This Week.

I havent' written anything for ages for a few reasons... I haven't had anything to say being the main one, but I am aware that that hasn't stopped me before! I haven't had much time this week to do anything, we've been really busy (revision AND partying I promise!) and also because I don't think anyone misses it when I don't write and I mostly do it for myself anyways. I like writing things down, they always make so much momre sense when they are written. So I write a private journal, a blog, and many many lists of the things that I have to do! I have two main lists going... one in a notebook where I write 'useful' stuff, deadlines, shopping lists, house details etc. And the other list goes on my arm. People are always surprised when they see that I write 'to do' lists on my arm... at this very moment is written: 'NE1 MARY's LIBRARY 12.45 A10 M Thompson, Thurs 10th'. It all makes sense to me and I wonder why people are so surprised because to me, my arm is the perfect place to write things that I need to do because I don't lose my arm and I do lose paper, and also because I can't help looking at my arm, and when I write lists on paper sometimes I forget to look at them! So there you go, that was a useful insight into my mind. I got a bad rash in 6th form from writing on my arm every day! So now I do take it easy!

I'm not talking about exams. I've spent something like 7.5 hours in the library this weekend and I actually feel like it has taken a little piece of my soul that I will never get back. It's so quiet in there, all you can here is a clock ticking... and occasional shuffle... a muffled cough... the crackle of papers.... a quiet thud of a book on a table... the clock ticking... it gets louder and louder and louder and soon seems to be coming from inside your own head. It's terrifying and I hate it but I have to go there because I don't get any work done at home, there is so much to distract me! And I don't have the longest concentration span!

Speaking of terrifying things. Is anyone else petrifyed of Mrs Rochester. (oooh that was spooky, the sun was shining bright into my room and then when I typed her name it all went dark and overcast) I think that Mrs Rochester is one of the most frightening fictional characters ever ever ever created. We watched Jane Eyre last night and scared ourselves daft. I had to go to sleep with the light on again. I think it's because she is a real person, and her madness causes her to do terrible things, like set her husband's bed on fire. It's the fact that it could actually happen. Monsters and made-up baddies aren't as scary if you can convince yourself that they are not in anyway real. But madness seems like it could be real. And the way they film it doesn't help, that you don't see her until the final episode and a couple of times the camera is behind her head as she is looking out of a window and all you can see is a little bit of her hair and hear her breathing... it's terrifying!!!! The thought of being watched like that, by a madwoman makes my skin crawl!!!

Anyways, enouogh of this ramble! I really really really need to get up because I have about 35mins to shower, dress, eat, read over something and leave the house. Good luck Kat.
Bye bye.

I HAVE PURPLE HAIR!

ha ha. tell me what you think!

More boringness.

I should be getting to sleep now, I'm still tired from Friday night when I only got about 4 hours of sleep. (Bloody wine). But yeah, I don't want to sleep, so I'm playing on the internet. You know the usual, myspace, facebook, email, youtube, ebay, random google searches... I have a fun life.

Back in Durham now though. I have to say I'm not massively excited about this term, but them who is? We have exams and I don't understand most of my course. Woo yeah revision is going to be a barrel of laughs. But then we get time after exams to chill out and I can't complain, this is why I came to university! And it really is good to be back again in that I was getting fed up at home and work was getting tedious. Though I had fun on Friday singing Disney songs and getting the kids to guess which film it was from. They were surprised I knew as many as I did. Hee hee.

It's also nice to be back in Greencroft again. Fun and games already... we have no food. And when I say no food I mean no food. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. Last night we had sausage sandwiches for tea, I had a piece of toast for breakfast and Ffion managed to concoct something with mince, baked beans and red wine for lunch. Tea was ryvita and philadelphia and now if you open the fridge this is all you will see: margarine, fresh coffee, a little bit of milk and philadelphia. Welcome to the life of a student. At home our fridge is always so full stuff drops out when you open it! But tis ok, tomorrow we have the lovely tesco man coming with lots of yummy food so it will all be fine! I'm just hoping there's not going to be any delays! I might have breakfast at Tim's tomorrow!

There's lots to look forward to this week. Studio on Tuesday. Yeah for the cheese and the drunken students. Hhhmm. But then cocktail party for Nicola and Ffi on Wednesday which will be amazing, and I get to wear my lovely cocktail dress again. Yay. A meal for Ffi on Thursday and Tim and I are going to see some people from church on Friday. Forget exams, this is what life's all about. Yeah right!

Aaaannnnyyyyyway. This really is boring. I am aware of the fact that I have nothing to write about, but it's kids of theraputic for me! I hope anyone/everyone is ok.Smile.

xxx

This Week.

Hello. Long time no post. But as you will very soon find out, I really do have nothing to write about. Not even any deep and meaningful thoughts to bore you with. So why am I writing now you may well ask! Well, I'm bored so if I am then I thought I'd damn well make sure that anyone who reads this is too. Ha ha.

This last week has been so unbelievable uneventful I was considering doing something really shocking just to make sure I really am awake. I've been working all week and apart from the usual rude kids, a few lovely ones, some scotch pancakes, too much ironing of those stupid plastic bead things, and a kid throwing up infront of me... I've really done nothing at all.

Oh actually, that's a lie. On Tuesday Tim and I met up with some school friends we haven't seen for ages. Two of them being our friends Matt and Lydia who are getting married in 3 months. That seems crazy to me. I am so so happy for them, they are lovely and will be so happy together. The invited us to go stay with them in London next year which will be fun. We went to a really lovely little 'tavern' called the Old Bell that does loads of different local beers (ha ha I just typed bears by mistake and it make me laugh) and my favourite Adderstones or Alderstone or something-stones cloudy cider. Yummy yummy.

O have just managed to force my porridge brain to concentrate for 2 hours on Adelaida García Morales' novel El Sur and all the theoretical rubbish that goes with it. We have to look into a feminist reading of it and it irritates me so much. The 'Electra Complex' and how she desires to marry her father and wants to kill her mother, apparantly she is trapped in a something-or-other society that has dictated that she be some type of person when she should be another.... yeah you can tell I reall took it all in can't you. I don't care it's stupid. The political reading is much more interested and more believable. I hate feminists. I'm all for equal rights and fair treatment and all that jazz, but seriously it goes too far. Man can't do or say anything without the feminists jumping on it and claiming they're being repressed.

Anyway, sorry about the rant! I'm now listening to the Evanescence album The Open Door that I bought the other day and am completely obsessed with! My favourites are Lithium and Good Enough. I love songs that say the way that I am feeling/thinking. It's back to the Big Cheese that is Durham on Saturday for a fun filled exam term. Yay for me. Ooh but mum bought me some of the HP brown sauce that is 'honey woodsmoke' or something fancy. I am so addicted to it, in fact I think I might open it now and have it on my salad sarnie for lunch. Oooh thinking about it has made me all excited. Small things.

Well, congratulations if you got to the end of this. If my blog comments are anything to go by I know full well that only about 2 people will make it this far. If you're in Durham I'll see you soon. If you're not then I won't. Genuis Kat.

Bye.

An update for anyone interested. No-one then!

So. This week so far has been 'rivetting'. I hope you all get sarcasm when it's written.
Oh, actually, Monday was a pretty good day. Tim and I went for a walk between Riply and Hampsthwaite (I have just realised I have no idea how to spell that) which was lovely, but we got abit scared of the nosey cows in a field. I know they're not violent or anything, but they are pretty big! There were lots of tiny tiny lambs too which were so sweet and still all wobbly when they ran. And Tim got very excited by the grouse type bird thing. He is strange.
Then in the evening the whole family trooped round for a meal and some fun and games. Literally. We are so unbelievably noisy together, I was laughing with my aunt that if anyone tried to transcribe conversations that we have together it would look such a mess because we all talk at once! Well, anyway, we played a game called 'Spot the Intro' which turned out to be hilarious. It's a 'guess the song' game with different rounds... 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, film and tv, nursery rhymes, different instruments etc. We won the first game yeah! I actually did really well on the 80s round! lol. But got very annoyed that I couldn't remember Cindy Lauper's name. Very irritating when I almost had it!

So Monday was fun. Tuesday... not so fun. I was down to work 7.30am-6pm. That is a long time with only 2 ten minute breaks! We were really quite so I actually finished at 5 which wasa great. And apart from being long and tiring, it certainly wasn't a horrible day. I scored 5 goals in my first ever football match. I'm not joking, I don't think I've ever played football before. Admittedly it was against a bunch of 8 year olds, but it made me feel good! And we watched Madagascar which is actually really funny! I'd never seen it before and the kids were laughing at me getting all involved with the story! When I got home last night I was knackered so after tea I got into bed and watched 3 hours of Scrubs. Perhaps not the best use of time but I couldn't face doing anything productive!

And now I've just managed to force myself to do an hour of work. It took alot I'm telling you, I wish I could just conjour up motivation from thin air but I can't and it makes me feel bad like I'm taking this all for granted. I know how fortunate I am to be able to go to uni, and to be in a good one like Durham. I know I should be making the most of this, there are so many people who would give anything to be in my position. I do care about it, I do want to do well, but sometimes it's hard to get perspective and I just want to live in the here and now without thinking about the future. I don't know what I'm going to end up doing anyway and so sometimes it feels like I'm working my ass off for no reason. Or not working my ass of as the case me be at the moment.

My brother got the Scrubs soundtrack so I'm listening to that now, it's really good! I'll put it on my mp3 player soon so I can listen to it on my way to work this afternoon. I hope it's all nice kids in this afternoon, I am so not in the mood to deal with the horrid ones. Though maybe it would be good to have a good yell at something! And it's Tim's birthday tomorrow, I should get him a present...... ha ha. I'm not that rubbish!

Bye.

On the subject of chocolate...

... I have just discovered on the Stop the Traffik website, a guide to which brands of chocolate are 'traffik free', in other words can guarantee that no trafficked labour has been used in its production even if it might not say on the wrapper. Have a look, I was surprised...

http://www.stopthetraffik.org/chocolateDownloads/chocolate_guide.pdf

Also, do look at the Stop the Traffik website, there is lots and lots of information. www.stopthetraffik.org.

Cheers.

It matters.

Have you ever heard someone talk about something that makes them really really excited? I know I tease him, but when Tim talks about his course, especially when it's something that he hadn't understood and then it all clicks, I love to hear the excitement in his voice and the way his eyes light up. In reality I don't think it matters too much if people understand him, or are interested too, what matters to him is that he can convey something that makes him passionate. I can think of lots of other examples too, this is just a small one and of course I know that Tim gets passionate about lots of other bigger issues than a mathematical concept but that was an example that I thought of.

People who know me well will know that I can get very excited and passionate about social issues such as Fairtrade, Stop the Traffik, the environment, ethical clothing. Maybe it bores you to hear me talk about it over and over, maybe it makes you feel guilty that you don't care enough, maybe it excites you too to do something about the horrendous state of living that the majority of the world have to deal with. Whatever you think about the whole thing, please please read this post because this matters. Not just to me, not just to a few others, but this matters to the whole world. This matters to real people. This is a matter of life or death. Probably death.

A few weeks ago in church I was asked to read a prayer. The prayer was the story of a young 15 year old girl from Bangladesh called Sabina. She was abducted and taken away from her family by traffickers who smuggled her into India and sold her as a prostitute. Every day men took advantage of her, they used to tie her with ropes and beat her. Eventually she managed to escape and is now back in her village in Bangladesh, but is shunned by her people because of the stigma attached to prostitution. I stood at the front of the church holding a big metal chain as a symbol of the slavery in the world today and I do not exaggerate when I say that I could not get through that passage without crying. I had to pause so many times and it took so much effort to say the words. Saying the words made them real and it breaks my heart to know that our beautiful world is one of fear and loathing to so many people.

There are so many stories like this one. And so many ways of finding out about children like Sabina. Try these websites for more information... www.stopthetraffik.org, www.tearfund.org
This should not be happening. I know you've heard it before, but 200 years ago William Wilberforce started a movement that led to the abolishment of slavery and it was a huge achievement and move forward for humanity. What a terrible thing it is then, that so many hundreds of thousands more people today are still slaves. Children are trafficked into prostitution, illegally forced labour, the drugs market, forced to become soldiers. I found out recently that over 50% of the chocolate produced in the world comes from forced labour. Slavery. You are eating chocolate Easter eggs that are made in slavery. Think how many people refuse to buy eggs from battery hens because it's cruel. Well, how much worse then is chocolate made by 'battery children'? I saw a poignant poster last week that read "All children love Easter eggs. Except the ones who are forced to make them."

There is so much that we can do to stop this. And knowledge is the beginning. Ignorance is no excuse and it certainly is not bliss. We, as the rich 'north' have all the means and resources at our fingertips and I know I could never forgive myself if I didn't care enough to find out. And act. Stop the Traffik sends petitions to the government. Sign one, it's on the website you don't even have to pay for a stamp. Fairtrade makes chocolate. So it's more expensive... what matters to you? Children's lives or stretching your bank balance as far as it will go? I saw on the news the other day that Topshop has started a fairly traded clothing line called Global Mamas and it is more expensive but initiatives like this will only follow through with consumer support and power. You know what I'm trying to say. Find out which companies are known to be unethical and don't buy from them. We have so much power with our money and there is no excuse for not using it wisely. All you have to do is a simple google search and so much information is right there in front of you.

In 2000 world leaders promised to half world poverty by 2015. This year is the half way point and May 20th is Blow the Whistle Sunday. If you're a Christian then God has given us a challenge which is written in the Bible: 'act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God'. Do you yearn for justice? Do you want mercy and freedom for the world? Are you humble enough to change the way you live to do something about it? Does any of what I've said, and what other people say on this matter touch something inside you? This is not just about Christians being 'nice people'. This is about fighting for our world. Fighting for all those millions of people we will never meet but by our actions we can either keep in slavery, or release to the life of freedom that they deserve.

I know that I 'bang on' about things like this. You know why? Because they matter. People matter to me and I constantly wish there was something more that I could do. But one thing I know for sure, slavery was abolished once, the government approved it. It can be done again. Help me and thousands of other people around the world to do it again. The only reason Wilberforce succeeded last time was because people fought with him.