The End of an Era (but the start of bigger things)

So, today arrived, my good friend William Cunningham is leaving Sunderland for the last time, over the last two years we've had a blast. He's had legendary and not so legendary house parties. We've engaged in various philosophical and theological debates all the time keenly observing Sunderland life through our African viewpoint.
While he heads of to Edinburgh this fall, I'll be going to Newcastle University, so we'll only be an hour apart, even though we're in two different countries (as the Scots would love to emphasize)
Anyway, he's still in the air now, so I wish him a safe flight.

The End is in Sight

So, I just completed an amazing two weeks at the National Glass Centre in Sunderland, I experienced the making of glass for the first time in my life, and it is an amazing experience. I saw space-dust..99% air, 1% silica: one of the most amazing objects you'd ever see, and I worked with some fantastic people in a fantastic building.
I produced these videos, which I think you should check out- http://www.vimeo.com/user1820558/videos
I mostly pleased that the problematic placement palaver that plagued me these last few months is over. I just have to complete the relevant placement related essays and I'll be done as an undergrad. So wish me luck in these last days.

...and I promise a childhood reminiscing blog soon, those are always fun to write, and I hope fun to read as well.

Sad News

My Creative Zen 8GB mp3 player got damaged on Saturday in unknown circumstances, after spending the day at the beach, I pull out my mp3 player from my pocket to find that the screen is damaged, I cannot read anything on it, in fact it's luminous white and there seems to be a black liquid in it. The actual screen isn't broken, but there seems to be a crack inside. I did not recall bumping hard into anything, so I do not understand how this could have happened. I have carried the device in its protective rubber casing for months now without incident, and I am baffled as to how this occurred.
I was consoled by the fact that it still played music well, although I could not navigate and choose what songs I listened to, ti was instead a large shuffle player with over a thousand songs to choose from.
However I come back from the radio studio today and find out that it has stopped playing music, it still turns on and syncs with the PC but no sound comes out when earphones are connected. I think it's well and truly dead.

With Friends Like These

Today was an absolutely beautiful day, headed down to the beach with Marta, William, and Ashmawy, these were some results:

(Click images for larger results)

Almost there

As most of you know, I have completed my dissertation, the most important work I've ever created in my life. My final degree classification will largely depend on the quality of this dissertation.
Completing the dissertation does not mean uni is over, no, far from it. Still 5 essays to be handed in over the next two weeks. When one has just completed writing 10,000 words, a 2500 word essay looks benign.
I just secured my placement at the National Glass Centre in Sunderland, and I started the placement yesterday (yes, my first day of work was a Friday) I'll be working there over the next two weeks, helping them promote their glass studio.
I saw how glass blowing works, it's a very labour intensive process, involving lots of heat and twisting pipes, oh, and a folded wet piece of newspaper- in fact the wet newspaper is one of the key tools in moulding glass. It looks easy...but I doubt it is.
Yeah, so I just wanted to keep all of y'all up to date with the proceedings in my humble life. I'll be done in the first week on June, and hopefully the weather would be beautiful and allow me to celebrate by taking pictures at the beach (I can't get tired of the beach)

Signs of Spring

With my dissertation done, I can indulge in my hobbies with a clear conscience. Since spring has arrived, I decided to take Natasha (my camera) to Sunderland's very own Mowbray Park and capture the beautiful scenery. In terms of daylight, today was a good day, but what the camera does not capture is the temperature, boy was it freezing; my fingers were going numb.
Anyway, enjoy my pictures