The Hilton was AMAZING! Will post about it in detail tomorrow, probably. It was divine though. AND I found the perfect suit jacket for graduation, but I need to somehow find money. How do you plant a money tree?

I was tagged by clairecommando. PS: Claire, why is your name 'commando'? Are you into military, or are you using the Maltese 'slang' for 'remote'? :P

The rules:
1. Post about something that made you happy today.
2. Repeat for eight days.
3. Tag eight people to do the same: I don't like tagging people, and I don't think I have eight people who post regularly who AREN'T doing this already :p so.... violent_helena, scotzlassie, kylie1403. And anyone else. :-)

Day 1:
Waking up next to Pamela, making fun of posh people, and having a big big big breakfast. :-)

Not exactly the most cheerful person as the April Fool Fairy decided to present me with a rent bill and an electricity bill, and then tell me it wasn't, in fact, April Fool's. Bah. Still, good things happened this week, so I'll be positive -- because that's what TILT's about!

TILT - Things I Love Thursday

• Finishing my Honours Project code. There's actually nothing else I have to code - now it's just writing up all my Appendices and draw a flowchart and write my dissertation. And I have three weeks to do it. Yay!


• Two years six months with Pamela on Saturday. Went to a lovely place in Broughty ferry for high tea, and it was yummy-tastic. And watching Ghost was really good too!


• Find time to play my DS again. Forgot how many good games I had.


• Going to Kingspark School on Tuesday and having the kids love my program and enjoy playing with it, then being able to pitch a positive idea to my supervisor. I feel a lot more confident now, AND I might get to write a research paper. Maybe.


• Going for food at the Union yesterday with friends from my course, and following that with waffles and ice-cream at the Nether Inn, as well as a HUMONGOUS bowl of chips with the loveliest BBQ dip ever.


• Watching The Sex Education Show vs Pornography on Channel 4. It's a really really good, frank look at sex, and trying to help teenagers cope with it and teach them that porn isn't always right. They showed some interviews with boys and girls - some boys didn't realise that all breasts weren't, um, fake. And they slagged girls off for it. Geez.


• Renting my Gown for graduation!


• Buying my Grad Ball ticket this morning. Grad Ball's on June 27th, and will be a 6pm - 6am party, where we'll apparently have rides and champagne breakfast and ceilidh and all that sounds really exciting. It's going to be an amazing way to unwind!

I love TILT. Looking over this list makes me feel better already! :-)

I feel like crap. Think I have the flu, which I call a fever because... I dunno. It's fever in Malta, but everyone seems to call it flu here. *shrug*

Anyway - took advantage of the opportunity to order new bedsheets since the ones I have here have been bacteria-infested since Monday. Yay. Hopefully will be better enough tomorrow to i) not miss uni again and ii) wash the sheets I currently have.

On worse news, Pamela's feeling even worse than I am. :-( Meh. Ha just came over with Steph, and they're going to Tesco's to get me paracetamol and other drugs. Yay! I might survive until tomorrow. Though with this illness thing, my dieting is going REALLY well - I've only had two bowls of cereal, two hard-boiled eggs and almost-a-portion of egg-fried rice in the last 2 days. Yay for lack of appetite!

Also really being on my Honours project. Woo-hoo.

*cough cough splutter dies*

Finished reading all four Twilight books. Note to Stephenie Meyer: YOU ARE NOT J.K. ROWLING. OR ANY OTHER FAMOUS AUTHOR THAT'S WORTH MENTIONING. She apparently wants her last book to be "two movies; it can't be one!". But from my observations of all four novels, the latter three novels can be compressed into two films.

Why, you ask? It's all spoilery, so it's under a cut. ( SPOILER SPOILER )

Glad that's out of my chest. :-)

Just for myself - schedule of things to do today:

- Wii Fit (10 min)
- Breakfast
- Shower
- Hons Reading (1 hour)
- Think about how to get cogs turning planets in Graphics; try figure out moon and multiple textures? (1 hour+)

This is what I modelled so far. Any suggestions?

( yay cut )

I... don't know if I like this. It's very reminiscent of Ruslana's winning entry, down to the odd outfit and bad vocalisation. However, it's not a silly love song, and that gives it points.

Huh.

Oh by the way -

- I should have probably said this earlier.

THIS JOURNAL IS NOW FRIENDS ONLY.

If you want friended, just ask and I -will- accept, unless you're a crazy stalker. Even then, I'll probably accept you, cos I'm nice. So just comment on this entry or e-mail me and/or bribe me, and you'll gain exclusive insight into the life of a Malteser in Dundonia.

NB to friends-list: If you haven't read any of my latest entries, that's probably because you're not logged in. And you're missing out. Obviously.

Hey - I need help with creating my dæmon (and this will probably only be understood by fans of His Dark Materials, which they're making in a movie for December(!).

Could you do the following thingy to help settle my dæmon? =D

I'm not going to lj-cut it cos it's not that big, and will provide colour to your friends pages. And cos I want you to do it for me. :D

My mum and dad are visiting me for a whole week.. in 10 days! I can't wait!!! :D

Quite randomly.. I'm just back from Karaoke at the Union. Wasn't in the mood to go out, but I went to be social.. ended up getting bought drinks (:$) and singing! Sang Summer Nights with Kat (not that we were expecting to do it; the duet who had to perform didn't turn up, so we kinda took their place) and Lola with Steve, Chris and Kat.

...Almost got a standing ovation - we were that amazing. :P

I think I'm letting my paid work take over my life.. and I'm pushing uni work aside. I'm not saying that's a bad thing - I'm getting money, and in the next few days I have to pay rent (£196 for these 4 weeks..) and we have a huge electricity bill coming up soon (our first since we moved in this place in June.. cos they had problems with contacting us. I'm scared of this bill, in case you haven't noticed) - so money's always good, I say.

However.. I also have Uni work to catch up on, so I guess I should make a start on that. I'm feeling off today.. going out with Pam tomorrow.. so maybe I can start on Thursday. It's not much I have to do anyway - 2000-word essay on free licensing for OS, and that's pretty much it for this week.

Hm.

1) The O.C. series finale was awesome in all ways except some, and I'm sad that it's finished. My weekends are suddenly much emptier.

2) Ugly Betty is all kinds of awesome - though Betty's only ugly judging by makeup and anorexia level.

3) I love Pam.

4) Making your own pasta (as in.. your own pasta) is awesome.

5) Lemon meringue is love, especially when you make it with someone you love. And it's lovely.

6) Rugby is a sport I might get into.

Eva Green won the Orange Rising Star Award at the BAFTA! Yeah!! I've been a fan ever since her performance in The Dreamers, so I'm quite happy. :D

And I've also gone one step closer in mastering the Art of Profiterole-Making. I should write a book, I'm so clever.

First of all, hugs go out to my boss for a book ('Waverly' by a certain Sir Walter Scott, I believe), Kylie (TIM TAMS. And I managed a Tim Tam.. snap? Smaggle? Snoogie? ...The hot chocolate thing) and Cati ('Torchwood' book! Can't wait to start!), but..

..you know that something's really finished when you close off the last of five tabs all related to the same subject, after you watch the final episode of the series. Doctor Who, you are amazing. I can almost stand Billie Piper.

Though she should have totally fallen there.

Perfect birthday! List of all my gifts, yay! Just like Christmas :D

The Hub People
- Candy Thong.. thing
- Plushie Eeyore/Tigger
- MD 20/20 (small bottle, thankfully)

The Paulio
- Champagne!

The Friend of Mum
- Mouse
- Microphone/Headphones

The Flatmates
- Kinetic Combat (PS2 game.. with EyeToy!)

Karen, Pam's Sister
- Beer Bath Foam
- Deo Kit
- Shirt from Burton's <3 <3

The Parents (of Myself)
- £55

The Parents (of Pam)
- Travel Pinball
- Sudoku Book.. <3

The Girlfriend.. my amazing Pam
- 2 No Fear shirts.. <333333333
- Rubix Cube! To satisfy the inner geek.. :)
- A Mattress!

(Yes, an actual mattress for my bed! The old one was springy and uncomfy, and oh god, she bought me one, and it's soooo amazing!!)

Happy Mark! :D

As we all know, I turn 20 tomorrow. The scary dusk of teenage years approaches.. and why not tackle it with booze, people and atmosphere? :D

For this purpose, I have spent all night (no.. really, 12 - 5am) baking, slept, woke up, and continued, and I came up with PROFITEROLES and BIRTHDAY CAKE, all made from scratch, 'cos I rock.

( Let there be pictures, I said, and there were. )

I'm running Fedora 5... cos apparently, that's what we do this semester. Hmm. Just ordered loads of rose petals for me and Pam's romantic date on Saturday.. and I need to look for a rose for our 4-months on Monday. :)

Got paid today for last week's work.. £200!!! For 27 hours of work; quite impressed with myself - I can now pay this month's rent. Pity my job can't provide those hours all week long.

Or maybe it's a good thing, considering I'm letting Uni go by without doing anything about it. I really need to choose my third module (no way I'm doing Psychology again) - think it might be Politics; there's only 2 lectures per week, and to be honest, I can't be bothered working on something that won't reflect on my degree. Silly School of Computing. *sigh*

What else?

Um.. oh yeah! I'm taking part in a Showdown today; the bold was only added there for effect. I'm obviously better than my workmate and I'm made of awesome, but he won't admit it. Therefore, as soon as we get out of work (which should be.. 5, I think), we are heading up to the Union (and I just realised it's gonna be mobbed cos it's Burns Night.. eh), where we will each attempt to have 10 pints of beer</i> (they're on special offer at 99p each, you see) and see who emerges as the True Victor™. I think the loser might have to treat the winner to a Pizza Hut lunch buffet, but we're still sketchy on the details.

My birthday's on Sunday fortnight, by the way. Hinthint. =D

2007 just started - I haven't even gotten into it being 2007, and February (and a new rent payment): just around the corner. Eh. Is that was my grandmother meant when she said that after being 20 life just whizzes by? Does it mean that you have less memories, or just that you can't take it anymore and.. get used to living?

...Maybe that's just a tad too deep.

I baked a pie, which makes me all kinds of awesome.

It's a meat-and-pea pie. And it's amazing, and next time I'm so going to make the pastry myself rather than buy ASDA's puff pastry (which worked just as fine).

I'm so clever. And I'm an amazing chef. Baked a chocolate cake yesterday.

Ooh.. and broth last week. God, I rock. And am awesome.

After my horrible wait at Luton which you all were a part of (thanks.. to everyone who was on MSN at the ungodly hour of 4 in the morning. I truly appreciate your efforts in cheering me up..!), I checked in my flight (shh.. don't tell anyone I was overweight; I talked my way out of paying) and headed up through Security.

Last time, when I flew from Edinburgh to Luton, they made me take off my shoes and threw away my water. This time.. they threw away my lipsaver.

THEY THREW AWAY MY LIPSAVER. Cos I can stab someone in the eye, apparently. Tuh.

Anyway. Then I went to the duty free bit where mum called me for about 15 minutes (yay!), and I found out I couldn't buy cigarettes for my boss and fly them with me, cos I was "not going out of the EU". Huh. So.. does the EU exclude duty-free stuff? I'm confused.

Boarded the plane eventually.. all 18 of us (hee!), and I didn't even realise it had left; it was THAT smooth. Landed in Edinburgh, which was FREEZING, hurriedly caught a bus to Waverly Station, and caught a train to Dundee... where mum and dad and Pam all phoned me and cheered me up (though mum was still rather sad about it all).

Dundee.. is nice. Very Dundonian of it, to be honest. So I went home, and met Pam, and.. I kinda slept for a while, munched on some cheeseburgers she got me, and then kinda caught up, was phoned by my aunt and my mum (<3), and.. I'm feeling better.

So thanks to everyone involved.. still kinda homesick, but it'll pass. :)

..I'm getting sleepy, which is bad, cos I can't go check-in for another hour.

From the corner of my eye, I saw a woman approach me. Stupidly, I thought it was my mother, and I turned happily, and now I'm all in pain and sad.

:(

So.. I'm sitting here in Luton airport using my £10 wireless internet, trying to figure out how to waste 6 hours of my life. And then I remembered LJ.

Out of the.. 5 times I left home so far, this was the worst hands-down. This morning I couldn't even wake up; my head was buzzing and I felt extremely sick and upset; due to the excitement. Drove a bit for the last time, ate a measly bowl of pasta and just.. stared into nothingness while mum and dad packed for me, and I just stood there staring and not saying anything cos I knew that if I'd spoken I'd just break down, and.. I couldn't. So then after everyone left my room I kinda closed myself in the dark for a wee cry..

..which was interrupted my mum wondering why I was sitting in the dark, and ended in both of us trying to convince each other to be strong whilst crying our hearts out. And then, for the last 3 hours the tears didn't stop; I looked at my sister, my mother, my father, and tears rolled down and down, and I felt sicker and sicker.

The airport.. was horrible. People came to see me off but I couldn't even acknowledge them; I clung to my mum like a clam; I needed to be near her, needed to feel her and touch her and I desperately wanted her to stroke my head and promise me it was all going to be okay, but we both knew she couldn't do that; it would only make things worse.

I couldn't stop hugging her and Sara and dad. As I said, I didn't acknowledge the rest; I'm sorry for that, but.. but my family. I miss them. And right now, with 6 hours to spare in Luton till I catch my next plane, and the bus, and the train.. I need them. I need someone here with me; I need my mother's voice, and I need to cry my heart out.

Sadness was never this painful, was it?

PS: Flight was very turbulentey. Been here for an hour now.. and still feeling really really sick and upset and all confused. Eh.