aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!



That's better. A bit.

Ooh dear, andante

What on earth is Mikhail Pletnev doing to 'The Emperor' concerto?? Not the best version I've ever heard..

Hugs to everyone.

Step Dad is wasting away.
Car broke down on a dark bend in a lane, clutch gone, towed by AA to garage.
Teenage daughter having a strop due to mocks.
Hubbie out enjoying a leaving do from work.

Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. hmmmmmmm.
I need wine.

Bev.

P.S Only let up was the AA man looked like the lead singer in Eagles.

*hugs to Bev*

My slightly less important argh of the evening... My dad. And my paternal grandmother. In fact, the whole of that side of the family. I think they hate me.

Bev, I hope your daughter's mocks go well and that you find some wine. May would have liked our gaelic choir rehearsal tonight - wine and whiskey (and men) afterwards.

Give me the address. Never mind May, Bev wants to come too
I bet they don't hate you at all. Maybe you don't "fit" what they want you to be. Later they'll all be proud of you, and say things like " I knew she'd turn out alright", and you'll want to
Sorry, I've had 2 glasses of wine. Unlike May , that's all it takes.
Bev.

It was my mother's funeral yesterday Actually, it was very, very lovely, and not aaargh at all, and the organist, unexpectedly, played Thanks for the Memory as we left. Luckily I didn't catch my sister's eye or we would've disgraced ourselves. It wasn't what we'd thought he'd play, but was brilliant for chasing away sadder thoughts.

We tried to have a fire yesterday evening but the chimney wasn't as clean as we thought it was, and now my living room smells of smoke.

Cycled in to work today, sort of forgetting that we were going out for lunch.

So now while I am appropriately dressed for work, when we go out I have to top it off with a highly-tasteful extremely-luminous yellow jacket.

Actually, it's less of an argh and more of a laugh, really...

Thoughts are with you Crotchety Mum.
Bev.

As are mine.

Mine too. I'm sorry for your loss, Crotchety mum.

And mine. I know words don't do it justice...

Thank you all so much. I wasn't sure whether to post it or not, but - well, I did, and you're very kind.
Tomorrow, however, I'm going Christmas shopping, although come to think of it that will probably be pretty aaaargh as well

I booked a train ticket online some time ago to go to Leeds for Skylark's concert. When I booked I couldn't reserve a seat.

On the FAQ it said this was either because there were no seats left or because they hadn't yet released them.

I sent them an e-mail asking which was true of the train I was booked on. Answer: not yet released.

I sent them a second e-mail asking when the seats would be released and how to book one. Answer: Don't know, write again in a few weeks time.

I sent them a third e-mail a few weeks later and got the same answer.

Last night I sent a fourth e-mail, thinking they would reply when they opened. Instead I got an e-mail back from "Norman" saying that they were currently shut and that I should only send e-mails during their opening hours and he concluded "I hope you will manage to reserve the seats you would like for your journey." (Manage, I feel being the operative word here ).

I HATE being at home.

Poor Lucky! Has the York term finished then? Durham goes on until 17 December.

Have you fallen out with your Mum again? Hope things look better to you soon.

No - I was bribed by my parents into going to my school awards ceremony (I won the English award), so I went home for a matter of hours really. York finishes on the 19th. I didn't fall out with my mum - but my sister. She was upset because my parents intended to drag her to watch me get my award, so she responded by being really mardy and rude.

I hate christmas tree lights

(because I never put them on properly, apparently. But they're making me happy too....)

Why does everything have to go wrong just when everything's getting busy with Christmas then January exams? You know those days when every little thing you do goes wrong? Well I seem to be having a week like that. Gah!

Lord help me.

Are you OK, Matthew?

arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.............

i wish i can have some comfort.........

arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..........................

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! (yes it is that bad)

I just realised that the page limit for my literature review, due in Friday, included all the contents pages and references. That means I'm 6 pages over the limit. And I don't really have time for cutting out 6 pages worth of editing

My references run over 4 pages...

Any suggests as to what to do appreciated... *goes to bed*

Use a smaller font. Or bigger paper.

Probably not an option - university course work usually specifies size of font, spacing and page size.

If you have a lot of direct quotations, cut them out and just reference to them instead (ie "see Hopkins p. 56").

What is the penalty for going over the limit? That ought to give you an indication of whether you need to do something drastic or not.

I know, I was being facetious, but forgot to put in a smilie to indicate that.
My OU work has to be A4, 12 point font, double-spaced, one side of the paper only, with I think a minimum 2.5 cm margin left and right. I can't remember the detail, because once I got a template set up that worked, I left it at that.
We're very fotunate that our limits are word counts, not pages. And they make it clear that word counts include references and quotes, but not the bibliography. They don't make it clear for footnotes though!
The really really really really annoying thing is that not all tutors treat the 'word limit' as the same thing (some penalise for going over by any amount, some don't penalise until you are 10% over. And if footnotes aren't included in the word count, some people have put extra info in the footnotes and got marked on it - so we had a 1500 word essay to do, which one person dod 1649 words for [within the 10% allowed by her tutor] and then she put another 1000 words in to footnotes and illustration captions without being penalised; whereas other tutors would penalise at 1501 words all in!)

I'm used to illness, because of my job. BUT.........everyone is ill. MUm, Step Dad, Dad, friend having tests today for a "lump", and now Jen has sickness. Can't go to Mum and dad's.

I asked for the stage for tomorrow's concert to be placed at the far end of a long hall and was told today that it had beed put in the centre of one of the long walls instead but that they would move it if there was a problem. I went to look and sure enough it was totally wrongly placed. I asked very tactfully for it to be moved and was told that they wanted it that was for thier school play next tuesday and weren't prepared to change it. We have used the hall on two occasions before and it just doesn't work that way. GGRRRRRRRR. It isn't easy singing to a long, wide row of seats. I was told that I was wrong and that if I tried it their way I might like it etc. I told the good lady that we had done so and I didn't! She told me that if I used the mic I would be ok. Mot much use for a forty strong choir! Also the back of the stage has two drops behind it where there are two doorways. Not only the wrong place but not safe either! How do I sing to an audience that iruns for the entire length of a large school hall?

My car has been in the garage twice this week (second time because it came out in a worse state than when it went in).

I've had to go to the postal depot AGAIN but daren't post this in THAT thread -

Just had to see an elderly married couple together as a joint appointment (never a good idea!) -one went swimmingly, the other was problematic and I tried absolutely everything to correct it - repeated everything, replaced everything, still no good and then my computer crashed. Argh.
It didn't help that they kept calling each other by names different to the ones I had been given (they were RC and had saint's names that they only kept 'for best'. Then one dashed off to the loo and then couldn't manage the door so I had to run after him to open it before he had an 'accident'.

It was worse than managing a class of toddlers. Then the wife started to grumble about how long it was all taking - they had a 2hr appointment between them.

I've arranged a review appointment for the problem one after Christmas. " Thank you dear, I'll ask to see you again" he said. (Mel thinks: Not if I see you first, you won't!) And if he touches my leg just once more I'll break his fingers.

I think I need an aspirin and a lie down.

Thanks for everyones suggestions. I emailed my supervisor around the time of posting that with a message along the same lines, and got back some helpful suggestions. I think he must've seen the time I sent the email, and felt sorry for me!

With some careful formatting (no-one said I had to use doubt line spacing and size 12 font for the gaps between paragraphs, or that I couldn't use size 10 font in tables! ) I got down to 31 pages today. Supervisor said that was fine, considering I had 4 pages of references . Just doing some proof reading now and tidying up a few shoddy references, and I never have to look at the merits of incinerating municipal waste again.

And then I can start revision for tomorrows exam.

Not seriously aaaaargh, just one thing after another seems to be happening to stop me getting on with the things I really need to do.

I received a parcel in an old jiffy bag that had been re-used and was sealed up with thick tape. Not bothering to unpick the tape I just cut across the top of the envelope. I forgot that the filling for the old jiffy bags is a ton of grey fluff and was covered in a grey dust explosion. Then I had to go up to my son's room for something and trod on a metal Knight of Dol Amroth Warhammer figure, sword upraised, preparing to do battle with the Balrog. I trod on the sword. Ow.

bad coiuple of days for me...yesterday had a concert, performed in my lecture and had a flute lesson and it just wasn't a good playing day and I was very depressed by the evening. Also got my presentation mark back which I was disappointed with, then my mum crashed her car or as she says 'wrapped it around a lamp post' (she's fine, laughing about it!) then today just woke up in the same bad mood and had an awful day. Got that off my chest now...hope everyone else is feeling better than me!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggghhhh

A few weeks ago my washing machine gave up the ghost. So I bought a new one.

Nationwide, my bank at the moment, saw fit in their infinite wisdom to question such an unusually large transaction going through the account, and rather than ask me about it, they put a temporary block on the account.

I then spent an inordinate amount of time and phone bills sorting this out with them, and got them to unblock the account and reinstate the transaction. And so the new machine duly arrived.

And I thought all was well, until today. It would appear that because there was a questionable transaction on the account (well, they questioned it, but unreasonably so) they have seen fit to stop the card being used for online purchases. They will send me a new card, but not until early January.

How the heck am I meant to do Christmas shopping?

I have told them that this is unacceptable and that if they don't reopen the account very very quickly, I shall move to another bank.

I had my braces fitted this morning, and they really hurt!

The stupid dentist didnt cut the back of one of the wires enough, and it keeps digging into the side of my mouth, and when i tried to put the special wax on, i cut my finger on the metal!
I can't bite properly, and it was painful trying to eat bread earlier! I've been eating yoghurt and soup today, but had to rehearse with the school drama department for their "great expectations" play, and got shouted at when i didnt play what the drama teacher wanted in between songs as back ground music. I got very cross because the only clue she gave me as to what she wanted was "something nice"! She told me this at the last minute, so i had to improvise, and it sounded ok, but not what SHE wanted! Maybe if she said more than "something nice"! she'd get what she wanted!

I really hope these braces stop hurting soon! The end result better be good!

Jacob.

*screams*

bad day, bad week, not looking forward to the interview

Oh dear, I don't think I've ever seen so many people on the Scream thread on one day!

I'm really sorry that this day has been so difficult for so many forumites. The silver lining is that surely things can only get better... can't they?!

Puts a whole new light on those awful commercials they have...

I feel so unbelievably ill...

Aaaaargh...I'm going to come and join the mass screaming.

####### coursework!!! It's in for tomorrow and the splitting headache is not helping things...

They will, and it really is. Trust me. The metal will sort itself out, mine were the same. Teething gel might help more than the wax they gave you.

Oh dear, time for a group hug...

Shall we have a sing-song to cheer everyone up?
Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag....

It does seem to have been particularly bad today, doesn't it! We'll have to refer to it as Black Thursday.

I'm fat and I've forgotten how to play flute. And I can't play any scales.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My computer has just deleted it!!! and I have no idea why! It's not even just gone back to the last time it was saved, but is nowhere to be seen at all!

I had just finished and was about to print it off!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGH!!!!

aaarrrggghhh indeed...

did you back any of it up on a memory stick or something?...

Don't lie. *hugs* I know it's hard to believe in yourself sometimes but you *can* play the flute, it's just a temporary blip.

Having heard her, she can play the flute in spades!

I started it last night and saved it on both computer and memory stick, then did loads at school today and didn't think to copy it back when I got back home today. I think my computer does automatic saving, so it should have been saved, but when I went to save it when I'd finished the whole thing crashed and it's gone completely from the memory stick. (the computer version's still there, but that's barely any of it)

Oh gosh, that's horrid luck Sarah - hope you manage to get it sorted out

Sorry to hear this, Matt. I hope it won't be long before you're feeling well again.