6??????

So since my last post there has been quite a few good things going on.

Things have become brighter with Sam now having left the law firm of management hell and now works for the University, which is great as already it means she gets a lot more things with the job. Being a member of the uni means that there are a number of societies that she can join, in particular she has expressed an interest in taking up fencing, which would be awesome.

Of course there was a our house warming and wedding announcement party, and it was good to see everyone there and especially those people that I don't see often enough, and Mr Tofu gets a special thanks for his awesome cake!!!!

One weekend we made it out to the Lowry to go see Giselle, a ballet which was very good, maybe not up there with The Snow Queen in my opinion, but still the last act was great as 'ghosts' danced about, luring the young men to their deaths. A tragic story in all but very well done and the lighting and music was excellent.

The Gothan Knight anime Batman DVD is awesome and now our flat has 2 new Joker posters (one which Sam proclaims as 'gay and pink' but personally it just seems epically crazy to me). I also picked up the Dark Knight soundtrack which is a great collection of music, the score really set the tone for the movie which was still two weeks away when I got the cd. Waiting seriously sucked when the screening in the US was happening that weekend.

Last friday was also good news when I found out that my second paper had been accepted, a triumph considering that the paper really does set the tone of all future developments in the group.

Finally last night. OMGFG! THE DARK KNIGHT. Awesome, lived up to and surpassed the hype. I'm not going ot say anything more until you've all seen it. We went to see it at the IMAX. We will be  going again.

Oh and Watchmen looks like it will freaking rock!!! The trailer for that showed before TDK and well it was the first time I had seen it so getting to see it first in IMAX was fantastic.


Now lets introduce some anarchy!!

It's not finished.....

So friday (the 13th) was one hell of a mixed bag.

First up we got back the referee reports on my second paper. So far so good, just a few papers to cite and some questions to clean up but it's basically done, a landmark paper, one of very few in the field.

However the other thing is all my work so far we are now redoing with a better source of data.... it's shit but at least all the tools we have developed these few years are already in place and work. So really it's a waiting game now. But on the plus side it should really be two papers out of this work. Damn time is ticking away on this PhD.

Following this Sam and I spent that evening at Piccolini's, an attempt to find a pizza place that we like more than Croma. We failed. It was good there however the service is pretty shit as waiters that don't understand you fumble the orders and take your dish to the table next to you. I was pretty shitty to them to be honest but then they deserved it.

Later we joined the rest of the pack at Negresco for lordstorm's birthday. Sam  and I looked on as they munched and we just drank our cocktails. A good day in all.

As for the weekend it was pretty quite, with me not doing all that much, mooching round town and watching lots of films with Sam.

The following week saw the start of the new code at work slowly come together and feeling a bit better about it. The weekend was different, with Sam out at the Tony Wilson experience all of Saturday and on Sunday morning I went down to watch the Prof Brian Cox talk, and after being a bit pathetic finally went up to him as he was leaving ask a few quick questions. Apparently he comes into the MIB for coffee every now and then.

The following week finally let some things at work finish, with data now being generated at a tremendous speed and all the codes having been updated to be extra useful when doing the analysis.

Last friday randomly we went to Ara after thinking we might have a quite night in, but ended up enjoying the company of Stacey and then heading to the church for what was a relaxed and enjoyable night, bumping into a number of people in haven't seen in ages.

This weekend sees not much going on so Saturday is a chance for Sam to go to Sin City.
 
This last month, even though at some points has been difficult, has been one of the best in a long while. Sam leaves her job this friday and so we will have to be extra cautious with money, but I don't see her not being in work for too long, but the time out she will have will be good for both of us.


In other news just a reminder of the house warming party on the 11th of July at my place (see previous post) and that there is again some chance for me to do some free lance writing for a roleplay game.

House Warming/Wedding Announcement redux

So after having to rearrange things we've come up with a different plan.


Friday 11th of July, 8:30pm

House Warming and Wedding Announcement

Both myself and Sam would be very happy to see you all there.

Address is Flat 305, Market Buildings, 17 Thomas Street, Manchester (So it's in the Northern Corner).

House Warming - Friday 27th of June

Finally the long over due house warming of mine and Sam's pad in the city.

Plan is for 8:30 pm. Of course food and drink supplies would be helpful (bring what you like), and there is chance of home made cake!! YES THE FINEST OF CAKE!!!

Be great to see you all here.

Lets us know before hand if you can make it so we get in more supplies.

See you soon.

Chris and Sam

LOCATION

Flat 305, 17 Thomas Street (opposite TV21 and between Chinese arts museum and Blu Bar.)

Has Summer arrived???

Well it's been a good month since I last posted. As far as things are concerned it's had it's ups and downs, but more importantly things for me and

glittersavvy

are much improved and the flat is finally tidy to the point that it doesn't feel like we're still living out of boxes. So it seem's some sort of house warming is on the horizon.

The last month has seen quite a few things happen. Majeed within my group at uni passed his viva, which of course now emphasises how near the end of my PhD is. It's a bit scary but I have got my second paper submitted and now working towards number three and four.

We've taken the chance to go and see the Lindow Man and walk around the museum again to look at the things we missed the last time we were there. The Lindow man is a strange exhibit, both interesting when they try to present the body in respectfuly way as it is both underwhelming and interesting all at once. The quotes littered about the exhibition however are food for thought, asking us to consider the purpose of displaying one of our ancestors for the benefit others.

As for the football... Rangers can kiss my ass! I was utterly disgusted by what happened and more disgusted by the Council. What did they really think would happen?

I've also gone from white hair to black. Simply got tired of it, a pain to maintain. Plus it's now more of a blank slate once more for other colours.

We also made a trip to the main gallery to see the new exhibition which was strange to say the least. The room filled with the globes was fun, peering through the small lenses and seeing the tiny images before the map of the part of the world the picture was taken. We also watched, another part of the same exhibtion, a perculiar film of divers painting under water. It was all very surreal.

The weekend just gone saw my sister vriefly visiting the flat, with prospects of her moving back to Manchester for a new job. We still don't have sky working fully and the ordeal continues with the estates department of the company that manages my flat.

Today saw my final year presentation as part of the physical/theoretical/materials group of presentations. I thought it went well, though when my phone timer went off at 10 mins I was shocked as I had onyl covered a thrid of the material I planned to present. But I did it all in the end and the only question to be asked was already paritally covered by the slides. Win! I felt more proud arriving home and after cooking I checked my work emails to find a congratulations from my supervisor. Nice to know that I don't entirely suck.

This friday sees

lordstorm

coming up from London to celebrate his birthday, meaning a trip to Negresco!!! Huzzah!!!!

Sometimes when things break you find that when they are put back together it's better than before

So it's been just over a week since my last post. You of course are all aware from mine and

glittersavvy

's posts about the problems we've had these last few weeks. But I think I can say the worst is behind us now. If anything things are stronger than ever.

It's been a tough time for both of us, and it's hurt and caused more than enough tears. I know it won't be 'perfect' for a while yet but it's the burden I have to carry for my mistake.

But in a way, just as Tyler Durden would say, it's only when you have lost everything, that you are free to do anything. Or in our case, we almost lost each other but now are closer than before.

Life as a couple in the flat (which is awesome by the way, if still filled with unpacked boxes while we wait to get some bookcases) is falling into a nice, I wouldn't say routine, but rhythm. Having a kitchen that has space and is clean is wonderful as I can now really pull out the stops and cook for

glittersavvy

, experiment with new recipes and not feel like food is getting wasted as it gets lost in the hell of a shared fridge. The atmosphere of the flat is open and serene, a good place to sit and write and read with the only distraction being each other. And of course the balcony is just perfect for this type of weather.

Money is a bit tight right now as I await to cash one deposit, get another owed by

glittersavvy

, and from forking out for oddments for the flat, but at the end of the day the peace of mind and just being with her there is worth it a thousand times over. The fact I can just get up and sit with her in the mornings to have breakfast and leisurely walk to work is such a luxury that I just never knew of.

Not sure when any sort of house warming will be soon but just give us the time and I'm sure there'll be one, and if either of us has seemed a bit distant then just know that we're just taking our time and attending to more important matters. What was in the past now just needs to bulldozed over with some new things. Something which is happening everyday.

Another mixed bag

Ok so the last week or so has been hectic, worrying, exciting, tiring, energizing, relaxing and pretty much any other emotion under the sun.

It's taken a bit for me to get round to writing this (along with posting pictures for other things) and right now I'm at work making use of the internet access while I await for it to be connected at the flat.

So thursday, two weeks back now, was to be a weekend of fun for myself and Sam however things didn't work out as truths surfaced and emotions ran. It was a roller-coaster of things and really scared me to my core. I had thought I had done the right thing after a mistake in the past and unfortunately it seems that doing what I thought was the adult and right way of doing it wasn't, neither for myself or Sam. In trying to do the best thing I had betrayed her trust which I will always regret.

However if you are aware of Sam's post already, then you are also aware how that weekend, which was our anniversary, brought things into context and made me realize just how much I depend on Sam and love her. She may not be some scientist, have bags of money, or the best cook in the world, but at the end of the day it is the small things she does that make me smile and that made me fall in love with her, that let me forget about my worries at work and gives me hope for the future which I want to build with her. Simply she is the person I need to balance myself and complement me, it's seems joined to me at many levels. More importantly we find ourselves closer than ever.


However that's not to main focus of all this..... no no no!!!

So as you can imaging the week has been tough on both of us as there is no quick fix. Tension runs high, stress is let loose, and well to top off all our worries is the finding of a flat and moving out.

But all that has paid off. It's a new start. No longer am I living the crappy shared accomodation life, always getting surprised by the mess made in the space for 24 hours of me being elsewhere or why there are people on my sofa sleeping at 7am on a weekday. No. No more of that shite. Time for a change. Already I feel that some of healing for me and Sam is happening, I just wish I had a way to make her better quicker. But then I'm a martyr like that.

So now I simply have to wait for the new guy at my old place to get his guarantor form and rent +deposit sorted out or else I'll be paying out 2 months rent this week. And that would be the last straw after sorting out so much stuff at that flat.

In the space of a week we've found a flat, got all the forms filled out and moved in. Quite crazy really!

So Sam and I have now spent a whole 3 days in our new place. And I have to say it great. We're still in the process of unpacking but the main living spaces are done. It just the place I wanted, and more importantly to get for both of us. Sam has already had fun arranging things in the bathroom. The large mirror in there has been quite a feature for her. I now have a CLEAN kitchen where I can cook without having to clean up dishes from 3 days past.

Simply living like this will be just what I will need as the stress of final year PhD builds up.

I think that's it really. I'm sure some of you at some point will want to pop round considering it's on the doorstep to the Norther Quarter, and I'm sure we will have some sort of celebration there soon. But for now I'm just happy to be starting something new with Sam, something lasting.