Well, it’s been a long, long time since I last updated and I guess it’s about time I devoted some lovin’ to Mindsay again.


So, what’s shaking in my life since the previous entry? Read on and you shall find out…


I’m now back to being a student in Aberystwyth, in my second-second year. I passed all my first year marketing modules (some with excellent marks) and was allowed through to the second year of my degree without a hitch. Registration was also a doddle since my personal tutor provided me with a consent letter to register at 9am as opposed to 1pm.

The course itself as you’d expect is far more intense than last year; ALL of my modules involve an element of coursework and all of which are due in for end of November-beginning of December.
My timetable is excellent, in fact it’s the best timetable I’ve ever received since I first started university; I get Fridays off, and most of my lectures are double ones so there’s no to and fro for me. My Llanbadarn bound lectures are also all on Wednesdays so there’s no running between campuses either. I get to spend a bit more time at home when I visit over weekends, though of course, this means my timetable for next semester will probably suck major ass.


The place where I’m staying now is nice. I’m living with Dave (fellow AnimeSoc committee member), Rob, Becky (both previous RocSoc committee), and Andy (Mountain Bike club committee member). The Nu House of Yu is considerably smaller than my old place, which I shared with Khang; frustration strikes on occasion when I’m trying to stow stuff away and there’s simply no place to put it.
Having lived with only one other person for the last two years made it a bit of an odd adjustment for me suddenly having to live with four other people, but it is a pleasant change since there’s usually always somebody at home to talk to.
The only downside of the current place so far is that the ADSL connection sucks donkey dick. It’s erratic, slow, and nobody at BT or Eclipse seems to know what’s wrong.


My birthday came and went, quieter than ever; people I’d have hoped to remember forgot despite subtle (and some not so subtle) hints here and there. I won’t lie and say I wasn’t bothered, because I was somewhat upset. I make an effort to remember all of my friends’ birthdays because regardless of how others feel, it is a special day for the person in question; it’s a day to celebrate their life in this world. It’s not a nice feeling having to experience being forgotten about.


AnimeSoc is now in its third official year of operation, which I’m proud to proclaim. Freshers’ Fayre went off with a bang and we really made our presence known this year. Sadly, we didn’t get nearly as many members as I was hoping for and we fell short of our record set last year by 5 or so members. We would have easily beaten the record if everybody had brought money with them to sign-up (old members should know better!).

This year, we decided to pioneer an idea of a proper on campus social which kicked-off with flying colours. We had well over 50 people turn up, most of which were registered members. I met a number of new faces and got more acquainted with old ones, which wasn’t really possible last year. Also met two guys who loved Kimi ga Nozomu Eien which put a smile on my face.

Sadly, things have gone slightly downhill from there onwards. Our turnout for Steamboy was good, but not great given it was free and well advertised. Our second screening was plagued by the projector not displaying reds on screen properly, as well as somebody messing about with the screen’s settings before our session.
Our saving grace however was the strong line-up of shows we had in place; I’d actually go out on a limb right now and say this is possibly the best selection since the society’s inception over three years ago. We have BECK, a series about a group of Japanese musicians who form a rock band; Crest of the Stars, what seems to be a short sci-fi epic, and Samurai Champloo, which looks set to be this year’s crowd pleaser. I’m hoping next week’s screening goes off problem free since it was rather embarrassing last Thursday evening for me – this university has mocked me for the last time!


My long running stint at Quizno’s has now ended since the branch has gone into administration. I’m still not 100% sure on what the situation is but it seems my boss had some huge debts which simply couldn’t be paid off and his solicitors have now taken over the shop. Apparently, they’ll still be serving Quizno’s sandwiches and what not, but simply without the Quizno’s name; not quite sure how legal that is but hey, it’s not my problem.


It’s that time of the year again when all the new Autumn season anime start. I’ve so far sampled four of the new series that have been fan-subbed and all are good, though two look set to be outstanding:

Mai-Otome is both the sequel to Mai-HiME and at the same time, not. It’s more a spin-off of the previous series, which happens to feature similar looking characters, though not their previous personalities. It’s magical girls, mecha, comedy, school romance, ecchi, and drama all rolled into one. I can’t stop raving about Mai-Otome; anybody who knows my anime tastes will be aware of my love for Mai-HiME last year and this takes everything the show did right and multiplies it by 5, no wait, 10!

The other big hitter I only just saw this morning, Jigoku Shoujo (or Hell Girl if you’re looking for a translation). It’s supernatural series about revenge and it really did draw out emotion from me earlier; I felt sadness and pity for the girl in the episode being bullied and tricked and relief when she’d exacted her revenge. It’s deliciously dark, without being gory or cheap and leaves a feeling of satisfaction when it’s over. Check it out!