Ruby Granger #45 "Um" -- Ruby Granger, 2023

[Corneilya]

Wildcard tinfoil hat theory based on nothing at all: She's planning on going back to Exeter to start her theology undergrad degree again to delay the real world for another few years and lower the academic stakes after the ego-crushing experience that Oxford's been for her. She had a meeting/interview, begged a free trip out of a hotel and dragged Blakeney along because her BASST FRAND can't suffer a day of her company without a free holiday/event/gifts to sweeten the deal.

That doesn't seem so far fetched now I think about it.

 

[Hannahebee]

Lack of confidence on dissertation, vague subject topic, sponsored, lots of undeclared sponsors flickered throughout vlog, constantly trying to justify why she hasn't shared her topic, a trip back home, slob dropping food on floor, whispering when she doesn't need to, younger sister driving her because she still hasn't learned how, walking around at home and still doesn't know how to swing her arms. They just hang tight against her body. So weird.

Boring as hell vlog.

The subject topic is so vague and new that it sounds like hardly any research has been done on it previously and for a supposed study vlog she yet again hardly did any studying. I agree with you it was honestly such a boring vlog that I skipped over many parts of it. So, I noticed she filmed this video in May yet has only just got round to uploading it for some reason I mean it's not as if she was busy with anything else during this time so I don't know why it has took her so long to upload it to YouTube but it's becoming a common theme that she is uploading videos months after they were filmed.

 

[lululaylah]

I find it so jarring how Ruby swaps between casual narration and her ‘poetic narration’ in videos
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Also can anyone confirm whether non English carrots have less flavour, because she always ragrats buying them and as I don’t live in England I’m wondering if it’s worth buying carrots at all

 

[Corneilya]

I always get the feeling that the house would smell of damp and dog for some reason, but I think that it is the fact that the house is usually cold according to Ruby and they have the aga for heating, which would make the smell worse. I also do wonder if they bother heating the house as it would be expensive.

I would be curious if they treated their last home the same as they do with this one. I do wonder if they are messy and just scruffy as they are lazy but it is almost an overcompensation for being posh and having a certain amount of money, in a champagne socialist way. I think that it could also be them not valuing things that much as they have the money and they can just replace what is damaged. It is such a nice house they do have if it had a good tidy! The garden especially as it looks like a right tip!

Them being lazy, sure, but they have enough money to hire a professional to keep this mess clean. Same for the garden, they could hire someone instead of letting it rot like that.

 

[Sibyl Vane]

"OIY YEAST TYEU HATE THE OPERA. AND THAN THEY STARTED PAYING ME. NOW OIY LOFF IT!"

You mean the OPRAH, right?

 

[Kcn]

On instagram, Jade claimed that this happened '5 mins before' the formal dinner
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Yet here she is wearing a totally different dress:
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It looks like it might have been the PR manager's dress? In which case, what was she wearing? How quick did this change of clothes happen? Sounds like the story has been exaggerated for effect.

It’s interesting because she said on her stories at the time that Ruby saved the day with the black dress however it’s not Ruby’s style (I don’t think she’d wear straps) and they are very different heights so I’m not sure what went on!

 

[leah99]

I can't believe she's attended a black tie ball in that awful green dress...

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She has some very interesting fashion choices... this Shrek-swamp green dress is certainly not appropriate for an event where people are wearing dress shirts and suits, and the girls in front of her seem to be wearing floor-length gowns. Also her hair, couldn't she have at least styled it?

 

[FolderDuvet]

I've just started watching it and she sounds like her age in the first part, then two minutes in, her voice jumps a good octave in her voiceover That's not quite the schoolgirl aesthetic we're after, is it, Ruby?

Other people have noticed it too lol

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On another note, I received my copy of her Oxford Michaelmas Zine a little while ago. It's very cute, though some of the typesetting is a bit difficult to read due to it being handwritten and very small. It seems like she designed it on her iPad but didn't necessarily check how it would look in the A6 format she had it printed in.

The theme seems to be "melancholy", which is slightly worrisome, though tracks with what we supposed about her struggling with her academics.

All in all, for the few quid I spent on it, no regrets. Fits in among the rest of my poetry collection nicely (though it's not so much poetry).

 

[thegossboss92]

She cannot take criticism as her responses aways come across as aggressive and condescending

Why do I feel this does not bode well for her thesis? Will she have to defend her thesis in front of a panel of professors? 🫣

 

[ChocolateCakeYum]

Love that cross-eyed bag lady look

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She's one beret and a hammy 'French' accent away from being Michelle "of the Résistance" Dubois.

"Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once..."

 

[ChocolateCakeYum]

Has she ever said in the last year that’s she actually been happy at Oxford? Seems strange it’s just feels like a tick box for her

I don't think she has. She hasn't said anything about how she's getting on. It's always the same inane and childish nonsense with no substance and fook knows what that last vlog was. She looked like she was dancing towards a mental health crisis. I finally watched and was actually wondering if she's ok at the moment.

 

[Corneilya]

Oh goody, another ”slightly absurd” vlog. The official sponsor is Wild, but I’m about 5 minutes in and so far there have been cameos by Crosstown and Ramadee Kombyoocha. Also she manages to have breakfast, go out for coffee (around 9:30), study at the LOIBREE, visit a bookstore, go out for donuts with a friend, go to the dining hall to discover they don’t have SYOUP that day, and come back to her room, all before 12:55. She has the attention span of a housefly.

"slightly absurd" means "I want money from that sponsor but I don't know how to present their product so I'll do some nonsense and pretends it's poetic."
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Ruby seems very childish when with Blakney and it is like she is constantly seeking her approval. I think that she was very much like this when she was with Jade as well in previous videos, and she seems very fawning over them. She is a bit like an overexcited puppy or someone who is very unpopular at school is suddenly befriended by a popular student, and she is desperate to keep the friendship or the other person liking her. I think that you would normally expect the friendship to mellow out over the years when it had become more established and solid, but Ruby still has this overexcited and fawning energy around Blakney.

She might also be this overexcited as she doesn't speak to many people in her course and she spends a lot of time on her own, and she is just so excited to see Blakney. She is very much like a flower which is suddenly exposed to sunlight when she is with Blakney. She always seems much more childish and energetic around her. She might always be like this but it is evident in comparison to Blakney who seems much more laid back and mature than Ruby.

I think that Ruby might be a bit tiring to be friends with. I had to remind myself that she was 24 this year and she still comes off as so young for her age, due to her personality and her clothing, especially the chunky shoes. I think that her immaturity and her constant need to show off her intelligence would be annoying in person and I do think that getting freebies do help people such as Blakney stay friends with her or want to spend time with her. I think that most people would be inclined to spend a bit of time with Ruby to get a free entry into a film premier or a book launch etc

I do wonder how she would cope if her and Blakney had an argument or stopped being friends, considering that Blakney is her most favourite person. Or what would happen in Blakney had changed her interests etc, especially as Ruby likes friends who are just like her.

She'd do like she always did: find a new person to "befriend"/stalk.
Remember a certain Ruby, who was her best friend back in her first videos? She even made gifts, trips with her, and a video to defend her against bullies. Then one day, she deleted all these videos and we never heard back from this Ruby. I tried to find her on Insta just to see and surprisingly, her profile was very HP but not a single post about Ruby or photo with her ( at least the ones I checked, I didn't watched the whole, but it was the period of the videos so...).
Then it was a blonde from her city I think who was her "best friend", she even came back from Exeter for her bday or something like that.
Two girls from Exeter vanished for various reasons.
Now it's Blakeley.

 

[Binx]

"university is simply the atomsphere, for Ruby she learns everywhere"

 

[soph30]

I love this one!

And she will hate it
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Counter suggestion: Ruby Granger #46 "An Oxford Tragedy"

Can we add this to the front? So Early Modern Failure: an Oxford tragedy

 

[MavisBeacon]

I could personally see her having a stab at teaching, but I can't think she would be very good at it, or it very good for her. Especially with the profession in the state it is. Though, that's in the state sector. She could teach in the private sector (they love people with Oxbridge degrees).

This isn't a jab at her either. Ruby reminds me of myself a couple years ago before I started working full time, and I was glad I didn't go for teaching then. I've developed so much in just having employment and paying bills and stuff. I made the decision because almost all the best teachers I had were career changers.

She could, in theory, go on to work in the university. I know someone who did that after his degree, went on to work in the offices of a college. It would enable her to live her dark macadamia dreams for a while longer. It's not the best paid work, but you're in and around Oxford.

Yeah I have a friend who did the same after her humanities PhD as she wasn't able to land a proper research job but wanted the cache of being able to say she was "working at Cambridge Uni" - there are plenty of admin jobs in universities that enable you to stay connected to academia while not actually doing it.

 

[Rumblemumble]

Can I suggest a title for a new thread too? Using her ever-favorite Harry Potter's first chapter title.

Ruby Granger #46 The Girl Who is Not Like Other Girls

or, Ruby Granger #46 The Girl Who is More Than Just Productive

 

[StatusWoe]

Thank you. Yes, I agree, I certainly don't want her to make it a hobby or an aesthetic. I have never been to the UK and really just have no idea what it would be like in the average town or school. I just know the universities are very diverse, especially places like Oxford and Cambridge, but here that is definitely a norm. The US is known as the "melting pot" and it is just normal to have, in many places, a lot of diversity, so you simply grow up with that and we always have friends from a wide variety of ethnic background, faiths, etc.. It is no big deal, so I found it odd that she never mixed or befriended anyone from a different background than her. And sad, too, to be honest. You are right, it isn't like she has a massive circle of friends, but mine isn't huge, yet still, way more diverse than hers.

I also think that Ruby tends to seek out friends who are reaaallly similar. She's never gone out of her comfort zone when it comes to befriending new people. They're all middle-class, white, bookish, female, similar age, etc. So while I don't think Ruby is overtly prejudiced, I do think she's biased towards a very similar demographic. The fact that her environment (home, school and uni) has always been very white and moneyed makes it easier for her to remain in those friendship groups. Obviously, universities are diverse places, but Exeter and Oxford are two of the least diverse (I think)*

*correct me if that's wrong, but Exeter and Oxford always had the reputation of being less diverse.

Is this video new? How did she get to meet Daniel Handler?

I wonder if this is the reason she went back to Oxford for one night.

 

[otravlen]

Get yourself someone who looks at you the way Roobs looks at herself through her phone camera

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This has got to be the most forced grimace I've ever seen from her good lord this was not the jumpscare I needed before working on my diss all day

 

[yeya]

what does her sister do exactly? other than collect bad tattoos

I think she edits (some of?) Ruby’s videos as well as running the pumpkin productivity Instagram, both of which I assume Ruby pays her for. Maybe she does some other freelance editing/creative stuff. Also wouldn’t surprise if me she had a real part time job like retail or hospitality or something but no idea.

 

[Open-door]

I was a bit taken aback by the post-it charade to organise her chapters. Surely, by this stage in her writing career she uses some writer's software like Scrivener to do this stuff?