NaNoWriMo 2012: Halfway there time-wise if not in wordcount ...

Day Fifteen. I should have 25,005 words by 23:59pm tonight but that's not going to be happening. For one thing, I'm exhausted after staying up late almost every day this week if not every day, trying to bang out the words and I have a full weekend of SIFE/Enactus revelry starting tomorrow with an estimated 3 1/2 hour drive up to Grantham. 400 SIFE students, PGL camp and undiluted SIFE cheesiness? BRING IT ON.

Still, I'm on 22,607 which I consider to be pretty respectable considering the amount of work that I've got to do besides NaNo. Thankfully, my Equity seminars are finished for this term, but I've still got two essays I should be writing, three other seminars to prepare for, notes to catch up on, textbooks and cases to read ... and that's not even including my SIFE stuff. Boy, am I behind.

I'm pretty pleased with myself for making it this far and now that I've got past the 20K mark (the 25K one will feel even better) I don't want to stop. It will be a huge shame if I don't finish now and I'll be pretty pissed off with myself. It looks like I've got another fifteen days of little-to-no-sleep ahead of me. Joy.

Keep up with my NaNo daily wordcount on the sidebar on the right. Isn't it awesome? You'll find out in fifteen days time whether or not I've reached 50K or not. Until then, don't expect any reviews. Bonus if there are any. Why is one day only twenty-four measly hours?

ENACTUS Sussex, here we come!

What is Enactus, I hear you ask. Well, basically the same answer to the queston 'What is SIFE?' Until Sunday 30 September 2012 where the new name was announced at the Opening Ceremony of the Enactus World Cup in Washington D.C., Enactus had been known as SIFE since the organisation's inception in 1975 by its founder, Jack Shewmaker. With new criteria and a much different approach taken by students than initially intended, it was time for the name and logo to reflect our work in a meaningful way.

What is Enactus?
Enactus is a global, not-for-profit organisation that works with business and university leaders to assist university students in setting up their own Enactus teams to make a difference in their communities. Students use an entrepreneurial approach to solve the problems and answer the needs of groups in communities by teaching them skills that enable them to improve their quality of life and standard of living in a sustainable way. This is usually a mixture of soft and practical skills, but is hugely dependent on the needs of the group that the Enactus team are working with. 

*ENACTUS World Cup LIVE!

Update: 22:56pm GMT - EnactusUSA, Belmont University are the winners of the Alvin Rohrs World Champion Trophy! Well done to them! Their presentation was different, their delivery smooth and just an all-round brilliant Enactus team. Spring Back Recycling is an example of a truly great, truly innovative Enactus project and they should be very proud!

Also well done to the other three finalists who competed in the final as well as the rest of the Enactus teams who travelled to Washington DC for the World Cup. Enactus Southampton, you did us proud! 

Final standings:
Winner - Belmont University, USA
Runner-up - French University of Egypt, Egypt
Third place - HR College of Commerce and Economics, India
Fourth place - Midlands State University, Zimbabwe

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Watch here

Inordinantly excited for the live-streaming of the Enactus World Cup Final rounds! At 18.15 GMT, we'll be watching the Awards ceremony for the Semi-finals and if I thought that last night's award ceremony for the first round was nerve-wracking, this is going to be something else. After that, it's going to be straight into the presentations for the Final round and it will be IMMENSE. Here's to the next five hours staring at my laptop screen ... Good luck SIFE/Enactus Southampton!!!

*Formerly known as SIFE. There may be a post to come shortly; depends on how I feel - Update: see said post here

TED: The Global Food Waste Scandal - Tristram Stuart

Love, love, LOVE this TED talk

I have a huge thing against food waste. I've got to admit that I probably did it a lot as a child when I just didn't want to eat something, but now I regularly ignore sell-by-dates, scout out the 'reduced' items in supermarkets and even find myself peeling mould off bread that is otherwise perfectly fine to eat. I don't care if this makes you cringe; I despise throwing away food.

Sausage Rolls

 

 

(sorry for the crappy picture. It was taken with my crappy phone because I don't actually own a camera)

We had a picnic for SIFE, a society I belong to, to thank all the advisers/sponsors etc who've helped us through the year. Granted, only one actually turned up (yay Ali of Barefoot Wine! with wine!) but it was an awesome event anyway. This is an annual thing and in the past, they've gone out to dinner, but we decided this year that we would have a picnic where all attending SIFE-ers would bring a dish. Okay, so we did plan this during the heatwave, thinking that it would actually be nice and hot for an actual picnic, so our hopes of having it outside were dashed considering just how awful the weather has been for June. And typical, every day since Tuesday has been really nice and sunny, if still a bit cold.