My life is freaking AWESOME.

Seriously. It is. It's fantastic. Basically I study for a living. I get paid to learn amazing and fascinating shit. Right now? I'm about to write an essay on the ideology of Capt. Mal Reynolds from Firefly. Seriously. This is what I do. How is a life like that not awesome?

In addition, I've had a brilliant week. Last Saturday/Sunday I went to SANcon* dressed as the Doctor (bowties are cool!) and made chainmail and a steampunk necklace and played random boardgames, and also won the quiz! And I beat Phil! I have no idea really who Phil is, but apparently it's extremely impressive that anyone beat him and he's usually not even allowed to play because he always wins. And my prize? A bloody enormous sombrero. Sombreros are cool! Also a guy in the mall looked at me weirdly for a while and then comes over and asks, "Matt Smith?"
He is my favourite person.

Monday/Tuesday sucked a bit because, exhaustion. My notes for History class about the Bolshevik social policies just prior to their taking over the Russian government? "Oppose ALL the things!"
Yep. Helpful. Good job, me! It's pretty funny though, gave me a wee giggle. Oh and then on the way home we went past the little Asian shop on Riccarton Road (Kosco, I think it's called) and we were talking about how the street used to look and how weird it was that all those empty gaps were buildings only a year ago and suddenly I remembered that Kosco used to be named Wang Mart back then. Wang Mart! I am not lying. Wang Mart. And then I laughed the entire way home, which is actually pretty impressive because it's like a fifteen minute walk on a good day when your breathing is being put to use in helping you walk instead of all being wasted on hysterical laughter. But, Wang Mart!

Skipped class Wednesday and slept most of the day which was fantastic! It was soo good for me, I really needed it. I did spend a lot of time studying but I felt a bit guilty anyway. But then I got punished because I'd forgotten that we were taking a class trip to the Rare books room at the library and I was totally going to be able to hold and read an original print King James Bible. Like, printed and bound in 1611. The real deal. Shakespeare was alive when this book was made. Holy shit. Do want. There's another chance coming up on Wednesday but if I take it I'll have to bunk another class. So. I don't know. I think I'll bunk class again and just feel guilty because, old books.

Thursday was a little bit poopy because I had a Latin test and it was Not Good. I didn't even finish answering things this time, which has never happened before. I often get answers wrong, but I've never just not answered so... yeah. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

But then! We get to the good stuff! The really really good stuff! I went on an English-Philosophy Discussion Retreat! With all these amazing awesome smart people! And we sat around this huge fireplace in this beautiful lodge in the mountains and talked about philosophy and literature and religion and politics and culture (Half the people were American, and there were a few Brits as well) and oh gosh, everything! Turns out that the majority of them really like Doctor Who and we had an amazing series of conversations on that rather wonderful topic. And my Shakespeare lecturer was there and when I arrived at the gathering point before she says "Now, obviously you're in my class, but I'm sorry, I've forgotten your name." Haha. Awesome. I'm rather impressed she even knew I was in her class, because it is a pretty big and rather crowded classroom. It turns out she's very lovely and, also? She just went to an important conference in Cambridge to present a research paper on... *drumroll* Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. No shit. Fucking awesome. I mean, I knew she was awesome anyways because I'm in her class and she's freaking hilarious and a very good lecturer, but Discworld! And like, her normal area of expertise is Shakespeare and Early Modern literature. And now Pratchett.

Ahh there's too many stories to tell but seriously everyone was amazing and the whole weekend was amazing and asdfghjk! The only sad part of the whole thing is that the man who organises these retreats (who is lovely and also hilarious. His emails are amazing, they're like a million miles long.) is retiring this year, so probably this experience won't come around again. Also this was the first and possibly last time the English department was invited. But still. asdfg. most amazing time.

AND THEN! There's more! I bunked school (AGAIN! I know, I'm terrible. Still, this brings the total up to like, four times in the whole year, so that's not a bad record) and went to Boulevard Day in Ashvegas. THE coolest costume jewelery stall. It looked like a hundred little old ladies' jewelery boxes had exploded at once, it was beautiful. I bought a sweet little brooch and omg, my flatmate's sister got this amazing little cross stitch brooch. Beautiful. I really wanted to buy it myself, but Larry really loves cross stitch a LOT, so it's right that she got it. It's perfect for her. AND THEN! The Bookarama! I fucking love Bookaramas! So many beautiful books. Including two that I don't even know what are but they had stunning covers. Also a gift for my sister- a Spanish picture book called "The Book of Virtues for Children" (except in Spanish). Hahahahahaha. It's the best present EVER.

Yeah. I really need to get a bigger room/ more bookcases/ room to put up the bookcase I already bought. Because, books.

*Super Awesome Nerdy Convention