Mark Foley brought more attention to Gozo than the Ministry of Tourism ever did.  I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not...  I actually live on the same street as the priest, and know him by sight, though I've never spoken to him (I'm selling my story to the highest bidder, so please form an orderly queue).  His brother also taught me at school (he was one of my favourite teachers) - I told you it was a small country.

Well, scoop of the day over, I'm still lugging my laptop around, because we've been told that since our street has just been opened, there's no cable service yet, so we're stuck without TV or internet until they lay down the wires.

At University, I'm still enjoying my lectures, and last Saturday I had the time of my life at Reclaim the World (a day of activities organised by the local left-wing NGOs), where I met lots of like-minded people and took part in some very interesting discussions about the political direction Europe is taking - and that's about all, so I'm rushing off to my next lecture.

I’m now in my second week at the University of Malta (it’s the only University on this rock).  Psychology is a fascinating subject and I like most of my lecturers.  Compared to my high school, this place is like a small city, but I only got lost a couple of times before I got used to where things are.  That’s the boring bit over with, here comes the good stuff…

Last week at University was Freshers’ Week, which basically means that a lot of tents were put up in the quadrangle for student organizations (political, faculty etc) to recruit members, sort of…  I joined every organization that had anything to do with liberalism or human rights (naturally), and spent most of my time wondering how I could possibly ever have said I didn’t want to come to University.  People are a lot more open-minded here, and I’m still getting used to it, after all those years of repression…

I’m living in my own flat (technically, I only own a quarter of it, but I’m the one using it, so it’s MINE :twisted: ).  Originally, I was going to have two roommates, but a couple of friends got thrown out of the place they were staying in and, since we had a couple of extra beds, they moved in with us.  Pretty much every day’s a party, with the five of us here :).

And now for the big news (trumpet fanfare please)…I CAME OUT TO MY BEST FRIEND :lol:.  I  told her the second night we stayed here (3rd October – there’s a date for my calendar :D), and she was great about it.  FYI, I have been indoctrinating her with liberal politics since we were 9, I think, and she is the only one of my friends who actually listens to all my rants about tolerance and the need to stop discrimination.  She’s been saying all summer she’d like a gay friend (to go shopping with, because according to her they have better dress sense than anybody else).  A friend of ours came out to her (I could have told her months ago, when she introduced him to me, but she has no gaydar, so he actually had to tell her).  So, she’s telling me about him and how it’s great she finally has a gay friend, and I just told her she has more than one, without even thinking about it.  If I’d known it was that easy, I’d have come out years ago.  I have also talked to the representatives of the University LGBT Society, and they’re really great people, so I couldn’t be happier about how things have turned out.

Sorry I can’t read your blogs right now – I can only access the internet between lectures and I have to spend most of that time replying to University emails.  I’ll be back full-time once we get internet at the flat.

I'm typing this hunched over my laptop (which finally arrived yesterday) in the middle of the University quadrangle, which is the only place where I could get a wireless connection ( I don't have internet yet at my flat).  Did I mention it's almost 8 o'clock at night and it's so dark I can't see anything outside the little circle of light around the screen?

Anyway, this is just to let you all know you haven't got rid of me yet :twisted:.  I'm enjoying University, and I'll be writing a nice, long blog about it as soon as I get a chance to breathe (insert groan here)...

See you all soon :)

I seize every opportunity to parody James Bond...

This week has been crazy - after a long summer of having absolutely nothing to do, I was definitely not prepared for everything that had to be done these last few days.  I’m having to cross to Malta every couple of days, taking stuff to my flat, and I’ve been breaking my back in the fields, literally. 

I'm part-owner of a couple of fields, where we have some fruit trees and lots of olive trees.  The problem?  The olives are ripe around August, but they have to be picked when there’s a Northern wind, otherwise they rot.  This year, the cooler weather only started about a week ago, and it brought with it a lot of rain.  This resulted in very muddy fields, where I have to go every day to pick the olives, before they all fall off the trees.  Contrary to what you may have seen in commercials, olive picking does not involve shaking a tree while somebody holds a jar under it and catches the olives.  What really happens, at least in our case, is you have to pick the darned things one by one while trying to keep leaves and twigs out of your eyes, dodging any bees and wasps that may have hives in the tree, trying not to sink up to your knees in mud…

That was probably too much information, but I needed to vent off about it - I feel sore and every exposed piece of skin is scratched and bruised.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the first thing I’m asked at University is whether I’m being abused and need to talk to a guidance counsellor.

...goes to my friend wiccaforgood.

I promised him I'd introduce him to some people, so please go over and say hi - he's a great guy.  ***Switches to politician voice*** Working together, I'm sure we can manage to get him a shiny new butterfly emblem :wink:.

Thanks!

No, unfortunately it has nothing to do with my lifestyle :(.

I just found out my University application has been accepted :D.  We have an opening ceremony on the 29th of September and we officially start on the 2nd October.  The first week is mostly orientation (and parties every night, which I probably won’t be attending because all they’ll play is pop, r’n’b and hip-hop).  Now I have to apply for my stipend, start taking stuff over to my flat, read a few things about psychology, and lots of other things that are too boring to mention.

I’m still not sure I want to continue to study – right now I’d prefer to get a job – but I’m really happy, because even though I might not like University, at least I’ll get away from here – hopefully the people are a bit more open-minded where I’m going.

I know – I’m really bad at blog titles, so I’m just going for nonsense.

My life is as interesting as ever (meaning it’s very boring).  I still don’t know whether my University application has been accepted, but I’ve gone into “who cares?” mode about that.  If I’m not accepted I think I might work for a year and re-apply next year. 

I’m buying a laptop (a Dell Inspiron E 1505, which is the best you can get here).  That means:

• I won’t have to share this old computer with my brother any more,
• I can watch DVDs anywhere and anytime I want to (which has always been a problem, since the TV’s in my mother’s room),
• I can stay online all night if I want to, and nobody has to know,
• And lots of other stuff, but I don’t feel like listing everything.

I’ve tried out the new video feature.  It’s great – now I can have all my favorite videos (mostly music-related) on my blog. 

I also have some new emblems and editorships, and I’m a Shark Jumper, which is one of my favourite levels so far.

This is part of an email I just received from PETA:

'Just when you thought animal experimenters couldn't get any lower, along come new cruel and pointless gay sheep experiments. That's right; Charles Roselli of Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) and Frederick Stormshak of Oregon State University (OSU) are killing homosexual sheep and cutting open their brains in an attempt to find the hormone behind homosexual tendencies so that these tendencies can be changed. And guess what? Rosseli plans to "cure" humans of their homosexual tendencies next.'

I’m not even going to comment on it, because that would lead to my being banned for use of profanities.  If anybody would like to send a message to OHSU and OSU asking them to stop experimenting on and killing gay sheep, you can fill in a form right here:

http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/p2gaysheepexperiments

All you have to do is give your name and email address (you don’t even have to personalise the message if you don’t feel like it).

That’s it for now - I’m too mad and depressed to write anything else :(.

What do you have to do to get a show editorship?  With people you just have to get over 40 points, but I have 42 points on a show and haven’t been given editorship.  Do you have to submit a specific number of recaps or episode summaries?

Thanks in advance :).

I’ve been very busy lately, doing University-related stuff, reading this month’s Metal Hammer from cover to cover, submitting stuff on TV.com, listening to the new Nightwish live album… OK, so I haven’t been that busy – it’s just that nothing really interesting happened to me that would merit a blog these last couple of weeks.  

It is now two months to the day since I discovered TV.com.  In that time I’ve:

• Reached Level 24
• Been given 14 emblems
• Made 63 friends
• Gotten 27 editorships

Which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside :)

Speaking of warm and fuzzy, I’ll leave you with a picture of my rabbit: