The joint birthday dinner

This evening, I'll be attending a joint birthday dinner. One of my Access friends had his birthday the other day and mine is also this month; while today is not either of our birthdays, we chose this evening to have the meal.

With us will be at least two other of our friends from Access; I don't know if anyone else is coming but as far as I'm aware, it will just be four Access people in attendance.

Goose Fair 2017

The Goose Far is an annual fair held here in Nottingham; it is a famous fair and is reported to have started in the 1200s. Before the 1920s the Goose Fair was held in the market square but moved to the Forest Recreation Ground due to reconstruction of the square.

For the first time in the years I've been here, I attended the fair; I went with three of my housemates. While I didn't go on any of the rides, I did purchase a burger and chips from one of the stands. I also encountered a friend from Pre-Access whom I'd not seen since the days of that course. It was a festive atmosphere and I fully intend to attend it again.

A missed post

After many years of blogging, despite many close shaves in that time, I'd never missed a day of posting. Then came yesterday - the first day since I started on which I did not post. What happened?

Nothing terribly serious. I was with a college friend in the morning and with another college friend in the afternoon. The latter friend is going to Lincoln University this weekend, so to celebrate we went to the new Krispy Kreme donut shop in the Victoria Centre and after that, we went to the pub for drinks. The sugar from the hot chocolate I had in the morning, plus the donuts plus the cocktails combined with my lack of a proper lunch and enough water caused me to have a headache. When I got home, I rested and ate but then went to bed, thus missing making a post.

So, yeah, I was out celebrating and then had a headache. Not too much of a big deal; the headache, which I overcame fairly quickly, was a small nuisance given that I'd had a great day preceding it.

US Independence Day 2017

In the past, I've written a small post on this day to commemorate the United States' Independence Day. To be honest, this year it's hard to celebrate the day seriously when the current president and those around him are in the process of restricting freedoms for the everyday person, enriching their corporatist friends and generally making a mockery of the United States itself in the eyes of the world.

Worse yet, supporters of this current administration still don't care about any of this provided that it hurts other people and not them. For them, it's about vindictively undoing everything that President Obama achieved and getting revenge on the people who elected him. The slogan to "Make America Great Again" has always been nothing more than a rallying cry said revenge - it's a shame the president's supporters don't see that or don't care to see it.

Still, Happy Independence Day. May the values that truly make America great make a speedy return to the White House.

US Mother's Day 2017

For the first time in three years, I was able to spend US Mother's Day with Mum. As with UK Mother's Day, my missing it the past two years has been down to her being in Northamptonshire and my being up here in Nottinghamshire. Now that she and my brother are up here, we can spend it together again.

As for what we did, we walked to the Rushcliffe Country Park in Ruddington and back and later had dinner together.

The eighth term - done

The end of my first year at university's second term occurred today; to celebrate, I was with a few of my mature students friends in the city centre at a pub and have only just returned to Clifton. I have roughly two and a half weeks time off if two bank holidays are included, which occur after the break ends.

Once again, I achieved 100% attendance for my timetabled sessions, which makes this term my eighth academic term in a row in which my attendance has been 100%. Assuming I do not decide to go for a Master's degree, I have now achieved 100% attendance in a majority of the fifteen terms I will serve at college and university.

And now for the break!

Mother's Day 2017

I visited Mum and my brother for a couple of hours this afternoon, seeing that it was Mother's Day here in the UK. It was an unannounced visit, as I wanted to surprise Mum with my presence. Her gift was a bar of white chocolate, as that is her favourite type of chocolate.

This Mother's Day is also the first Mother's or Father's Day during which I've spent at least some time with Mum since Dad died.

St. Patrick's Day 2017

For what I think is the first time ever, a friend has invited me to their St. Patrick's Day party. I am on the Navy 3 bus there now, so that's where I'll be tonight. It'll certainly be something new for met.

New Year's Day 2017

I've just come back from my mother's and brother's house, as I spent the day down at theirs to celebrate the new year. I hope you had fun NYE celebrations and I wish you all a happy new year. Good luck for 2017 and beyond.

Night of the "Nottingham Post"

It's here - the night of the Nottingham Post award ceremony has arrived. For this ceremony, I have invited a friend from each of my two courses at Central; I only had a short space of time to invite people and a classmate from each course seemed most appropriate. Unless at Central's internal ceremony, at this one I won't find out if I've won until the announcements are made at the event itself!

...and now for another!

I'm on my way to another birthday event...my own! My birthday isn't today but it's this month and today was the best day on which to hold a birthday meal. This event is an afternoon one and friends I met while at Central are who have been invited.

One birthday party to attend this month...

This evening, I am out attending a friend's birthday party. His birthday was at least a week ago but it was better timing for him to hold his party today. Essentially, it's just a meal at a Chinese restaurant, with a few of his friends and family.

Diwali celebration

Today is the Hindu celebration called Diwali, the "festival of lights". My two Indian housemates tonight invited my other two housemates, some of the residents of the other houses and me to celebrate with them. The celebration involved the gathering observe our Hindu friends partake in their prayer (although I was invited by one to participate myself, which I did) and then we had a small meal afterwards.

My Indian housemates said it meant a lot to them that we had joined them, as they are thousands of miles away from their families back home, with whom they would usually be celebrating. I was happy to take part in their celebration and I understood how they felt, given my own time abroad.

An article about me

Well, would you look at that? A major local paper featured an article about me:

http://www.nottinghampost.com/student-who-was-home-schooled-in-america-nominated-for-post-s-student-awards-2016/story-29788068-detail/story.html

I was informed yesterday by a lady I know in Central's marketing department that the Nottingham Post might be running an article about an award I've been nominated for; however, I was anticipating a small mention rather than a whole article that took up a whole page!

This is the third award I've been nominated for because of Central. The first was the college's own Access Student of the Year Award, which I've already won and will collect next month; the second was the Association of Colleges' Student of the Year Award, although my name did not advance to being shortlisted; now, my third is this one - an award external to the college but local to Nottingham!

Even if I don't win this third award, being nominated and having an article written about me are both rewarding enough on their own.

July 4th, 2016

It's the 4th of July, which means it's America's birthday. Happy birthday, America! You're now 240 years old! Don't look a day over 190, although that could be because no new states have been admitted since 1959. Still, looking great for the mid-200s!

A college evening meal

I went out this evening with college friends for for a meal. We all had a delightful time and enjoyed ourselves. I'm on my bus back now and thought I'd type this up before midnight.

Two tasks for tomorrow follow-up

My post about having two tasks to complete? The tasks were indeed addressed; one was to write the music award post and the other was to write some e-mail. Both were finished on time, as were some other things I needed to do that day. Hooray for small achievements - they help lead to bigger victories!

Party and reunion

What was intended as both a re-union of students from my first college course and a gathering for my English teacher this afternoon morphed into a celebration of my birthday. My classmates and teachers had gifts, cards and even a homemade cake for me, none of which I expected but all of which I deeply appreciated, nevertheless. I enjoyed a lovely time with my classmates, former and present, and everyone else enjoyed the occasion, too. I could not have asked for a better party.

This was the meal I ordered: An "All-American Burger", which consisted of cheese, pulled pork and a burger patty between a Krispy Kreme doughnut. Delicious!

July 4th, 2015

Happy birthday, America; 239 years old and still counting; 239 seems like a nice, healthy age to be.

As for my day, I appeared to have a cough and a minor sore throat in the morning but I shook it off over the course of today. I went for a long walk this afternoon and my grandfather cooked a huge batch of sausages. Loads of them!

Hope everyone else had a pleasant 4th of July.

Father's Day 2015

"Cherish the people closest to you while you can. There will come a time when they are no longer around - the days of being able to talk to and laugh with them will be gone, never to return. When that day comes, regret over missing moments is not a feeling with which one wants to be consumed. Build as many great times as possible and remember them forever.

Happy Father's Day."