Feb
3
Crazy Swim!
Filed Under Daily
It was very crowded this morning at the pool. We had all of a sudden three new excellent swimmers from the squad. Once the fastest lane was open, I moved there with them. I managed to keep up therefore I was extremely tired in the end but I was proud of myself. I am very stubborn when it comes to swimming and photography nowadays. I do not give up easily on anything related to these two hobbies of mine.
Because of this patience about photography, people noticed me at the hiking club. Dave M likes very much my portrait pictures, even more than the scenic shots taken by Dave E. I could play a bit with the Canon 5D II during the weekend trip, I did not see much difference with my Nikon D200. Dave E is a funny lad, he invests a lot of money into gadgets but does not spend as much time as me to use them. I saw some pictures on his Canon 5D II, he is using lots of filters to get very impressive shots and does a bit of post processing. He likes to impress people with his scenic pictures, I prefer to give to people I travel with unforgettable memories about their trips because in the end that is all that matters. There will always be better scenic pictures but personal memories are impossible to get back.
Feb
2
Back to Normality!
Filed Under Daily, Hiking, Nikon D200
After two really nice weekends, here I am! Back to my every day routine. The trip to Glencoe in Scotland was very nice. It allowed me to see Scotland for the first time and on our way, I had a glimpse of Glascow. It reminded me of my trips to the Niagara Falls with my flatmates in the US. It is very adventurous to go away like this with few fellas. We did not have much time checking around and taking nice photos of the scenery. The weather was a bit cloudy, windy and rainy on Saturday. It was much better on Sunday but then we had little time left and we had to leave our very nice cottage by 10 am on Sunday morning. I had good laughs with everyone. I doubt I will ever have a chance to do it again but who knows. The people I was with were more down to Earth and ready to do hardcore climbing stuffs whereas I am more into sightseeing and photography. I would not picture myself carrying tons of climbing gears and making a snowhole to sleep in overnight. They were! I am also quiting the Hiking Club because I have seen everything I wanted and I do not want to spend 12 hours every Sunday to take the same kind of photos. That will obviously lower my chance of making friends with nice people and to go away with them like this. I am sure Dave M. will always send me an email if there is an opportunity. He is the kind of person who would get along with everyone. He even suggested the possibility of me sleeping in Dave E.’s car for the club’s trip but he understood that I am really into my comfort. I think they enjoyed my company as I enjoyed theirs.
Amy is away which is why it is very quiet since I came back. I think she is in London this week and then she has a trip to Edinburgh next week. Quiet it shall be then! I had a painful swim this morning. I tried to keep the same speed but my body was really sore. It was getting much better in the end. I thought I would stop in the middle.
Jan
29
Hiking Weekend!
Filed Under Daily
I will leave tomorrow at 9 am for Glencoe. It takes about 5-6 hours to get there and then we will arrive to a bungalow Dave M reserved. He did a very good job in organizing this. He is too cautious but it’s good to have one person to care about everything in such a trip. I am a bit worried everytime I do something with a group. I kind of feel trapped and it’s a 3 days 2 nights trip. Luckily we will back on Sunday, probably late in the evening since they wanted to do a short hike on Sunday. Dave E. wanted initially to make it until Tuesday. I am glad it is shorter. I get bored when it is too long. I hope the pictures will be nice.
A least I can still swim tomorrow morning. There were a lot of good swimmers today. We were like 6 and all about the same speed. That was a lot of work and I am very tired today.
Jan
28
It seems that I might go hiking in Glencoe, Scotland, this weekend. Glencoe is very famous and is one of the most beautiful place in Europe. With Dave E.’s Canon 5D II and my Nikon D200, I think we potentially have the best cameras out there to take the nicest photos in one single trip. I hope they know where they are heading for because I want the nicest views. Even if we did not plan it intentionally, this trip is a direct competition to the Hiking Club’s official events. I really do not care much because I was tired of the Hiking Club’s trips. They end up going to the same places around Manchester: Peak District, Lake District and Yorkshire. In fact, Dave E and Myself are the ones who took the nicest pictures because of our fancy cameras and our love for pretty sceneries. So they have lost two photographers. In reading the emails and the posts they made through the forum, I smiled a little bit in discovering their perception of my personality. I do not hide much about myself these days, many people get annoyed by me but I do not leave them indifferent.
email from Dave M. : "Pierre has no winter experience whatsoever although is very fit and has a head for heights/likes scrambling (can be a bit too reckless/wanting to press ahead in my opinion). He can take very nice photojournalism style photos of us, and random people we meet, though! So basically Pierre and Dave E would certainly not be fit walking on their own on these hills and would be looking to me for leadership (who may not be entirely fit to be doing it either!). (Well Dave E would, I’m not sure Pierre would even realize his limitations!). If you want suggest Aonoch Eagach to Pierre and I’m sure he’d attempt it with you . . .!!! "
Jan
27
Motivation Needed!
Filed Under Daily
Time to think about the next move! I need to send more job applications. It is kind of depressing to apply for any job right now with the continuous arrival of bad statistics concerning the job market.
I swam very fast on Monday and Tuesday. I slept also a lot to recover from the weekend trip. I did not sleep much during the weekend. Amy was very quiet these last few days. She is studying a lot more since she has not done much before she said. I am happy as long as it is quiet :).
Jan
26
Very Nice Weekend!
Filed Under Daily
I went to my parents’ place near Paris this weekend. It was very nice and relaxing. The food was excellent and I miss good cuisine. My parents cook better than many restaurants I’ve tried and I’ve paid very expensive meals up to 100 AUD a meal without enjoying them as much as home’s cooking. My lolita is old, very old, the years have such a strong effect on her. My parents and my brother look like the same and I have not seen them for more than 4 years. The trip was so simple that I will check time to time for good deals to fly back during the weekend. It takes about 4 hours and 40 min in total: An hour to go to the airport, an hour for a direct flight Manchester-Paris, and an hour to drive home and an extra hour and 40 min for waiting between these events. The cost was 132 GBP for the plane ticket plus 5.20 GBP for the bus fare (return ticket).
My fancy phone is very nice. It worked right away a soon as I landed in France. It switched to Orange FR and I could use it as if I was in England. I really like it very much, fancy look and extremely useful.
During my absence, my hiking buddies, Dave M and Dave E were planning a trip to Scotland and they asked me if I wanted to join them next weekend. I said yes but it was funny to read their posts about me. I have told them the reason why I never joined a long weekend trip with the hiking club even though I never missed a one day trip. So here are their comments about me:
post 1 from Dave E: “I also doubt Pierre will come if we camp he likes his home comforts too much.”
post 2 from Dave M: “Forgot about Pierre – he will need his ensuite facilities probably. I sent him a link to this thread so he’ll hopefully be reading when he gets back and can give his requirements if he wants to come.”
Jan
23
The Bubble Burst
Filed Under Daily
During 5 months and two weeks I kept on worrying about my fund in Australia, then during the last one month and half it was my law exams. Now everything is gone, the long and insidious nightmare went away. I felt very relaxed and very good the first two days. Now I am feeling a bit empty, it is like if I have no goal, nothing to do and to worry about the next 2 weeks.
I need to motivate myself and try to answer to more job applications. This formation will end in June and I shall find out where I will be after that. Time is flying so quickly now.
Jane, the blond platinum girl is back. She has been away for a while and I miss swimming with her, very good swimmer!
Jan
22
Feeling Good!
Filed Under Daily
Excellent swim, very fast speed! Everybody was staying out of my way as well which is nice. I took over the private lanes as soon as the squad was gone! Everyone else remained in their lanes. Slow pokes!
I had lunch with Amy and we went out shopping. As usual she bought tons of stuffs. She doesn’t buy expensive clothes but she does buy a lot of clothes. She asked Rafiq and myself for a poker game tonight.
Still no news from Chebet, she has been struggling a lot for many things in life, hopefully the exams went okay for her. I sent a SMS asking if she wanted to have a drink to celebrate the end of the exams…Maybe there is nothing to celebrate on her side :(. Maybe I should have asked first if things went well before asking for a celebration.
Jan
21
Amy’s back. I was so tired I went to bed around 10 pm but I only really slept after midnight. I was disturbed several times by noises from people going to the kitchen. I think Amy had a loud chat on Skype also. Nothing really matters to me yesterday. I was zen! No swim and no class today, I stayed in bed until 9 am. I am feeling so good now!
I had some flashback about several things I could have improved at the exam but then I tried to forget about them since it is out of my hands now and unless I fail I will never have to read or think about these things later in my life. Like many things I learned in school, I will never have to use them again. That is simply how life and professional formations are. They are two completely different things with really little practical links.
I am checking several laptops on Dell. It seems that their Studio 17 series is unbeatable price wise. I am very tempted to get one. My laptop still works even if it is unstable and I am a bit reluctant to spend money when my situation is not fixed yet. The real question is whether it will have any negative impact to my life if I buy it now. It sure represents one full month of rent though!
Dave, the hiking buddy, sent me another email for possibly some hikes in the future. I also met Paul, another German acquaintance from the hikes, who expressed the desire to join us. It seems that we might have another parallel network outside of the hiking group.
Jan
20
That’s it, both of my exams are OVER! I am going to relax and sleep normally again. I was simply lucky. I had all the questions I guessed right. I do not expect a fantastic grade, all I want is better than the average.
Thinking back in time, I remember how worried I was when I knew the exam were right after the holidays. It is better to have them quickly because to say the truth, I would not have done more or better even with more time. It is a lie we all say to ourselves when we delay things for tomorrow. It won’t be better, at best it will only have the same result.
I need a powernap right now!
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