Wednesday, 29 September 2010

Uni beckons

Well, this is pretty much it. I head off to university on Sunday, starting a new chapter of my life and all that. I'm massively excited, of course. Much interesting Classics to be done, clubs and societies, Freshers week, going out on a night, meeting new people and making new friends. And best of all, I'll be much closer to my girlfriend when I'm at Warwick, and I'll get to see her a lot more often. I'm going to miss my family and friends, Yorkshire and being able to get away with doing little to nothing during the day  (I watched Poirot for 5 hours solid yesterday), but overall, I can't wait to ship off and start my student life.

Packing is difficult though. It's only when you start packing that you realise how little of the stuff you're going to need you actually own, so you end up having to go shopping loads over about a week. Clothes, books, bedsheets, stuff for self catering like pots and pans, plates and cutlery, cleaning stuff, food, all sorts. And then when you've done all that, you keep worrying you've forgotten something. Definitely one of the less fun things about starting uni.

And then there's the traditional worries about money. But this is definitely looking up, for me at least. I've been in charge of sound tecching for school productions for the last 3 years, and I've done quite a bit to do with that sort of thing, including doing paid work. And I've discovered I can keep doing it at uni, and I'll actually get paid for it! Not a bad find on the Student Union website, there.

Anyways, enough of my ramblings now, peace and love everyone

Thursday, 9 September 2010

New post for a new month

Ok, so I know it isn't the very start of the month, but at least I'm still making the effort to post pretty regularly. Cut me some slack, alright?

University accommodation has been sorted, finally. Its taken ages to start getting all this stuff sorted out, and its a relief to know I actually will have somewhere to stay for the next year. The accommodation looks pretty nice, its got a "mezzanine" level and everything, and I should be sharing the room with one of my best mates, so looks like next years going to be pretty good.

Also, I've got all my freshers stuff through from Uni this week. I didn't realise how much stuff actually goes on during freshers. There's club nights in the Student Union every night, a Freshers Party on the first night, a circus in the second week, Freshers fairs, meetings for all sorts of clubs and societies, book sales, pots and pan sales, elections for the Union Council, and all sorts of other stuff. The problem is, we also have lectures and stuff while this is all going on, so I have no idea how I'm going to fit everything in. Should be interesting, to say the least!

As for the rest of this week, I've been to a few parties, pub trips, gatherings etc, which were all pretty cool. I've been practising the guitar ( I took it up again after about 9 years, and I'm still as awful as ever), trying desperately to remember some Latin, and failing miserably, and generally doing lots of small, yet important things. I'm going to see the most beautiful girl in the world tomorrow, and I'm hosting a little shindig on Saturday. Should be pretty good!

That's about it really, so until my next post

Peace and love

Sunday, 29 August 2010

Ch-ch-ch changes

Evening, y'all. It's been a while, yet again, but quite a bit's been going on. Which is both bad, cos it's stopped me from blogging, and most decidedly excellent, because its been (mostly) enjoyable few weeks. Oh, and it's given me something to write about as well, which is always a bonus.

Err, let's begin at the beginning. My holiday in Spain was good right up until the end. It was a great two weeks of sun, paella and go-karts, and I came back thoroughly relaxed and ready for my two weeks of intensive ancient Greek for beginners at summer school.

G(r)eek camp was brilliant. It was at this well posh school in Dorset, an old country estate with massive grounds, all sorts of stuff, and most importantly, a bar. The Greek was difficult, but I got most of it and ended up getting 70% on the final test, which I was pretty chuffed with considering it was basically the first 8 weeks of a university Greek course in 2 weeks.

More importantly, I had a great 2 weeks on camp. The people there were brilliant, and I made some amazing friends while I was there. We had some good parties, some good laughs and an absolutely brilliant time with geeks, Greeks and mole-estation. Something else pretty amazing happened too, but more on that later...

Results came around when I got back. They weren't bad, 2 A's and 2 B's. I managed to get into uni, which is what counts, and I was only 1 mark off an A in History. Which hopefully will change, with a little re-marking by AQA. But Warwick in October, to do Ancient History and Classical Archaeology. I can't wait!

Then I went to the GCSE results day a few days later, to pick up the results of my GCSE Latin. In case I haven't told you, which is likely, I started learning Latin last summer, carried on after schools and at lunchtimes along with 2 brilliant friends of mine, and took my GCSE exam this year. I  was expecting a C or a B, because it was a 2 year course in a year, and because I've never really had a flair for languages. So I nearly passed out when I looked at the sheet and it said A*! To say I was ecstatic would be an understatement ( I may have actually done a small jig in school), and to make it even better, my friend got an A* too! Not that I ever doubted she would anyways.

Now, uni preparations to be done. Lots of stuff to do, and not much time to do it in. But I'm really looking forward to it, meeting new people and spending quite a bit of my time doing Classics without being considered a wierdo. It's going to be amazing!

Finally, I saved the best till last. On Greek Camp, I met the most beautiful, intelligent, caring, kind, generous, funny, interesting and generally amazing girl I've ever been fortunate enough to get to know, and I fell in love. But just when I thought things couldn't get any better, it turned out that she felt the same way, and we're now in a relationship. I feel like a different person, happier, more content, and generally like a new bloke. I won't go into detail, because I wouldn't want to bore/sicken you, but I'm totally and completely in love, and I'm the luckiest bloke on earth to have her. (There we go, awful emotional stuff over, I promise)

Anyway, together with a few parties and other stuff, that's all that's been going on over the past few weeks. It's been good, and hopefully the rest of the holidays and then uni will follow in the same vein. I'll try and update in a couple of days, but till then, I'll let you get on with your lives.

Peace and love

Monday, 26 July 2010

So I told her to get lost and leave the keys under the tortoise...

First things, as always in my blog, shall come first. If you don't understand the title of this post, don't worry. Only one person may actually know what it's about, and even that one person thinks I'm mental. So you aren't alone.


Anyways, not much has really been going on. More Spainige, chilling in the sun, swimming, visiting markets and castles (not a good idea in 40 degree heat, by the way), etc etc. I come home on Wednesday, so we're going out for paella tomorrow. To celebrate me leaving, if thats the right word. Good times


Thats about it. Like I said last time, I'm going on Greek camp for 2 weeks on Sunday, so I dont know when my next post will be. Until then, peace and love


P.S if you havent already, check out my music blog at http://www.somemusicalnotes.blogspot.com/, its good stuff

Tuesday, 20 July 2010

Holiday, oh holiday, and the best one of the year

Im writing this from the sunny climes of Spain. Its one in the AM, and its way too warm to sleep, so I thought I'd catch up on some long overdue blogging.

Im officially 18 now. I got some cracking gear for my birthday. A pocket watch, books, a hip flask, a writing set, and much alcohol. I always think it's ironic people give you booze on your 18th, because now you can just go buy it for yourself anyways. Despite that, I'm massively grateful to everyone who sent me stuff, or came to the festivities on the 9th and 10th. Twas great :)

Pretty much since then, I've been on holiday in Spain. Its regularly over 40 degrees, but ive managed to pack all sorts into the week and a bit I've been here. Go-karting, golf, swimming, pub trips, parties, hog roasts, and a lot of reading :)

1 more week on the hols, then it's off to summer school to learn ancient Greek 3 days after that, for another 2 weeks. I dont know how often ill get to update this blog while im there, but ill endeavour to do it. That said, my posts are pretty infrequent anyway, so I doubt you'll miss me. Anyways, ill give it a crack.

Till then, peace and love

Wednesday, 7 July 2010

New Stuff's Going Down!

Just a quick post to let you know I'm setting up a new blog, where me and some mates are going to be reviewing albums, gigs, soundtracks, singles and generally talking music. I thought I'd give it a go, to talk about something that matters quite a bit to me, and to improve my skills at the whole "writing" thing. If you want to check it out, the address is http://somemusicalnotes.blogspot.com/ . Hope you enjoy it!

Peace and love

Thursday, 1 July 2010

Nathan Murphy's blog for kids who can't read good

Ay up people, another update, as promised.

Ive finally finished school now, and Ive officially gone from being a Batelian to an Old Batelian. Mixed feelings on that one. I'm really gonna miss the people at school, but I'm not sure ill miss the place, or the work, or the food, or the early mornings . Oh well, bigger and better things next year, university and all that.


This week is my last week of officially being a child. Yep, check me out, I'm 18 on Saturday. Ive been saying for the past 17 and a bit years that my 18th birthday won't excite me, cos reaching an arbitrary date in my life won't change me. Ill go to sleep on the 9th and wake up exactly the same on the 10th. But, if I'm honest, I'm actually well excited. I can vote, drink (legally) and get up to all other sorts of crazy shenanigans! Good times.


What else.... err, I've met someone with the best taste in music ever. Seriously, its actually incredible how much good music has been recommended to me in the past few days. I went for a delicious, nutritious curry, attempted to cure my rabbit of mange (bad times), I'm off to the cinema tomorrow and a gig I've been waiting to go to for month's on Monday. That's about it.

Peace and love y'all.


P.S. A good mate of mine went on his around the world gap year tour this week. If you want some good readings, check out his blog. Knowing Frazer, anything could happen, and it's inevitably going to be hilarious. So if anyone actually reads this, check out http://www.frazers-gapyear.blogspot.com/, it promises to be good!