A Lego Rose.

 Based on a design by Joe Meno / Given to someone rather lovely.

Practice more. Socialise more. Smile more. Play more. Laugh more. Love more.

Spend less. Worry less. Eat less. Consume less. Procrastinate less. Hate less.

There were others of course, but this is the only one with a photo, and thus, worth posting. In it's former life, this chair was once a bed.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that my current  course for the year was coming to an end. It's something that's been over for a full month now, with all the assessments sent off and the project complete- all over but the waiting for the course result itself. Regardless of the number at the end of the year, it was a great course, and it's definitely something I miss doing- the most brainpower getting used currently only being the decision for what to have for breakfast.

Like it's title suggests, Europe: culture and identities in a contested continent was always going to be about specific things, ignoring the rest of the world and focussing entirely on Europe, somewhat interestingly, a "world" in itself. From the outset the course tried to establish the very essence and meaning of identity, an early goal, but made all the harder thanks to numerous interpretation across the years. That identity was shaped by history, language, nationality was a major focus, but again going back to the title of the course, "contested continent" was often a recurring theme, with significant differences between countries often appearing and helping to establish distinctiveness both in values and ideas, and again, identity. There was never one specific "European identity" but instead, always a multitude of other ones that came together to create that archetype, much like the states and geography of Europe itself. Thought the course dealt with past events in history, culture and language, the course throughout felt surprisingly contemporary, new and modern- something I wasn't used to.

So it's odd not having anything to study. Granted i've tried to set myself some littler projects but it's winter, it's wet, it's horribly "eh". Two weeks from now i'm getting back into it and from that point onwards until February returning to studying archaeology. Like last time it's a pretty introductory/general course and will probably completely bypass the one area i'm particularly interested in, but hey, it's keep me from getting depressed and having brainrot.

Cornflakes, always.

I went on a holiday, or as close to one as i'll have this year.

I stayed in a caravan better equipped than my house, watching TV programs I can at home.

I saw autumn, or the beginnings of it- the yellow, the orange and the less green...

...the hills and forests and rivers and firths, a variety of road signs...

...and beaches, and people and big scary dogs that didn't like my dog.
 

Then I came home and finished my coursework for the year, before heading to the greenhouse, and noticing my plants were even deader than they were before.

Whoever suggested that unemployment was easy, was clearly lying, as the last few weeks have been pretty busy. The bad news is that yes, i'm still unemployed, but the good news is i've kept myself busy enough to prevent going insane from it all.

For the last few days i've been busy typing up my end of course assessment project -which doubles as the exam. The essay makes up a considerable percentage of the total score, so a pass is pivotal. Following the theme given to us as "conflict and identity" I chose to cover war graves and memorials and the effect they had on national identity. The researching and writing was pretty hard work and certainly recurring, but part of me is going to miss writing it.

Alongside that, i've been building too, you know, to keep the sides of my brain balanced and shit. Over at Classic Castle (as ever) a challenge was issued to build a castle within the pretty tight dimensions of 32x32 studs. Normally when it comes to castles or towers i'll be well beyond this size, but scaling down and still getting everything to fit on the base was a nice variation. Equally interesting was the entries of everyone else, and with no prizes or anything to be gained at all from entering it was fun. Sansalias is the end result.

Over the next few weeks i've got to finish my current course, and seriously step up attempts to get in shape- me? exercise? Yes. I've got a few months off from studying shortly after before I get to dip back into archaeology, but any preconceptions anyone may have about unemployment being all daytime TV and sleeping on the couch are clearly wrong.

I'm thankful for that.