I'm sitting in the Resource Centre procrastinating. I've completed 2 assignments, started the next and still have one to go before the end of the week. Then I've got a ton of revision to do for the January exams. My sleep deprived brain is urging me to give up. I love my course, but theres only so much work a girl can do in a month.

I cannot wait at all for Christmas, it means one day off!

Lots of things have happened but I can't really form paragraphs. Early last month I moved out of my mum's house (eep) and into a private flat with my boyfriend of a year and a half (double eep) in Liverpool. Though I was really anxious in the time leading up to it I managed to settle in about the second week and I've enjoyed it ever since (except the bill-paying part). The location is practically perfect for getting to university and the city centre. The neighbours are largely decent, a few oddballs.

Late September I started my new course at university. I was slightly apprehensive about being a little bit older than everyone else; I've since discovered that the age of the people on the course varies. Everyone's lovely (apart from this one guy who wants you to respect his opinion but wont respect yours). I'm pretty happy with my choice, and I've actually learned more about university since the start of this academic year than I learned in the whole of last. And I've probably attended more in this short time than I did in the whole of last year.

Finally, I turned 20 and had a lovely little party. :) And I'm quite happy with my life.

Yesterday (Saturday) my boyfriend and I took a trip to New Brighton, by way of the Cross-river Mersey ferry and a 3600 metre walk from Seacombe (Wallasey) ferry terminal. The ferry terminal on the Liverpool side is based at the Pier Head, but we went down to the Albert Dock for a mooch around first. I never really pay much attention to my surroundings when I’m in Liverpool because a.) I live locally and so I’ve seen everything before, and b.) because I don’t want to look like a tourist! It was a good weather day (for once), everywhere was busy and looking quite good, so I took a few pictures using my phone (the LG Viewty which sports a 5 megapixel camera). There aren't many pictures and the quality isn't awesome, but at least anyone who hasn’t visted Liverpool can get an idea of what it looks like.





The wonkiest picture of Albert Dock ever taken. The building with the red sort of roofing on the front is the Granada building. Next to that on the right is a nice little pub called The Pumphouse. The building behind the pub is the Merseyside Maritime Museum which also houses the International Slavery Museum.



The Anglican Cathedral as seen from Albert Dock.




Overlooking the Colonades apartments. On that side are the Tate Gallery, the Bugworld Experience and shops/cafes, including Quay Confectionery which sells really nice sweets.



The new look ferry terminal at the Pier Head, including a couple I really didn't mean to take a picture of.



The Liver buildings complete with Liver birds. Pronounced 'Lie - ver'. Not liver as in the body part.

:)

Usually on Ebay if someone has a problem with the item you're selling they send you a perfectly polite message detailing said problem and asking you what you can do to sort it. To which I reply in the same sort of manner, apologise (if it is my fault) for the problem and take the best steps to resolve the matter. After which, people are generally happy with what you've done and everyone smiles.

Today I received this message from a particularly rude and illiterate ebayer:

'the item was damaged on arrival which is not very acceptable. the picture and description did not state any damage. If the damage was caused by postage why was it not packaged better. I paid £4 for the packaging which you only paid less than £2. This was supposed to be a present for someone which I cannot now give to them. what are you prepared to do about it?'

to which I replied:

'I am prepared to give you a full refund (and cover postage costs) if you send it back. As you said, it was not damaged when I sent it. The postage cost covered the actual price of postage, the fact I had to go out of my way to get the post office and the packaging I had to buy for it. No other item I have sent has been damaged before so I think you may be able to accept my naivety. My return address is *my address here*. Obviously, I expect that at times people may not be satisfied with transactions through ebay, but as I feel that I can resolve problems efficiently I do not anticipate facing this level of rudeness. I'm sorry your item was not up to standard. To reiterate, if you follow the steps above I feel the matter can be resolved.
- Natalie'

Which I thought was a pretty good reply considering how annoyed I felt about the situation.

If this person can understand my terminology I think this can be sorted, but judging by the original message I think they'll have some trouble. My mum said she would never have offered a refund because the rudeness I faced was unacceptable. I half agree, only I don't want to stoop to that level and I would like my item back. :)

I'm having one of those days though - is this person's message actually rude? Or am I just reading too much into it? Opinions welcome. :)

It's far too hot here. I wouldn't complain if we lived in Spain but we don't. It's England. And we can't exactly enjoy the weather because although it's hot there's no sun and there's loads of rain. Sort it out global warming.

I feel so typically English moaning about the weather. :)

Gog-gog. Apparently it meant dog.

Who's on twitter? I've just signed up and have no friends! x

I don't really have much time on the internet any more, not because I'm really busy but because we're getting it cut off at home. There's not really a point in having it here anymore as my sister and I are moving out in September. Today I'm on my sister's new laptop. She managed to acquire a car, a laptop, a holiday and a dress for her 18th birthday though it's not even until August! I got a small amount of money for driving lessons for my 18th, but I'll be getting an extra £100 from my mum (because the difference between the price of Ashleigh's laptop and my monetary present is about that. I suppose though that when you're the youngest you are spoiled the most, and oddly, I can accept that.


I voted in the European elections last week for the Liberal Democrats, a party I'm always behind despite the criticism they receive for lacking in experience. I particularly love that the Lib Dems stand for abolishing tuition fees, given that this year I've had to pay £3,145 for teaching (or lack thereof) at my research-based university. Next year I'll be paying £3,225 which I hope wont increase again over my time at university. I honestly thought that in my area which typically votes Labour, a Lib Dem candidate would win a place in the European parliament so I was completely stumped to find that the British National Party had won here. I can't even express my disappointment, or the shame I feel about the fact that my area is filled with BNP supporters.


A few days back my boyfriend and I went into Liverpool to see Drag me to Hell (which by the way wasn't as good as the critics said, the storyline was poor and along with the others in the cinema we spent a lot of time laughing at it) and went to eat at Wagamama, as always. We're getting to be such regulars now that when we see the staff in the street they say hello! When we went to Lime Street to get the train back to Matthew's afterwards I saw my best friend from college who I hadn't seen in nearly a year. We spent some time catching up and I realised just how much I missed her being around. She's had some rough times and she deserves the best of everything in life, she's so sweet.


I spent today sorting out some legal documents for a family friend as he's facing an employment tribunal. The case is actually ridiculous, the claimant doesn't have a solid foundation upon which to base it. Regardless, I had a lot of fun writing letters to solicitors and picking apart contradictions and inaccuracies in the claimant's statements. I do love learning law, but I could never have taken it up as a career as I think justice in the UK cannot truly be attained given the current sentencing rules.


In the coming weeks I'll be trying to gain a placement at a museum to give me the edge over the other people on my new course. I'm not too optimistic about it but I know that if I don't try it can't ever happen. I've got another tribunal to attend in the coming month with my mum. I have tickets for Leeds festival and to go and see Walking With Dinosaurs: The Arena Tour (seriously, I love dinosaurs) in August, but until then I'll be extremely bored.

I finally got my eyes tested this afternoon after spending ages thinking my eyesight was deteriorating in my left eye haha. Turns out it's not so bad, although I told the optician I could barely see a thing! She said it should be fine and it shouldn't interfere with my life so much, just maybe my ability to concentrate when reading etc. In actual fact, my right eye has gotten a tiny bit worse but there's nothing to worry about, I just need to change my glasses.

I'm trying to complete the longest and most awkward practical report by Friday. I started a lot earlier than usual (I usually start the day before the deadline) but I still have mountains of statistical analysis to get through even though I've already done absolutely loads. I no longer feel any pressure in doing my assignments because I don't need top Psychology grades. That doesn't mean that I'm not trying to do a good write-up though.

I decided to change my course at university. I was never destined to be a psychologist, I've never had the drive and it just doesn't inspire me at all. The new course I've picked is a total change, it's Ancient History and Archaeology, which is an arts degree (my current degree is scientific). I feel it's more me and I can see myself sticking at it and working hard because I've always had an interest in history. I feel like i'll gain more from it since there's the possibility to go abroad for a while and learn a new language (I picked Latin! :|). If things go well, and I seriously hope they do, I'll be studying History from September this year. At the moment I'm not going to suspend my studies, I'm going to keep at Psychology for the remainder of the semester and hopefully achieve a first year diploma which will look awesome on my CV.

Matthew is being a complete rock for me, I love him more than ever and I do with every day. He's the best friend I could ever wish for because he knows exactly how to make things right. He helped me realise what it is I want from my future and is encouraging me to take every opportunity that comes my way. I've never met anyone else like him, he's not a person who manipulates and spoils other people's chances, whether consciously or unconsciously, for their own agenda. He's taught me to be a good person and I'm thankful for it. I was hesitating about my course change for a while and he helped me make a decision without actually making it for me. When I asked him whether he'd feel comfortable telling people his girlfriend was an Archaeologist (given that there's the stereotypical image of the female historian as being boring and dowdy) he just said 'I'll tell them you're like Indiana Jones'. Little things like that impress me far too much. Matthew works at a mental health facility at the moment and tonight he's doing a night shift. He took half an hour's break and drove down to my house with me unaware he was coming about 45 minutes ago just to give me a cuddle. But that is impressive. :)