Absolutely knackered, mate…

Ugh.

It has been a long time since I wrote on this blog. I say that nearly every time I post. It’s because I’m back at law school that I just never seem to get the opportunity to take some time to calmly write a piece without having to worry about finishing something more important. Usually, if I am sat at this laptop it means that I’m doing work – typing up lecture notes, tutorial preparation and of course the dreaded…essays.

That’s what I spent the last couple of weeks doing in fact. Three essays, thousands of words each, on the law of evidence (specifically the rule of corroboration), the law of commerce (an agent’s authority) and the law of property (receivership, crystallisation of floating charges and the late registration of dispositions). I was so intent on getting these essays done well that I sort of cut myself off from the outside world, venturing forth only when it was necessary to do so. This led to a communications blackout to such an extent that I did not find out that Steve Jobs and Gaddafi were dead until some time after the fact. I kid you not. But, the essays are finished. Hurrah! Which, incidentally, explains why I am now returned here.

Maybe it was all this work that has been causing me to suffer such restless sleep recently. Some nights I have fallen asleep for 2 hours, then woken up for no reason. I have to address myself to sleep again, but it cuts into my kip something awful and means that in the morning I feel more than a little bit shitty. It seems to be clearing up since last week though, for which I’m very glad. I only mention it because I am typically a very sound sleeper – dynamite couldn’t wake me.

Since you’re reading this, I’ll tell you another thing. As a (grateful) member of the Stirling University Drama Society, or SUDS, I was delighted to take part in a magnificent production of Macbeth. I ended up filling two roles, one on-stage and one off: the first of the tyrant’s assassins and also fight choreographer. The murderer was the most physically challenging character I’ve ever played. He does a great deal of running, grabbing, stabbing and slitting throats. The closing night sold out and I’m very pleased to have been a part of it. It was my third play with the society, and undoubtedly the darkest I’ve been involved in. Here’s to those I’m yet to take part in. Long live SUDS!

On a final note, we got some bad news today. The Uni mandarins have seen fit to abolish the law school’s post-graduate Diploma in Legal Practice, which law students must take in order to become practising lawyers in Scotland. This means that I, and my fellow students, will have to go to other institutions after we graduate if we wish to pursue a legal career. The reasons for this closure are clear: money and a surplus of places. The Uni cannot afford to continue with the Diploma because they cannot afford to run it any longer. This year there were 32 places available and only 15 people took up the opportunity to join it. Such a waste of resources is unsustainable. These revelations came with the further news that most law schools in Scotland (including Edinburgh and Glasgow) are running their Diplomas with a surplus of places (i.e. empty seats that ought to be filled with aspiring lawyers). That intrigues me. Why is there a surplus? It might well be that students who have taken a law degree are choosing not to pursue a legal career. They might be worried that they do not have good job prospects. Whatever the reason, one thing is certain: we are all in the midst of a dire situation. With tuition fees rising down south, and cuts (however big or small) being foisted on us, I can only hope that we can hardily weather the storm. Our, now former, director of the Diploma announced all this with regret saying that, as an academic, it grieved her. To be honest, in all of this it is the current fourth years that I feel sorry for. Many of them will probably have thought about applying to be accepted onto the course at their own institution. That is clearly no longer possible. We were assured that the law school was going to do all it could to provide a chance for those of us who are graduating next year to obtain places on other Diploma courses. I hope that God is gracious to them. They have my very best wishes.

Well, there you have it. I hope to write again soon.

Take care of yourself.

Haud the Bus

Phew! A lot has happened this summer and as the days to my eventual return to University count down, I seem to be getting busier. To be honest, I have mixed feelings about the last few months. On the one hand, there was plenty of time to do what I wanted such as socialising, reading etc, but at the same time I was massively let down on my job hunt and the weather has been (for the most part) disappointing. We had one day as far as I can recall where it was scorching and I had to buy a bag of ice to go with some drinks. Apart from that it has been dreich. There has been flooding in some parts of Scotland in the month of August. How is that even possible?

Anyway, in other news I’ve been introduced to a wonderful new piece of social media – a website devoted to books called Shelfari. It is used to catalogue those books which you are reading now, have read or would like to read and allows you to rate and recommend them to your friends and other bibliophiles around the world. I was overjoyed to be introduced to it, since I had been waiting for something like this for a while. It has been operating for quite some time and I’m amazed that I didn’t know about it sooner. If you too are an avid reader then you ought to check it out. Though I have had an account for only just over a week, I’ve added and rated seventy-five books. It is a curious pleasure, but one that has engrossed me. As it can be updated on a rolling basis, I’m confident that this isn’t just a new fad for me. The novelty will wear off of course, but I definitely won’t stop using it.

The past twelve weeks have also afforded me the opportunity to reflect on and increase in my faith. I’m a fairly new Christian, having been saved earlier this year. My appreciation for the chance to read and study God’s Word is unbounded. The more I read the Holy Bible and the more I listen to the sermons of some very good preachers indeed (Mark Driscoll, Timothy Keller and Dr John Piper are a delight to listen to), the more I want to know about and love God. I’ve had a couple of fantastic moments this summer when it comes to my Christianity. The moment I realised the Bible was all about Jesus and the fact that he rose to conquer Satan, Sin and Death was one of the happiest of my whole life. And though I occasionally doubt, for all faith is founded on doubt, I’ve never felt like abandoning my allegiance to Christ. I can’t. I love him too much to do that. Aye, it’s true – I’m a sinner, I have done, said and thought things that I shouldn’t have. However, the difference between me and non-Christians is that I have repented. I am changed. That’s all there is to it.

I recently finished studying Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians, which I found to be incredibly enlightening. Much earlier, last year in fact, I was reading the Book of Genesis. Why start anywhere else? It walked me through Creation, the Fall and explained why the world was the way it is and what our God is really like. One of the first things I learned and have never since forgotten is that He is sovereign. So, it doesn’t matter whether or not we believe in Him, nor does it matter if we worship him or not, because He is still in charge. We can either stand with Him (as repentant, Biblical Christians) or against Him (as non-Christians), but He will never change. He will be the same today and forever as he has always been. Saying that there is no such thing as God doesn’t negate his existence and those who don’t accept Jesus’ wonderful offer will ultimately perish. I’m just glad that I’m on the winning team.

Many of my friends, including my closest mates, are not Christians. This doesn’t bother me (1st Corinthians 2:13-14 tells us not to get flustered by unbelief), but I do pray for them. They don’t know that they are already enjoying God’s common grace and I live in hope that they might eventually heed the call and join me. But, at the moment that doesn’t seem likely. I’m just glad that it hasn’t damaged our relationships in any way. It would have been tragic if we had fallen out over my beliefs.

It was also good to hear from SAAS that the funding I will be receiving for my next year at University has been increased in comparison to what it was last year. This is very good news because, to be frank, money is getting tight. I breathed a sigh of relief when I opened the envelope and read that the amount was more than enough to cover my rent. That is a huge load off of my shoulders. I will be moving into an on-campus flat that I will be sharing with about four other people. It certainly beats living in the Halls of Residence like I did last year where there was fifteen of us sharing a tiny kitchen (that didn’t even have a freezer!) and two showers. I’m looking forward to my second year at Uni and can’t wait to get started. Things will be a bit different this time round. The first year at Uni changed me in ways that, in retrospect, are unbelievable. I am not the same person I was in the summer of 2010. Who knows what the next nine months hold in store for me? I’ll find out soon enough I suppose and it will be recorded here as often as I can manage.

Yeah, the times they are a-changin’.

Farewell, my lovely

A modernised front cover by Penguin Classics. Very nice indeed.

Until very recently, I had never read anything by Raymond Chandler. I’m very fond of crime fiction and have read a great deal of the works of Agatha Christie and all of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s. Their characters Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes are inarguably among the most famous fictional detectives of all time. Frankly though, Chandler and his hard-boiled gumshoe Philip Marlowe went right by me. Thankfully, I found them.

“Farewell, my lovely” is the second in the Marlowe series and seemingly gives an excellent impression of the ability of Chandler. His style of writing is quite unlike that of other authors I have read. In particular, his use of simile is fantastic and very imaginative. For example, “He was crawling softly along the baseboard like a fly with one wing” and “It landed on its hands and knees and made a high keening noise like a cornered rat”. He also favours short and staccato sentences, bringing a punchy and exciting feeling to his writing: “He gave me a sharp look. There was a noise behind us. The bouncer was on his feet again, weaving a little”. His ability extends also to smart and sometimes even witty dialogue: “Maybe you’ve just had lunch…” followed swiftly by “Lunch…is something a man of my shape and disposition aims to do without”.

One point that will be very clear to modern readers is the occasional racially-insensitive remark or name. This modern disdain for such language in books is something that truly baffles me. The decision to edit some of the work of Mark Twain because it contained the word “nigger” is, in my opinion, foolish. What are we saying when we do things like that? That we want to re-write history? Or that we want to pretend that the disgraces of slavery and the like never happened? Well, they did. It is of course right and proper that we aim to be anti-racist in this day and age, but not at the expense of the truthful and raw expression of writers now dead. Twain’s use of the word “nigger” is not racist in itself. Too often people mistake the content of a book to be an accurate account of what author’s own thoughts and attitudes. Chandler uses phrases like “The Indian smelled” and indeed the opening line of the story runs thus: “It was one of the mixed blocks over on Central Avenue, the blocks that are not yet all negro”.

While the novel was satisfying, I am led to believe that it is not his finest work – “The Big Sleep” and “The Long Goodbye” are often cited as being the best of his Philip Marlowe stories. No doubt I will pick them up at some point, but not right now. My library is bulging with books that I have yet to read. So, I should get around to doing so.

SUDS shenanigans

Long-term readers of this blog will know that I am a proud member of the Stirling University Drama Society. Over the past few months I have returned to active involvement in its productions. Following my stint in Stags and Hens way back in October 2010, I had withdrawn somewhat. The reasons for this was that, primarily I had exams to sit, and secondly that I just wanted a break. I arrived back following my seven week winter break and got stuck in.

Firstly, I took part in the SUDS Freeplay on 21st March 2011. It was the day after my 19th birthday. For those of you who don’t know, the Freeplay is an evening devoted to presenting extracts from famous plays and monologues written by our own members. We do not charge for admission and it is prepared for in under two weeks. The parts that I played included John in Ena Lamont Stewart’s “Men Should Weep”, Max in Joseph Leo Mankiewicz’s ”All about Eve” and Alfieri in Arthur Miller’s “A view from the bridge”. It was great fun and having played John before it was made that bit easier (at least as far as learning lines is concerned).

Secondly, I had the enormous pleasure to be involved in the Spring 2011 SUDS Festival. This is a bi-annual comedy festival featuring material written by our own members. It went very well as far as we could tell and the audience seemed to enjoy themselves. The reviewer from the Brig newspaper (that is the Uni’s student-run self-published newspaper) said that he found the first three sketches to be “painfully unfunny”, yet declared the fourth to be his favourite. That was “Emergency Courtesy” and it was my biggest sketch. I’m glad that I made a favourable impression at least. Particularly given his rather acerbic remark about the other players.

Above all, I’m very pleased to tell you that I recently auditioned for a part in Tom Stoppard’s “Arcadia” and was cast. The play is being directed by Jon Greenaway and should prove to be highly entertaining indeed. My role is that of Mr Richard Noakes, a landscape architect. The play is split between two time periods: the present day (which at the time of writing was 1993) and the Napoleonic period in the year 1809. This will be my first time in SUDS playing a period character and I’m excited about it. The costumes more than anything are what makes period settings so appealing and trying to assemble them will probably be an interesting, yet arduous experience.

If you wish (and if it is feasible to do so) to see one of our performances of Arcadia, we are doing a three-night run at the macrobert in Stirling on the 10th, 11th and 12th of May. See their website for any further details.

Until then, adieu!

Source Code & Sucker Punch

(01/04/2011 – Double Feature Friday No. 9)

As it was celebrating my anniversary last Friday I was not able to attend this DFF. According to the views of my friends following the DFF, I was correct in my assumption that Sucker Punch was of poor quality. However, here are the reports of Rotten Tomatoes on the films: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sucker-punch-2010/ and http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sucker-punch-2010/

If you see them. Enjoy. And let me know what you think.

Note: There will be no DFF next Friday (8 April 2011) as Steven and Calum are going down to London for the Kapow! convention. I hope that they enjoy themselves and will bring back news of a successful and worthwhile trip. I was invited, but I decided against it. I need to conserve some cash at the moment as I do not have a job. If you could give me one that would be great. No? I thought not…