1. Choke Cherries
2. The words “Jack Pine Savage”
3. Riding in cars on dusty back roads on sunny days
4. Sleeping sinfully late into the morning
5. The linemen’s boots my dad wore to work everyday
6. The smell of puppies
7. The quarter mile walk to the mailbox for love letters
8. Falling asleep in an old camper after a long day of swimming and running
9. Meeting boys from other towns
10. Dancing to Bruce Springsteen on the deck with mom and my brother
11. The prospect of falling in love

Posted by Darcie

• Leaving half-drunken drinks around the house
• Excessively quoting from my favourite movies/TV programmes/books
• Forgetting to email or text people back
  
• Reminding people about the ridiculous things they did while drunk
• Making lists for EVERYTHING (but that's hardly surprising!)
  

1. Thriller by Michael Jackson (and yes, of course it would involve the proper dance)
   
2. Big Star by Reel Big Fish
   
3. Hypnotize by the White Stripes
4. Business Time by Flight of the Conchords
5. Danger! High Voltage by Electric Six
   

1. 
   
   Snakes: Because, dude. Where are your legs?
2. 
   
   Eels: You're like snakes, but less esthetically appealing. And you're in the water which makes you even grosser.
3. 
   
   Axolotls: A restaraunt in the town where I went to college inexplicably had a tank full of these digusting creatures in the dining room. Whenever I ate at said restaraunt I would always stop and mutter hateful things into the aquarium on my way to the bathroom.
4. 
   
   Flying Fish: For the longest time, I fostered a bizarre nightmare involving being in a boat that was inundated by a school of flying fish and getting one caught in my hair. And then I read The Life of Pi and had my worst fears confirmed! Or as much as fears can be confirmed by a work of fiction.
5. 
   
   Tapirs: Dude. You are not a proper animal. You are the bastard child of a threesome between a donkey/pig/elephant. Also, I suspect you smell really bad.

Here are a few things, from the small and mundane to the huge undertakings that I either want or need to do more of in my life. 

1. Sleep - No matter how much I get, I want to stay in bed longer than I can in the morning, and I know I don't get nearly enough during the working week. 
2. Exercise - Another thing I don't do as much as I should, despite my frequent good intentions. The gym ball sits in the corner of my room, seldom-used since I bought it. 
3. Travel - I want to see the world, at the moment, even though I'm better-travelled than quite a few people I know, I yearn to see more of it.
4. Read - I spend far less time reading nowadays than I used to, probably because much of my time is taken up online now, of engaged in several activities at once. I'm trying to train myself into reading books regularly again, not just on public transport, and it's starting to work. 
5. Catch Up - With old friends, with new, with family and just with people and life in general, I should definitely do more catching up. 
6. Unwind - I need to spend less time messing around during the day so that I can work at a normal pace, finish early then unwind properly in the evening. Procrastination is no substitute for proper relaxation!

What do you need to do more of? 

1. Wireless internet. The internet just keeps getting better.
   
2. iPods. A soundtrack for my life? Yes please!
   
3. Dishwashers. I've always hated doing dishes, so love the fact that there's a machine to take care of them instead.
4. Digital cameras. No more waiting for days/weeks/months to finally get a film developed (and then finding out that all of the photos were terrible anyway).
5. Jet planes. Because I have better things to do than sit on a boat for weeks when I decide to travel to the other side of the world.
   

photo

1. Next time that friend insists on using the word ¨retarded¨to describe something ridiculous/challenging/stupid, I´m going to point out how highly offensive and inappropriate that word is.
2. I´m going to listen to my gut.
3. During the job interview, I´m not going to pretend like occasionally working weekends and nights is cool. It is not, in fact, cool.
4. I´m not going to be fooled by the term ¨garden apartment¨
5. I´m not going to hide my affection for ¨Paris Hilton´s New BFF¨
6. I´m not going to downplay the fact that I´m probably tougher than my date.

What are you going to do differently next time?

Posted by Sarah Von

1, 2, 3

This weekend I had my final set of tutorials on my law course for this year, and now ahead of me is nearly four weeks of entirely undirected revision for exams. I have therefore been assembling my revision essentials, I am convinced I work better if I have all these things to hand!

1. Coloured pens - preferably glittery gel pens, they make note-taking so much more fun, plus I find gel pens really comfy to write with and I always need to practice writing by hand ahead of any exams - I type almost everything!
2. Coffee - Although I try not to cram late into the night like I used to, coffee helps me stay alert enough through the more boring bits!
3. Notebooks - pretty ones, a new one for each subject. Revision is a good excuse for me to indulge my stationery obsession!
4. Space - I spread all my books out so I can see them all at a glance, so I need lots of desk / floor / bed space when I'm working!
5. Patience - That of other people, I get stressed and end up a completely useless person to live with! 
6. Snack food - As well as the jar of nutella I like to keep on my desk at such times, I also need a variety of snack foods to keep me going. I try and keep them healthy and preferably low calorie, as I eat a lot when I'm studying!
7. Mindless TV - To watch when I've finished for the evening, it helps my brain to go to sleep when my body is craving it!

If you've got exams coming up, good luck! What are your studying essentials?

1. Change my name. I like it the way it is!
   
2. Go to the North or South Pole. Although it would be an adventure, I hate being cold and have accepted the fact that sub zero temperatures are not for me.
3. Buy an expensive new car. Old cars have so much more character.
4. Stop travelling. So much to see, so much to do!
   
5. Go into outer space.  This may be linked to a dream I had which involved exploding in space.
   

1, 2, 3, 4

I'm a great believer in the power of music and most of my favourite bands and songs are those I associate with a particular time in my life. This is a list of bands and music that have had a real impact on my life. 

1. The Manic Street Preachers - I can trace my love of this band back to when I was around 9 or 10 and suffering from insomnia. I heard a track of theirs on the radio at some crazy hour of the night (well, crazy for a child anyway) I think it may have been Motorcycle Emptiness and decided they were great. Years later, I still love them and many of my closest friends are those I've met through the band in some way or another. 
2. Therapy? - This band were my icebreaker when I first arrived at university. I went along to the first Rock Society night at the students' union, shy and terrified, but when Troublegum was played, I mentioned I loved the song, was introduced to the society's resident Therapy? fan and that's pretty much how I broke the ice with the members of the society I would later become chair of for a year. 
3. Metallica - Another band I loved since being a kid, and the one that got me into "heavier" music. I think liking "alternative" music that barely anyone else at school enjoyed helped me to pretty much avoid having that early-teenage "must conform!" phase that so many go through. I simply didn't enjoy the music it was "cool" to enjoy, so I didn't bother trying. 
4. Zeromancer - My feel-good music, dancing around my room to this band has always instantly brightened up my day and they are still my music of choice to listen to whilst getting dressed for a great night out. 
5. Traditional goth bands such as Bauhaus - They were so much a part of my identity for such a long time and I still listen to them now (but there's a lot more colour in my wardrobe!) Despite supposedly being "depressing" music, these bands remind me of so many good times!
6. VNV Nation - Starting to listen to electronic music coincided strongly with really getting to know myself properly and becoming the person I am today. I think it also helped encourage me to stop wearing so much black and again, there are so many good times I still associate with this type of music. 
7. Dir en Grey - This band remind me of 24 hot, frenzied hours in Berlin with no hotel room booked, wandering around all night seeing the sights and taking in the history of the place after an amazing concert! 

What bands, songs and genres do you associate with the great times in your life, that influenced you as a person?