Birthday, blogger friends and back to university

On Friday DL’s birthday celebrations officially started. We went out, just the two of us, to a local gay club that had given her free entry and a bottle of champagne to celebrate her birthday. We went to the Lion’s Lair first for a couple, and then went on to the club. We had a fantastic night, we danced loads and got drunk on half a bottle of champagne each plus other stuff. It was lovely spending time just the two of us and it set the weekend off with a bang. We returned home and fell in to bed at around two, far too drunk to even contemplate making love.

On Saturday morning, DL’s mum arrived at around nine thirty. We were still in bed, having been oblivious to the phone ringing, and only woke up when she buzzed the flat to say she’d arrived. She bought loads of stuff with her, bottles of this and that, flowers and two birthday cakes, croissants and fruit, and we spent most of the morning eating and chatting. In the afternoon we went in to town and had lunch and a mooch around the shops, and Cathy bought Una a new toy which she so far hasn’t put down. When we got back, it was time to give DL the first of her major presents. This was a camcorder from her mother, and we decided she would prefer to have it on the Saturday so that she could record the meal if she wanted too. She absolutely loved it, and totally wasn’t expecting to get it, because I, after buying it for her mother from Meadow hall, had told her that her mother hadn’t gotten her one because DL herself hadn’t chosen one in time, which she was really gutted about. So she was absolutely made up with it, and spent the latter part of the afternoon playing with it.

The meal and drinks were a great success. We met up with Dora, Helen, Sophie, Sarah and Mat for cocktails in town, of which we drank several before moving on to Cubana for tapas. There was, however, a very embarrassing moment, when I didn’t realise DL had gone to sit somewhere else, and groped what I thought was her leg. It turned out to be the leg of Mat, Sarah’s boyfriend, and everyone was in hysterics because I must have gone as red as a beat route. Apart from the venue where we had the meal being extremely loud, making it difficult to have a conversation, we had a great time and the food was gorgeous. We stayed there until about twelve, and then came back home and went to bed.

Sunday was the actual day of DL’s birthday, and we got up fairly early as Cathy had to get back to London by the afternoon. We had breakfast and DL opened all her cards and gifts from everyone else. I saved mine until last because I knew she’d want to fiddle with it for ages, and I was right. I bought her a digital photo display. They’ve only just been bought out and only a few were sold in the shops, it was a pain in the backside to find one and I only knew about it because Hai Man has one. Anyway she was totally surprised yet again because she’d gone through all sorts of things and not even come close to guessing what it was. Her mum left about an hour later, and we went back to bed for a while, and then DL spent ages playing with her new toys while I made us lunch. We were originally supposed to have a picnic in the park, but the weather wasn’t so good, so I made us a buffet lunch indoors instead, which we ate while watching little Britain series 3. We then spent the afternoon testing out the camcorder, (not on anything rude as yet), and watching the l-word. Just before dinner we took the dog for a stroll as it had brightened up somewhat, and then I made DL’s favourite, Thai chicken with rice and stir fry veg. It was a lovely weekend, I hope she enjoyed it!

Monday saw the start of the first semester of my final year at uni, and what a nightmare it was to start with. All of last week I couldn’t access my time table online, and I’d gotten an email from the English department saying there was a problem with the website, so I wasn’t too concerned. By the weekend however, I was worried, and emailed the module coordinator to ask what was going on. Her reply was this:
‘Thanks for your message. It's because you haven't registered yet. As
soon as you do, you will be able to see your level 3 modules and sign-up
for your seminars.’
What? As far as I was aware I had registered by post months ago, which basically meant that the university either hadn’t received the form, or received it and lost it, which sounds more likely to me. Not only does not registering have an effect on signing up for seminars though, it also prevents the student loan from being paid in on time, so I’m still waiting for that to go through. So first thing Monday I went down to the uni with Kim, bless her, and registered for my finals, and then I was able to sign up for seminars. I was panicking so much because it’s basically first come first served, and if all the good ones go you can be left with seminars either first thing in the morning, or on a Friday, which is usually my day off to spend reading and preparing for the next week’s classes. Thankfully I don’t have any on a Friday though, so it worked out ok.

Apart from that uni has been going really well. I’m now working with the dog everyday, and she loves the hustle and bustle of new people and places, you can see the excitement in her whenever we go out. I already have loads of reading to do though, but I’m managing to get a lot of the texts either on audio or online which is useful.

On Tuesday night DL and I went and had dinner with Deadly Female and Sapherine at DF’s house. I wanted to share this because they are the loveliest couple you could ever wish to meet, and, if you ask me, perfectly suited to one another. We arrived about half an hour early because there was no traffic, and were kept entertained by DF’s kids, who are the cutest ever. I’m now very broody thanks to her youngest child, who was full of energy and pelted me with the most bizarre questions. “How do you get blind?” was one of them which is understandable, then I had, “how do old people get false teeth?” among others. I even got a hug goodnight when she went to bed, that kid could seriously get away with murder she’s so sweet. When the kids went to bed we sat chatting for a while, and then we had dinner, which was ciabata bread with pesto, tomatoes and mozzarella, followed by S’s home made chilli which was gorgeous. We also took Una with us, and I was so relieved that she didn’t attempt to go after the cat, they just stared each other out which I can deal with. We had an absolutely lovely evening and DF and S make the sweetest couple.

So that’s what’s been happening in my world, this weekend DL’s cousin is coming to stay and he doesn’t know we’re together (yet), so that’ll be interesting. I’m sure I’ll have plenty to write about at least.