For better or worse, it’s all over now. Mostly worse, actually, given how Civil Law I (that’s Roman Law) went. But then it was straight off to the pub for a sizable session of sorrow drowning. And then after dinner we toured several pubs to celebrate. It was all good fun and fairly uneventful. Charlotte didn’t actually make the round 2 since she was feeling a little queasy after downing too much wine on an empty stomach, in All Bar One Irish Chris and Roger managed to douse a College Fellow and insult her date, and our Director of Studies decided the following morning at 10am would be the perfect time for a meeting for us all to decide our subject choices for next year. So on principle I turned up in my dressing gown and explained that I was planning to go straight back to bed afterwards. He said he was impressed.

Some of the 2nd years have finished (Irina has inconveniently decided to traipse off home to the Ukraine for a week which was disappointing as I was quite looking forward to spending some time with her post-exams) but the rest of my corridor are just getting into theirs causing stress levels to rise ever so slightly. I’m keeping my room an officially work-free zone for both their and my own sanity.

Phoenix SwiftSo what am I doing with myself now? Aside from catching up on the last three weeks’ worth of sleep, there’s been some work on the site already, with the Earth quarter now featuring a swanky new Search facility, replacing the often out-of-date Calendar. This will let you dredge up those ancient entries like The Breakfast Conspiracy without having to hunt through the archives, and actually searches all four sections of the site.

I also need to make arrangements for the new Ball website and take on the slightly daunting task of teaching myself PHP and MySQL in order to work on a ticketing system over the holidays.

The Phoenix KnightsMeanwhile in the world of Guild Wars, my character Phoenix Swift has risen to level 9, taken a secondary profession as a mesmer (an illusionist of sorts) and been questing with parties of other people across the world, hitting off well with Ryo Draven in particular. The instant cameraderie between complete strangers in a party is an interesting dynamic, especially when your backs are against the wall and you’re stepping in to save one another. He was also invited to join a guild, The Phoenix Knights, by its founder Golden Phoenix. Each guild has its own uniquely designed cape, sported by all members of the guild and I think ours looks particularly fetching and rather apt for me. The guild has now acquired a Guild Hall to which only we have access. They don’t come cheap, but it all looks rather swanky on a small, out-of-the-way island.