The State of Things
Nov. 6th, 2007 10:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katiaIt is cold today, cold outside and cold in my house, because you see the gas released when the heating starts up is released into the air outside. Which happens to be directly where my housemate's window is and so he's been breathing gas and other worse things for the last 5 weeks. We finally persuaded him today that this cannot be beneficial to his health and he called the landlady and the gas company who send someone here in half an hour. And switched the gas off. Hence no heating. Someone should see it tomorrow in order to assess the danger and I am not sure what will happen next but is not looking good.
Just one small instance of what it's like living in a house. There are constant problems and I feel like half of the people I live with (there's 6 of us) are children that need to be looked after. We have a cleaning rotor and well defined roles regarding bills etc which no one ever follows. The kitchen is constantly disgusting, the sink blocked and filled with dishes, surfaces covered, bin overflowing like whoa, and I am not even going to start talking about the toilet. (Advice: never live with boys, they pee under the seat constantly and then deny it!) I mean things get cleaned eventually, but I have to nag and they get dirty so quickly! As for bills, well I'll be shocked if our electricity doesn't get cut off very soon! Our landlady should pay for August as we moved in September but the person who was supposed to never gave her the bill and then there was this 7 days notice which threaten to press charges and things are not looking good.
What else? Oh my computer seems to be dying. It takes up to an hour to switch on and switches off occasionally due to a fatal systems error, I don't know what to do. I am scared it will not switch on at all one day. It is barely a year old, it should not be dying. :(((
It is 5th week, and of course my tute is moved from Friday to Wednesday, with my other essay for Thursday and I can't do it. I want to do it. It is on Marx and thus hugely important, but how can I read like a million of his writings in one day, it is impossible. And there is my south Asian politics essay which I should have finished last night but then gave up the Marx essay and so procrastinated and still haven't finished it. It is interesting too, it is on gender politics in India, which is really depressing, and hard to write due to its million dimensions.
Decided to use spare time due to not writing essay on writing my first draft for my statement of purpose for my application for an MPhil in International Relations, but now it looks like there won't be any free time. And I don't know what to say, my tutor (who is love) told me not to worry as most people tend to get it, terribly wrong the first few drafts but he will help me to make it good, and told me to email Univ's dean of graduates who is a tutor in IR and is amazing and scary and doesn't know who I am to ask her for a chat. Which I have done, it took me like an hour to draft a 2 line email. How am not going to fail at this? Have decided to leave US for next year if I fail at Oxford, but need to apply for some sort of a job too, for one year. No idea what though.
Anyway this is long and rambly and I doubt anyone is going to read it, and it makes me sound really down, which I am right now, but there have been lots of good things. I had an absolutely awesome weekend, and Heroes has started to improve. No time for a longer review, but I loved the last episode, mostly because of the ending! So awesome! Oh my god!
Okay, should probably write my essay now.
Just one small instance of what it's like living in a house. There are constant problems and I feel like half of the people I live with (there's 6 of us) are children that need to be looked after. We have a cleaning rotor and well defined roles regarding bills etc which no one ever follows. The kitchen is constantly disgusting, the sink blocked and filled with dishes, surfaces covered, bin overflowing like whoa, and I am not even going to start talking about the toilet. (Advice: never live with boys, they pee under the seat constantly and then deny it!) I mean things get cleaned eventually, but I have to nag and they get dirty so quickly! As for bills, well I'll be shocked if our electricity doesn't get cut off very soon! Our landlady should pay for August as we moved in September but the person who was supposed to never gave her the bill and then there was this 7 days notice which threaten to press charges and things are not looking good.
What else? Oh my computer seems to be dying. It takes up to an hour to switch on and switches off occasionally due to a fatal systems error, I don't know what to do. I am scared it will not switch on at all one day. It is barely a year old, it should not be dying. :(((
It is 5th week, and of course my tute is moved from Friday to Wednesday, with my other essay for Thursday and I can't do it. I want to do it. It is on Marx and thus hugely important, but how can I read like a million of his writings in one day, it is impossible. And there is my south Asian politics essay which I should have finished last night but then gave up the Marx essay and so procrastinated and still haven't finished it. It is interesting too, it is on gender politics in India, which is really depressing, and hard to write due to its million dimensions.
Decided to use spare time due to not writing essay on writing my first draft for my statement of purpose for my application for an MPhil in International Relations, but now it looks like there won't be any free time. And I don't know what to say, my tutor (who is love) told me not to worry as most people tend to get it, terribly wrong the first few drafts but he will help me to make it good, and told me to email Univ's dean of graduates who is a tutor in IR and is amazing and scary and doesn't know who I am to ask her for a chat. Which I have done, it took me like an hour to draft a 2 line email. How am not going to fail at this? Have decided to leave US for next year if I fail at Oxford, but need to apply for some sort of a job too, for one year. No idea what though.
Anyway this is long and rambly and I doubt anyone is going to read it, and it makes me sound really down, which I am right now, but there have been lots of good things. I had an absolutely awesome weekend, and Heroes has started to improve. No time for a longer review, but I loved the last episode, mostly because of the ending! So awesome! Oh my god!
Okay, should probably write my essay now.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-11-07 10:35 pm (UTC)Have you found me a parking space yet? I want to come visit, and go christmas shopping or something... and take pictures of Oxford. I bet it's sexy this time of year.
So, I have a question. A friend of mine is kinda like you in that she wants to study PPE at Oxford and go on to take over the world, be Prime Minister and... yeah. However, she's not the best in the world at Maths and is not planning on taking it for A-level.
In your professional opinion as PPE student at Oxford (thus making you more qualified than myself in giving advice) do you still think it's possible to be accepted for a PPE course at Oxford? How essential is Maths?
Any and all advice for the young lady (she's currently in Year 11) would be most welcome. She's called Amber.
*hugs*
(no subject)
Date: 2007-11-10 05:02 pm (UTC)Maths is not essential, but it is really helpful to have done it, especially in your first year, when you do economics and there is a compulsory maths part in the exam. However, if she is not planning to study economics beyond first year and she is very good at the other two, then it should be okay. There are a few people who did not do maths for A-level, though having an A* for GCSE is then really important. And she will find economics really difficult without a background in maths, so I really do recommend trying to do at least the AS.
love your icon, so nice and wintry!
Date: 2007-11-08 09:57 pm (UTC)We really need to have a chat about postgraduate applications so we can reassure each other/screech at each other in terror. In Starbucks. It will be fun. ;)
I totally agree about the last Heroes episode, SUCH a good ending.
Thanks!
Date: 2007-11-10 05:06 pm (UTC)We do! Less reassuring and more FEAR! :( Come to Oxford!! Or I can come to London, I haven't seen you in SO long. And I still owe you moneyz!