UniBlog: Stepping On Campus

Yesterday (Tuesday 29th September) was an incredibly - and surprisingly - organised and looking back, I neither knew how nor why it went all so smoothly.

During Monday's lecture, I was contacted by a fellow student who was also doing journalism, they were also in accomodation, and since we were on campus, the student in question - who will just be called "G" in future instances - offered to walk me up to the campus tomorrow. As I had no idea where I was heading to, and G had been here for a couple of years this was incredibly helpful, so we exchanged contact details (to have a more reliable way of staying in contact) and agreed to meet at 1:30pm on Tuesday.

Edit as of 2/10/2020: G's name is Glory, and we're good friends!

Tuesday 29th September 2020

For the first time ever I WILLINGLY had a shower.

Usually I'm more of a bath type of guy, and the last time I had no other option but to shower was my boarding secondary school, and with a fairly high teacher presence a daily (or even once every other day) a shower was required. This time was different however, my brain thought "hmm, that last shower experience (that I had previously, can't remember when) was nice, let's do it again!" After waiting for the fire alarm to not have a hissy fit over the steam created by the hot water, I exited the bathroom with no consequent dramas and got dressed, and for the first time ever, put a little bit of matte finish hair clay in my hair - because why not!

It was then that I realised I had two issues - the jeans I had bought were fine, but walking would cause a little bit of an issue - and the fact that my mask broke, so on a whim, I headed to ASDA, found masks being given out at the door, and found (2) belts among the jeans at the George section of ASDA.

I quickly scanned the items, put on the smaller belt and headed back to the accommodation, giving G a little message. Despite originally thinking we were meeting at one, I then realised I had an extra 20 minutes before we were actually meant to meet up. Fast forward said time, and G did show up on time (thankfully).

It was a short, simple, 10 minute walk to the theatre - (which was simple enough to remember for future instances of walking to campus) - when we got there, I'd have a quick bite to eat and drink, before being let in 4 - 5 minutes early (us originally arriving 15 minutes early).

Despite initially getting the wrong theatre, a member of staff point us to the right area.

The lecture was about how journalists/journalism is/was/has been (re)presented in media (movies, television shows etc.) and just a bit about journalism in television (genre etc.).

Though my laptop would love to unleash one or two monster "PIIINNGGGGGGG"'s (due to me trying to get to the end of one of Sonocent's text fields, and it not liking me pressing the right arrow when there was nothing to go right to) it was a very good lecture and an interesting talk.

The lecture would end by a screening of all but 45 minutes of The Insider - a very confusing film in which the main character has an Audi...

No, in all seriousness, it was a little difficult to keep up with the movie, but as far as I understood, there was a journalist, who worked at a cigarette company and whistleblew that cigarettes contain nicotine, which is incredibly bad for your health, and when taken to court things turned ugly.

The CEO and employees being under a spider web of confidentiality agreements couldn't legally say anything against this.

As far as I remember, someone sent death threats to the journalist and his family, and the journalist and his family got bodyguards.

It was a film from 1999, there are more important things to worry about, I'm just going to steal one from google

Simply Put:

"Jeffery Wigand, the former head of Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company, goes live on television to expose the bitter truth of how tobacco companies function."

Rotten Tomatos:

"After seeking the expertise of former "Big Tobacco" executive Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe), seasoned TV producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) suspects a story lies behind Wigand's reluctance to speak. As Bergman persuades Wigand to share his knowledge of industry secrets, the two must contend with the courts and the corporations that stand between them and exposing the truth. All the while, Wigand must struggle to maintain his family life amidst lawsuits and death threats."

There we go, give it three years and I'll understand what I watched.

After the lecture, I'd head home, rip open a bag of white chocolate chip cookies and nibbled my way through them as I walked.

I'd have dinner that night, albeit a little later (9pm).

I'm writing this on Wednesday becaussee I couldn't be bothered to after going to bed a little later than usual as I binge-watched Sky Cops on YouTube.