. The obvious solution was to go to another pub and have another drink before meeting up with the others. We were in trouble when we arrived *g* So, basically, I had a great night, got really pissed, ended up dancing so much in the night club that all my muscles ached the next day, and didn't do anything I'd planned. Ooops!

The next morning was a bit of a rush, and if it wasn't for one of my housemates, I would have turned up at the airport without my passport, ticket claim code and toothbrush. Silly me! Luckily, my flight wasn't until the evening, so I had a decent-ish sleep-in and didn't feel like I was going to vomit. I am still very thankful for that! Unfortunately, I did have to endure a four hour bus trip to Dublin airport. Damn Dublin for being so far away!

Cardiff was brilliant, I have to say. I stayed with my old housemate Emma, who's still there doing an MA in English Literature. We went to the open-air ice rink, which was very festive indeed, and also partook in some of the other tacky fairground rides around. I spent lots of money on Christmas presents, including some for myself =) I got the new A Perfect Circle album, the first Biffy Clyro album (which I've been meaning to get for ages) and The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Penman. I don't know if any of you have read anything by Sharon Penman, but you should! Her books are really long, but she's the best historical fiction writer I've ever come across *solemn nod* Otherwise, there was some drinking and meeting up with old friends and we went to an Electric Six concert where I bought myself a mug that says 'Gay Bar' on it, because I'm easily amused *L*

About a week into my stay, my boyfriend flew over from Belfast. Very exciting as I hadn't seen him in a month or two. We stayed with his sister (who scares me) for two nights. On the first day we went to see LotR: Return of the King and on the second we went to London to see the LotR exhibition in the Science Museum. The movie was great! Amazingly long, but I didn't really notice. I was too busy being thankful for the lack of inclusion of the whole 'scouring of the shire' nonsense. I've always thought that that was a crap ending for the books. The exhibition was also great, but completely over-crowded. I got really stressed out by the end of the thing and just wanted to leave! Still, I got to see lots of the costumes and stuff like that. Plus, I bought me a Legolas poster as a souvenier. Mmmm... Legolas. Have a ever mentioned how badly I want to be an elf??

After London we headed down to Devon, where my boyfriend's parents live, and spent two days with them, doing nothing, before I had to go back to Cardiff to catch my flight home. Again, my flight was a late one, so I didn't get in to Dublin until after 10. However, I did have tyhe excitement of watching someone steal some perfume on the plane and then get caught. Captivating stuff! Stayed with a friend in Dublin that night and finally made it home on the 23rd. At last!

On Christmas Eve, I got to go to the doctor to get a new prescription for the pill and was shocked at how much it cost. This is the first time I've gotten the pill outside of Wales where it is beautifully free. In Ireland though, I had to pay €40 just to see the doctor and €62.50 for a six month supply of the pill itself. If I'd bought it monthly it would have been €13.50 a month which would have been ever more expensive. I'm still trying to get over the amazement I felt when the pharmacist told me the total price! She did let me off the €2.50 as a Christmas present thing, which is something I suppose! Still, Christmas Eve wasn't a total blow out. That evening I went on our annual family pub crawl which saw us getting lots of free drinks and getting absolutely pissed. That marked the start of Christmas proper for me *L*

Woke up on Christmas morning without a hang-over, but that was only because I'd woken up at 3am, realised I was still drunk and consumed a lot of water *g* Santa was very generous this year, as always. I don't know when my parents are going to ditch the whole Santa thing (as neither my brother nor I believe anymore) and just start giving us presents from them. We still get a pile that appears mysteriously at some point during the night, which everyone knows is from Mum and Dad, and wrapped presents from the both too. It's profitable though ;) I got a couple of books I've been wanting, especially Lyra's Oxford by Phillip Pullman and Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett, a few CDs, a hair-dryer, a Care Bears jigsaw and mug (I love the Care Bears even after all this time) and, of course, my amazing trip to Cardiff. My parents are far too good to me at Christmas!

Yesterday was finished off by a great meal, loads more alcohol and much playing of Who Wants to be a Millionaire on the beautiful new computer my brother got for Christmas. Hurrah for the holiday season!!!

Claire - I love pretty much everything Jeff Buckley's ever done, but I think my favourite songs are his Nina Simone covers and Last Goodbye. I could listen to that song for hours at a time! How about you?

Lee - You'd better tell me when you've finished your shrine! Thanks for the Christmas pressie, BTW =) I think I'll have to print it out and stick it on my wall!

DC - I didn't break anything, so yay for me! However, I did manage to get some severe brusing around my ankles *L*

Listening: Jeff Buckley Grace
Reading: Lots of dull medieval archaeology papers

The panic about the presentation is over. I got up really early this morning, after about 5 hours of sleep and went in to Uni to get it finished. Sadly, I haven't yet done the essay. I've got a lot of the reading done though, so that's something, I suppose.

The trip to Cardiff and beyond is all organised. I'm staying with my old flatmate Emma and she's going to take me skating on the outdoor ice-rink they set up in front of the town hall every Christmas. I'm very excited about that =)

Claire - yep, I am another Jeff Buckley fan. There seem to be plenty of us around. Jeff had an amazing voice and I can listen to his albums over and over again without getting bored of him. I take it you enjoyed Grace? Discerning people seem to read your blog!

Listening: Jeff Buckley Live A L'Oympia
Reading: Kieran D O'Connor The Archaeology of Medieval Rural Settlement in Ireland

I am a fucking idiot. I simply cannot believe how stupid I am. I saved a whole bunch of work on a disc while at Uni as I really need to get a presentation finished tonight. Guess what? That's right - I left the bloody thing in the disc drive in my computer at University. Feck. I'm really pissed off. I have to give my presentation on Wednesday after our class test and then I'm leaving for Cardiff on Thursday so I have to hand in an essay (even though it's not due until a week after that). As a great believer in leaving things until the last possible moment I have fucked up royally by not taking the work with me when I was actually planning to do it. I am annoyed...

On brighter news, not only am I going to Cardiff, I'm now going to England too! I've extended my visit by several days so I can meet up with my boyfriend and go to the LotR exhibition in London (I'm going to be in London on the 19th). Hurrah for me and hurrah for Christmas!

KB - sorry to shock you *g* It's hard to believe that with all the children's books I've read I've never read the Narnia ones. I used to watch the TV show and I know I always meant to read the books, I just never seem to have gotten around to it. Still, better late than never =)

I took The Politcal Compass test, stolen from Liss, and have managed to come out as a left-wing liberalist. I actually appear to be very liberal and about as left-wing as Jacques Chirac (but far more liberal). Interesting. Just what does that say about me??

Listening: Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories Tails
Reading: J. K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkban

Wayne - You're completely right, Paul Walker is truly crap. I think I should tell you that I'm pretty much the only person I know who really liked Timeline and it has been pointed out that I like some real crap *g*

So where I have been all weekend? Shopping. My Mother and brother came down to do some Christmas shopping so I gamely joined in. I am now the proud new owner of a new haircut and colour, the first three Narnia books (I've never read any, can you believe it?), various articles of underwear, the most recent issue of Empire and a binder. Exciting stuff indeed. Also, my lovely family members brought me a few books from home and so I'm currently reading Harry Potter 3 in a quest to learn everything possible about Oliver Wood for that fic I mentioned a few weeks ago.

Things to do over the Christmas holidays:
1. Update & possibly redesign The Chalet School Journal
2. Update & redesign Perpetual Metamorph
3. Finish adding content to Four Towers
4. Buy my own domain - it's so never going to happen
5. Write two essays
6. Do something with Sacrifice
7. Create a new webpage for the less-known characters in LJS
8. Finish my Oliver Wood fan-fic
9. Finish my Rowan Redfern/Damon Salvatore fan-fic
10. Eat and drink a lot
11. Go to Cardiff
12. Go to the Lord of the Rings exhibition in London
13. See LotR: Return of the King
14. Try not to collapse under the weight of this list

Anyone have anything to add???

Listening: The Cooper Temple Clause See This Through and Leave
Reading: LindaMarie Any Other Name (fan-fic)

I have finally recovered from Tuesday's outbreak *g* It's best to get these things out of your system and just move on despite the fact that I'm still quite bitter about the whole thing. Ah well!

I reread The Vampire Diaries trilogy by LJS the other day and was reminded of how much Elena pisses me off. I think Cassie from The Secret Circle is probably the most hated character in LJS-land, but Elena outstrips her completely in terms of annoyance. I know she 'redeems' herself at the end of book three, but even the way she did that pissed me off. I was surprised at how much I actually liked Bonnie though! Well, apart from the whole Drooo-id thing.

I also read The Shadow in the North by Phillip Pullman which is the last book in a trilogy (I haven't read the middle book, but never mind). I do really enjoy reading Pullman's books and the characters in this particular series really hold my attention. Considering that it's meant to be a children's book though, the ending was very upsetting! I almost cried and then got really annoyed at the contrived nonsense which follows. That man ruins all of his books by including sex.

My last lectures of the semester have come and gone, which is quite scary. I've only been at UCG for two months and the first semester is already over!! I have a small test and presentation on Wednesday and that's me done until after Christmas (apart from some essays, but I'm ignoring those)... eeeep!

I should have spent today preparing my presentation, but instead I got up around midday when someone came to do room inspection. I don't know who was more scared - me or her. Probably me as I was still slightly drunk *innocent look* So, after lounging around for a few hours, I went to see Timeline with two of my housemates. I don't think I've ever talked about Michael Crichton in my blog, but I am a huge fan of his. I absolutely devour everything he writes and Timeline is one of his best books, in my opinion. It's a book about archaeologists so I am kinda obliged to like it =) I was kind of expecting the movie to be a bit crap, as his stuff doesn't really translate to screen too well (see Jurassic Park 2 for example), but I was wrong. Hurrah! I loved it! Sure, there were some really tacky bits, mainly those set in the modern world, but they're easy to overlook. The guy who played Marek (my favourite character) was absolutely perfect and not too hard on the eyes, so that was a good starting point! Didn't expect Billy Connelly or Anna Friel to be in it, so that was quite a surprise. The trailer for the movie is crap. It doesn't give any information about the plot or the actors. Still, great movie. Movies with archaeologists are always great *nods*

After Timeline we came home, ordered pizza and watched the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. God, how I love Mr Darcy and Colin Firth. God, how I love Colin Firth as Mr Darcy *melts* I was tempted to watch Bridget Jones' Diary but I'm just too tired. I'll just have to save it for another day - the hardship!

Listening: Weezer The Blue Album
Reading: Chris Byman Dark Skies: The Official Guide to the first TV series

I have been labouring under an illusion. During my time in Cardiff I was happy in the knowledge that no matter how good things were getting for archaeology as a profession in Britain, they were infintely better in Ireland. After all, we love our archaeology. We preserve and display it, require all building works to have an archaeologist on site, insist that archaeologists have a license before they can excavate and that in order to get said license, they must have an academic qualification. In short, Ireland is the home of archaeology, the mecca, if you will, of fantasticness. Apparantly I was wrong.

My two lectures today concentrated on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIS) for the planned motorway which will pass near to Tara, one of the most important archaeological landscapes in the world. Now you would think that in a country like Ireland where the government want to embrace archaeology (if not for history's sake, then for the sake of tourism) there would be some concern over the fact that the motorway skirts the edge of the Hill of Tara itself and literally bisects the whole valley, separating groups of monuments and throwing the whole thing out of whack. It would seem that my idealistic view of an archaeology-friendly Ireland was complete bullshit. Instead of trying to take the archaeology into account, the government are actively attempting to destroy several monuments and put the road where they damn well want it to be.

Bertie Ahern (the first non-English speaking Taoiseach) recently announced that he would let nothing stand in the way of the National Development Plan and the building of roads. That's nice, isn't it? Apparantly ecological, archaeological, aesthetic and multiple other factors mean nothing to our esteemed leader. What matters, it would seem, is the further sprawl of Dublin into surrounding counties. It is obviously more important to build a big fuck-off road to Navan to make it easier for people to commute to a capital which is draining the resources of the rest of the country, than it is to preserve and protect an internationally important landscape.

But that's not all the government is at. They have pushed Duchas (the heritage service) into another sector where they have even less power. They have removed all power from the National Museum of Ireland who were previously one of the bodies who approved/disapproved planning applications which impacted archaeological sites. They are trying to remove the legal necessity of taking archaeology into account when planning a development. They are trying to take away the necessity of having an academic qualification in order to get a license. Basically, they're shafting everyone. Fantastic.

My future is indeed bright.