Today was my first day back at uni.  I was excited to know what we were doing but at the same time I just wanted to sleep – was wide awake last night for some reason.

Warning: This entry hereafter if filled with¹ rant.  Subdued it is but still a rant nonetheless.

1. When first writing “with” I wrote “though” instead, despite thinking “with”. [↩]

I was a little annoyed yesterday.  No not because my football team couldn’t score if they were literally a yard from goal.

I was watching some Chinese television (Mo Sing Wai Sing Toy) and one of my mom’s programmes came on.  It was a cooking programme and the presenter was showing kids how to make cheese toast (2 slices of bread), using a pan.  Just to let you know she burnt her toast a little bit.  The turn eventually came to the kids, who were not much older than 10.  She went around the counters checking up them.  The problem was she was being harshly critical.  I’m all for not sugar coating things but telling a child they’re useless and assuming they do nothing around their home just because they’re spreading their butter a different way?  Mindbogglingly.  She especially laid into one girl, who ended up teary.  That wasn’t the worst part though, whilst she was crying with the camera on her, she also had to stand the humiliation of the presenter telling her not to cry because it doesn’t help anything, whilst still criticising her toast.  Then, the presenter walked away and had the audacity to shrug her shoulders, as if clueless to why the girl was crying!

What…a…plank.

Bleh…I’ve started this post numerous times now. I’m sorry if I sound thoroughly annoyed or as if my life is over.

Just to get straight to the point, I got my brooch – you know, the fine jewellery one that I kept keeping excited about? – on Saturday. My manager took the “unfinished” brooch, from the setter and I wasn’t even told about it.

Prior getting the stones setted, the brooch was finished perfectly and made to my satisfaction. *Gets off high horse* On Saturday my excitement vanished – I hid it well though amazingly. The stones look beautiful but, to me, the way they were set didn’t look very well done. I didn’t say anything because I don’t know how to set stones or how the end product should look. I also dismissed my negative opinions as me being high maintenance about my work. I went to polish the brooch and found that one edge had been bent out of shape. I was told it was because of the schla…German-sounding-word that I don’t know how to spell, or pronounce for that matter. I also found all sorts of markings on my piece which is what I tried to avoid when making it.

Today, I went into uni. to show my lecturer and she said that the setting hadn’t been done well. Another lecturer clarified that as well. With advise I was told to go see a different stone setter to see if he could neaten up the settings – pave and bevel setting. New stone setter said he could. It’ll cost me £20 and I’ll have it by tomorrow.

I am absolutely gutted, especially since that was by far the best work I’d done; and one that I was most proud of. As you can see (figuratively speaking…) I have no pictures. That’s how sad I was about it. I only have myself to blame, as I should really check people’s other repairs/work before I give them mine.

Some of you may know them as cell phones, others may know them as the bane of their existence . I think…no…I know I hate mobiles. Do I have one? Yes. Why? It was forced upon me, believe it or not.

I have no problem with makers embracing technology but some owners deserve to be slapped. Why?

Case 1

The worst case is music, or more specifically loud music. I don’t have a problem with people playing music on their phones. However, abusing the volume function is a no. Why must some mobile owners insist on playing their music loud? It becomes so infuriating that I’m tempted to just bring out my mallet and whack the life out of the offending mobile – and sometimes the owners. If you decide the play music at least have the decency to use the earphone provided or – for the more dearer option – get a personal music player. Using the earphones also help when wanting to share music with a friend or whoever. Bear that in mind.

Case 2

Poor grammar and lack of punctuation. I know, I know, using less letters means more words but that doesn’t mean you can type in a completely different language. Combining text speak with non-existent punctuation just makes texts harder to read and understand. Just curious, but, does anyone else type in standard English? Here’s a note to some text-ers: “Only use capitals when they are necessary, please!”

Case 3

Using a mobile whilst driving. You’re driving as if the road is meandrous, please leave your mobile to ring. It’s not only stupid but also dangerous. Ever wondered why the ban, points deduction and fine started?

What makes owning a mobile stressful are some incompetent call centre operators. When I’ve asked for my mobile and contract to be cancelled because it’s almost the end of my contract, that’s what I expect – especially when I’m told it’s done. What I don’t expect is to get billed again, when my phone has been disconnected and I was told it had been cancelled. I also don’t expect to have to cancel my contract 4 times and have the bill increased another twenty-odd pounds! If this fifth attempt doesn’t work then I’m going to rid the existence of companies associated with mobiles – starting with Samsung. Don’t know how I’m going to do that though…hah.

/rant