I’ve sorted out the ‘Utopia Unlimited’ photos now, so feel free to take a look. To be honest, I don’t suppose there’ll be much of interest to most of you, but there are a few reasonable shots hidden amongst the dross.

Looks like I’m definitely going back to uni this Sunday, which is great. It’s amazing quite how much I miss the place, but I guess it is over three months since I was last there. This year wont be as much fun as the last two, however, because I will be working very much harder. It’s not an exaggeration to say that my week of exams last year was the most stressful of my life, and there’s no way I’m gonna put myself through that again. I was utterly convinced I was going to fail, and while I didn’t, I know I can do much better. This year, I’m gonna get off to a good start, and build from there. (I can almost here my friends chuckling at this, shaking their heads as if to say ‘poor old Nick, always deluding himself’. Well, your wrong. After all, I’ve only got to change the habits of a lifetime, right?)

Actually, I fear I’m fighting forces more powerful than habit alone. I am a slacker, born and bred, just as my father before me, and probably his before him. Is there a slacking gene? If so, I am surely a carrier. Are slackers formed purely by environmental factors? Who knows, but as I delight in pointing out to my parents, be it nature or nurture it is still their fault. My brother is similarly afflicted, but while my sister suffered badly in her youth, she seems now to have shaken free from sloth’s languid yet obstinate grasp. Perhaps one day I shall be similarly liberated.

Looking back, I can’t actually remember a time before lethargy and indolence possesed my very soul. Even my junior school reports, (from ages 7-11), mention my reluctance to finish things. At secondary school, I reached new levels/depths with every passing year, my GCSE projects being a case in point. For my Geography project, I worked for 19 of the 24 hours before it was due in, and technology had me trying to complete two projects in a similar time frame, neither of which ever worked properly. At university, I’m always sprinting desperately towards the lab with barely minutes remaining. (Though I have to say that I’m one of many. Cycling back from the lab last time, I was somewhat gratified to see panicked and fraught faces heading in the opposite direction.)

Anyway, if I’m gonna be a productive and dynamic go-getter tomorrow, I’d better get some sleep. I’ve got a lot to sort out before heading back to uni, and you should see the state of my room. On second thoughts, if I really thought you ought to see it, I could just take a photo and post it here. In reality, you really, really shouldn’t see my room.