Mmmm, coffee...

Coffee is now my bestest friend ever :) I've decided to give up carbonated soft drinks for Lent: I realise that I drink far too much Diet Coke and I don't even think about it when I buy a can or glass. So, this is partly a test to see if I can give up DC, but also part of a wider project: considering my consumerism. I'm increasingly aware of the fact that I tend to buy consumer products, generally food-stuff, without too much thought about why I buy specific goods. This may sound very introspective and a bit angsty, but it's an upshot of the academic side of my life: in my work I am forced to consider questions of lifestyle, especially in my dissertation where I will be exploroing the impact of the media upon the spreading of an environmental ethos through retail. This was brought to mind specifically through the impact upon sales at Lush while I worked there and the TV programme 'How Toxic are You?': I was suprised by how many people came in an asked 'Does this product have X,Y or Z in it? I don't want products with these chemicals in because I've heard that they are bad for you.' I'm not just talking one or two people either, there were dozens! So, I wondered how this might be applied to an environmental agenda in a similar context: ie cosmetic retail. We can see the effects on the animal testing market since the 1980s, but can this be applied to the environmental project? I would argue that it can, but I don't have time atm to discuss it - shall do it next time I update I guess.

In other news: I applied to The Edinburgh Group recently. This is a student society in the lines of The Berkley Group, where students are trained as consultants pro bono for not-for-profit groups. I have a meeting this afternoon. I'm not sure whether anything I know or can do will be of any good, but if so then I'm glad to be doing something to benefit others which takes advantage of my abilities, plus it's interesting from a social-justice perspective.
Am holding a pancake party tomorrow - yum :)
Have to nominate my supervisor for my dissertation by Wednesday - eep!
Went and saw Cloverfield the otherday - was very very cool and extreemly original.

Later:
Had my meeting with the TEG people: it went well I think :) Shall hopefully be getting a call tomorrow afternoon. And also have a reply from a tutoring job I applied for :) Have a meeting tomorrow at 3pm! Woot! Which means that I potentially have a job again - and paid at £11 p/h which is rather nice. If I get it I'll be tutoring a 16 year old for his/her Higher Geography exam in May, and it will be around 3-4hrs per week, which suits me perfectly.