New Life Sooooooooooon

Thought I'd treat you to a cute (old) picture of Derek & me:)

Dear all (don't know why I write all as I am quite sure there's only 2 of you;)),

I've started packing my stuff... There is quite a lot of it... I've taken all the pictures from the walls, so my room now looks like I've just moved in. How on EARTH is all my stuff going to fit in a Fiesta...? Fingers crossed! I can't wait:).

I was hoping that I could tell you that I spent the past weekend partying, but I didn't... Instead I slept, cleaned, washed, packed. No one had time to party with me apparently:'(. Was really disappointed, but managed not to get angry with anyone. I did meet up with my cousin Ivy and her boyfriend Maurice on Saturday, which was great! They had been on a road-trip through Scotland and were in Glasgow for a day and night. We went for dinner at Cottiers, which was ok, though the food was slightly disappointing. I actually wanted to go to The Bothy or Stravaigin 2, but both, and another 4 restaurants, were fully booked...

Apart from that I did nothing much. I started in Women in Love by DH Lawrence, and that was about it really.

Tonight it's my last book club meeting. We read Trumpet by Jackie Kay, which I highly recommend to everybody. It is about a black trumpet player from Glasgow, Joss Moody, who, after his death, turns out to be a woman. He lived like a man, and his adopted son thought all this time that he was a man, as did everybody else (apart from his wife). The book is about how his son, wife, close friends and also the authorities deal with the news. This might sound like a very odd plot, that could potentially be very controversial, but it's not. What the book is really about is love, and that in the face of love all the above doesn't matter. The book doesn't attempt to explain why Joss lived like a man; the book and the characters in the book, simply move to accept it. I loved the voices in the book, the way it made the story seem totally believable, and its compassion. I miss it since I finished:'(. Give it a go: it will touch you.

Hope you're all well. I will keep you updated on my adventures in Cambridge:)!

Love,

NEW JOB

Dear all,

I will be starting my new career as an Assistant Registrar at Wolfson College, one of Cambridge University's colleges, in September. Only 1 month to go!!!

I went for 3 interviews and got offered the above role. It is great: great college, great pay (I wont say how much, but it is nearly 5000 pounds a year more than I currently make;)!), great benefits, great responsibility, great opportunities:). I will be cycling into work, and I will have access to a free gym: I am going to be mega-fit;). This might however be somewhat counteracted by the fact that Derek and me love cooking and eating, drinking, and eating out...

I spent the past few days in Cambridge with Derek. It was lovely:). The wee house is fab, and Cambridge is just lovely too. The whole quintessentialy English surroundings and atmosphere take some getting used to, but you can hardly complain that it is "too pretty", or that there are "too many flower-baskets and punts", can you? Cycling along the river is something I look forward to, and maybe learning how to punt also.

Hope you are all happy and well:).

Love,

No Explore Learning Job

And the answer was NO!!!!!!!! :'(

I have an interview with Wolfson College on 27th though:), for a position as an assistant registrar. Sounds like a nice job:). Am tryin gto arrange as many interviews for that Thursday and the Friday as I can.

Job anyone?

Love you all,

Mariken

Aparently I am all for electoral reform:

Electoral Reform

Key: FPPTP = First Past the Post; AMS = Additional Member System; SYV = Single Transferable Vote; JAV+ = Jenkins Alternate Vote Plus; PLS = Party List System; CC = Cellular Constituencies. For explanations of these systems, please read the electoral reform FAQ. For more information about electoral reform in general, visit the Electoral Reform Society or Make My Vote Count.

FPPTP -23
AMS -8
	STV 6
JAV+ -21
	PLS 39
	CC 46

You should support: Cellular'>http://www.whoshouldyouvotefor.com/index.php?s=content&p=erfaq#cc">Cellular Constituencies (CC). Each voter casts a single vote for a party with the number of seats in the House of Commons a party wins being directly proportional to its share of the vote. The country is split into constituency cells for each party, their size dependent upon the number of MPs the party has, and the local parties within these cells select the candidate to represent them. Every voter therefore has an MP representing their area from a party for which they have voted. CC is certain to deliver coalition governments.

Take the test at Who Should You Vote For

Are you?

Xxx

Explore Learning

Dear all,

I am THROUGH TO THE NEXT ROUND:)!!!!!!!!!

Let you know how things go.

Love you all!

Xxx Mariken

Catalonia & Job Hunting

Dear all,

Sorry you haven't heard from me in a LLLOOONNNGGG time... I've been extremely busy hunting for jobs and I was on holiday in Catalonia June 3-17.

My holiday with Derek in Tarragona and Barcelona was absolutely wonderful. It was just what I needed after a horrible time at work.

In Tarragona first of all was lovely. A small city that is built on the ruins of the second city of the roman empire. Amazing history, ruins everywhere, a beautiful cathedral. Our apartment was nice, though basic. The only problem was that it was situated right next to the cathedral, in the middle of the old town. A perfect location one might say, but it also meant we had to endure bells every 15 minutes all day and night. On the hour the bells were really loud, and after two broken nights we decided to sleep with ear plugs. Apart from that it was perfect. Below the apartment for instance was out favourite restaurant, La Cuca Fera, where they served lovely Catalonian food with a modern twist; we ate there three times out of seven and one night we even got some drinks on the house:)! Every day we had a lunch of nice bread, meats, olives, salad and a bottle of rose and every night, bar one, we went out to dinner. Healthy living;)! All the roman ruins were impressive, and I especially liked the houses that were built into the roman (!) wall and that were still being lived in even now. The cathedral was my favourite place to visit; quiet and amazingly beautiful. The inner courtyard was especially lovely. My least favourite thing was probably going to the beach; too much sand;)! I would recommend Tarragona to anyone that wants to combine culture with relaxation: lovely:).

Then we went to Barcelona for something totally different. The journey was easy, especially as our apartment was very close to the Sagrada Familia and therefore very easy to find. We could see it from out wee balcony:)! We were met at the apartment by Olivier, who showed us round and told us what places we had to visit etc. We also asked him for the best restaurants and he gave us a list of 7 (!), with type of food, prices and what time to be there. Just what we needed;P! Over the week we tried to see many things, but did not try to see everything (definitely not enough time). My favourite things were the outside of the Sagrada Familia, the Miro museum and the roof of La Pedrera (another of Gaudi's masterpieces). The old part of the city is also very nice for strolling, with all its wee streets. I love how in Mediterranian inner cities there are still normal people living there; the washing hanging out etc. The restaurants were an experience in itself: the ones Olivier told us to go to were cheap, but at the same time the food was amazing and the interior suggested class and style. The only down side was that it was served very very fast, in order for them to make enough money of course. These restaurants were so popular that most of them has queues outside even before opening time (!). But our favourite was of a very different caliber, a restaurant called Meson David in a less touristy part of the city. On the outside, and indeed on the inside, it looked a bit shabby, but we decided to brave it. The waiter was fabulous; really friendly and chatty despite the fact that he only spoke Catalan and we didn't have much of a clue of what he was talking about. He seemed impressed that we managed to eat a (HUGE) starter, and a main and Derek also managed a desert. His main, a leg of pork, was just amazing. I'm not a pork fan generally, but it was beautiful, and the meat fell off the bone and melted in the mouth. Mmmmmm:).

As you can tell from the above I had a great holiday:). If you are wondering: yes I gained some weight;). The food is always one of the highlights of my holiday and Catalonian food is definitely lovely.

And the there was the going back to work... Not good... Especially as Derek moved to Cambridge on Friday morning...:'( The atmosphere at work is really quite horrible. Lots of people have already left as well. It is really quiet and people are not terribly cheerful. It just makes coming to work really hard, and because of the whole situation I just cannot enjoy my job very much. I am really ready to leave; my official redundancy date is September 5th, and I get £1300 if I do stay till that date. Realistically £1300 would last me about a month and a half though, so just finding myself a job now would be a lot easier. I have been applying like mad, and I had an interview with Explore Learning (again, see September 2005) on Thursday. I think it went well, but today (Tuesday and you're supposed to hear within three days) I still haven't heard anything. I will give Kate (the HR manager) a call this afternoon if there is still no word after lunch. Fingers crossed that I will now only receive invitations to interviews rather than rejection letters...

Derek is doing well in Cambridge. The wee house is apparently bigger than he remembered, and work (after one introduction day anyway) seems nice too. He will mostly do reading over the coming months, and work is quite flexible when it comes to hours etc. I will go visit him sometime soon for a (short...) weekend.

Hope you're all well! If you know anyone in Cambridge who is looking for a bright individual to join their company, please let me know!

Love,

This explains a lot

Apparently (do disregard the spelling and grammar mistakes, they are not of my making):

You Are Kermit

Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know.You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems.Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green.Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies!

The Muppet Personality Test

Am I less smart than someone with an engineering degree?!

Dear all,

I had a bit of a breakdown Saturday night while on the phone with Derek. I was really calling to support him, as he is so busy with his exams, but instead I talked incessantly about myself... I know: it's appalling. It seems I just needed to release something that has been in the back of my mind for months.

We discussed, or rather I ranted, about how worried I am about finding my dream job. This whole reorganisation stuff is doing my head in and the thought of having to go through the whole CV-sending, cover-letter writing and interviewing again scares me. I obviously do not want to stay in this job anyway, so you might wonder why I got upset. The thing is that I find the 'real' world a less than fun place to be, and working every day is not something I particularly enjoy and due to past experience and experience in this job I feel terribly insecure about what my knowledge, or rather qualifications, can bring me. I want a job I feel good about, as we all do!

Arts graduates are, and I am not just speaking for myself, extremely under-prepared for the 'real' world; for the amount of hard work that goes into finding a good job, the amount of time you'll need to spend in a not so good job, the humiliation of some interviews. Derek, in contrast, knows exactly what to expect and has been prepared for work in numerous lengthy placements. So on the one had I would champion a more practical approach even in Arts degrees, but on the other hand I see disappearing before me the reason why Universities were founded originally: the quest for knowledge. University used to be about knowledge, not about practical experience. What I have learnt at University has been very valuable and I feel that I have a lot to bring to future employers, the problem is that they don't seem to see it. Every time I have an interview I feel like I have to defend not having done something more practical, something that would have prepared me for the job market.

And then I wonder; would I have made different choices had I known what the 'real' world is like? Would I have studied Law or maybe Journalism, or would I have done Teacher Training after all? I frankly don't know. I used to answer this question with a definite NO, because I enjoyed what I did so much, more so I sometimes think than people who have done more practical subject. And I feel sad if I hear people speak about doing a certain degree because it will get them a good job. But then I see the people around me at work, quite a few of which have a similar background to mine, and they are still here after years and years. I think that they/we don't deserve this. We can do so much better and can be such valuable assets to companies. Of course I am not suggesting this job is totally dumb and invaluable, in fact I think we do a fairly important job, but I know most of us don't enjoy it as much as we could if we received more respect for the knowledge we have.

Of course Derek suggested that I should not let what I do now, or how I think employers view me, determine how I feel about myself and my achievements, and he is right. And I do know that I did a great job, but I miss the acknowledgement that I was expecting to receive. Of course it is still early days, and this is only my first job, but I know it will be hard also in the long run.

And so I ask you: what are your thoughts on this. Is it a good thing that more and more university graduates come out of uni prepped for a job? Or are we losing something very valuable? I am curious to find out what you think.

I will not give up, and I will find that amazing job:)! I promise!

Back soon!

Love,

Reorganisation my ARSE (excuse my language)...

Dear all,

The week before last we received some news from Lenovo. They are 'reorganising', which means they will be cutting at least 1/3 of the work force In Greenock and move most of it to Eastern Europe... YEAH. This is all apparently due to 'world wide economic conditions' (ie the big bosses are not making enough money).

Last week Lenovo employees (I'm actually employed by Adecco) heard the numbers. In our department only 13 out of the 57 Lenovo employees will stay... So that looks pretty bad for us... We hear the numbers today. I am nearly 100% sure we will all go. We won't hear who goes and who stays until on or after June 15th. The employer has to have a consultation period of 3 months by law, and they abuse this to force us to wait all this time for news of what the future holds. I think this is terribly unfair, especially as they will hardly have to give me any notice at all; less than the one month that is in my contract, because they are making me redundant. On the other hand I do have to give Adecco 1 month notice if I happen to find a better job right now! It's ridiculous.

I have been talking with Derek about it, and we have come to the conclusion that the best thing to do is probably go down to Cambrige immediately once I lose my job. I'm still hoping this will be around November or something, because that would give me a year of experience on my cv, and Derek some space for himself, but if it's earlier than that I will just go. We'll just have to wait and see!

This weekend Derek and me went looking for holidays. Turns out out idea of one week Spanish coast and one week Barcelona is probably not possible within our budget (mine can be no more than £500...). The lady in the nearest travel agent seemed to understand what sort or holiday we would like though and suggested going to a cottage or apartment in France somewhere for the full 2 weeks. That will be cheaper and if you make sure you're somewhere where there's lots to see and there's a town nearby we will still get out of the holiday what we were after. That sounded like a good idea. Looks like we might be going to the Languedoc, as it is on the south coast of France, but not as expensive as the Provence/Riviera. Hope it will be possible to book with flights rather than channel crossing, because Derek does not really fancy driving all the way down south and than driving all that way in France too. Would be easier to rent a car. Fingers crossed we find somewhere nice to go! We also went to a different travel agent to see what they come up with. I am really looking forward to going on holiday, but at the same time June comes with dread as I will hear about my job and Derek will be moving to Cambridge...

On a more positive note: we will be fine, whatever happens:)!

Lots of love,

PS Forgot to tell you I got new glasses! They're really cool Moschino ones, in red plastic:).

I break things...

Dear all,

On Wednesday, my two year anniversary, the day started really well, as I was really looking forward to the evening... but then... I decided, in all my silliness, to clean my glasses and before I knew it I had two halves in my hands. As in one glass with leg in the one hand, one in the other... ARGH! After about 5 minutes the whole office knew about it and there were loads of people searching for glue and cellotape and at least half a dozen people tried to stick them back together again. Nothing really worked... so I ended up working without glasses! I was so annoyed. Thankfully Derek is so very sweet that he will lend me the money for the glasses, and I can pay it back slowly. He's such a sweetheart:).

That evening we went to Firebird. We had a nice meal and a few drinks and chatted about everything and anything. It just felt really special. It was great to go back to the place where we had out first date:). Lovely lovely.

Yesterday I went into town to meet Fiona and Elaine. Had a quick meal in a wee Italian. Was simple but nice. I then went to Dorothy Perkins to take my lovely shoes back:'(. Didn't even have to complain, the lady behind the till simply said: "They should not have broken like that; here's your money back." Brilliant service or what?! Unfortunately £25, the money they cost me as they were 1/2 price in the sale, would not pay for a nice new pair from there... so in the end I had to go to a cheapo shoe shop to get new ones. They're really cute though; pumps with wedge heals and a wee flower on it:). Let's hope they last... Even had £10 left, which meant they also paid for my meal:)!

Work has been quite crazy, but I have been coping ok. Better than I was a few weeks back anyway. Everyone has been really helpful. I enjoy working in our team:).

I hope you're all looking forward to a nice weekend:)! I am. Doing nothing tonight and an early bed, as I'm shattered, and then Derek will arrive on Saturday and we'll go on a glasses hunt:). Keep you updated on the results! No other plans yet, just general relaxation.

Lots of love,

Beautiful

Dear all,

I had a lovely lovely lovely weekend:).

On Friday it was the (for me much-dreaded) office party. It started at 5pm, when work finished at 4pm, so Claire gave me a tour of Greenock first. That was, well... You can imagine. It was definitely not as bad as I imagined, but still not great. The views over the river though are lovely, and it make you think that if you have to live in a horrible high-rise flat, then at least you have a great view to wake up to in the morning. At 5pm we went to Text, a local pub. Had a few beers and a nice chat with some colleagues, and a buffet which was not great, and I went home (party-pooper that I am!) at 8.40 to catch the train home. Poor, I know. It was nice for a bit, but I just didn't fancy getting drunk there... Went to the Uber Lounge in Glasgow, where I had a Cola because I was shattered and we went home with the last underground.

On Saturday evening we met Derek's parents and sister. His dad had brought a bottle of rum and coke, so we had a big (and if Billy pours it that means HUGE) rum&coke and then also a glass of pink champagne, as it was their 28th wedding anniversary. We went to No.16 for dinner. My main of venison was delicious and I also especially loved the bread (with goats cheese and rosemary, mmmmm). Of course Billy splashed out on some lovely wine too. If you've not been to No.16: goooo, especially if you have some special occasion. After that Derek's parents went home and Derek, Katie and me went to Cammy's birthday party. I really wasn't up for it, but I did not want to spoil the fun, so I went along. It's silly, because it then always takes me ages to start enjoying myself. Was disappointed in myself for being such a mope. We went to this ship, the Renfrewshire ferry, which was host to a Las Vegas themed party. Lots of people were dressed up in 40's style, which was really cool, and the music was also 40's-60's. In the end we danced our ass off and I actually really liked it:)! Maybe we'll go back sometime. Only negative: turns out my lovely wedge boots are broken, or at least one of them:(... I noticed yesterday. Thankfully I managed to find the receipt, and I'll definitely take them back. I mean they're a bit more than 2 months old and I only wear them at weekends! Keep you updated on whether I get new ones!

On Sunday we managed to get up before 12 (which for us, especially after a night out, is quite an achievement!) and we went for a fry-up (HEALTHY LIVING!). Of course this was a disappointment... The egg was scrambled rather than sunny side up (my favourite!), the sausage tasted like it contained about 1% meat and there was no fruit or black pudding, the orange juice wasn't real juice... POOR! Next time we'll just make our own, or as Derek suggested start our own all-day breakfast place;). After breakfast we took the car and drove to Loch Lomond. It was such a gloriously beautiful day:). Went for a long drive, stopped for a wee walk and went to the local, slightly shabby looking, tea room for a tea with the most delicious scones ever (honestly, if you ever get to Tarbet, go to the wee tea room behind the Tarbet Hotel: mmmmm). It was just lovely! Got home by about 6pm, had some dinner and went to bed early:). Shame I had to leave the sleeping beauty behind this morning...

On Wednesday Derek & me celebrate our two year anniversary:)! Think the plan is, despite my skintness, to go the Firebird, where we went for our first date, for a meal and a few drinks:). Or maybe we'll do something different... We just loooooovvvveee going for dinner:)!

Hope you all had a good weekend too! And if you're in the Netherlands, or the North of Scotland or indeed anywhere else where there's snow: drive carefully and enjoy it!

Love,

I'm a communist... or am I

Let's hope the American government is not scanning my blog;).

Just thought I'd let you know that according to www.stemwijzer.nl I should vote for the NCPN (New Communist Party Netherlands) if I was to vote in the Groningen council elections... Dear...

I guess most of you already knew this;)!

Love,

Stress relief

Dear all,

I had a bit of a break-down at work last week. I actually cried... dear... I know it's silly! It was a combination of feeling quite ill, hormones and two very big complaints (as in from very big companies) coming in. I just felt I could not cope. Think people forget sometimes that I have only been here for 3 months, and that I don't know everything. I always ask people to help me, but they often give me minimal information and expect me to take it from there. Me crying did help, as now everyone is a lot more helpful. Should obviously have said something earlier, rather then letting it build up like that.

Yesterday I was called into my manager's office, and he talked to me about it. He was very kind actually and explained that they ususally don't recruit people straight out of univerisity, because some business experience certainly comes in handy. He also explained that I don't have to feel bad if I feel I can't cope, and that I should just go to my team leads or collegues for help. This made me feel a lot better! Of course the job is still stressful, but I try not to take it home anymore, and I try not to let it all pile up too much.

Hope you're well too! Love you all!

Love,

Liverpool: I came I saw, I conquered

Dear all,

I had a great great time in Liverpool:)!

First of all the drive down was an adventure! Derek and me felt quite "grown up" driving all the way down in Derek's wee car and of course I did a 'brilliant' job navigating (very difficult of course, especially when it basically involves following the M6;))! We arrived around Liverpool at about 10.30pm. We tried to follow the directions Derek had printed out, but this proved more difficult than expected. We had to ask several times even when we were only trying to get to the centre of Liverpool. Of course we blame atrocious signposting (although I would suggest next time Derek listens to me, as I knew which direction to take instinctively, and this without any sense of direction whatsoever, and turned out to be correct, though of course only in hind-sight;)). After searching for about 45 minutes we finally made it to the centre of Liverpool... Unfortunately there were no signs saying "Dee's house this way", so we stopped by the side of the road and called Dee. She explained to us that we were very close and gave us directions. Somehow (and of course I blame Derek;) hehehe) we managed to take a wrong turn, we had to ask again, ended up driving through a bus-lane, and saw most of Liverpool's city centre, but finally, at about 11.45 and after talking to Dee again (who called as she was concerned that what should have taken all of 5 minutes took more than 30!), we drove into her street! YEAH! We were treated to a very warm welcome by Dee and Alan. Their flat is lovely and it is very close to the city centre and the university, which makes it ideal. Had a cup of tea and as we were all tired we went to bed.

During our stay we strolled through Liverpool, visited one of the cathedrals and enjoyed panoramic views from the top, the docks etc. It was lovely weather and I actually, despite my bad experience last time, felt very at home there. As I said to Dee and Alan, and of course not meaning to offend anyone, "it is English but not too poncy". What I meant to say is that the atmosphere is a bit like Glasgow and that the people are friendly etc. A great place to be!

One of the highlights was when we went to see portraits of monkeys in the World museum. They were huge photographs of chimpanzees, orang oetangs, gorillas and bonobo's, most of which were orphaned and saw their parents die a gruesome death, or they were abused in some other way. See http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/wml/exhibitions/facetoface/?id=0#ape for more information. I recommend it to everyone. They all looked so incredibly human. My favourite was a chimp called Katie. She has a mental illness and she just looked so scared and vulnerable and I just wanted to give her a big hug.

Another highlight was finally celebrating Sinterklaas. Was just so nice:). Should really celebrate together every year. The poems were great and the presents even better. Especially Derek's present of two left slippers;) (they have now been replaced by the cutest ever sheep slippers complete with heads and tails:)!). Dee's present was also very cute and one day I hope to play the pictionary I got from Alan with Derek... (he is 'scared' of playing any kind of games with me since a minor fall out over a game of cards... hehehehe)

On Sunday we finished our visit by going out to dinner. We went to a Greek restaurant in a slightly dodgy area. Restaurant was lovely though and the food was good too. Was a nice way to finish.

Dee had to go back to work on Monday morning and Derek and me slowly made our way home... We will definitely make this into a regular thing:).

Work has been a bit of a nightmare the past few days, and that combined with a really bad cold (I am not one to complain, but this is definitely one of the worst cold I've had in years...) has not made work much fun. I am still learning and I sometimes find that hard to accept. I still get totally stressed out sometimes, especially when dealing with huge companies where my dealings could have huge impact on the future business. It's a bit scary. I will get used to it, I know!

Looking forward to a quiet weekend with Derek. It's mainly going to be filled with watching Peep Show (no, it's not what you think!), Extras, Monty Python, and also with a lot of eating and drinking;). Lovely. Hope to go to Lochaline to see mum, Barbara and aunt Anneke the weekend after:).

Hope you're all well!

Love,

Liverpool here I come!

Dear all,

Just wanted to share with you all that I am going to Liverpool this evening:)! Derek and me will visit Dieuwerke and Alan:)! We're driving down (or rather Derek is driving down, and I am being driven down;)) tonight. Hope to arrive by about 10pm.

We'll be celebrating an extremely belated Sinterklaas, so I spent most of last night wrapping presents and writing poems. So looking forward to finally seeing Dee again and to a fun-filled weekend. I took Monday off, so on Monday Derek&me can explore Liverpool together and then slowly make out way home.

Hope you all have fun plans for the weekend too!

Love,

Bookclub

Dear all,

It looks like I may well be starting my own bookclub:)!!!

I received a reply from the Glasgow Libraries, which reads:

"Dear Mariken,

Thanks for getting in touch. Most of our groups are currently full and we are looking at starting more. It would be great if you could lead a new group in one of the libraries - is this what you have in mind, or would you prefer to have a group somewhere else? We can certainly supply copies of books for you.

If a group starts in a library, what would be your choice of library? And what would be your choice of day and time - would it be an evening?

Look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes,

Mary Greenshields
Adult Services Coordinator
Cultural and Leisure Services
The Mitchell Library"

That is such gooooood news:)! Really looking forward to getting stuck in, to reading again (I have only been reading (very good) detectives the oast 2 months), to making new friends, to doing something I LOVE!!!

That's me much happier than when I wrote the last post:). As you can tell I am not very busy at work. That's good, because it was rediculously busy on Monday and Tuesday. I deserve a wee quiet day.

Hope you're all well!

Love,

How ****ing close I got to a first...

Dear all,

I received an answer to my question concerning my degree results from Mr Alan Riach, the head of the Scottish Literature department:

"The final marks as entered and confirmed by the external examiner were: Essay 1, 18. Essay 2, 18. Essay 3, 18. Exam (Early Scot), 16, 16, 16. Exam (1700-1900), 15, 15, 15. Final exam mark: 15.5. Dissertation 18. Overall mark 17.375.
Unfortunately, the last mark falls just below the point at which it would have been rounded up. We did look at individual pieces of work and asked our external examiner to comment. The consistent mark of 18 for the essays was confirmed: 'all the work [in the essays] showed a good engagement with critical perceptions but was also individual and innovative in approach'. The external examiner also commented: 'The dissertation was also a strong piece of work. I didn't feel, however, that either the essays or the dissertation could be raised above the marks awarded.' However, the exam scripts were judged to be 'much weaker'. And as you can see, it was the exam marks that brought the overall mark down in the end."

That means I was 0,125 points away from a first!!!! AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

How annoying is that?

Anyway. I am fine. Hope you are too!

Love,
Mariken

A new, crap year

Dear all,

Sorry for the negative start to the post, but I have received some bad news concerning a family member, and also concerning a collegue of my dad's. Very bad news that I hope will turn out less bad than we all think. They are both in my thoughts. On top of that a dear family friend, to me traditionally referred to as "uncle Kees", passed away last week and the cremation is today. I am sad I cannot attend the cremation, but it would have been logistically impossible. I am there in my thoughts.

Not really the best start to a new year.

I am well thankfully. Work is going ok. I am finding it a challenge, but it has become quite clear to me, what I really already knew, that it is not the job of my dreams. Am keeping half an eye out for exciting opportunities. I do feel like I am doing a job that requires me to think and be independent, which is great. I know I should really not complain.

I had a lovely Christmas at Derek's. It was nice an quiet. Was spoilt of course;). Think everyone was happy with presents I gave them too. The best thing was of course the christmas meal:). Yummy!! Only had 2 mince pies over the holidays: have been very tempted to buy some left over ones;P! I didn't though... good me!

Hogmanay was great too. Went to the Uisge Beatha with Massuda, two of her friends and Derek. The piper was great of course at the bells. Great atmosphere in there. After we went to Simon and Kit's flat for their annual Hogmanay party. Sang Karaoke for hours:)!

New year's resolutions:
- Join the gyn and do more excercise, possibly join a sports club or go to the gym with Meena or Massuda.
- Watch less tv
- Read more
- Start a book column in a local newspaper
- Start a book club
- Join a political party
- Make more friends
- Most importantly: WORRY LESS

Wish you all a wonderful 2006!!

Love,