I know this place

I’m a dreadful blogger. I keep thinking of things to write and then not doing. And then I write posts like this, which are just rather dull updates. This time I thought I’d write a little bit about my first year in Birmingham and everything I’ve achieved.

Suffice it to say that I feel very different this summer than I did last summer.

For one thing, I’ve got nothing to look forward to on the other side of September. For the first time since I was five years old, I am leaving full time education. Do not want. This time last year I was excited, and champing at the bit, and of course I was unaware of everything awesome that was about to happen. Now I face some sort of oblivion; for once I have a complete uncertainty about what I’ll be doing after the summer ends. It’s not that I mind working, but I dread working for idiots.

I made the decision not to go on with philosophy after the MPhil rather quickly; a taste of real academic philosophy was the castor oil I needed to draw me away from something that I was never all that good at in the first place, and into history which involves skills I either have developed or can develop. If I never hear another modal argument again, it’ll be too soon. Actually, the philosophy hasn’t been a bad experience overall. I’ve actually done well. I’ve gotten a good few firsts under my belt, and overall I’ve come out of my taught modules with an upper 2.1, which is better than I had expected. My thesis continues apace, though it is without a doubt the most terrifying thing I’ve ever written. A couple of days ago my supervisor nominated my external examiner. Having a potential external examiner, like the prospect of being hanged at dawn, rather focuses the mind. Or it would do if there weren’t all of this abject terror getting in the way.

I have a social life now, and finally a hobby that truly consumes me in a way that computer games never quite managed. Well, computer games per se are obviously still a passion of mine, but no particular one has ever quite ticked all the boxes as far as my quite high standards for entertainment go. I am a natural role-player, and no computer game yet has been able to accommodate me. Oblivion came close in the age of the Bosmer Finder General, however! With roleplaying has come new friends, whose company has been an unmixed pleasure. Building a game from scratch has been a challenge and a delight, and I look forward to testing it, especially if Graeme can come for it. I miss Graeme, and Robin, and Emily, and Norfolk in general, no less than I did a year ago, but Birmingham’s horrors have faded somewhat.

I’m a member of the Labour Party now; with Brown out of the way and a new leader due to be elected, I feel the time has come for me to step in and do my bit for what’s left of the left. From preliminary investigations (I say preliminary, but in reality I have used a spreadsheet and a scoring system) I believe either Ed Miliband or Diane Abbott to be the best choice. I’ll probably vote for whomever I feel more likely to win of the two of them, if there’s a significant difference (there is; this is essentially a battle of the Milibands, one horribly New Labour, the other delightfully Left-wing). It didn’t take long for this government to disgust me. Something about the way the Lib Dems have turncoated their beliefs in the VAT rise, their decision to abandon the anti-Trident cause, and their general footlicking attitude have left me feeling somewhat ENTIRELY UNSURPRISED. And now the government is trying to prevent the Pope from being arrested for crimes against humanity, which infuriates me beyond words. Guess what? When you protect criminals, you’re a criminal too. I wonder if it’s a record for a Prime Minister to be guilty of crimes against humanity within a year of taking office? Even Blair waited a few years.

Ugh.

On Monday I’m off down to Wells, Somerset for ten days of Latin and classical history tuition. It should be a fun if somewhat exhausting experience. I’ll keep a journal of it, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to update here daily or all in one go. I don’t think I’ll have as exciting a time as Embles, who’s in RSA for two months doing something or other. And apparently she graduated recently, so brava!

I’ve run out of things to say, and so I must cease procrastinating and resume my work.