Very hard to believe it's June already, especially as this time last year I was away in Spain on an alleged holiday in a villa in the middle of nowhere. A good day to be going out on anyway, an almost clear sky with very warm temperatures and Hariet my flatmate next door has got chillout music playing at full blast which is very pleasant accompaniment. The only problem is that she's got MSN on at the same time so you can hear chiming at regular intervals. I'm probably one of the only people who doesn't use sound alerts on my computer as they can get very irritating.
As planned I went for a rather long walk through Harrow and Wealdstone and up a rather long hill en route to a place called "Bushey Heath" I never ended up there as I didn't like the thought of the long way back! Oh well maybe next year.
Looking back on this year overall it's not been to bad, it's had it's fair share of ups and downs but then again ups are nothing without downs.
The autumn semester for me was pretty much depressing, starting off with the theory modules being messed about as a result of one of the lecturers moving their module from the first to the second semester. Not even our success at the SRA's could lift a smile for me during this rather stressfull period as I was struggling with the features module and later the News and Magazine module which for me was one of the most stressfull group assignments I've worked on.
However there were a few high points including Level 42 at the Royal Albert Hall and going to Blandford to surprise Kim for her 21st birthday. I may be popping over again later in the year for The Great Dorset Steam Fair as having spent most of my spare time this year watching animated rollercoasters and dodgems, it will be nice to see and even ride the real things!
December was probably my busiest month as I had to help out with the assessed News And Magazine programmes whilst at the same time "entertaining" the shoppers of Brent Cross at BXFM and even finding time to do extended versions of the Soul Show on Smoke filling the gaps of other station members who were finding the pre-Xmas stress a bit too much.
After a rather disapointing and unmotivating Refresher's Week, the second semester got off to a positive start with the Music Radio module and the perfect introduction where we watched two documentaries; one on light music and radio, and another looking at DJs from over the years. And it was difficult to contain my excitement when the theme to Pick Of The Pops made an appearance!
Other highlights included the visit to Gcap and the radio commercials exercise, as well as getting the chance to present the assessed show itself. Whether I'll take a similar role for the advanced module next year remains to be seen.
Then came the Internet and Podcasting module where that and the continuing perils of Smoke resulted in me returning home to Canterbury to recuperate for a few days which I found extremely useful.
It made me realise that I'd probably got too involved and worrying about other people's problems rather than my own and I'd never been more relieved to be back in my home town than in my whole time here at Uni. I'm feeling the same about tomorrow which I suppose is good in a way as it will mean I'll get to enjoy more of the fresh delicious wholemeal loaves from Morrisons!
Anyway that's besides the point, at the same time I ended up changing the whole concept of my podcasts and within a day after returning to Canters I more or less had everything in the can and went back to Harrow with my interviews sorted out and managed to complete the assignment with no major problems. Apart from spending two hours in the studio trying to get the delivery of my links to be perfect.
I've also got to meet loads of new people and societies in the last year which has been fantastic and I've even gotten the opportunity to DJ every month at the Undercroft and doing the same thing (sort of) on Area 51's biggest night of the year at their end of semester Foam Party.
With S(4)S bringing the year to a positive end I've never felt better and have quite a postive outlook on what I want to be doing within the next year and possibly beyond University.
This was also helped by purchasing what I've said many times to be the best book about radio Essential Radio Skills which I'd go as far as saying has been more influential than anything I've been taught on the radio course here at Westminster.
However there's still one more year to go and yes there will be a lot of ups and downs but I'm certain that by next year I'll be even more confident but hopefully not too cocky!
I'd best start selling myself and making good use of the contacts I've managed to get hold of in the last year to keep myself on solid ground.
Overall I'm sure I'll be meeting lots new faces and involved in plenty more escapades in 2007-2008 but for now I'd best start looking ahead to drinking the bar dry at the Undercroft tonight!
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