I realised last night that it's my birthday in two weeks! I hadn't realised it was so close. I mean I hadn't forgotten what day it was but I suppose I still thought it was a month or so away, November has sort of disappeared.
Anyway my birthdays have a history of things falling through and going terribly wrong so I've always been a bit nervous of actually trying to celebrate them in any way. Low key seems to be the only safe option, though it's also the boring option, so I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions.
I appreciate that people have probably got more important things going on, and it's better to plan things a long time in advance, but if there's a chance of getting some sort of fun out of this rather than ignoring the whole thing altogether (current plan) to avoid disaster and disappointment, then I may have a think about considering having a tentative go at it. Maybe.
Now... *random tagging to ensure Facebook replies*

It's been bloody ages since I posted anything on here. As far as I can remember the last time I did was the day before I got my citizenship so I'll try and do a brief update from then, I just like being able to read back over these things and keep an idea of what actually happened and when. I think I have vague ideas of my grandchildren reading this one day (note to grandchildren: Your grandmother does not knit, accept it and go buy her some cyber-booze, or whatever it is you crazy kids are drinking).

Well, I'm well settled into my second year of uni now, and by settled I mean doing essays, and by doing essays I mean staying up until 4am (5 really, the clocks just went back) avoiding work and sleep. We've got the wireless sort of sorted so I can now do this from bed (wooh!). In terms of the household I am slowly, ever so slowly pulling my room into some semblance of 'decorated', but not really because I'm crap at that sort of thing. Really I just want a bunch of prints from Keith Arnatt's series of 'garbage photos' to stick up, those things are awesome. I'm totally owning the kitchen at the moment though, vegetarian cooking makes me happy.
In terms of money and work, I am avoiding looking at my bank balance at the moment because whilst I do still have money, the amount I've spent this term already is quite depressing. I'm trying to be frugal from now but I spent an awful lot this last week with Serena visiting. She spent even more though and I'm glad she did come, it was good too see someone who is essentially impossible to shock with anything I do.
Hopefully once I've started at Halifax my money worries will cease for at least a couple of years though things are definitely going to be easier than last year either way. I'm just a bit worried at the Will they sent me along with my contract. Do many of their employees die on the job to make that necessary?
With other things, the organisation for the ball is getting underway, thinking of that has just reminded me I need to contact Goth Soc about that. I wil do that soon. Other things with RockSoc like the trip to Manchester and the Halloween Party are also getting done, and I also had my DJ training/guest slot on Wednesday. I don't really know how it went, a thousand technical things went wrong so my planned playlist sort of got chucked. I've had no real feedback on what I did play so I shall just assume it was 'meh' all round.
It's happened so much now I'll just sling a brief note in at this point that there's been another fuck up with my passport application and stuff. Shortly, I don't have the information to fill in 'Father's Details' and they are taking issue. Also my South African passport is now technically invalid. But what-ev.
Last bit of news is rahter more cheery I feel. The other week Claire managed to get her boating licence.
My sister is a sailor.
And she manages this before I even get a drivers permit?
Bah.

 The time is here, at last, it is my last night as a South African and come to morrow I shall be proudly and legitimately BRITISH!
Then with any luck it should just be a small step to getting a passport which will be my final confirmation of having a surname too! 
Naturally it's not all plain sailing though. As I may have said before, South Africans are wankers. I applied for dual nationality in December and they didn't get my forms processed in time, thus January 1st came and they wiped the records and claimed I never applied, despite having already taken my money to pay for it. 
Then they claimed I didn't qualify which is, to put it lightly, pure unfiltered euquine shit. So now whilst I'll be able to get work and so forth, and finally have a real surname, I will need to get a visa and write for permission to visit my grandparents.  
In addition to this, though I DID get the bank job, they can't proceed at all until I have my British Timbs passport. So if there's any sort of problem with that I'll lose that job through no fault of my own, which will be really gutting considering what a good job it is.
Still, I'll look on the bright side. I am getting the forms. I am becoming a proper person. And now. I am going to bed. For the last time an African girl.

Recently it seems the only reason I've been posting has been to complain. And why not. Complaints are usually the things that stand out, and most of the time are more interesting than reading about something like what an awesome falafel wrap I just ate (it really was delicious).
But not this time!
Oh no, this time I actually have something GOOD to write about. This time, I have momentous, joyous, and tentatively issue resolving news!
And also some complaints.
I suppose I should get the mundane complain pain (hah) stuff out of the way first so I can gloat in my saga-concluding happiness, so here's the normal life-of-Kat stuff broken down into handy points:

1) Rent. Those bloody estate agents, they messed things up so much, they now owe me more than £300, losing cheques, overcharging... I went to complain to them on Thursday whilst up in Leeds though and they have promised I'll have a cheque soon. I damn well better.

2) The house. Whilst in Leeds for an interview with Halifax bank (the pay's awesome but I'm not too keen on working in finance) I stayed overnight in our new house. I had the worst. Dream. Ever.
It doesn't sound bad to describe, but I dreamt someone had broken in and was in the room with me and I was too scared to even scream. I was still freaked out when I woke up, and it didn't help when the maintenance guy let himself in that afternoon. The interview was alright.

3) Moving in. I brought lots of stuff with me last week so moving up to Leeds is starting, though it will be a gradual process and there is lots to buy still. Things like a mirror. And a dartboard, which I want for some reason.

4) Money. I am being paid for stuff at last! There's nothing better than having a big fuck-off pile of cheques come through the post for you, including an £80 refund for British citizenship which brings me to my main point...

nem·e·sis /ˈnɛməsɪs/ [nem-uh-sis]
–noun, plural -ses /-ˌsiz/ [-seez]
1. something that a person cannot conquer, achieve, etc.: The performance test proved to be my nemesis.
2. an opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome.
3. (initial capital letter) Classical Mythology. the goddess of divine retribution.
4. an agent or act of retribution or punishment.
5. my cat at 7am when I'm desperate to sleep but he's hungry, and won't stop pawing at me and purring even to the extent of crawling under the covers where I'm trying to hide, and rubbing his unbearably itchy whiskers all over my my face and crying until I get up, freezing cold, and give him some Felix.

So Ireland, this was basically ten days spent with my fairly senile kleptomaniac somewhat racist grandmother, deaf socially inept uncle, and my metal listening anti-semitic homophobic money wasting fast food munching stepdad.
We explored County Clare, stayed in the worst B&B in the world (the toilet was in the bedroom behind a curtain),drove the car a lot, and met and played with our adorable, yet exceedingly Irish cousins.
It was pretty good.
Back in England, I got some work in a cafe... Worked there for one day and the manager ran off with all the stock, equiptment and the chef on the second. Was it me? Still, cash in hand, kerching.
Went up to Leeds and did some shopping on Friday. By God you should see the shoes I bought. They are the most beautiful things I have ever seen.
Since then, the family has gone to Spain and I am caring for the cats. They have all gone mad with loneliness and I find at least three of them on my lap, arms and face whenever I sit down. I'll be taking advantage of the free house though and the girls are coming round for a barbeque on Saturday. Before then some of us will be going for a sushi buffet on Tuesday after Maria and I head off to Camden Market, which is being demolished next month! I am so upset it actually hurts.
For now the only other bit of news I have is Mindless Self Indulgence are coming to England to tour.
I really. Really. Want to see them.

Seems I just can't stay still these days, I was up in Leeds over the weekend to have a look at the new house and things (I love my room, it comes with a purple wicker chair, but the downstairs sofa/futon is broken), and got my purse swiped by a thieving scumbag chav. All he took was the money thankfully, even left my phone.
I'm off to Ireland tonight as well, for just over a week. I'll be back next Saturday and probably shaking with trauma at what I voluntarily went for. Still at least I'll get some driving in, I'll make it a mission to have at least driven to the shop and back on my own by the end of the week. I'll be seeing Aunt Marie's new baby as well, she had it a few weeks ago and recently named it Robert (which dissapointed me, I was hoping for Finton or Seamus or Padraig or something hideously Irish), so I can go sneer at her being all exhausted and hormonal. Silly woman.
I suppose I'd better go pack anyway, but this is basically the reason I won't be online for a while. They only got a phone line up on the farm about five years ago. Still don't use the oven. Old fashioned turf and fireplace. Furniture much much older than me. Lovely.

And now here's something I haven't done in a while, it's a happyfun update on my legal status as a citizen! First off, a recap, just to remind people of what's happened so far in my quest to (literally) discover (or at least confirm) my own identity. ( IT's very very very very very very very very a bit long )

I don't think we'll ever get the hey day of daily LJ postings back. Ah well. At least that's an indication I've got something better to do with my time now.
So, home again. How's it been.
Well after a few days grace period where Mom seemed to be doing her best to give me my 'space' and 'independance', we were right back to where we were a few months ago. Screaming at each other like smokers fighting over the last cigarette. I love my family. I do. I just get on with them better when I'm a couple of hundred miles away.
Going out a lot has helped, so I've been out with Serena (we drank wine), Maria, Nadia and Jen (we ate pizza) and been out job hunting. I've signed up with a temping agency so hopefully that will lead to being out of the house even more. Scored advanced on all the tests too, which is pretty cool since the last time I even had Excel open was in 2002 when I was trying to sabotage the entire school network so I wouldn't have to do GCSE coursework on it. It worked too. Dropped that class and never went back.
That's all I feel like writing for now. My stomach's hurting, so I think I'm going to go lie down. Pretty soon I need to start planning the journey back to Leeds to sort out house stuff. Hopefully I'll earn some cash this holiday so I'll actually be able to afford NICE house stuff. Last year I used the same packet of plastic cups right up until I went home. Class in a glass me. Class in a glass.

I'm back in London. The journey was hell. Coach was delayed, got lost, stuck in traffic, then crashed into a car.
Then all the tube lines were shut down for repairs.

Went wandering around London for a while with Maria and Nadia today though. So it was worth it.

I'm going to stop making promises to update more often, it's just not happening. I'll try and remember what's been going on though. ( Here's a cut so I don't kill your friends page, this will be loooong )

That's about it I think, it's nearly the end of term! In a few weeks I will officially be renting a REAL house. Won't be living in it of course. But hey, I bet you London types will be so happy to have me back you'll build me a house to live in yourselves, eh? Eh?
Eh?
Oh..

Woohoo and such! I have finished exams. On Tuesday as a matter of fact, I only just got round to posting about it though. I'm not thinking about how they went, I'm just glad they're over.
Naturally Tuesday night was a hideous mish mash of debauchery and alcohol... On everyone elses part. I did not have the available funds to go too over the top, but had fun regardless. Though I got annoyed when everybody cleared the dance floor when Iron Maiden came on. What kind of fool does not like Iron Maiden? Foolish ones obviously, and The Cockpit seems to be full of them on a Tuesday night.
Wednesday I was feeling a bit snotty and sick so I stayed in and did laundry (oooh!). This snotty sickness resulted in my having a terrible nights sleep unable to breathe through my nose, so now my pillow is all manky from where I was drooling on it. Just thought I'd share that with everyone.
Thursday was a sleepy day due to terrible sleep, but luckily for me James presented an excellent oppurtunity to duck out of work an hour early, so I totally did, to go eat lasagne no less. Unfortunately it didn't occur to that after a few months not eating meat or rich food in general (hall meals are bland as hell) my stomach may not be too happy with such an influx of taste. Whilst it was probably one of the best meals I've had since coming to Leeds, coupled with being silly and not doing insulin in time, come Friday morning I was so agonizingly sick that I pretty much couldn't move for the rest of the day and just slept until Saturday morning.
And what a morning! I bloody love Scarborough. Ame, James, Michael and Sarah, a beach, donkeys, sandcastles, paddling, chips, icecream, an arcade, flip flops, sand in every crevice. It was everything a trip to the seaside should be, and I even mostly avoided being burnt. Whilst my stomach still hurt a bit after eating it was exactly what I needed to get me well again. Good thing too, tomorrow and Monday look like they'll be busy days too. Woooh, ride the endorphin train :D

Microwave
Cutlery, utensils etc
Cleaning equiptment
Speakers
Television/related multimedia
Bean bags
Giant wall posters
Twister
Jagermeister kit
Padlocks
'Fancy dress' including Slipknot masks
Approx 100 metres nylon rope
Trunk/cupboard with solid locks
Spare whips
Shackles/hand cuffs, fuzzy + plain
Hose
Jumper cables/clamps/volt pack
'A Pole'
Feathers...
Lots of feathers.

BEHOLD! My unstoppable fleet of paper airplanes! Tremble at their papery might!
They called me mad, they said it would never work, they said there was something WRONG with a girl who keeps having horrible nightmares so gives up on sleep to spend the entire night constructing a mighty biodegradeable force of winged terror. But those who laughed shall have the smiles wiped from their faces as the very sun is blocked out by the deadly rustling descent from the skies, and they are bombarded with pointy, papery bits! Maybe there will even be paper cuts!
I assure you the only reason there aren't more is because I ran out of paper.
Loving them like children as I do, I have already ascertained each of their distinct personalities and named them appropriately. Clockwise from the top we have:

Suck. Though I only have two of them.
Ha.

Aaah Bank Holidays, what a weird and pointless thing you are. Especially when lectures have already finished and all, so all this means is I miss out on a days pay and have nowhere to buy gum from.
Anyhow, it's been a busy weekend so I'll update now before I forget everything again and then I'll get back to this essay, last one of the year, wooh!
Friday was well fun at work. Basically a ceiling had collapsed so I spent three hours picking glass out of things so they could have a club night there that night. Afterwards, in the name of science, there was a pub crawl type investigation in to the bars of Leeds to try and find a suitable new venue for meetups. Naturally coming from work I was a twat and forgot to bring my passport so I think I need to get some sort of card ID. Fun was had though, it's almost always amusing when males get drunk in a group together, especially when they find cages and the like to play with.
Saturday was Liverpool. In summation I counted about twenty burnt out houses before giving up and spent way too much. Also got really dehydrated. It was ok overall though, just didn't get up on Sunday, pretty much at all. I have never seen so many hen parties in one place in my life. Other highlights included drunk russian guys asking if the group was Metalica and/or gay, and that woman wandering around with her boobs out, apparently oblivious to that fact. To think that place was my insurance choice. Blimes.

It's been a week I think, I suppose I should update a bit.
...
I can't remember a damn thing that's happened.
That's not because of alcohol either before anybody starts making wild accusations, I just have a really shit memory, this is why I used to update every day, if I left it any longer, well, this would happen. Let me think, I'll work backwards...
I'm finished lectures for the year! Whay! Now I just have one more essay to do and I'll be free to start panicking like a panicked thing about exams. There are only two. But I know nothing.
Oh! That's an important one, we have a house! And thanks to angry face pulling by Owen and Kathrine we're getting 25% off summer rent which is a huge relief when I look at my funds. I basically can't afford to take any time off work for revision or I won't be able to make my rent payments for this year. Bah.
Anyway the house itself is in Woodhouse just off the main road, three storeys and a basement, henceforth known as The Dungeon naturally. We'll be buying plenty of accesories for it and filling the whole building with amps, speakers and cds of angry men expressing their displeasure at the state of society and relationships accompanied by some fast paced percussion and string music. Lovely.
In other matters life has been pretty darn decent recently. Grin.

Now here is a 'Google Game' I saw on Josh's facebook, tried out, and was amused at some of the results. ( H'yar. )

Tonight sleep just did not happen.

1)
One old friend is better than two new ones. More flavour.

2)
Communication is key in a good relationship. Keep your roars short and to the point.

3)
Work like you dont need the money,
Dance like no ones watching,
Love like you have never been hurt,
Then go back and bite anyone that did hurt you. Just to neaten things up.

4)
Don't walk behind me, I may not lead
Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow
Just walk beside me, and be my friend, or at least I won't have to go far in order to eat you.

5)
Fool me once...
You'll basically just get mauled, ok?

Tuesday:
Last day of work (much filing) then the fair (much pain due to extreme rides). Maybe I'm getting too old for things, but we went on the Waltzer which was awesome as always, and my brother didn't throw up on me this time which is always a good thing. Afterwards we (Maria, Mel, Sophie, Sylvia, Nithya, Anisha and Simon that is, I did not bring the siblings) went to the pub and drank delicious cider. Lots of delicious cider. Perhaps too much overall, but it was a laugh, and the journey home with the sudden affliction of Bladder Agony made for a memorable, if extremly painful trip. Every. Single. Toilet on Green Street was closed. It was horrible. We made it to some in the end thankfully, but not without me making high pitched whining crying noises when it turned out there were only two with doors on, and there were three of us.

Wednesday:
A much needed shopping trip to the city. We went to the new Primark on Oxford Street and there was a copious amount of underwear shopping. Not entirely by me, but sometimes the £1 knicker shelf is very hard to resist. More so than Ann Summers anyway, though that was a bit more entertaining.
After much screwing up by Subway who couldn't seem to grasp the concept of a sandwich with no meat in it, we went to Camden and did a lot more buying of a lot more excellent stuff. Muahaha.

Thursday:
Packing, collecting replacement phones, looking round the old neighbourhood, making macaroni, it was a quiet day.

Friday:
Finished packing, had my hat returned to me by the lovely Maria, tried to get a new cash card over the phone since I thought mine was lost, couldn't, tried to get one from the bank, couldn't due to lack of valid passport, had to just cancel the old one. Got the bus and things all in good time but suffered amazing boredom on the five hour trip, especially when I ran out of music on my phone. I got back to Leeds a few hours ago and have since done half nothing. Tomorrow I'll do work. Probably.
I did however find my 'lost' card. Now useless as it's cancelled, and I don't know how to get a new one so I need to use my other bank account, which is currently at overdraft limit point. Gah. I'll try to sort it out in the morning, if there's nothing I can do I suppose at least there should be a new loan coming in soon, I'll live frugal, pay rent, and wait for Britain to let me live again.