(3/19) The nice weather finally arrived. I spent my whole day hanging out with friends in the grassy courtyard near my flat, it was fantastic. It reminded me so much of home when everyone sits around the engineering fountain on warm sunny days. You could see that everyone's mood had lifted significantly from earlier in the week.
Sunshine Pics
After the sun had faded it was time to take the party inside for my last pool match as a member of the Furness pool team. This time we were playing against Grizedale. The match started about 15 minutes late cause we were waiting for their team to show up. We started by losing our first 3 games, some of them close and some not so close. I played fourth and ended up winning by default. The game was pretty close all the way through even though I was playing pretty shitty. I had one ball left and he ended up pocketing both the 8-ball and the white ball in one shot. This ¨win¨ brought my final total for the term to 5-2. We lost the next game bringing the team totals to 1-4. We went on to rally the next 4 games to win the match. It was pretty intense and defintely a great way to finish off a season as a team.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Another Trip to the Carleton
(3/18) I went and watched the Furness women's pool team play their last match of the year against Grizedale which they won 6-3. After that I went back to Trev for a drink and then back to my flat. I sat and debated for almost half an hour about whether or not I wanted to go to the Carleton. I knew it was gonna be a big crowd cause everyone has been locked away in their rooms finishing up essays and reviewing for exams that they were ready to break loose. With about 10 minutes before the last bus of the night left I got suited up and jogged down to the underpass. To my surprise Urmie and her group were on this bus as well so I hung out with them. When we got to the Carleton it was packed, almost as much as my first trip. We went right to work drinking with shots all around. After the shots I grabbed a WKD (vodka cooler drink) and headed off to see if there were any familiar faces in the crowd. I found Amanda's flatmates, Maja, and my friend Rachel in my travels before I rejoined Urmie and her group. The evening continued a cycle of about 20 minutes dancing then drinking, rinse, and repeat. Urmie was hilarious cause she was REALLY wasted and kept falling down. Around 3 we headed off and crashed.
Carleton Pics
Carleton Pics
Thursday, March 19, 2009
St. Paddy's Day
(3/17) St. Patrick's Day made me think of home and my favorite Irish pub Nine Irish Brothers :( I decided to keep things pretty relaxed so I went down to Trev and hung out with the usuals and listened to some folk music. We played a few games of pool and concocted green drinks of our own since there wasn't any green beer on tap. I ended up getting pretty wasted, so I think I did St. Paddy's Day justice.
St. Paddy's Day Pics
St. Paddy's Day Pics
Monday, March 16, 2009
Week 9
(3/9) A night out with Urmie and her flat. Furness had a promotion going on for Revolutions, so we bought cheap tickets to that and off we went. There was a pretty good showing at Revs, and I saw a lot of familiar faces that I didn't know were going to be there. I drank pretty heavily at Revs, but the price was right so I couldn't say no. After Revs we decided to go to Elements. I ran into some more familiars at Elements, which made it even better. The turnout wasn't huge, but we had a good time. After Elements we taxied back to campus and grabbed some Sultan's before turning it in.
(3/10) A friend of mine named Ole (pronounced Ooh-la, its Norwegian) plays in a local group named Wagtale and they were having a show at a pub in town called Yorkshire House, so Liam, Kirky, Cheese, Joss, and I all went to see them. The show was really good. At Yorkshire House I ran into Alexa, who is another international student whom I haven't seen since probably Week 2. It was going to be her birthday at midnight, so I invited her to come along with me to Cuba after the show.
Cuba was having the foam party which they had canceled the week before. I was really excited since I had never been to a foam party before. The club was packed to the brim with people ready to get crazy. The foam hadn't come on yet, so we grabbed some drinks and wandered around a bit to see if we knew anyone else in the crowd. As we walked around I ran into Anett from the frisbee team. We ended up hanging out with her and her friends the rest of the night. About 15 minutes after finding Anett it was time for the foam. They turned on the cannon and the party officially started. People were packed like sardines, dancing and trying to get closer to the cannon so they could get properly foamed. I was a bit poorly dressed as most of the people were in beachwear and I was in jeans and a t-shirt, but it didn't really matter. I was a bit concerned from time to time for Alexa's safety cause the crowd was a bit rowdy and she is really short, but she survived just fine. Midnight passed and we celebrated Alexa's birthday amidst a sea of foam and music. The foam party was so much fun, I can't wait to go to another one. Around 2pm we headed out, completely soaked from head to toe. We grabbed some takeaway and waited for the free bus back to campus. I wish I would have taken some pictures, but I was too worried that my camera would get wet so I left it at my flat.
(3/11) A bunch of the international students were having a party with the theme of "Anything But Clothes", which meant people dressing in trash bags, sheets, cardboard boxes, etc. I decided not to go cause I wasn't sure if I wanted to party for a 3rd consecutive night. Instead I went down to Trev to relax for a bit. While I was there I ran into Amanda and her flat who said that they were going out to the Carleton. After debating for a while I decided I would go along. When I went back to my flat to change I saw the flat on the first floor of my building pre-partying for the Carleton as well. After I got changed I went down and hung out with them to pregame. Around 10:45 we headed out to catch the bus to Morecambe.
When we got to the Carleton things were pretty dead. We had caught one of the early buses, so we just grabbed some drinks and awaited the rest of the crowd. About 30 minutes later another busload of people arrived, including all the international students who were in their homemade attire. I mingled with them for a bit and then rejoined my party on the dance floor. I bounced around between groups most of the night, namely Amanda's group, the international students, and my group. The end to the evening was less than satisfactory, but overall it was alright. My first trip to the Carleton was much better.
Carleton Pics
(3/12) The Furness pool team played our 2nd to last match of the year. This time we played against Graduate College on their home turf. The last time Furness played Grad we lost 0-9, but this time we turned the tables. We ended up winning the match 7-2 and I won my match bringing my record to 4-2 for the term. After the match I went and hung out with Amanda for a bit. We decided to go back down to Grad cause they were having a dark ale festival. It is a bit of a hike from Furness, but it was worth it. The beers were all local dark brews, which is right up my alley. We only had time to get 2 pints since we got there kinda late and they were closing up, but it was fun. Afterwards we walked back to Furness with Karl and had a fun chat. Then it was time to crash.
(3/13) The return of Friday Fury. For those of you who don't remember Friday Fury from my old blog post, the idea is that the bars on campus give out some sort of trinket when you buy a drink and if you get a certain number you get free entry into Sugarhouse for the night. This time the trinket was playing cards. The theme for the night was Geeks, so I headed into town in the afternoon to try and pick up some geek clothes. To my disappointment I had forgotten that everything closes down at 5:30pm, so I came back empty handed. When I got back to campus I grabbed a bite to eat, took a shower, and put on some normal clothes. I headed down to Trev to await the start of Friday Fury, which kicked off at 8:30pm. As soon as 8:30 rolled around we all ordered a shot so we could get our Furness card and then we headed straight up the spine to County bar. At County we decided to hang out for a bit so we got pints and played some pool. After County we went to Bowland and got another shot. Next up was Fylde. Fylde is one of the 2 central bars along with Trev, so it was jam packed and it took almost 15 minutes to get a shot. With 4 cards in hand we were guaranteed free entry to Sugarhouse for the evening, but we decided we wanted to go ahead and get the full deck cause it was still really early. Our next stop was Pendle as we worked our way south along the spine. Since Grizedale College doesn't have a bar atm, Pendle was hosting them as well so I got 2 shots here so I could get both cards. Next up was Lonsdale for yet another shot. The last stop on our bar tour was Cartmel. I got another shot and we relaxed for a bit cause Zoe and Joe are friends with the manager. With our 8-card deck complete we headed back to Trev to regroup before leaving for Sugarhouse. We played a few games of pool and then Liam and I got antsy so we went on ahead to catch a bus into town. When we got to Sugarhouse the line was huge and they were doing one-out-one-in, which meant from where we were it would have been about 45 minutes to get in. Liam and me and the group we met up with in line decided to go to Hustle instead. I was pretty shitty about leaving Sugarhouse cause I really wanted to go, but the line was ridiculous. At Hustle I got a few drinks on special and downed them then danced for a bit. After about an hour Liam and I decided to give Sugarhouse another try. When we got back the line was tiny and the rest of our group that we had left back at Trev was just in front of us. Within 5 minutes we were in the club and reunited with our group, so it worked out well. The rest of the night went in typical Sugarhouse fashion: drinks, dancing, and mingling with the various groups who were out. Around 2am I grabbed a taxi with Bryn, Martha, and Rachel. Back at campus we hit up Sultan's for some fries and then we went our seperate ways to close out the evening.
(3/14) I did some grocery shopping during the day and visited the farmer's market. In the evening Kyle, Jessica, and I went to see the movie Milk at a local cinema called The Dukes. I snuck in a pint of Ben and Jerry's which made the movie even that much more enjoyable. The movie was fantastic. It wasn't quite as good as Slumdog Millionaire in my opinion, but it was very close. Sean Penn definitely deserved to win the Oscar for best actor. After the movie we went back to campus and grabbed some food at Pizzetta. After that we just hung out for the rest of the evening.
(3/15) Bryn, Martha, Rachel, Neil, Andy, and I teamed up for the last Trev pub quiz of the term. We put up a good showing, but ended up in a tie for 5th place. During the quiz they decided it would be a good idea to write on my face, but sadly I have no pictures to show the result. It is sad that there won't be anymore Sunday night pub quizzes for over a month, but when they return we shall be ready.
(3/10) A friend of mine named Ole (pronounced Ooh-la, its Norwegian) plays in a local group named Wagtale and they were having a show at a pub in town called Yorkshire House, so Liam, Kirky, Cheese, Joss, and I all went to see them. The show was really good. At Yorkshire House I ran into Alexa, who is another international student whom I haven't seen since probably Week 2. It was going to be her birthday at midnight, so I invited her to come along with me to Cuba after the show.
Cuba was having the foam party which they had canceled the week before. I was really excited since I had never been to a foam party before. The club was packed to the brim with people ready to get crazy. The foam hadn't come on yet, so we grabbed some drinks and wandered around a bit to see if we knew anyone else in the crowd. As we walked around I ran into Anett from the frisbee team. We ended up hanging out with her and her friends the rest of the night. About 15 minutes after finding Anett it was time for the foam. They turned on the cannon and the party officially started. People were packed like sardines, dancing and trying to get closer to the cannon so they could get properly foamed. I was a bit poorly dressed as most of the people were in beachwear and I was in jeans and a t-shirt, but it didn't really matter. I was a bit concerned from time to time for Alexa's safety cause the crowd was a bit rowdy and she is really short, but she survived just fine. Midnight passed and we celebrated Alexa's birthday amidst a sea of foam and music. The foam party was so much fun, I can't wait to go to another one. Around 2pm we headed out, completely soaked from head to toe. We grabbed some takeaway and waited for the free bus back to campus. I wish I would have taken some pictures, but I was too worried that my camera would get wet so I left it at my flat.
(3/11) A bunch of the international students were having a party with the theme of "Anything But Clothes", which meant people dressing in trash bags, sheets, cardboard boxes, etc. I decided not to go cause I wasn't sure if I wanted to party for a 3rd consecutive night. Instead I went down to Trev to relax for a bit. While I was there I ran into Amanda and her flat who said that they were going out to the Carleton. After debating for a while I decided I would go along. When I went back to my flat to change I saw the flat on the first floor of my building pre-partying for the Carleton as well. After I got changed I went down and hung out with them to pregame. Around 10:45 we headed out to catch the bus to Morecambe.
When we got to the Carleton things were pretty dead. We had caught one of the early buses, so we just grabbed some drinks and awaited the rest of the crowd. About 30 minutes later another busload of people arrived, including all the international students who were in their homemade attire. I mingled with them for a bit and then rejoined my party on the dance floor. I bounced around between groups most of the night, namely Amanda's group, the international students, and my group. The end to the evening was less than satisfactory, but overall it was alright. My first trip to the Carleton was much better.
Carleton Pics
(3/12) The Furness pool team played our 2nd to last match of the year. This time we played against Graduate College on their home turf. The last time Furness played Grad we lost 0-9, but this time we turned the tables. We ended up winning the match 7-2 and I won my match bringing my record to 4-2 for the term. After the match I went and hung out with Amanda for a bit. We decided to go back down to Grad cause they were having a dark ale festival. It is a bit of a hike from Furness, but it was worth it. The beers were all local dark brews, which is right up my alley. We only had time to get 2 pints since we got there kinda late and they were closing up, but it was fun. Afterwards we walked back to Furness with Karl and had a fun chat. Then it was time to crash.
(3/13) The return of Friday Fury. For those of you who don't remember Friday Fury from my old blog post, the idea is that the bars on campus give out some sort of trinket when you buy a drink and if you get a certain number you get free entry into Sugarhouse for the night. This time the trinket was playing cards. The theme for the night was Geeks, so I headed into town in the afternoon to try and pick up some geek clothes. To my disappointment I had forgotten that everything closes down at 5:30pm, so I came back empty handed. When I got back to campus I grabbed a bite to eat, took a shower, and put on some normal clothes. I headed down to Trev to await the start of Friday Fury, which kicked off at 8:30pm. As soon as 8:30 rolled around we all ordered a shot so we could get our Furness card and then we headed straight up the spine to County bar. At County we decided to hang out for a bit so we got pints and played some pool. After County we went to Bowland and got another shot. Next up was Fylde. Fylde is one of the 2 central bars along with Trev, so it was jam packed and it took almost 15 minutes to get a shot. With 4 cards in hand we were guaranteed free entry to Sugarhouse for the evening, but we decided we wanted to go ahead and get the full deck cause it was still really early. Our next stop was Pendle as we worked our way south along the spine. Since Grizedale College doesn't have a bar atm, Pendle was hosting them as well so I got 2 shots here so I could get both cards. Next up was Lonsdale for yet another shot. The last stop on our bar tour was Cartmel. I got another shot and we relaxed for a bit cause Zoe and Joe are friends with the manager. With our 8-card deck complete we headed back to Trev to regroup before leaving for Sugarhouse. We played a few games of pool and then Liam and I got antsy so we went on ahead to catch a bus into town. When we got to Sugarhouse the line was huge and they were doing one-out-one-in, which meant from where we were it would have been about 45 minutes to get in. Liam and me and the group we met up with in line decided to go to Hustle instead. I was pretty shitty about leaving Sugarhouse cause I really wanted to go, but the line was ridiculous. At Hustle I got a few drinks on special and downed them then danced for a bit. After about an hour Liam and I decided to give Sugarhouse another try. When we got back the line was tiny and the rest of our group that we had left back at Trev was just in front of us. Within 5 minutes we were in the club and reunited with our group, so it worked out well. The rest of the night went in typical Sugarhouse fashion: drinks, dancing, and mingling with the various groups who were out. Around 2am I grabbed a taxi with Bryn, Martha, and Rachel. Back at campus we hit up Sultan's for some fries and then we went our seperate ways to close out the evening.
(3/14) I did some grocery shopping during the day and visited the farmer's market. In the evening Kyle, Jessica, and I went to see the movie Milk at a local cinema called The Dukes. I snuck in a pint of Ben and Jerry's which made the movie even that much more enjoyable. The movie was fantastic. It wasn't quite as good as Slumdog Millionaire in my opinion, but it was very close. Sean Penn definitely deserved to win the Oscar for best actor. After the movie we went back to campus and grabbed some food at Pizzetta. After that we just hung out for the rest of the evening.
(3/15) Bryn, Martha, Rachel, Neil, Andy, and I teamed up for the last Trev pub quiz of the term. We put up a good showing, but ended up in a tie for 5th place. During the quiz they decided it would be a good idea to write on my face, but sadly I have no pictures to show the result. It is sad that there won't be anymore Sunday night pub quizzes for over a month, but when they return we shall be ready.
Patriot's Cup
(3/7) Today was the first annual Patriot's Cup sporting competition between Furness and Cartmel. The day began with football (soccer) matches between both A teams and B teams. Both of our teams got rocked. Then it was on to a game known as Rounders, which is similar to baseball. For an explanation of Rounders see this or this. I played Rounders for the first time and our team ended up winning. It was a lot of fun and apparently I have a knack for it because I'm tall and can catch well bare-handed. I have been recruited to join the club in the summer term when I come back from Easter break travelling. Anyways, after Rounders it was on to fun football, which is for people who don't play for the teams. I played in this as well, which made my leg injury flare up and hurt quite a bit. We ended up losing this in penalty kicks, but it was fun. Next up was table tennis, which I also played. I won my first game and lost my next 2 which I think left me in 3rd place overall. After table tennis it was on to basketball. Myself and Pete, who is the captain of the university team, led our team to victory, which tasted oh so sweet. After basketball my leg was officially spent so I sat down and watched the rest of the sports. They played volleyball and dodgeball to finish out the first half of the day. After those were done there was a break for 2 hours so people could get something to eat and get cleaned up. I limped back to my room and took a shower and made a sandwich.
Around 5pm we reconveined in Trev to start the bar sports portion of the competition. First up was team pool. For the team pool we had to nominate 5 guys and 4 girls to play. Sadly I did not get a chance to play in the team pool because those spots were taken by the A team members. We ended up losing the team pool 5-4. While team pool was going on there was a Guitar Hero competition taking place as well. I'm not sure how we ended up in that. After that was people's darts, which was meant for anyone not on the team. I think we won that. There was also a pub quiz going on. Halfway through the pub quiz, and with all the other events completed, we moved down to Cartmel bar to finish out the competition.
At Cartmel it was time for people's pool. I thought I was going to get to play in that, but we had too many people wanting to play so I volunteered to sit out. While people's pool was going on there was also team darts and the rest of the pub quiz taking place. We won people's pool and I'm not sure how we did in the other 2 events. When all was said and done we ended up losing, which was pretty heartbreaking. I was just glad to have participated in the first one ever and it was fun hanging out with a bunch of friends all day. The day was not over though. With the competition completed it was time to catch some free buses to Sugarhouse.
Sugarhouse was good as usual. We all got pretty hammered and danced the night away. Around 2:30am it was off to the taxis and then Pizzetta for a snack before bed. Even though my leg hurt like a biatch it was definitely a fun day to remember, spent with a lot of friends.
Around 5pm we reconveined in Trev to start the bar sports portion of the competition. First up was team pool. For the team pool we had to nominate 5 guys and 4 girls to play. Sadly I did not get a chance to play in the team pool because those spots were taken by the A team members. We ended up losing the team pool 5-4. While team pool was going on there was a Guitar Hero competition taking place as well. I'm not sure how we ended up in that. After that was people's darts, which was meant for anyone not on the team. I think we won that. There was also a pub quiz going on. Halfway through the pub quiz, and with all the other events completed, we moved down to Cartmel bar to finish out the competition.
At Cartmel it was time for people's pool. I thought I was going to get to play in that, but we had too many people wanting to play so I volunteered to sit out. While people's pool was going on there was also team darts and the rest of the pub quiz taking place. We won people's pool and I'm not sure how we did in the other 2 events. When all was said and done we ended up losing, which was pretty heartbreaking. I was just glad to have participated in the first one ever and it was fun hanging out with a bunch of friends all day. The day was not over though. With the competition completed it was time to catch some free buses to Sugarhouse.
Sugarhouse was good as usual. We all got pretty hammered and danced the night away. Around 2:30am it was off to the taxis and then Pizzetta for a snack before bed. Even though my leg hurt like a biatch it was definitely a fun day to remember, spent with a lot of friends.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Who Watches The Watchmen?
(3/6) Opening day for Watchmen!!! I'd been waiting for this day ever since I saw the first preview for the movie at least 4 months ago. I went to frisbee practice from 10am-noon and then got showered up and waited around till time to see the movie. I went with a bunch of people from the frisbee team, which worked out well cause they saved me a seat as I was running a bit late. The fact that it was opening combined with the nature of the movie made for an interesting crowd. There were a number of people in full costume dressed as characters from the movie. The previews before the movie last 30 solid minutes, which was a bit ridiculous, but I must say that this is going to be a fantastic year for movies methinks.
Anyways, the movie was great in my opinion. The common criticisms that I heard from my fellow moviegoers was that it was too long and that the soundtrack didn't really fit. I didn't really mind either of these. For those of you who don't know anything about the movie, you can find a synopsis here.
After the movie our group went to Charles and Mike's flat. I hung out there and had a few drinks as we all discussed the movie and other random things. It was nice to hang out with the frisbee team outside of practice, cause I hadn't had many chances. It was getting on towards midnight, so I headed out to meet up with some friends at Cuba for Diego's birthday. Cuba was pretty packed, but I managed to weave my way through and find my friends. We partied until closing then caught a taxi back to campus.
Anyways, the movie was great in my opinion. The common criticisms that I heard from my fellow moviegoers was that it was too long and that the soundtrack didn't really fit. I didn't really mind either of these. For those of you who don't know anything about the movie, you can find a synopsis here.
After the movie our group went to Charles and Mike's flat. I hung out there and had a few drinks as we all discussed the movie and other random things. It was nice to hang out with the frisbee team outside of practice, cause I hadn't had many chances. It was getting on towards midnight, so I headed out to meet up with some friends at Cuba for Diego's birthday. Cuba was pretty packed, but I managed to weave my way through and find my friends. We partied until closing then caught a taxi back to campus.
Shootin Some Stick
(3/5) This was a typical Thursday where I went to class and counted down the minutes until time to play pool. At 6pm the time had finally arrived and I headed down to Trev for practice. We rotated around playing a few practice games until 7 when our match with Fylde began. I played the 3rd game against their team captain. It started out rough with him running out most of his balls and me missing a few shots. I finally made a rally and got down to 2 balls left, but he was able to snooker me, which means that he put the cue ball in such a position as I didn't have a straight line to hit any of my balls so I had to play a bank shot, which I missed. He pocketed the 8-ball on the next shot, knocking my record down to 3-2. I was pretty salty about the loss cause I know I could have beaten him if I would have taken a little more time when playing my bank shots. Anyways, after I stepped outside to simmer for a few I came back in and watched the rest of the match. We ended up losing the match 7-2, but most of the games were pretty close.
After the match we rallied the troops and hit the bars. As usual we went to WalkAbout first for some boat races, then we went to Friary. At Friary we ran into Zoe and Joe and Jack, and also Jessica, Diego, Dennis, and some other internationals. I bounced around between the 3 groups throughout our time there. After that the pool team, Zoe, and Joe all headed to Elements, and the internationals headed to Toast. I went to Elements first for a while and then met up with Jessica and her group at Toast. We finished out the night at Toast then caught a taxi back to campus. When we got back to their townhouse there was a huge spread of food in the kitchen from the birthday party they had earlier. They had been celebrating the birthday of one of her flatmates. This girls mom had filled up 2 tables with all sorts of snack foods and sweets. I was so excited to see the food I can't even explain. We gorged ourselves on snacks and then passed out.
After the match we rallied the troops and hit the bars. As usual we went to WalkAbout first for some boat races, then we went to Friary. At Friary we ran into Zoe and Joe and Jack, and also Jessica, Diego, Dennis, and some other internationals. I bounced around between the 3 groups throughout our time there. After that the pool team, Zoe, and Joe all headed to Elements, and the internationals headed to Toast. I went to Elements first for a while and then met up with Jessica and her group at Toast. We finished out the night at Toast then caught a taxi back to campus. When we got back to their townhouse there was a huge spread of food in the kitchen from the birthday party they had earlier. They had been celebrating the birthday of one of her flatmates. This girls mom had filled up 2 tables with all sorts of snack foods and sweets. I was so excited to see the food I can't even explain. We gorged ourselves on snacks and then passed out.
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