Fear and Loathing on the Learning Curve: Observations on Life, Tech and Web Design from a Slightly Misanthropic Mind

Departure

10.20am
Well then. With DJ Shadow’s “The Private Press” in one ear, and the rust­ling of dozens of loosely-packed bags in the other, I’m off. As I type this, my iPAQ and key­board wedged between my legs, we’re head­ing through East Grinstead with a truck full of my gear, wend­ing our merry way towards Coventry.

The get­away was smooth, no last-minute repack­ings or frantic hunts for miss­ing items; boxes were duly filled and lists duly checked. It really does feel like I’m mov­ing out. I can only assume that when I actu­ally move out, it will feel more chaotic than this.

So, my University career starts here. I can only hope it isn’t marked by upper-body injury sus­tained while hoof­ing all this stuff up the inev­it­able flights of stairs to my room.

11.27am
We’re about halfway up. Sights so far include a con­tinu­ous stream of Smart cars head­ing South on the M25, pre­sum­ably to some rally or some­thing; and some cun­ningly con­cealed gantry speed cam­eras ruin­ing a lot of people’s shit.

More and more cars we pass con­tain boxes and duvets and student-like people, looks like mine isn’t the only enrol­ment day today :-).

12.16pm
Almost there. Just stopped at the first Oxford M40 ser­vices to get some cof­fee. The place was full of apes and anxious-looking stu­dents. As we got back onto the motor­way, rain announced itself with a sound like the high-speed demise of hun­dreds of insects on our wind­screen, but that seems to have passed now. Which is good, because I don’t envis­age shift­ing all my stuff in piss­ing rain being much fun.

Just occurred to me that I man­aged to fit my entire ward­robe, plus coats and din­ner jacket, into one massive can­vas bag. Granted, the bag is as big as a good-sized fridge, but I sus­pect it wouldn’t be so easy for some of my more pop-fashion-oriented peers.

12.53am
How fast things move. Just got back from the SU with new friend Josh; taken in the sights and sounds there. It’s a pretty amaz­ing place; I’m going to have to try get­ting it through a lens at some point this week. Walking through the cam­pus at night, it feels like a city, though oddly once I got inside the SU and looked out, it felt like a ski resort — very strange. Everyone’s friendly though — had a few frames of pool, a few drinks, headed back. My accom­mod­a­tion is about 8 minutes walk from the SU, and it too is pretty amaz­ing. Big room, nice ensuite bath­room, big desk, nice bed, the works.

But now I’m exhausted, so it’s bed time. B

   

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