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Well, OpenHosting appeared to be down yesterday, at least when I tried to publish the last blog. How strange. Oh well.

Church this morning was good. Not much else to say, nothing much happened since last time 😉

Man, this has just been a hectic week. I don’t think I’ve spent very much time at home at all, at least not during the day. In fact, not even during the evenings! I could do a detailed update of what I’ve been up to the past few days but not much to say really.

Except that, official news: I am “seeing”, or “going out with” (or whatever term you want to use, none of them are idea really) Philippa. Just in case you hadn’t heard through other channels or anything… so yes. That’s good 🙂

Tomorrow I’m going to church in the morning. It’s Sarah’s birthday, so she’s having an open-house kind of thing tomorrow afternoon, and then I expect in the evening we’ll order a pizza and watch a film (as per usual). Also this week, I’m doing the talk at CU. I rehearsed this afternoon — it didn’t go particularly well. Still, I did feel led into doing this particular talk, and I can’t see God leading me into doing something and then deserting me on the thing itself, so I’m sure it’ll go OK — but I will be going through it again a few times over the next couple of days! I’ve also been roped into doing the theology seminar this Thursday. Add in to the equation a couple of assignments, plus my final year project, and the usual mix of lectures and I’m going to be a fairly busy bunny!

Ah well, I guess it just comes with the territory (i.e., being a third year university student.)

All for now.

I haven’t updated for quite a few days now! I’m sorry about that…

But I haven’t done that much interesting. Doing a combination of work and watching stuff. You know, all the usual. I’ve got started on my final year project… doing a bit of research and stuff. It’s all good fun (I wish…)

Today I’m going to go in for my final year project lecture, and then meet up with Philippa for a hot chocolate, then watch some League of Gentlemen with her, then come back for Fusion this evening. Fusion ought to be good! I’m really looking forward to it this year.

That’s about it for now…

Not much really. Yesterday, Cheesy Tunes was Ok. The music wasn’t that cheesy, but being with friends always makes it better! So I had a good time. Then I went to “Fuse” (NOT Spin) afterwards… when I got down there they were playing some house music, but then at 12:00 another DJ came on and played virtually a solid hour of RnB. It was crazy, I tell you!

Anyway. I didn’t get a particularly good night’s sleep, because next door were having a party. It wasn’t bad, apart from when they came outside at about 5:00… I don’t know why, presumably to say goodbye to people (because after that things went pretty quiet). So I was woken up a few times during the night — it wasn’t good! Although for some strange reason I haven’t been all that tired today. In fact, probably more awake than I usually am. Strange!

This afternoon, I went onto campus for the radio. It went well… this time, I was able to do a proper set because both decks had headshells and needles etc! Woo-hoo! So that was cool… and the CU mix went pretty well too. Gemma came up for the last half an hour (I sent her a text after seeing her walk across Square 3. Actually, Studio A is quite a good place to spy on people, most people go through Square 3 on their way to just about anywhere in the university).

Then Gemma, Phil Price and I went to Minging to get something to eat, and headed home (following Alex and Lindsey). Alex cooked food for Lindsey (and a few other people who happened to be there at the time). I didn’t have any, but apparently it was good…

And we basically watched The Office Series 2 on DVD (which conveniently arrived this morning, both me and Phil P ordered a copy) for the whole evening. Very, very funny stuff! Painfully so at times. Then Lindsey and Gemma went back to campus.

And now I’m going to bed. Goodnight!

In brief (to contrast with my previous post here…): Wednesday was my day off, so I didn’t really do much all day. Stayed around, watched a few films and stuff… yesterday I went onto campus in the afternoon to meet up with some people in Top Bar. That was a good afternoon, just spending some time with friends! Then, it was a committee meeting, then back home, then watched “Blues Brothers 2000” with Phil P and Ash.

Just so you know! Today I went into my class at 12:00, had lunch with Phil P and Kev B, then came home and watched some of Star Wars Episode 1 (and did the hoovering). This evening we’re going out to cheesy tunes, and I’m going down to Fuse afterwards with Ash and Philippa (and possibly some more people, if we can get them to come along.)

All for now…

I’m on broadband, and I’m still not updating particular often! How shocking! Just goes to show how busy I’ve been. Yesterday, I went onto campus for my lecture at 12:00, and stayed on campus for a few hours. Then after my lecture at 4:00, I met up with Philippa and Alex and went round to Philippa’s place for Hot Chocolate and Cheese Toasties. Then I went to ASDA to do some shopping, came back home, went to the pub and stayed up til about midnight chatting to Philippa, Alex, Ash and Welsh Phil. Then I went to bed, because I had a 9:00 this morning!

So I went in to my group project meeting at 9:00 this morning. Suffice it to say that unfortunately I’m not doing Crossring for my final year project anymore. I’m sorry about that Simon et al, but I’m afraid it’s just not complicated enough. I realised this when I thought that if I worked on it quite a lot I could probably get it done in a couple of weeks, which isn’t really the idea of final year projects! So I’m doing a java web page editor instead. That should be quite challenging, I’m looking forward to it though! I really enjoy java programming, although I’m not particularly good at it…

Anyway. After that, I went to the SU bar for a bar breakfast with Alex and Philippa, then onto a computer lab to write up my final year project proposal. I handed that in to the general office, then went to my 1:00 lecture (Computer Vision… oh that was fun. Oh yes. Almost as fun as my CC257 lecture last Friday…) And after that, I went down to the chaplaincy for an hour, then to Mondo for a hot chocolate with Katie, Naomi, Alex and Lindsey (one of the fresher girls). It was originally meant to be with just Katie, then just with Katie and Naomi, then we met Alex and Lindsey down there as well. It’s all good fun!

So then I went to my 4:00 lecture. Afterwards, I grabbed an SX Express, then headed back to the Chaplaincy in readiness for Fusion leader training which was happening before CU. It went quite well! We’ve got some really good leaders this year, as we usually do (God has a way of working these things out 🙂 But yeah, I’m looking forward to it. Leading a Fusion (Bible study) group last year was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done, and I’m glad to be doing it again this year!

After that, came CU this evening, which went well. I felt a bit strange afterwards, so I didn’t go to the bar afterwards, going straight home instead.

Anyway. Now on to something a bit more interesting. This is…

Anne-Marie’s Theory of The Matrix Reloaded

Alright, having heard Anne-Marie’s theory about what’s going on in the Matrix Reloaded, and having seen it (after it arriving on DVD last Friday), I have to say that I agree with it. This is basically it. Zion is basically inside the Matrix as well. From what the Architect said in his speech, I think it makes sense. People who reject the Matrix are fed into ‘Zion’, which is still within the Matrix but it makes people a lot happier. They’re still under control, but because they believe that they’re actually outside the Matrix it doesn’t make much difference. This is borne out by Neo being able to stop the machines right at the end of the film — how could he do that if he wasn’t in a Matrix?

Now, I believe what the Architect said about Neo being a computer glitch. It does make sense. In the first film, I think it’s Morpheus who talks about how there was originally someone born inside the Matrix who freed other people (i.e., the first Neo). If there were previous Neos like the Architect claimed, that made sense. So when the Neo is born, they let him go for a while and then they reset the Matrix. The prophecy is a lie — the prophecy is just to make Neo go to the source, where he chooses six (or seven, whatever) people again and the Matrix is rebooted with the new parameters and starts all over again.

However, there is a twist in this particular version of the Matrix. This Neo has two things different. Firstly, he is in love with Trinity, which means that he heads back into the Matrix he knows. Secondly, there is the problem of Agent Smith. Now, we know from the films that Agent Smith can replicate himself. Let’s think about a theme of Reloaded for a second: control. Remember the scene with the Counsellor and Neo, down on the engineering level? They talk about control a lot. Do they control the machines, or do the machines control them? They could turn the machines off at any time — but if they did, they would then die. It’s a symbiotic relationship. This seems to be basically a Microcosm of the Matrix.

Now back to Agent Smith. We know that he takes over many people in the fight scene with Neo. Now, if you look at the trailer for Revolutions, there are hundreds and hundreds of Agent Smiths in one scene. Imagine that Agent Smith takes over every character in the Matrix. What would happen then? We know that he can ‘take over’ organic matter, because he managed to take over that guy and then try and kill Neo with the knife (before being thwarted). And, he is the only person left untouched by the machines at the end… So anyway.

What if Agent Smith becomes every single character in the Matrix? What then? Well, if Neo kills him, then the Matrix cannot survive… with the symbiotic relationship, the machines need people to survive. If there were no people there, then the Matrix would not be able to continue and would basically crash and burn. Of course, what happens after that is purely speculation. I think it would be quite funny if it turned out that Neo was just a butterfly dreaming that it was a man (they seem to like philosophy). There is so much comedy potential as well… I think it would be good if it was just Neo left, and he walked out of a building which turned out to be the Microsoft headquarters.

Anyway. These are just some crazy thoughts… sorry about the length of this post, but I was just a bit bored 🙂

I’m not too good on the whole imaginative names thing, am I? Oh well. What have I done since yesterday? Well… yesterday afternoon I went onto campus to do my radio show followed by the CU radio show on the Uni radio station. It was quite ‘interesting’ — only one of the decks was working! One was missing a headshell. So I had to muddle through with CDs from the shelves (I don’t usually bring CDs to my shows, only vinyl). Oh well, it was OK. CU show was good, Andy H and Alex came on and chatted.

Afterwards, a bunch of us (me, Alex, and some of the freshers) came back to our place for a video evening. It was good. First of all we watched “The Princess Bride”, then “Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail”, then some episodes of Dead Ringers. And we also ordered and ate some pizza. All in all, a rather enjoyable evening!

Then this morning I got up for Church… Mike spoke on a passage which is quite ‘infamous’ in the memories of those who went to a certain theology seminar last year. Well, the passage isn’t infamous, that particular seminar was quite interesting though. And then I came home, and didn’t really do much else.

Oh the fun! Got to do my final year project proposal, that has to be in this week by Wednesday. I’ll try and get around to doing it tomorrow!

My copy of the Matrix Reloaded arrived today! Yay! Fun fun fun 🙂

Anyway. Went in this morning for my class, then had lunch with Alex and Matthew, then went to my incredibly boring two hour lecture, then went to a lab, then came home, had dinner, got ready for cheesy tunes, went to cheesy tunes, came home. Cheesy tunes was really good tonight! Really good night, the freshers are really integrating well and I feel we’re getting to know them 🙂 (well, the ones that are coming to things like ‘Sleazy Tunes’ at least…)

Uh, I think I’ll probably watch the Matrix Reloaded – or some of it — now. Laterz…

Didn’t do that much really. It’s my day off this term! Woke up… had breakfast, then had lunch… 😉 Watched some episodes of Family Guy. Mixed a bit. Played on computer. Went onto campus for committee meeting at 5:30, finished at around 7:00 and had dinner, then went to the bar with some of the Freshers (let’s see if I can remember: Hayley, Andy H, Lindsey, Maria I think…) and Alex, Phil P and Joe. Then I came back home and watched a couple of episodes of The Fast Show 🙂

We bought a DVD player yesterday, so we can watch DVDs in the living room now! Yay! 🙂

I’ve been looking at my referalls (basically, which sites people have been coming to this site from) and I’ve found that there are quite a few people coming from a site named Uniguide. Upon further investigation, I found out that this humble blog had been listed as a good blog for finding out what it’s like to be a student! – which is pretty cool. The site apparently gets around 10,000 hits per month (or something like that). Probably only a very small proportion actually come here, but it’s nice to know that someone’s linking to me 🙂

Incidentally, if anyone does want to know what it’s like to be a student, just remember this: it’s all about being busy all the time! Well, not all the time (you have to sleep, usually from about 2:00AM til around 11:00AM… of course, if you’re getting really old (say, a third year like me) then you may well prefer going down for a quiet pint at the local pub more than going to the SU Bar. I don’t know whether that’s the mark of me getting old or just me only living ten minutes away from a nice quiet pub 😉

Anyway. That’s all for now ladies.