It’s just as well I don’t keep my laptop in my bedroom, as I might have been cursing on here about the early start for my 9 o’clock lecture. As it is, now that I’m washed and packed, I feel a lot more enthusiastic.
It’s an opportunity to put my mood over the past few days behind me and get on with life (again!).
After the disappointment of my exam results, being told I am ineligible to do a module I am taking wasn’t exactly the best news to receive last week.
I am not exactly sure how this mistake arose, but I should not have taken Stochastic Calculus since I did not do Financial Modelling and Time Series last semester. However, despite my "ineligibility", I am permitted to continue, though it puts me at a disadvantage compared to the other students taking the module.
My choice was simple: put up with the module and do the best I can, or do another module and catch up on four weeks’ work. Either way I’d be screwed, so I opted to continue anyway. So not great going at the moment.
Well I can see I am not going to enjoy Mondays much.
Started off fairly well, my only quibble was that the lecturer removed the slides too quickly (that and hitting us with a Monday 9 o’clock lecture is a little harsh). Then three hours off.
The second lecture came. The room is too small. We didn’t get there late, but managed to find ourselves sitting right at the back. Even with glasses the projector image was so small that it was impossible to read. The lecturer didn’t seem to care too much about the fact that only the first three rows of the lecture hall could hear him, but he managed to hear us at the back whinging enough for him to repeatedly say "Thank you!". Yes, this is a stats module… And then another two hours to fill in.
The third lecture was a bit of a shock. We were thrown right into the deep end. My fear was that it wasn’t the lecturer’s intention to do so. Most people dig holes for themselves. I found myself in someone else’s.
The last lecture was a joke. At 5pm, rather few people are alert enough to pick up on errors. In fact it’s hard enough to listen to the lecturer when the student is required to write constantly for an hour. The room itself wasn’t a joke, it was a six-part sitcom series. The seats were so close together I was sitting where two desks joined. I couldn’t see my paper for the elbows. I shall bring a pillow next week.
So I was a bit annoyed with it all. So I bought a Chinese. The end.
What a waste of a holiday. I planned to write up my lecture notes in order to cover everything I had taken down in the term. Needless to say I failed hopelessly.
I just couldn’t settle down to work, and when I did, it was often interrupted. This week we have some revision lectures, which will hopefully be of use to me – they usually are, but given that I haven’t revised much over Christmas, it will be more a case that the lecturers will go through the questions and write down everything I see.
My trip to Japan is a bit of a permanent distraction now – not that I’m complaining! But I feel guilty for several reasons.
Firstly, I’m taking out my student loan in order to go. However, this is money I will pay back – with interest – when I am earning.
Secondly, I will be going to a comparatively exotic place. This is a position most students don’t find themselves in. However, many students will have gone on holiday plenty when they were children, and this is something I haven’t experienced, so this is my justification!
Thirdly, Mum. She has hardly ever had a holiday, particularly abroad. I feel guilty bringing it up in conversation, because she won’t be going. I should take her somewhere, but she’d probably persuade me not to. Won’t know until I try, I guess.
“I like pleasure spiked with pain” as the song (by Red Hot Chili Peppers if you must know). That goes some way to describing my day.
Today was World AIDS Day, as – if you are a regular reader – you probably know already. As such, and as a member of the Stop AIDS Society, this was our biggest day of the year. So after lectures I headed for the stall at the Union. We made a lot of money, by looks. We had a good spread of cake and biscuits, and we sold quite a few balloons for the balloon race. We had African drummers, and a few members of the media were around too. The balloon launch was pretty cool (photos to follow), and members of our society were interviewed. It seemed quite a successful day.
However, rather few turned out in red. I was a bit disappointed in that. A few conceded that they had forgotten, which I guess is fair enough, but a little disappointing. What disappointed me more, were the actions of my friends. One said “no offence, but I really don’t give a toss about World AIDS Day”. I regard that as a failure on my part.
Talking about yesterday (Thursday) now. It was quite an early start, a 10 o’clock lecture. It was only an hour long, so at about 11 I went back home. I was planning to get some work done, but almost as soon as I was back in the house, Jayne texted me to ask whether I’d like to go to the union for a drink for Andy, who died last week. I couldn’t refuse, so I headed straight back into town.
I got back there for 1, and we had something to eat, and then wandered around the union building looking for somewhere quiet. We eventually settled in the Globe Café, though the bar wasn’t open. We talked about Glenn’s present, which is a good idea by the girls, so I chipped in.
At 2, we had a two hour lecture. It was our first Statistical Modelling lecture, and it was mostly recapping on material we had done last year, so it wasn’t very stimulating. The lecturer also sprung the surprise of a computer practical at 5pm. He later relented, saying it was optional, and that we could do it in our own time, if we wished. So I went home and did it there.
Looking back, it doesn’t seem so busy a day, but it felt like it at the time.
WordPress
Entries
Delicious
Reddit