Seachain an duine a bhíonn ina thost

I thought Council was a little boring last night. No really exciting debate, just a faint ripple of dissent about a couple of issues which wasn't even strong enough to be noticeable if you weren't already aware of it. Perhaps it was partly sitting on the edge of the room rather than at the table, or perhaps it was the realisation that I'd just given myself a hell of a lot of extra work with the schedule amendment I brought to Council, but I just didn't particularly enjoy the meeting.

I did enjoy asking Sam about Finance Committee though.

I'm finding this week rather frustrating. I'm having to lock myself away in my office because I keep being asked to do things for people I'm not responsible for (Standing Committees, AU Clubs, even officers) and while I'd love to help, I'm not achieving anything for the people I actually am supposed to help (a small number of Standing Committees and all the societies).

I sent a scary email on Friday. The one to NUS telling them we were only going to be paying them £36,700 instead of the £47,000ish we should be paying.

They haven't replied yet ...

Wow, I've just been exploring all the fascinating facts I can find out about my visitors using SiteMeter. It's really rather interesting looking at where all my visitors are from, which website they came to me from and how my visitor numbers are actually increasing despite me blogging less. I feel motivated now. I WILL talk more. And maybe about more interesting things.

Except that right now I feel uninspired. I need to sweep my floor instead. My room is a mess. Maybe I'll take some pictures when my camera is charged so you can all see what a beautiful house I live in and generally how fascinating my life is.

Just been to an event organised by the Indian Society to celebrate Diwali and Eid. I really enjoyed myself: there was cheesy pop music, decorative candle-lit displays, delicious food and informative handouts.

The SU was well represented: I was there because they're a society, Dafydd was there because they're diverse, Felix was there because they're international, and Frodo was there because he had nothing better to do.

I've just received a text which simply says "Hello lucyxx". I don't quite know what to make of it.

My head aches (and a drowsy numbness pains my senses). Not just my head, in fact. I ache all over.

Busy week again.

There's the Storm controversy, to start with. Had a fairly odd Storm Exec meeting about it last night. Everyone knew what the purpose of the meeting was, but nobody seemed to want to mention it. Discussion did eventually get going, but only as I was about to give up hope and draw the meeting to a close.

Then there's Stage Crew, who need a brand new constitution and lots of policy documents written very quickly. This should have happened before they became a Standing Committee.

There's the website, supposed to be having a massive overhaul. But who has time to write all the content?

There's Councillor Training. Thankfully Dizzy has already done most of the session planning, because I haven't had time at all. There's sending stern letters to societies who've missed two Societies General Meetings in a row. Sorting out Forestry insurance. Releasing grants.

And there's the plethora of new societies hoping to affiliate to the Students' Union. There's some pretty good ones in there, but I don't know how many societies we can cope with with a tiny £7,500 budget for every single society. New ones include Beer & Ale Society (restarting), Comedy Club, Debating Society, Conservative Future, Friends of Treborth, CathSoc, Herpetology, Research Students Forum Social Club ... lots and lots and lots, basically.

I think I need a Societies Committee meeting.

Look at Sam in his shiny pyjamas!

SRA Nominations Party last night. Bit of a downer really: nobody from any of the stations present was nominated for anything. Gutted.

Nonetheless, I had a fun night. It was a pyjama-party-themed AU night that Storm was piggybacking on, so there were pyjamas aplenty. There's something nice about wearing pyjamas; everyone is instantly relaxed. Sam sported a very flash pair of shiny red pyjamas with a fluffy yellow dressing gown that made him look like Big Bird.

In true caring student officer style, the night ended with me, Sam and Frodo escorting an extremely drunk fresher home. It took us about an hour to get her from Time to the Ffridd Site, leaning on our shoulders all the way.

I was very impressed with her friend though: she was going to get her friend home however long it took, and she was going to spend the night sleeping on her friend's floor to keep an eye on her. All this after just three weeks!

Monday morning. Again. But oddly I feel quite happy about it, because I actually like my job.

Yesterday was extremely lazy. I didn't get out of bed until about half two, then went to the cinema and the Antelope pub quiz. Relaxation is good.

Oh, and I've just realised I haven't mentioned Tuesday's Council Meeting yet. Tact prevents me from going into detail; suffice to say it was controversial. Sam got censured, the ban on initiation ceremonies didn't get ratified and Stage Crew is now a Standing Committee.

Oh I am so very tired. I only had about four hours sleep last night; I went to the AU night (I feel I should go to all these fundraising events to show my support), then had to get up early to get into work and sort out the Union affiliations. I've been running training sessions all day: Captains/Chairpersons was very fun, very energetic, but by Secretaries I was flagging a bit. I still have Treasurers to do but I'm having a bit of a breather before starting that at three.

Training's quite fun really. Some sessions more than others, I suppose. It's always easier when you have a big, lively group and much more difficult with just two people. Or even one. And some subjects are more fun: we have to do lots of boring information for our poor Treasurers, whereas Captains and Chairpersons get to have nice brainstorming sessions about how to tackle the things stopping people getting involved. Feedback has been almost all positive, too.

Frodo's in London today at a BUSA Chairs meeting, so lost sporty people keep wandering into my office asking about ordering rugby shirts or meeting mountain walkers or counting money.

My new favourite silly news website.

Today is a headache of a day all round.