Welcome to Unemployment

Just got to know my provisional results. Can't believe I got a 2.1 average from the little work that I put in. Found out I was even more lucky that my average was 58.13 and that they bumped my grade up.

It's really crap because right now I don't really feel I deserve it. I look at all the people who worked so bloody hard throughout the year and it's like we're at the same level of achievement at the end of the day, mostly because I got lucky.

Not like it matters anyway. The fact is we're all graduates now, and that just means we're all unemployed at the moment. Yay.

Jamie's Italian - A Taste of What's to Come? Not really.

I'm a few hours away from my trip to Spain/Italy. My diet ends here, with the meal at Jamie's Italian :P

Note: We didn't bring a camera so these pictures are taken from other sites and stuff so bear with me.

I had the scallop and squid ink linguine (£13.50):

The best seared Brixham scallops with chilli, parsley, white wine and capers

The first thing you'll notice is that this isn't the actual dish :P I couldn't find an actual picture so this is what it looks most like. Except with some chili flakes and capers. And smaller pieces of scallops.

I was told upon ordering that the pasta would be black and was asked if that was okay. Come on, that's just condescending isn't it? :P I wonder which other dumbarse customers would have ordered that and complained about it being black prior to this that made the staff have to 'warn' future guests ordering it that it would be black. It's squid ink, geniuses. It's not gonna be rainbow coloured pasta now is it?

Moving on... It was quite a pleasant dish. Quite light, chili flakes and capers really lifted it. But I'm quite unhappy with the amount of scallops. A huge portion of pasta with little shredded, miserable scraps of scallops strewn around. I ordered the large and the proportion of pasta to scallops was just way off. And they substituted my linguine with angel hair pasta without telling me (which I only noticed a second ago after rechecking the menu and realizing I ordered linguine). Tsk tsk, first the 'black pasta' warning and now subbing my pasta without telling me. Condescending pricks! Just kidding. I'm not that picky. Pasta is pasta :)

Next! Michelle had good old grilled steak (£16.45):

Chargrilled and served pink with grilled flat mushrooms, dressed watercress and flat parsley

Meh. It was really just that. I liked the watercress and parsley because it really balanced the flavours of the steak (which was really plain - but I suppose it was meant to be that way). I'm not impressed, really.

Desserts! Michelle had ultimate chocolate raspberry and amaretto brownie (£4.95):

With bourbon vanilla ice cream

Okay this dessert really kinda pissed me off. The ice cream came really watery like it had been sitting out for quite a while but that's not what pissed me off (the waitress was nice about it and substituted the ice cream for a different one). It's the fact that this brownie was SO DAMN GOOD - IF it wasn't for the berries. Seriously, towards the end the fudgy insides of the brownie had to be scraped off the paper underneath it - the texture was brilliant. It would have been the best brownie I've ever had if it wasn't for the berries spoiling the taste. It was a real waste and that's what I'm pissed off about. But I guess maybe that's just down to preference.

I had tiramisu (of course I fucking did, when do I NOT get tiramisu?) (£4.95):

Classic Italian coffee flavoured trifle with mascarpone and chocolate

I first dipped into the cream cheese on the top and even that was already a treat for me. It went down pretty good as a whole but I'm a classic tiramisu kinda guy and the orange flavour threw me off a bit. I think there was a little bit of Grand Marnier in the tiramisu itself. Once again, probably down to preference, but I would have enjoyed it a lot more if it wasn't for that.

The meal was alright as a whole I suppose. If you think about the prices, it was pretty good. It's probably just that my expectations were a little too high - come on, it's Jamie Oliver! But still, I wouldn't mind returning because of the reasonable price and because the menu's pretty interesting and there's a lot more I want to try out.

Staff were very friendly but they were really busy most of the time - I really can't blame them. The restaurant was packed and it's really annoying how close the tables were to each other. You'd probably have to be a dancer to manoeuver through that restaurant with plates on your arms. Props to the waiters and waitresses, seriously.

Well the bright side to this is I will be in Italy soon and I'm pretty damn sure I won't be disappointed by the food there :)

Loopie-loop

Everybody on Youtube seems to be making use of editing and looping tracks and it may seem like another one of those annoying 'new things' that kills originality and messes things up but I really disagree.

The good videos show how talented they are and on top having good voices, they display their creativity and make use of their perfect ears to really listen to a song and interpret them in their own style. Amazing stuff...

One of the more popular ones:

Michael Jackson Medley

One of my favourites:

Mr. Sandman

One of the more humorous ones:

Knights of Cydonia

Too many blogs?

Think again!

http://gemyndfitness.blogspot.com/

Coming soon...

What's Next?

Finally done with the degree. Wanted to document this moment so I don't forget what it felt like.

I spent most of final year thinking a second-lower average would have been alright and generally had very low expectations. It was only after a certain point that I thought a second-upper would help me with the job hunting especially after I decided to start immediately after graduating.

Anyway, Company law first, was really disappointed because I was very well prepared for it but the questions really took me (and a lot of us) by surprise. Very tough paper. More disappointed because my marks are definitely not going to reflect the effort I put in.

Criminology and International Human Rights were both very surprising. I didn't go in very well prepared, and the questions weren't as straightforward as I thought. Plus, both were essay based papers and I was never really good at those, but I think I did alright. The questions ended up being good for me because they prompted me to put in a lot of my own opinion which is good because that's about all I'm good for. Extra reading is not for me :P

And did my final paper today, International Law. Very disappointed once again because I did work pretty hard at it (despite only working for a few days). I know I could have done better and at this rate I'm having a lot of doubts about how well I did because a lot of it was writing for the sake of writing and trying really hard to score a couple of extra marks by writing. So many sentences. One of them had to be a hit for at least one mark.

Final batch of notes!

They look thick but don't be fooled. It's just 2/3 pages of notes for each subject, re-written like 6-7 times each. My memory is terrible and that's about the only way I can actually memorize things.

Anyway, I know at the end of the day I just need to shut up and be thankful that I managed to get through the exams by working SO LITTLE the entire year, but I'm still greedy and I still do want a 2.1. I think after International my hopes of getting a 2.1 just dwindled and I just need to spend the next few weeks until results accepting the fact that I'm not gonna do that well.

This is a new feeling for me because for every exam I've taken, I've had very low expectations and accordingly, the results don't disappoint. But this time I'm actually hoping to do well, so results may actually be painful for me and FOR ONCE results will actually determine how I feel. For once.

I just finished today and I'm not really happy. I was expecting the last full stop or last word or last statement of my 'studying life' (probably) to be grand and exciting but it just wasn't. No magic. No excitement. I was so nervous coming into the exam hall but it hasn't picked up from there. It's reminiscent of the mooting days in Year 1 where I just couldn't wait for all of it to end but when it did, I just felt like a part of me went missing.

Fuck that. I'll get out of the mood eventually when I start having fun during my holidays. Dad tells me to go out and get pissed but that's the last thing on my mind right now. Maybe I'm just too tired to be enthusiastic about all of this.

~

But there is one thing I will definitely be enthusiastic about...

Moving from this...

(March 2008. Way before I became health-obsessed. ??kg)

To this...

(September 2009. End of my first ever 'cutting' + 'clean bulking' phase. Psht. Still no abs. 57.8kg)

To this...

(May 2010. End of my first ever bulking phase. 63kg)

Notice I left the chins on the first and third picture to show I still have a massive double-chin :P Whatever, doesn't bother me as long as I'm healthy.

I'm quite happy with my progress so far despite it being so slow. Progress is progress, I won't complain. I was caught up with my other obligations as well. I'd do a lot better if I had all the time in the world to work out and cook for myself :P

Well it's the end of my bulking phase and it is now officially time to throw away the chips and start with the edamame. Throw away the Snickers and start with the 70% cocoa dark chocolates. Throw away the Oreos and start with the blueberries and cranberries. Throw away any sort of sugar drinks and start with the green tea. Sacrifice some weight training for loads of HIIT. Believe it or not, I'm excited as hell :P

Oh and trips around Europe, that's always something!

Chicken, and the future

Chicken.

Roast.

First attempt at carving.

Done.

Clean-ish carcass. Success!

I'm afraid I've learnt WAY more about cooking than I have about law in my 2 years here. Oh well.

On a completely unrelated note I finally have an answer to the question "What are your plans for the future?" Yay. -ish.

Wallet says no; Palate screams yes!

Ladurée Macarons - £11 for 6.

Reduced to crumbs in seconds.

Oh well. Raspberry+chocolate FTW :)