Samford Speaks

Where has Second Year Gone?

11/05/2012

All right, all right, I admit it. I forgot about Tumblr again. I’m not even going to make the excuse that I don’t log on because I don’t like looking at hundreds of .gif images of Harry Potter or Doctor Who any more, I just literally have been too busy to actually remember to write anything on here. And that’s kind of the point of this post, really. Where has this year gone? When I finally remembered that I have a blog that I probably should regularly update, but don’t, I logged on and scrolled down my own posts, only to notice that the one entitled Living out of a Suitcase is perilously close to the top, and it doesn’t feel like that long ago when I wrote it.

But that post was written at the beginning of my second year here, and I’m now at the end of it. Where on Earth has the time gone? Since when did I have to worry about final year projects, exams, deadlines and dissertations? Since when did I have a dissertation supervisor, and since when did the urge to hit the library so I can get work out of the way overcome the urge to make a beeline for the nearest beer-tap, brushing the ‘to-do’ pile so that it topples over on my way? It’s all fun and games being a student at first, but to anybody reading this that holds the ideology that student life is all drinking, partying, eating pot noodles for breakfast and pizza for dinner every day, you’re horribly, horribly wrong.

I don’t know how this works, but I wrote more words this week than my entire dissertation will be next year, four essays of four-thousand words all due within two days of each other. The only reason I would eat anything except take-away for dinner wasn’t because of laziness, it was more due to to exhaustion and the fact that I just didn’t have time to cook anything decent. Beyond first year, it’s not all fun and games being a student. I think that might be where my time has gone, then. It doesn’t seem like that long ago I was on my way back to Bangor, completely unsure about where I was going to live or how I was going to get through second year, and now I’ve blinked and suddenly it feels like I’m on the home stretch. Let alone Living out of a Suitcase, pretty soon it feels like I’m going to be packing my suitcase to leave again, for good.

If I’m honest about that, I’m not sure how to feel about it. Am I glad it’s nearly over? Or am I worried that I’m not sure where I’m going to go? I’m certainly going to miss a lot of people when it’s all over, which feels closer than ever. Is anyone else of the opinion that their second year has just drifted by without them noticing? 

Sam

Whoops

I realised recently that I haven’t managed to plug this on here yet, despite me plastering it across everywhere else. So here goes.

http://www.samueljsaunders.co.uk

It’s where I’m trying to make a name for myself as a journalist/writer, and you can read pretty much everything I’ve ever written professionally on there.

You know you want to click it. You definitely do. Go on. Cliiiiiiick it.

This One’s for You, Phil.

02/02/2012

So, a friend of mine recently asked why I don’t ‘tumble’ anymore, which got me thinking slightly. I guess I have neglected it recently, which I think might have something to do with the fact that I cannot tolerate Benedict Cumberbatch and his weirdly-shaped face, and think he’s the worst incarnation of Sherlock Holmes there has ever been. If I were to put the above statement on Tumblr, I get the feeling it might lead to, a) an inbox full of hate mail and possibly-serious death threats, b) the instantaneous loss of everyone who follows me on Tumblr and c) possible random attack in the street.

I also suppose the fact that I also for some reason dislike Matt Smith and Karen Gillan (although I’m no fan of Doctor Who in general, I might appreciate them as actors more in something else) would also have something to do with it. Again, a verbal attack on these, the most Godliest of actors, might lead to several convictions of GBH, and the bloody massacre of my limbs. But I will always maintain, limbs or no limbs, that there’s only so long that someone can scroll down an Internet-based shrine to the fez-topped Time Lord before it starts to get slightly tedious.

So there’s my reason for neglecting Tumblr recently, so you can imagine my surprise when said friend told me he missed my long, ranting, solid masses of text, and as such this post is therefore a salute to him, although the topic has nothing to do with him at all. I’d like to talk about something that I’ve no choice but to give a lot of thought to recently, the notion of betrayal and how it’s far too frequent in society these days.

I have to clarify something at the offset, though - anyone who knows me to any kind of degree will have immediately assumed on reading the word ‘betrayal’ that they know what exactly I’m talking about or why I’m writing this post due to some recent events, and it’s true that due to these I have felt rather let down, but in this case I’m not just talking about me, in fact some people might be glad to know I’m actually getting past it, slowly.

But by the same token it just seems that barely a day can go by without someone hearing something that’s been said about them behind their backs, or someone finding out that people they counted as close friends aren’t perhaps as close as they were before or even should be. I hear from various people “I thought they were my friend” all too often, and it’s upsetting. You can see the look of hurt and utter treachery in their eyes when they say it, and it makes me wonder how people can do it. From what I can see, relationships between friends should be beyond the material or the superficial, a fact that many people seem to forget far too quickly these days. One of the examples that springs to mind is that I am aware of people - who obviously for reasons of integrity shall remain completely nameless - who actively make an effort to hide from people that they counted as close friends not a few months ago, people that they in fact consciously chose to live with in the same property.

This isn’t fair, in fact I find it underhanded, traitorous and disgusting. People cannot just ‘drop’ friends immediately, or have a ‘change of heart’ about someone in a bare instant. If you’re friends with someone then you take them at more than just face value and you deal with some of the qualities that might perhaps not be so enticing, because overall there’s more to them than that. I don’t care how ‘sneaky’ they think they are, the victims are clearly aware of it, and I can personally testify to the fact that it makes one feel extremely alone. To be alienated by those you count as close is probably one of the worst feelings one can experience, and as I have previously mentioned it’s thrown around these days as if it has no more effect than a slight breeze on the walls of Fort Knox. Social alienation hurts. In this case, the walls of Fort Knox are a brave illusion, and the slight breeze is a hurricane.

So there you go. If you’re a good friend to me, you’ll read this and understand what I’m talking about. If you’re not my friend and actually don’t like me at all, the chances are I don’t know about it yet and still think or at least hope you’re my friend. I’m loyal to my friends, at least.

I suppose the overall message here is that being someone’s friend isn’t as pick ‘n’ mix as perhaps some people think it is, and the fact they think it is just plain wrong. Society is by no means a buffet where you can pick, choose and put things in the bin if you decide you don’t like it. Loyalty is more valuable than people think.

Oh, and Phil, I expect you to read this word for word, I’ll be testing you…  

Second Year Blues

01/12/2011

Oh look, it’s been over a month since my last post. I would normally include a huge apology for this, but since a) there’s nothing new about a huge gap in my Tumblr posts when it comes to my blog, b) the only reason I’m writing this right now is because I have again skipped a lecture that I really should have attended but haven’t because of my ruined sleeping pattern, more on this later, and I’d rather do this than do actual work and c) nobody cares how often I post on Tumblr anyway so why would I apologise for not writing on it, I’m not going to. Instead, I’m going to ignore this fact and carry on as if nothing has happened. Screw you, Tumblr.

I’m sorry. I’m in a foul mood at the moment, because of Uni. I don’t know what has happened, but it seems like everyone in my immediate social circle has a reversed sleeping pattern at the moment. I find that everyone is staying up really late, and then sleeping through lectures all day, and if I’m quite honest with myself, it’s getting quite tiresome. Contrary to the stereotype usually associated with a student, I actually quite want to go to my lectures, they’re interesting and useful. It’s therefore quite depressing that I wake up fifteen minutes after the lecture was due to start, and then swear loudly at my phone for telling me I’m late and at myself for not waking up. 

It ends here, you would think, but no. My next memory would be then waking up again fifteen minutes after what should have been the start of my next lecture of the day. I think someone somewhere is taking the mick. Today I was supposed to have a lecture at 9am, and at 4pm. I woke up at midday, and then at quarter to 4. ‘For the love of…’ said I, at my phone, angrily. 

I’m not the only one suffering from it either. I’m, at the moment, sitting in my dressing gown next to my housemate who is rolled tightly up in his duvet, with an Xbox controller in his hand, totally engrossed in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and he has consistently been doing the same for periods of over 24 hours at a time, without sleep. I asked him why he has been staying up for such long periods on Skyrim, to which he replied “I’m just not getting tired, I don’t get it”. My girlfriend has also been suffering from it, bless her heart. She said “I just don’t want to sleep” which sums it up quite nicely and succinctly. It feels like an epidemic! We’re diseased!

Again, I’m sorry. I’m not normally this miserable in my Tumblr posts. I promise my (few) readers that I’ll do a happier one next week (I have many reasons to be happy from next week. My assorted guitar parts for my custom-built guitar will start arriving in the post (updates on Tumblr to follow), it’s my birthday, and then that little upcoming thing that obviously takes a backseat compared to those other two called Christmas. Excellent.) So for now, I’m going to actually do some work for these lectures I have involuntarily missed. I’ll see everyone in Tamriel.

Living Out of a Suitcase

30/09/2011

There’s been a lot of stress about where my friends and I are going to live for second year recently, not that it’s through the fault of anyone in particular. Things just haven’t really worked out the way that we would have liked it, if we’re honest. So for the last couple of months I’ve been living in different places, out of my suitcase, staying somewhere for a brief time and then moving on to another place. If I’m totally honest, this has given me the change to appreciate the smaller things of actually having somewhere permanent to live, such as a bathroom that actually gives the occupant privacy and a shower that actually gets the user wet in any way shape or form. I’m at the moment living in a pub in Upper Bangor until next Monday, and prior to this I’ve been in a cottage in Tal-y-bont in the middle of a farm, hence the lack of Tumblr-usage. 

But, whilst this all sounds terribly inconvenient, looking back on it now the entire thing has actually been really fun. Trying too cook a barbecue (or watching your friend cook a barbecue and laughing) when the whole cottage is made of very combustible wood, screaming your lungs out at table-football (more than I would at normal football, actually) and watching the Formula 1 with your friends, feeling quite hungover and listening to the sheep outside was really enjoyable. I don’t even need to point out the main benefits of living right over an alcohol-filled pub in Upper Bangor. What? It’s right next to the Main Arts Building where all of my lectures are. I meant that. Obviously.

So when I actually think about it for a minute, whilst I am really looking forward to moving into a permanent place of residence, it’ll be so much fun to decorate my room, actually get our band going because we’ll actually have the space and we won’t need to worry about where we’ll be next week, I think I’m going to look back at this really brief period where I was almost homeless around North Wales and laugh my head off at how worried we were, and how worried we really shouldn’t have been in the first place. It’s been fun, anyway, and things normally work out in the end.

Maybe after uni I’ll pack a suitcase and just go off to another random location and see if I can find places to sleep and just enjoy life while I can. I’m not sure I could do that if it actually came down to it though, I’d miss the showers too much. 

Virgin Complaint Letter

13/08/2011

I recently had the worst journey imaginable from Warrington back to London Euston, courtesy of global corporate giant Virgin. It was such a rough journey, I wrote my first ever letter of complaint (although it’s taken me bloody ages to actually send it, I like to call it ‘delayed wrath’). I thought it might be a good idea to post the letter on Tumblr to see what people reckon before I actually send it, and also then people can read about the horrific journey Emma and I had to endure (and pay for). Here goes. 

Dear Sir/Madam, 

I write with regard to a complaint I wish to register with your company, specifically with a particular journey that I undertook from Warrington Bank Quay to London Euston, due to depart at 12:20pm on 23^rd July 2011. Unfortunately, I cannot enclose the tickets that I used on this journey, as they have already been sent to you contained within a customer feedback form. I merely wish to add to this complaint form, as I feel it had inadequate space to effectively elaborate my angst with the service that I received on this journey.

Firstly, at Warrington Bank Quay, the train itself was delayed by approximately twenty minutes due to a signalling fault. This information was not relayed over the speakers at the station, and the only reason I was aware of the cause of the delay was because of an announcement made for a delayed Arriva Trains Wales service. This was unacceptable; customers should be kept informed for the reasons for the delay to their service, a service for which they have paid. I myself spoke to another passenger on the train who informed me that he would miss his connecting train at London Euston.

Secondly, once the train actually arrived at Warrington Bank Quay, we boarded and left, only to be informed roughly five minutes into the journey that the train would now terminate at Crewe, due to a problem with the front carriage. No further elaboration was given by the Train Manager regarding the fault in question, and neither was an apology. This was both unacceptable and inconvenient, as an apology would be the first thing a delayed passenger would expect and a change of train is what most passengers on a direct service from one destination to another is exactly what they were trying to avoid by originally booking a direct service.

Thirdly, after terminating at Crewe, we were informed that we had to quickly move from platform twelve to platform five, to board a different train that would continue on to London Euston. Not only was this quite a distance from the original train, and up and down several flights of stairs with large amounts of luggage, the new train was half the size of the original, and didn’t have the capacity to seat all of the passengers. It also had minimal luggage space; it could not contain all of luggage that the passengers had brought with them. My partner and I had to cross Crewe station at a run, carrying our large amount of luggage which we had brought, expecting a train that could carry it all. It was intolerable.

Fourthly, the Train Manager informed us that there was no disabled access to the new train, and therefore we were able to use the disabled spaces normally reserved for wheelchair users as extra luggage space. Whilst this was not a problem for me personally, principally this is disgusting. Disabled access to services should be a basic condition that every train should meet, and not a condition that is dropped in favour of something else at the first sign of a problem with the service. This seriously damaged my respect for Virgin Trains.

I also feel that I must mention that an apology for the delay was given by the new Train Manager on the replacement service; however to me it seemed like too little, too late. I hope you can get back to me with a swift response to this complaint, sent to the address given above, as this issue has seriously undermined my confidence in the service that Virgin Trains can provide their customers.

Yours sincerely,

Samuel J Saunders

So that was my letter. What does everyone think? That fourth point was the bit that tipped my rage over the edge. Use the disabled spaces as extra luggage space? That’s disgusting. The train should have enough space on it for luggage and the disabled. I wish I could word my complaint in a stronger way than I already have, but if they ignore it, I’ll go out of my way to not use Virgin Trains again. Gits. 

EVERYONE REBLOG and get her CAUGHT.

your-skin-and-bones:

thatboystyles:

fuck you.

Rot in prison you thieving cow.

(Source: styles-fans, via aimeerants)