Ate all the painkillers last night and it was too late to go out to buy more, so I found myself in the bathtub until around 3am, just sitting in hot water while dosing off.

First thing this morning, Tom went out to get some more painkillers and came back to surprise me with a gingerbread coffee (OH YUM) and some chocolate cake with custard. :D

Feeling lots better now and will definitely go in to University tomorrow. Been getting on with work and really enjoying it.

Have also been watching the show called ‘How clean is your house?’ where the two cleaning-gurus Kim and Aggie visit really disgusting houses to help the owners get back on track.

Here’s part one of one of my favourite episodes (the other parts can also be found on youtube):
Pat’s Bedsit
I really feel for the lady. She’s such a lovely person who just got stuck in a rut and needed some help.

The same goes for this man:
Nightmare in Northampton
He suffers from depression after a breakup.

There are episodes where Kim and Aggie go and help people and they really don’t seem to appreciate it and just return to their old ways again, but the times when the people take hold of their own lives and change it for the better… It’s just so nice to watch!

It’s perfect telly when I’m lying on the sofa with a hot water bottle :P Don’t judge me!

I was going to go to Oxford today, but woke up feeling very off. Sure enough it was the period saying hello again. My train ticket will work all day, so if I miraculously feel better, I want to go, but to be honest… Doing 4 hours of travel on the first day of a period just isn’t a good idea for me.

I’m really frustrated, mainly because I’m feeling a bit guilty. I was going to meet some online friends in Oxford and had promised to do a little drawing thing with a friend who planned to recite a poem. Was looking forward to that collaboration and had practiced drawing at home for it. :/

Anyway.

Have been looking up The Pill again. I stopped taking it in Sweden after getting bad side effects, but am seriously considering taking it up again. Can’t have life grind to a halt every month because of my periods, especially if I’m going to travel to meet friends and go to conventions.

Here’s the NHS site for the pill. Click me!

Will spend the day contemplating whether it’s worth taking the risk. Am frightened of side effects. :/

… Yup. I don’t think I wrote about that, did I?

It’s been a bit hectic here. Last Tuesday afternoon, I came down with my first case of food poisoning. Won’t go into details, but… In a nutshell, I spent that day throwing up and the following four days unable to eat properly.

This blog has been silent because of that, and also because the moment I got better I really had to get back to work again.

There is not much to report otherwise. This last year of University is just so intense that there is no time for dithering about. You just gotta knuckle down and do it…!

Good news is, I finally got my Swedish student loan through, so I can stop chewing my nails over that!

Gotta get ready to go to University again. We have a fundraising meeting (have to get money for the final 3rd year Show), and then I’ll spend the day working. I really want to start painting the first chapter of the Graphic Novel, but am a bit stuck on some basic layouts still, which is slightly frustrating.

Oh! And I’ve also taken up at year-challenge! I am to create a self portrait everyday for a year. So far I’ve done five. They will be posted on my art blog everyday (unless I chicken out, which I don’t intend to do)

And finally…! Me and Tom will celebrate Christmas in Italy(!) Just gotta check up on flight prices and I need to get someone to take care of Chester and Ruffles.

Phew! Sorry for the rather dull entries lately..! I suspect this will be the case for a while.

OFF TO WORK.

As you can probably tell by my last entry and my lack of entries after it, I’ve been quite ill. I’m still feeling the lingering aftereffects (snotty and coughy), but otherwise it’s back to normal…!

Lots of stuff happening. Let me try to keep this brief. I’m currently printing out a few beginning pages of the Butterflies and Moths script to get myself going again. I’ve really missed it! Can’t start working right away though, as I’ve got lectures this morning.

Because of my illness I missed a lot of things. I missed the Zombie walk, the Finger-Pistol Flash Mob, halloween party, birthday party of a friend, several belly dance classes… The list goes on, really. So as you might suspect, I was not amused. I also was unable to do any type of work. I couldn’t write my dissertation and I couldn’t do the last mandatory brief we had for Uni (before being allowed to start our own studies).

When I finally got well enough to hold a pencil, I had a huge backlog of work to take care of (which is still being worked on). A short period of stress ensued. :P

Now, I’ve had my second dissertation tutorial in which it seemed like my tutor was more excited about my work than I am. An odd experience. ‘You got it in the bag Jen!’ ‘You’ve moved this forward!’ ‘You know what you’re doing!’ ‘You have the knowledge! Flaunt it!’… I was just thinking: ‘No no no. I really don’t have enough to go on and I know far too little. Eeeek. You’re expecting a masterpiece. I’m officially -scared-.’ She also ended up borrowing my copy of Fun Home (the only graphic novel that has made me cry rivers).

To be honest though, it’s really nice to have a tutor who’s interested in what you’re doing. I don’t tend to feel the same enthusiasm from my own illustration tutors. They are too busy telling me what I need to do better. I think I understand why illustrators and comic book artists are so self critical. We get it hammered in at University. :P

‘That’s nice…. But THAT could be done better, and THAT isn’t right, and THAT looks horrid, and THAT is rough and THAT… What the heck is THAT doing there?’

*hides under desk*

I think it’s safe to say that I will be a bit absent for a while. Now that I’m well, I have so many things I need to redo.

Today is a day of lectures at University and then off to our local coffee shop. Me and Rich always hang around there, drawing and chatting. Yesterday when he was there on his own for once, sketching, he actually met a girl and clicked with her straight away. I only heard about this over MSN, so the information is a bit vague, but SO CUTE nonetheless. Problem was… He didn’t dare to ask for her number, but he said that he always hangs around that coffee shop, so now he’s approached me going: ‘I NEED TO LIVE THERE THIS WEEK O_O’
I’ve agreed to keep him company. :P
Let’s hope that girl comes back.

… I was supposed to continue my babbling about the trip to London/Cambridge, yes?

Well. Guess what!
I’ve come down with a really bad case of the flu. Yesterday was the worst. It came to the point where Tom told me ‘if it gets any worse, we’ll call the help line, yeah?’. He’s just taken care of everything while I’ve been ‘offline’ as it were.

I’m the kind of person who can get the little illnesses that float around, like a cold, or a sore throat, or a funny tummy. But I’ve never been so ill that I’ve had to go to hospital, and I consider myself lucky for that.

Before I got this, I hadn’t been ill for months. I’ve felt great. So this was a bit of a surprise, to say the least.

Trying to avoid exaggerating, I must say that yesterday was about as horrible as I’ve felt while being ill. At least in England, and I’m struggling to think of any other time in Sweden when I’ve felt so bad.

We’ve been jokingly suggesting that I might have Swine Flu. Which to be honest, I don’t think I do. Apparently it renders you completely immobile. If I have it, it’s a really weak one. Yesterday I can say I was immobile most of the day, but I’m getting better today (thankfully!!). So, don’t worry parents! I’m almost 100% certain this is just the normal flu.

Hope it goes away soon. I’m slowly going nuts, not being able to draw.

To read my personal account of the Comics Conference. Click me!

..Continuing on Saturday..!

Here’s a photo of the greenhouse being assembled!

And CHICKEEENS. I love the sound of chickens! They are so amazing.

Mark! Doing a bit of laundry stuff!

Nic with the chickeeens!

Part of the garden where they grow their own vegetables.

After an amazing evening at Mark and Nic’s, I fell asleep on their sofa-bed, trying to get as much rest as possible to prepare for the conference the next day. The plan was to meet El at the train station and take a taxi up to the college with her.

Sunday!

I don’t have any photos from the conference because I was a bit busy with several different things, including:
1. recording all the talks
2. sketching as much as possible
3. trying not to let period pains get to me

Again, if you’re interested in having a peek at the sketches from the conference, just head over to my art blog. :)
The experience was amazing!

(Gah! Gotta go AGAIN :D But I’ll be back later to continue!)

Whew!
Came back yesterday after the week-long trip to London and Cambridge…!

Let’s try to recap what happened. I hope I won’t miss important stuff out. I’m feeling a bit ill (more about that later :D), so I might get stuff mixed up!

Thursday!

I took the morning coach to London which was pretty calm as far as I can remember. Two and a half hours later (and with a very achy bum) I arrived in London where El was waiting for me. We immediately headed back to hers so I could drop my stuff off. She has a new house now which she is renovating with her father. It’s in a really nice area!

We did a little bit of planning and then headed off into the centre of London. I love the underground. Or well… It’s a love-hate relationship I think. It can be really crowded and stressful, but the sounds are to die for.

Walking around London, you will always see something new. Saw lovely buskers. Saw amazing characters. I think this was the evening when we ate at Wagamamas as well. I treated El to her food as a thank you for helping me out with the short story delivery earlier.

During this entire time, I was sketching, so if you wanna have a look at the doodles, just go to my Art Blog.

Friday!

Day before leaving for Cambridge.
We head off into the Soho District for some breakfast at The Soho Breakfast Club.

They have the best pancakes! And wall decorations.

Yummy caramel latte while waiting for foooood.

colours!

Haha :D I look knackered already. But still happy to lick the behind of a pink pigeon.

Bruce Willis!

Secret Agent Man!

This one was hovering over our table. :P

AWESOME pancakes.

After a lovely breakfast we sat at different cafe’s, working. I was drawing/painting and El was doing her dissertation.

Here’s a fantastic window display from one of the stores we passed. The puppets were really impressive. So was the detail of their little house.

And! Have a random CAEK shot from another coffee shop! It was among the best cakes I’ve had.

Me and El headed back quite early since I had to get up the next morning to go to Cambridge. El was going to join me there on the morning of the Conference (Sunday), while I was staying over at a friend’s friends place. People I’ve never met, basically. So I was a little bit nervous.

Saturday!

Arrived in Cambridge. Was dropped off by a big park. I was half-expecting to at least be by some sort of bus-station, but no, it was a busstop. By a huge park. Needless to stay, I felt rather lost. Luckily I had printed out some google maps earlier! So I quickly set off to find the house where I would be sleeping.

After about half an hour of walking, In the rain, I arrived by the house, armed with some gifts to show my gratitude. Turns out the friends, Mark and Nic, were absolutely fantastic. They were in their back yard, working on their green house while….

… CHICKENS were toddling about!

We headed back into their house where I got to drop my stuff off.

One thing to note was the abundance of greenery everywhere. They had plants and herbs and whatnots growing from almost every corner. I was impressed. They also didn’t seem to have a lot of ’stuff’. I was silently studying their home, thinking just how different it was from mine and Tom’s. I want to cut down on the amount of stuff I have.

Anyway!

While they worked on the green house, I decided to explore Cambridge! Armed with an A-Z given to me by Nic, I headed off to find the centre.

During this entire time I was feeling a little bit odd. Like my stomach wasn’t happy. At the time I put it down to me possibly just being a bit nervous, but soon the all too familiar aches and the lovely PMS surfaced. Ah, yes. Period pains.

Period pains on my first day of being in Cambridge. Lovely!

I gritted my teeth and tried to enjoy what I saw, but the rain and the cold wind just seemed to make it all worse. Oh well. At least I managed to stumble upon the amazing clock!

And a lab!

I tried sketching in the zoological museum for a while, but soon gave up when the pains just became a bit too annoying. I headed back to the house to hang out with Mark and Nic for the evening. It sure was a fascinating evening where I got to know a lot of stuff! Everything from juggling, tribal bellydance, fire breathing and Mark living in Kenya for 3 years (or was it less?).

(ack, I’ve got to go! I’ll continue when I come back later!)

Geez!
Stuff change pretty quickly!

In my previous entry I said I would go to Cambridge from Bristol for the conference.
Well, I checked it out and it turns out a bus-journey over there would take at least 5(!) hours. So if I were to go there and back on the same day… Well… It’s impossible really.

AND it was expensive.
So I started thinking. Like the skint student I am… There must be something cheaper. Then I remembered the ‘funfair’ tickets that you can get to certain locations, like London. It’s how I normally travel to London, where each journey will cost me as little as £3.

So why not go to London first! Suddenly this trip became a lot bigger than I expected!

Allow me to type out my travel plans for you!

Thursday (tomorrow!)

I leave for London in the morning where I will meet up with Ellen and personally thank her for taking care of my competition entry (the short story). I will stay with her until Saturday.

Saturday.

I will (together with El!) take a coach from London to Cambridge and spend the day there, toddling about, having fun. All of this depends on if Ellen is allowed to sleep over at the same place I will. My coursemate Mithi has a close friend in Cambridge who kindly allowed me to sleep on their sofa. I’m really grateful for that and hope I don’t come across as rude by asking in the last minute if El can join. El also said that she can easily go to Cambridge the same day as the conference and avoid sleeping over, so it’s not a huge loss for her.

Anyway! So Saturday I will sleep on the sofa of two vegetarian juggler geeks! Haha :D They even have chickens in their backyard.

Sunday.

Conference day!
I have a sound-recorder if I get to interview someone in the industry. I’m -really- nervous about this. But I hope I get to talk to someone. No idea what to expect for this comic conference. At least I’ll have El with me for moral support!

We both take a late coach back to London that evening.

Monday.

London-baybeh!
After work hours I am planning to meet my writer for the first time! I’m not worried about this at all, as we get on incredibly well over e-mail and chats. It’s going to be nice to -finally- get to meet him face to face!

Tuesday.

Take a coach back to Bristol.

BOOM. Done.

Whew. I’m bringing a camera, but I’m quite bad at taking photos. We’ll see how all of this goes…
I’m really just nervous about two things.
- Offending the people who kindly offered me somewhere to stay in Cambridge (by asking for another person to stay as well)
- Making a fool out of myself in front of industry professionals at the conference.

Eep.

Time to breathe.

This last week has just been intense constant work for the short story prize. If you are interested in my entry for the competition, check out my art blog.

Sitting in front of the laptop, sweaty and exhausted with a glass of water and a pasty from the local bakery. Post-Deadline always feels strange.

Let me quickly recap what’s actually been going on.

For some reason, during the last week when I was spending all my waking hours working on the short story, people I really wanted to spend some proper time with decided to show up! For example. Tom’s mother stayed with us for a little less than a week. I took some time off to hang out with her, but I still had to spend the majority of my days at University or huddled over my lightbox at home. I apologized to her later for this. Rubbish timing for deadline, really.

During her visit, we did several things!
We went around Bristol, eating and enjoying the warm sun(!). We visited my studio so they could see what it’s like to work there and they also got to say hello to my studio-mates.
We met one of Tom’s cousins for dinner…
… Who happens to be… A buddhist.. Surfer.

If that isn’t the coolest description of a person… I don’t know -what- is!

He turned out to be incredibly friendly (as buddhists always seem to be for some reason) and also very relaxed (as I suppose surfers.. are?). But! He surprised us all when we came back to our flat later and he saw my guitar hero controller and exclaimed: “Guitar Hero!? Can I try?”
I had sort of half expected him to crinkle his nose at all our stuff, but he was just so incredibly laid back and cool with it all! In the end, we were invited to come and stay with him while he’s in Cardiff. I sure hope we can follow up on that offer at some point.

Buddhism has always been fascinating to me, but now much more on a sceptical/scientific/non-supernatural level. Just the underlying philosophy of kindness towards others is incredibly compelling.

So! After this very interesting meeting… Tom’s mum also wanted to take me and Tom to Bath for our very first Spa experience. We started off by having breakfast in the same cafe where I went with my mum and dad the time they came to the UK. (Mamma! Det var cafeet dar du fick mas-bajs pa dig!)

Then we headed off to the spa… I’ve never been to a spa in my life. I’ve seen it on telly. The white robes and incredibly beautiful people getting a massage by equally beautiful therapists. Well! In reality it was…

….

Pretty much that. Except you had some normal people in there too. But all the staff-members looked like they had been picked out of a modeling magazine. We got our white robes (very comfy I must add) and were told that we had several options. The rooftop pool(!), the four different scented steamrooms (Mint. Jasmine.. Eucalyptus… And something else), the larger pool at the bottom. The Hot Bath. The massage rooms (with 43892439483 different massage techniques) etc etc.

Sadly the massage therapists were fully booked in the morning and I had to go back to work in the afternoon when there was a slot, so I didn’t get to try that out, but the steam rooms were brilliant. I don’t know how long we spent in each one. The rooftop pool looked out over the city of Bath. It was just so relaxing that in the end I was incapable of holding a pencil. Just couldn’t work for a few hours.

HUGE thanks to Tom’s mum for doing this for us!

In the end, she had to head off to Italy, and literally on the same day she left, Tom’s friend Dan came to stay with us. I was STILL working on the short story during his visit, so again, I was being slightly anti social and apologized for that.

Finally, yesterday evening I managed to finish the story and get it ready for print. Due to the postal strikes taking place here in the UK, I knew I wasn’t able to get it sent off in time, so Ellen, my dear friend in London, offered to deliver the story for me! A few hours ago I got a phonecall saying the entry has been successfully delivered to the Guardian office!

All I can do now is wait until next week to see how it went. No idea if I’ve got a chance.

This coming weekend I’m fully booked to go Flash Mobbing and then to a conference in Cambridge about Women creating Comics. I’m a bit nervous about that for several reasons.

I’ve never been in Cambridge.
I’m going on my own.
I’m going to a place where there will be professional comic book artists/creators and I need to speak to them somehow. Am a bit unsure how to approach them without being awkward.

Will take a deep breath and just try to be relaxed.

Now though, I’m going to try to get some forms filled out (a lot of that lately…) then go out to restock on art supplies, meet up with Rich, and then try to tackle my dissertation. Frightening stuff.