Tuesday, May 16, 1989

Simon's Birthday Party, Live on Radio St. Hilda's ...

The days just seem to go faster and faster. I went to both of my classes and took notes for the exams, and I casually accomplished very little today. Charged some food at Grandways and bought some beer for Simon Wall's birthday party this evening - Whitbread's Best Bitter, which by the way I also had at Sam's literary group meeting the other night. It's quite good.

That afternoon J.P. and I made some tapes to play at the party, then waited for the party to begin. Lee planned to broadcast the music on Radio St. Hilda's, so that no matter where you were in The Grange, you could hear the music and continue the party. J.P. and I began drinking before the party actually started, and boy, what a turnout there was! It was packed, mostly on the first floor of St. Hilda's near J.P.'s room and throughout the halls. The radio station added a lot to the atmosphere.

I milled about and enjoyed it, but didn't really talk to anyone at length until Sam arrived a few hours later... as did the police. They were concerned about the loud music (I believe the neighbors must have called), but they weren't bothered by the alcohol at all. It would've been quite a different response at Millersville!

At that point the party sort-of split up, and many of us traversed over to the St. Martin's common room. Sam and I stayed here for about 15 minutes, then came back to my room for coffee. We ended up talking for another four hours (until 4.30 a.m.) about a plethora of topics.

Since I was still feeling the effects of the Best Bitter, I was very open in my discussions with Sam, and with mellow music playing by George Winston, Pink Floyd, ELP and a tape that Sam brought with him, I got quite sentimental and divulged to him many of the reasons that I decided to come to England and study for the year.

Sam reflected on the evening through a poem that he wrote at 4.15 a.m. entitled, "December."

I think this will turn out to have been quite a memorable birthday for Simon (he seemed to be having a good time), and I don't think I will forget tonight's chat with Sam. Hope I didn't divulge too much information, though.

Today's fabulous quote (now I'm only doing these when I think of one, instead of every day): This is me, walking back from Grandways with a box of food and beer, and confronting J.P. and Sid. "The benefits of having an Access card."

Monday, May 15, 1989

The Debut of Radio St. Hilda's ...

Sam woke me up bright and early today (6.45 a.m.) to prepare for our arduous journey back to Hull. Not much to say about it, really. Bid farewell to Jenny and then caught the three buses required to get ourselves back to the halls. Read the newspaper most of the way to pass the time. We were only able to catch a bus to the Cottingham Road stop, so we had to walk the rest of the way. As a result, we just missed breakfast by 10 minutes.

Not much happened during the day, either. I did my laundry, did a little writing, finished reading "The Little Prince" (excellent), and took a walk with J.P. to see Dr. Foster, who wasn't in at the time. Also went to find out flight information for Viv, got money out of the bank, and bought a sandwich at the local deli for lunch.

J.P. then went to get a haircut while I returned to the halls, eating my sandwich. I also received three letters in the post today. One from Chris Mulvihill (finally!), but it was referred to as Letter II, and I haven't received Letter I, so a few things didn't quite make sense. I also got a letter from Doug, which cheered me up. He's doing well.

And I received a letter from Viv, telling of some of the hardships she's experiencing down in Madrid. But it looks 90% definite that she'll be coming to the states to visit me, even if it will only be as a vacation. The letter was mostly depressing, with the rough time she's having down there, but it was so good to hear from her.

It was at dinner when I was introduced to Radio St. Hilda's, 94.5 FM. In his room, Lee actually built a real working radio station, and apparently has been broadcasting anything that anyone wishes since last Thursday. So I dod a sort-of American Top 10, playing various novelty tracks and what have you that I've collected. Here's how the list looked:

• 10. St. Hilda's Pissheads, 1989 Remix (tape done in Kurt's room during the first term)
• 9. I Bet You They Won't Play This Song on the Radio - Monty Python
• 8. Hold 'im Down, Hit 'im - Reed and Reitz (me and my friend Scott doing a take no the Beastie Boys song)
• 7. Magical Misery Tour - National Lampoon
• 6. Fat - Weird Al
• 5. Acid Quickie - D.J. Jazzy Singe and the Complete Plays (J.P., et. al)
• 4. Pretty Flowers - Yokel
• 3. Wet Dream - Kip Adotta
• 2. Ace - e-Conspectu (J.P.'s band back home)
• 1. Hold My Hand - The Rutles

It seemed to generate a favorable response, so maybe I'll do another one next week as well. I would love to create a radio station like this when I get back to the 'Ville in the fall. I'll have to ask Lee how he did it.

Sunday, March 5, 1989

Spooky Messages from Beyond ...

Again, I set my alarm for 8 a.m., but still missed breakfast after turning off my alarm. This time though, I woke up a bit earlier than I did yesterday. No real necessity to wake up that early, though, because everyone else was still asleep anyway.

After lunch, as I so often do on a Sunday afternoon, I watched "Lost in Space." Then a little while after that, we got a group together to play a rousing game of Risk. We also built a Ouija board today, following a theological discussion, and we got some strange messages from someone apparently named "Elleanor Cunom." Lee and Johnny both accused me of moving the pointer, but if anyone was pushing it, it wasn't me. Whatever the case, it freaked out a lot of people, especially when it referred to the Bible when we asked if it had any messages for us... John 3:16 - not the most original of verses. However, she said she was in Hell, so perhaps we should take that verses' advice.

Anyway, following dinner, it was much the same as yesterday, hanging out in St. Hilda's, though I did go back to my room for awhile to work on my report a bit and read.

We watched the first part of "Billionaire Boys Club" starring Judd Nelson. I had watched it in '87 when it was on TV back home, and I thought it was pretty good, so I wasn't opposed to watching it all again. When it ended at 12.05, I headed back to my room and went to bed.

Pictured is the outside window of my bedroom at St. Martin's. It was a prominent location right along Beverley Road... perfect for displaying my large photo of Ollie North.

***

• Number One Song in Britain This Week: "Belfast Child" - Simple Minds
  
• Number One Song in America This Week: "Lost in Your Eyes" - Debbie Gibson

Friday, March 3, 1989

10 Days Until Spain ...

Today started another low-cost weekend for me. I went to my Social/Political Structures seminar, which was on the media, so I was able to contribute quite a bit to the discussion.

After class I walked into the library (next door) and checked out some books to begin my Literature essay on Brecht. I also played a lot of Blackjack in Kenny's room today.

That evening, everyone went out, but in the interest of saving money, and because Viv was going to be calling, I stayed in and worked on my essay. I read "Mother Courage and Her Children" while waiting, as well as watched an episode of "Cheers."

When Viv called, she had a bit of bad news. She found out that I would not be allowed to stay at the student residencia where she was living, so now I would have to find my own place to stay while I was there. Considering I'll be there 28 days, that could be rather expensive. I may have to rethink what I'm going to do.

After Viv and I hung up I went and watched "The Twilight Zone." Then, as people began to return for the evening, I hung around with John and he bought me a pizza... which had pepperoni, but also mushrooms. I hate mushrooms. But I was hungry, so I scraped them into one corner of the box... and gave that corner to Paul, who was more than happy to eat them.

I spent the rest of the evening in the Common Room, where Lee, Lorna, some other girl and I sat, talked, and watched "Batman" until 4 a.m., at which time I shot off to bed.

Saturday, February 25, 1989

Triple Feature ...

I spent most of the morning dizzy, recovering from last night's fiesta. It was a slow day highlighted by me not doing any work whatsoever on my Geography essay, like I should've. Most of us who had to do it sat around today talking a lot about needing to do it. Does that count?

We ended up "hiring" three movies (Lee doesn't like it when us Americans say "renting" a video): The impeccably horrible "The Invisible Kid," the hilariously brilliant "Real Genius" and the gory "Re-Animator." We then slumbered in Kenny and Lee's room for the better part of five hours watching these films straight through.

It was a satisfying and cheap evening, which featured a good deal of pointless conversation as well. I finally came out on top in a game of poker tonight, winning a whopping 25p... just enough to enable me to now buy a copy of the Sunday Times tomorrow.

It's great how some things work out.

Monday, February 20, 1989

Emotionally Draining Day at The Grange ...

Today I helped Viv pack her things, then we waited for her parents to arrive and take her home, where she will stay until flying down to Madrid to continue her studies. We exchanged our goodbyes when they arrived, and by 2 p.m. they were off to Skegness.

I went to my Poetry and Drama class thereafter, but as you might expect, I wasn't really into it today.

After dinner I hung out around St. Hilda's, where I played cards with Kenny, Lee, and Little John. It wasn't long before I found myself out £1.50.

I watched some TV for awhile, and later on Viv called me from home to tell me that everything was OK with her. Came back to the TV room and watched "Kiss of the Spider Woman" starring William Hurt, which was an excellent film.

Afterwards, Sam (pictured) invited me over for a cup of coffee and we talked for awhile... which was great. We always seem to have interesting and topical conversations. I really needed that distraction today.

Eventually, I made my way down the hall to my room for some sleep.

Saturday, February 4, 1989

Bummed around ...

Continued to work on Scott's tape today. Viv was studying today quite extensively, so we didn't get a chance to hang out too much. But she has some pretty major exams coming up to determine whether or not she'll be able to move on to study in Madrid. (Pictured: Cover of a Madrid brochure. Will I be going there in March? That depends on how Viv does on these exams.)

I bought a newspaper, then spent the day bumming around either in my room or the gang over in St. Hilda's. I didn't mention it before, but Kenny has a new roommate who took Doug's place in the double room at the end of the hall in St. Hilda's. He's a rather nice bloke. Seems to get on well with Kenny and the rest of us.

Overall, just an average, uninteresting day today.