I personally have not lived from home (commute back and forth by car)¹ but have noticed things with people close to me, who have or currently are.  It may seem like common sense but sometimes things don’t cross our minds.  So, in no particular:

• When you find a potential house to live in during university terms please, please, please check the house.  It’s all good and dandy seeing nice pictures of the house but renters can be sneaky.  Do not always believe things when you have not physically seen it.  Also make sure there are no faults with the house so when you move in you already have electricity, water and the necessities.
• Be very careful of which housing estate agent you go with, or if you’re going private than think about going with someone who works in high status job as their reputation is on the line – that’s no saying renters who aren’t in high positions won’t be good landlords though.  I don’t want to name drop (a company) because I think the incompetency is only reflective to that particular department.  All I will say is, you hand a cheque to their staff and then soon after receive a letter notifying that payment is outstanding.  They turn this around put blame to anyone but themselves.
• This point is a bit of a grey area because it depends which way works best for the occupants but responsibility should, perhaps, be shared around.  Unless there is a house mate who is willing to take care of the bills, it’s probably better to divide responsibility.  University is stressful enough and it’s not fair if a house mate has to shoulder the responsibility of keeping the roof over fellow friends’ heads.  It also causes unnecessary drama and things can get complicated with the company in question.
• I’m sure parents will always heckle about this but also check the area where the house is situated.  The house maybe affordable but it may also constitute the profile of the area.  Seeing how close it is to university, supermarkets etc wouldn’t go amiss either.

I think that’s it but feel free to add any more points.

1. However, I’m keeping my options open depending on the top-up degree situation

I’m at that point in life where I have to decide what I’m going to do for a living.  There’s a choice of three paths, one being uni.¹, another being working my butt off to gain a career as a jewellery designer maker or a job working under a business.  Currently I’m letting certain events lead the way but my mind’s decision is constantly fluctuating.

Oh, I had my final exhibition.  My family went so I was really worried that none of my pieces were good enough to show but I have a few pieces in there, which is nice.   During the exhibiting week I had to restock on business cards – Yay.   Although the downside was realising that I had one too many digits on my mobile number.  Bugger.  Hey-ho, more people use email right?

I officially finished university the week before yesterday (Friday) and since it’s been roughly a month since my last post I thought I’d share things that I love:

• Playing the piano – didn’t realise how little I had played during the 2nd semester but it soon told when I went to play certain pieces.
• DBSK².  I had only recently heard their music but I absolutely love their voices.  However, I’ve come to realise that they aren’t a band now (any more?).  Saddens me.  Super Junior are also another K-pop band I’ve been listening to a lot.
• Make-up containers.  I don’t wear much make-up, if at all, so to find them on the cheap is great.  I thought the power cases would be great for separating my extra easy/easy/hard solder, and the bottles would come in handy in storing my liquid solutions.  What can I say?  I’m a nerd for storage.
• BBQs.  Good company and food, what more can you ask for?
• World Cup.  Every time a football seasons ends I always wonder what that time is going to be substituted with.  However, with the World Cup I have no need to worry about that as there’s plenty of football to keep me occupied.  Although there’s not been a lot to shout home about for many countries.  I’m cheering for England but have a soft spot for South Korea and Spain.   Oh, and the England v Germany match just happens to be on my birthday.  Just saying, I’m in no way suggesting that it’s a lucky omen or vice versa but it will probably be the epicentre depicting which way my mood swings, heh.

From the top of my head those are the main things.

By the way, I’ve bought Pandora’s Box and Mystery Stories and want to know what you think about either of those games.

1. Top up degree.
2. Korean band, a song of whom I was coincidentally learning. ^^

Here’s a CAD of my final pieces, these are the high end ones by the way:

The black frame is silver but oxidised, whilst the coloured tags inside are made from anodised aluminium.

I also plan on making the affordable editions, where the aluminium tags will be substituted with paper.  More practical for things like images.  It’ll also allow for the consumer to change the tags to whatever they wish.

All I can do right now is keep myself busy with other projects, whilst I’m waiting for my metal to be laser cut and marked.  Good thing too, I need to get pieces ready for the final exhibition.

1. Taking a nice break from uni.
2. Working on projects for uni.  It’s not all fun, fun, fun.
3. Going for my first visit to A&E, after not being able to move out of a foetal position.  Didn’t really think much of it, just thought it was the woman within me being a pain.
4. Nurturing my little shoulders – too much tension in one apparently.  I’m just glad it’s finally stopped being annoying and I can move my arm and doing other things besides watching TV.
5. I’m back at uni. – have been for a week.  Had a mock interview on Friday and as it seems I spent too long making a portfolio.  Turns out I could have just walloped a photo of my pieces and wah-lah, a portfolio.
6. Now I’m working towards the making of my final piece but I’m still working around the price of manufacturing.  Here are some illustrations of my collection.

The concept is to show a loved one how you feel through poetry.  The tags within the pendant swing side to side reveal a quote from a poem.  According to my research the shapes of the pendants are unisex and to continue accessibility to both genders I have supplemented cabochons of unisex colours.

At the moment I’m working on a more cost effective way to manufacture these as one would cost me about £73 pounds to make¹, which in turn will cost over £100 to sell.  My original intention was to make to something to sell within the £50 to £100 boundary.

My other dilemma is what other poem/sonnet/etc I could use.  Although the tags are customisable for the consumer I would like each pendant to include 2 quotes of literature, for display purposes.  So far I have:

1. “To love is to place our happiness in the happiness of another” – G. Wilhelm Leibniz
2. “Love is the life of a soul.  It is the harmony of the universe.” – William Ellery Channing
3. “Life if a flower of which love is the honey.” – Victor Hugo
4. “Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination” – Voltaire
5. “You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” – Dr Seuss
6. “You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but seeing an imperfect person perfectly.” – Sam Keen
7. “Love is the master key that opens to the gates of happiness.” – Oliver Wendall Holmes

Any ideas are welcome.

1. Excluding labour costs, by the way.

Actually I got back yesterday evening. Here’s a day by day brief of what my friend and I did, from the start of our journey. Don’t really know how to write my adventure without it sounding tedious, heh.

Thursday

Went to uni. to do some bits and bobs…eh…hand in dissertation. My friend went home to finalise her packing, then we met at the train station to head to London Euston. Upon arrival we tried to figure out which train to take to our overnight hotel. Turns out the trains in London aren’t that simple so we’d have to walk a station to get to where we wanted. Opted to take a taxi instead, which was quite expensive but the taxi driver was nice enough to not charge us the full amount and only the guesstimate. The hotel was really nice. Since the menu consisted mainly of spicy dishes I asked my friend what she recommended. It was my first time having an Indian meal because I dared not try it but it was actually quite nice. :9

Friday

The day I dreaded because I get travel sick and was feeling sorry for my friend who had to hack the flight with me. After popping a pill – travel sickness tablets, nothing dodgy – it was okay and I slept my way through anyway. Mind, it was only a 2 hour journey… Arrived at Munich Airport. Took the train from the “flughafen” to Pasing, then dragged our luggage bags to the hotel. Noisy walk, is all I can say. The hotel was, well it looked like it had seen better days but for the days we were staying it was adequate and quite cute. The first thing I noticed about Munich was the vast amounts of bakeries they have. Everywhere you walk a bakery is not far away.

Saturday

My friend and I headed to Inhorgenta 2010. It was interesting, seeing all the jewellery, gemstones and beads.

Jewellery from Inhorgenta 2010.

I managed to haggle without trying. The pearl bracelet which I bought for myself would have cost quite a lot but was sold for a nice price. The Buddhas were bought for my brother and sister as I though they were cute and didn’t really know what else I could get them, without having a big hole in my pocket. The elephant (centre of pearl bracelet) is for my best friend. The rings I just bought as they were cheap and fit my finger, usually my fingers are too scrawny for average rings. Don’t ask me what that purple-y black gem is because I have no idea. I got it for my mum, and though it’s not evident in the photo it sparkles. I’m thinking of turning it into a pendant, that or a keyring. As for the beads…they were just off the cuff purchases. My friend managed to get a good deal and she insisted I choose a few for myself. ^^

Sunday

We knew we were going to be stuck for things to do because we had been warned that a lot, if not all, shops were closed on Sundays. Only eatery places would be open. So, instead of staying cooped up in the hotel room we decided to peruse and plans train journeys to places we want to visit. We first went to visit the Chinese Tea house, which we didn’t find but did find the English beer garden. Walking through thick snow is fun.

After that we went to the a museum. I got the steer a ship. Well, I say steer but it was basically a steering wheel bolted to the floor.

The last visit of the day was the zoo. Once you’ve seen one zoo you’ve pretty much seen them all. Except you don’t get to see the elephants so up close, nor the giraffes for that matter. Fortunately, but unfortunately for my friend, there was no theme park. Maybe next time…

Bear magnet.

This is a bear magnet I got, it is presently stuck on my radiator. ^^

Monday

This was the day we had both been looking forward to. Visiting the castle which Disney’s Sleep Beauty was based on. A colleague at my summer work place told me about this castle and so made it a priority for this trip. There turned out to be two castles to visit and the snow was still in Germany so with the mountains it looked like a winter wonderland.

Hohenschwangau Castle.

Neuschwanstein Castle.

Use Google if you want to see better pictures of the castles, without the obstruction of trees. I highly recommend you go to Füssen to see these castles and take a tour, if you decide to go to Germany. The tickets aren’t dear and well worth the travel. I loved it so much so I bought a mouse mat…and to keep the geeky side of me happy.

Gifts.

The keyring is for a friend who adores all-things Disney, the top left is a fridge magnet. Magnets just seem to be one of those things you buy as a memorabilia. Right? You can see my mouse mat of the Neuschwanstein Castle.

Tuesday

Auf Wiedersehen Mnchen.

Still though, there is only so much you can write about: “How jewellers exploit the movement of the body?” before you start writing fluff, hah.

So here’s my list of things I’m looking forward to:

• Going to Munich.  I’ve been to Germany before but it was a tour of Europe so I didn’t get to see a lot of Germany.  This will be my first jewellery show I’m going to, and also will be the first time I’m travelling without the family.  I’m going with people at uni.
• Chinese New Year.  A day that’s always good when you’re short of money.   Just kidding.  I always look forward to Chinese New Year¹ as it’s one of the rare times the family are together.
• This will be my last year at uni.² and, to be honest, I’ve not really fully committed  myself unlike the first course I did.  Who knows what’s next for me?  I could get a job or do the Design For Industry course³.  If I do go on to the top up year I’ll have to make a decision this month. Oh… O.o

It might seem a short list but I’m pretty sure there are things I’ve forgot to mention.

On a slightly different note, did anyone see the New Year’s fireworks?  Might have only been me but was anyone unimpressed?  Mind, I am comparing it to that of the Beijing Olympics.

Anyway…I hope this year brings happiness, health and auspiciousness⁴ to you all.  *Cheers*  *Clink glass⁵*

1. 14th February, this year.
2. Until June, that is.
3. Though I’m not willing to drive back and forth constantly so will have to sort that out
4. Is that a word?  Haha.
5. Despite being teetotal.

I.e. reformating the laptop, without having saved the bookmarks, which were intended as part of your dissertation. *palmface*

The concept I’m going with is symbolism so besides the engagement ring and wedding band, I’m going to design 5 anniversary rings.  Something I’m really going to have to work on is how to make it obvious that:

• 1st anniversary ring is symbolic of paper;
• as 2nd is to cotton;
• 3rd is leather;
• 4th is linen;
• 5th is wood

Before hand we had to chose the aimed consumer – a chose of male or unisex.  I chose unisex, age gap of mid 20s – early 30s.  My plan is to have rings which stack on top of one another, so buyers needn’t wear the complete collection but can accumulate the rings and stack.  Like so:

Stack of 2 rings.

The wedding ring (18ct white gold), by itself, will look something like this:

Asymetric wedding band.

Random question:  How many guys actually wear engagement rings?

What do you think of these, baring in mind they are meant to be unisex?²

I have my ideas of what I want the advert to look like, however opinions are always the best way to get the best of out of what you need.  So…

• Do you have a favourite advert?  What drew you to it?
• What, in terms of appearance, mainly captures your attention?
• If any of you have had to make an advert before, how did you go about it?

1. Jewellery specific CAD program
2. Eh…the repeating images aren’t meant to be shown on the gallery .

What to do? A student needs a cheap flight, a hotel/youth hostel and money for treating oneself.

Anyone know of cheap places to purchase tickets?

[Edit]Did look into the Eurostar but that would cost too much. That and I shouldn’t really spend too much time away as this is happening during the second semester.[/edit]