The pain of not moving

One of the reasons I don’t post very often (well, ain’t this post a lil’ funny then?) is that, quite honestly, sitting at the computer for hours is a largely uneventful and painful experience for me. I don’t have anything particularly wrong with me, but as a result of various incidents I find it painful to sit down for long periods of time.

You know that way you sit in bed and read a book? I have to have my bed in the corner and sit quite upright if I want to do that for anything longer than a couple of minutes. The bottom of my spine really doesn’t like prolonged pressure and it makes it difficult to do things people find relaxing, like have a bath or sit and read. I suppose it’s a good thing, because it means I don’t sit around all day (something I have tried rather unsuccessfully to do today, in fact) and I get more done. Walking around aimlessly is awfully boring. It’s good for thinking, but I prefer longer walks for that sort of thing.

Even now, as I type, it’s very uncomfortable. My neck doesn’t like it, my back doesn’t like it and my legs take about half an hour to recover every time I do this. Exams are a nightmare and I find that I break my concentration by moving around in the seat a lot. But there you go, no matter! I was, more than anything, wondering if anybody else feels like that. I find it very annoying; I have to go to a physiotherapist for the duration of exam season because the studying leaves me unable to sleep.

The main problem is either having had whiplash a while ago that was never fully resolved, or the ridiculously unbalanced amount of muscle I have on my back. The right side has about three times as much muscle as the left, due to my being lazy with sports training and not practising elements (of any sport that requires feet) both ways around. It sucks. I tell you (more like warn), don’t do it. It results in annoying cramps and rucksacks are never comfortable.

But enough! How were the cookies? I hope a couple of you tried to make them. I’d make them more often myself if it weren’t for the fact that I eat them all one after the other.

I always forget to mention, if anyone has questions about me, you can always send them here (as in, comment below). I’ll set up an email address for correspondence in the future.

Happy reading, folks!

Victoria Jane 

Très Apologétique (COOKIE RECIPE)

Hello, everybody! (Hi, Dr. Nick...)

Many, many apologies for not having been in touch earlier! I hope you're all well. I have news! And then, of course, I'll give you that recipe that I've been holding on to for so long (I bet you've all forgotten about it by now).

So, results day for A2 students was back on August 16th (last Thursday to the less formal readers out there, hey hey) and of course we were all pretty nervous. But, by some intervention (known by normal people as "revision" and "good fortune" I managed to get good enough results to get into university, and so did my boyfriend, and most of our friends (the ones who applied anyway). So it was a great day! I got an A* and two Bs, and the other half managed an astounding A*AAB combination. I'm very proud of both of us.

So, off to uni, to study Law LLB, and I've decided to take a qualifying Law degree, which means I'll be able to become a barrister or solicitor afterwards. I look forward to it. My lovely other half is off to study Computer Science, possibly filling his dreams of being a mole for the rest of his life (I imagine he'll do well at uni, I really do).

Right! On to the recipe! Now, this makes some lovely ginger cookies (or you can leave the ginger out and substitute other things, like cinnamon at Christmas) and I'll tell you all the tricks I've come up with to help make the process as successful as possible. Here we go!

Ingredients:

• 125g unsalted butter (I use Stork in a tub, it's fantastic)
• 100g dark muscovado sugar
• 4 tbsp golden syrup (Tate and Lyle!!)
• 325g self raising flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp ground ginger

Utensils:
Glass mixing bowl
Dessert spoon
Saucepan (medium-large, non-stick)
Oven, Hob
Scales
Teaspoon
Greaseproof paper
Baking sheet x 2
Fork

Method:

1) Put your saucepan on the scales. Put in the butter and sugar, and the golden syrup. It's better to use four dessert spoons of golden syrup; the cookies are still going to be quite moist, don't worry. Then, put this on the hob and let it all melt together on a medium-high heat (I use around a 7 out of 9). You can stir if you like, but if you leave it on there it'll bubble and stir itself as a result. Just don't let it boil over!! Turn the oven to 180 Celsius (350-355 Fahrenheit).

2) Take your flour, powdered ginger and the bicarbonate of soda and (after weighing the flour) mix them all in a bowl, using a fork. Once they are thoroughly mixed and the butter/sugar/syrup mix has bubbled for a minute or so, pour that hot liquid (BE VERY CAREFUL OR IT WILL BURN YOU) into the dry ingredients, and stir it all together. It can get quite tough, and it will most certainly begin to rise.

3) Cover your metal baking sheets in the greaseproof paper and spoon spheres of cookie mix (around two-three teaspoons' size each) onto them at intervals of around five-eight cm.

4) Pop them in the oven, and wait about four to five minutes. After five minutes-ish, they'll cool to a soft but firm consistency and they're great with cold milk.

TIPS

Do NOT store them touching each other! Because of the syrup, they'll all stick together and form into one giant cookie-lump. (May not be a bad thing)
You can add chocolate chips to the mix! White chocolate chips are great.
They can be reheated in the oven (two or three mins at 160 Celsius) or the microwave (not more than 10 seconds or they burn).

Have fun and be careful! I've found them quite addictive, but they're really, really lovely so I'm not mad at myself.

Happy reading, folks!

Victoria Jane

Hello, stranger(s)!

I'll be the first to admit, it's been an abominably long time since I last posted, and I've not been particularly busy either, so I'd have to say that quite frankly, I'm just sorry. I've copped out. I've been a bit of a baby. 

My exams went... overall, disappointingly. With this phrase, I mean, I feel the first two exams went very well but the third and last exam, the two hour one in the afternoon... that came two hours after a three hour exam... That one didn't go so well. I put this down to a number of factors.

1) I completely underestimated the amount of time I'd need to revise the ten necessary chapters effectively.  I revised them, I did, but not nearly well enough. And that exam happened to want a lot of detail.

2) I didn't sleep enough. Not just the night before the exam, but in the month preceding exams in general, I was getting five or six hours a night, which truly just isn't enough. I reckon nine hours would have been better. 

3) Law, which was the last exam, was the hardest exam. And because it was the last exam, I had almost no choice but to revise more for the others. 

4) After the end of term, I generally need three to four weeks to relax. This is non-optional. I literally stop functioning as a responsible adult and student for this period of time and as such was unable to revise, which was the ONLY thing I should have been doing. Really. And I messed it up.

For these reasons, and the fact that I am somewhat angry at myself, I am afraid you'll have to wait for the major reason you've wanted this next post, which is, of course, the cookie recipe (Wooo! I tried it again the other day and it is STILL amazing and very yummy)... But yes, next time! 

Happy reading, folks!! 

Victoria Jane

Obligations

Well, it's been busy, I won't lie to you. But I like being busy, it stops me feeling useless. Getting ready for exams is kind of one of those challenges that I always begrudgingly start doing, and then realise it's not all that bad and can actually be quite "alright" (I can't bring myself to say fun, but it's almost there) to do.

My revision consists of reading, past papers, markschemes, examiner's comments on bygone exam papers, and   quite frankly more reading. I also have a (sometimes annoying) habit of having to research certain interesting bits of my courses before I'll answer questions on them in the exams, because I'm loathe to put in information that I don't fully understand. That's much lower level than what I want to achieve.

All of this preparation comes at a price, and that price is nil. It is free. I can only get better. It's a beautiful thing indeed, is revision.

Anyway, clearly this means there are obligations. We all have obligations to work at this time of year if we want to get the required grades for our universities. For example, Mr. P has an exam tomorrow. I'll be there to wish him luck, and then I'm off to my own classes and to do things that I need to do. I've done two exam papers today (that's five hours), but left time (or rather made time) for other stuff as well. I cycled four and a half miles before school. I did an hour and a half of paid work. I supported my friends and boyfriend, all of whom have many more exams than I do and therefore make me feel like complaining would be a silly and unnecessary thing to do at this point. All we can do is work as hard as possible. Which brings me round to my next point.

You need fuel! Now, cookies aren't the healthiest fuel, by all means, but they are darned nice. Which is why in my next post (IF I REMEMBER, erk) I will share with you all the recipe for my rather lovely gingerbread cookies. They started out as a biscuits recipe but have since morphed into the little chunks of heaven I am sure to be a billionaire selling, Or I would be if I wasn't sharing the secret with you all for free.

Happy reading, folks!

(also, reading an EXCELLENT book at the moment called French Children Don't Throw Food, will report more upon completion).

It's been a while!

I'd like to open with a quick refresher, as it could be seen to be. I don't write this blog specifically so people can read it, and I don't aim for high ratings or lots of subscribers. It's more a good way to get interesting things written/typed out so I can find them again. A public online memory box, as it were.


So, let me tell you about recent events, there's been a great deal of development (if that's what you can call it). I would go into the cliche'd "I met a guy and he's great" thing, but in truth it's been three months now and we're pretty much together 80% of the time. He's lovely. He's Irish (NOT a selling point but an interesting fact nonetheless!). He's tall and blonde and we go to the same college. We were friends for a year first, which is a really excellent way of getting to know someone and their likes and dislikes... We like all the opposite things, pretty much. It makes everything more interesting (obviously there are some similarities otherwise we'd be at odds all the time and it'd suck).


Well, what can I tell you? His name is Patrick. He's most excellent. I really dislike being sentimental on the blog, but I'm in love with him and he more than deserves a mention, even though I've been hiding him away to myself for a while. I taught him to cycle. It's odd to think such a clever guy (mathematical genius) wouldn't be able to grasp that skill that I find so essential. Anyway, it means he steals my bike on a regular basis (the bike he broke, poor thing. He fell off it and the brake actually snapped).

Exams coming up soon, I have one on June 13th and two on June 15th, which means I'll be very busy doing worky things from now on. Unsurprisingly, this year is more stressful than the last, because quite frankly this decides whether I can continue the rest of my life in the way that I want to or not (ideally university as of September, but conditional offers mean that I have to get certain grades). I need an A and two Bs. Not particularly difficult IF I get my head down and do the damn work. Thankfully all my courses are pretty interesting, so I shouldn't have a problem actually doing work.


Of course, exhaustion is the one thing that gets in the way of studying more than anything else. Or rather, a bad exam day. That day on the 15th? I have FIVE HOURS of examinations. And I am to be escorted everywhere by a supervisor between those two exams, which have a two hour break. The first exam is German, which is three hours long. THREE HOURS!


If I'm still alive afterwards, I'll tell you of my next plans.


Happy Reading, folks!


Victoria Jane :D

Social sudoku

Buying something for someone else is not an uncommon event in my life. Indeed, I buy plenty enough for my friends and family when they need something in particular, and I love buying silly things to make my boyfriend smile... But what about the time when the recipient of the item you're buying is likely to judge you? What if it's an event that you can't ignore, like Christmas... Or a birthday? This brings me to the main point of today's post: What do you buy as a present for someone you don't know very well but must seek to please nonetheless? a little bit about getting presents for other people recently.

Now, this hasn't stemmed from nothing; it hasn't come out of the blue. No, no, it is in fact my mother's boyfriend's birthday on Sunday (well done, mother's boyfriend, your birthday coincides with Easter. Your birthday is completely overshadowed by a social expectation that you must have bought me an egg).

Now, the easiest thing to do when finding presents for people (or at least getting ideas) is to find out what they like, or enjoy, and focus on things based around that. Your first frame of reference is how much you're willing to spend. Set this out first, and stick to it. Note that there should be a minimum amount of about £10 (I'd say roughly $16) if you're buying presents for someone you like/respect. If you don't either like or respect the person you're buying presents for, don't buy presents.

So, Mum's boyfriend likes... Beer (I'm not 18 so I can't buy that yet), Cars (pah!), and racing (tickets? Pah again!). This means I'll default to all things RELATED to the things he likes. Hence, beer and car relatgetted jokes and presents. What's affordable? What's within my price range (I'm capping at £20 as a student with a part time job)? Well, this leaves me with fewer options.

I've already done all the deliberation, and decided that as a joint present there will be beer, and later in the week, a mug with a picture of a car on it. And hopefully mum's boyfriend will be especially pleased when he finds that the picture of the car is in fact HIS car. If any of you are thinking that might be a little, er, lame, he owns one of these.

I'm mainly relying on the beer; you can't go wrong provided you know their favourite brand of alcohol or food. As I said, it's always a time-saver to appeal to their happy side by buying things you know they like, just in large quantities.

The other way to buy a kickass present is to appeal to a more secretive side of the recipient's personality; this is particularly useful in buying presents for people you know very well, though don't go over the top, clearly. Also do remember who you're buying for; buying your parents clothes is kind of acceptable; buying them 36 cans of Relentless/Monster/Coca Cola may not go down as well.

Good luck in your present quests!!

Happy reading, folks! Victoria Jane

P.S. Apologies for the infrequency of posts, I'm working on academic schtuff and am therefore rather busy much of the time. When exams pass I may (but not definitely) have more time on my hands to talk to you all. Thank you!

Why I'd make a terrible drug dealer

You've gotta be pretty in charge of yourself if you want to make a living doing something illegal. Especially something that requires lots of people having your number, knowing they can contact you, and all of whom have the opportunity to contact the police whenever they want.

I think any teenager with even the smallest hint of narcotics experience (be that their own or that of their friends; I'm very tame, I don't drink or smoke, let alone take drugs) has had that thought at some point: What would it be like if I were a drug dealer?
I can tell you, it'd probably be difficult. I mean, you have to do a lot of things and have a lot of things which mean you're out of free time. You're also constantly looking over your shoulder.

Okay, so a list of things I'd need if I wanted to become a drug dealer:

1) A car, to get around. See my clients. This means driving lessons, insurance and petrol as well (blech, unnecessary money output).
2) Somewhere to either buy weed on the cheap (i.e. a damn good dealer I can buy in bulk from) or somewhere to cultivate the stuff (I have nowhere and also really am not keen on the smell)
3) Contacts. Now, my boyfriend Patrick, and anyone else who knows me, knows I have a LOT of contacts. Every time I go out I see at least one person I know well enough to stop and talk to. And I do just that; conversing with tens of people each day.
4) Money, so I can buy my stash.
5) A safe, so other people have to buy my stash.
6) A good phone so people can ring me and ask after my goods (I realise it would be at ridiculous hours of the day and I hate being woken up so sure as hell that wouldn't work)

...Basically, I need lots of money, lots of people who like weed but won't take advantage of me, a car, reliable sources (etc) and the ability to NOT smoke my own weed. That last one will be fine. However, I doubt very much I'd be able to keep to the ten rules of being a drug dealer, which are noted here. The reason I show you all that column is because it's damn genius. I love Nathan DeGraaf's writing style, as well.

Sorry for not having posted in so long, I've been seriously busy with school and work and university stuff. In fact, I need to be up early in the morning to see a university, so I'm heading off now. To lalaland, of course.

Happy reading, folks!