Thank You (2:1!)

I've not updated this for ages. I've written nothing about my holiday in Scotland, the stuff I've done since, and the fact I've passed my degree with a 2:1, and I'm way behind in writing about tv. I might do my usual tv bit later, since Dr Who is really on my mind right now, but I'll leave Scotland for a bit. The main reason I've not written about it yet is because I've been telling everyone about it recently, and I didn't want to have to repeat it all again. So today, I think I'm going to concentrate on the degree bit. Most people won't realise what a struggle this past four years has been. I struggle to focus, and to motivate myself, and to ask for help when I need it...so all that has made this pretty hard. Rather than dwell on it and go on about how happy I was when I viewed the results, I'm going to take the time to thank the people who need thanking.

I'll start with university staff. Thank you to Jan, for always being there to sort things out when it all when wrong. Alistair, for helping me out with my exam messes, resits and referals, and never making me feel stupid for failing but encouraging me to try again. I thought you were an intimidating man at first, but you really did make me feel better. Janet, for your help sorting things out while I was on placement. Frank, for all your help with my research and telling me I was good at something. Without your help and the mark I got for my dissertation, I would not have a 2:1. Cath, and everyone in the research lab, for your help during my project. Chris...what to say here? In some ways I need to thank you, for your comments on my work and for being easily the best lecturer we have in the way that you set work and deliver your lectures. No thanks for not really taking an interest in me though, and not taking the time to talk to me while I was on placement. I will need to thank you for the help you're giving me now though, but I would have liked to have known I had your support on placement.

On placement, I really have to thank Sue for everything she did for me. We were never going to be good friends, but she was a great tutor, and that placement turned it all around for me. Thanks also to everyone else in that micro lab. Some were more help than others, but everyone made a difference. I should also mention Julian for his help, and for taking an interest. Thanks to Debbie too, for being an encouragement, and to a lesser extent also Sian and Charlotte.

And now the friends at university who have helped me. Mike, Laura,Victoria and Matt are the names I first think of. People on my course who have helped me out with work over the years, and some who have helped me out with other stuff. Thanks also to the group I worked with in micro this year. That presentation turned out really well and helped all our grades. Off my course, I wouldn't say my best friends ever did much to help me out when I was failing things and struggling, but I don't think I made myself easy to help. I'd like to thank my second year housemates, some people from halls in first year, and also Dan, just for being my friends.

Other friends who have been around for me to talk to also deserve a mention. I wish that included more people from home. Early on, it was nice to have the old group to come back to, so thank you for that time. Thank you to the people I still talk to now, for still making the effort. I guess I should thank Chris, in a way, because he's made me feel pretty good about myself from time to time. I really need to say thank you to my online friends. Four years of university, and some of them have been around to talk to and been my friends all that time. ProBoards has been something familiar when everything else has been changing. Thank you to all the people who make it worth staying, particularly those who have been good friends for a very long time now.

I've saved the people I owe the most to last. My family. Thank you for everything. My mum, dad, sister, brother, nana, and even Garry, have always been great, and kept me sane during everything. Even when things have been pretty bad, they've still supported me with uni.