SNOW!

SNOW!

SNOW!

 SNOW!  Oh, this is where I write.  I couldn’t get the hang of WordPress’s image frames for a second there.  The above scene is the view from my room at the moment.  It was far more white earlier, at 3AM it was snowing hard and looked so fantastic.  I got a couple of snowballs thrown at my window.  And I have it from a reliable source that there were a good couple of hundred people around the foot of the tower having a truly epic snowball fight.

Ah, enjoy the snow while we can I guess.  There won’t be a tremendous amount before too long.

Tomorrow I begin my long period of working yet again as the second semester starts.  It officially started today I suppose, but well.  According to my timetable at http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/undergraduate/timetable/timetable.php?year=2008&timetable=SPLUS4CE9B3-2008 everything’s cancelled.  And I start newer and more interesting modules as well; tomorrows lectures cover artificial intelligence, java, maths, and distributed systems.  AI promises to be interesting, then again it always is.  Java will merely be more complex programs built up from last semester, for which I have to pick up some lab manual with all the work and stuff in.  Joy.  Maths I believe is on discrete maths again; functions if I remember correctly.  Distributed systems are interesting as well, sharing a computing task between numerous computers.  The labs I imagine will be a NIGHTMARE, but still.

Interestingly I found a list of the most popular search terms that find this blog.  Quite interesting.

manchester university
difference between standing and progressive waves
the whole of manchester university
who invented the manchester baby and when?
contrast between progressive and stationary

I appear to be a source of information for the university, manchester history, and a physics revision aid.  My physics revision notes on Standing Waves that I did almost 2 years ago is by -FAR- my most viewed article at 573 views.  Followed by my computing revision actually, at 239 views.  Then my first visit to Manchester and talking about Baby at 129 views and my amateurish musings on String Theory at 109 views.

By now you’ve probably realised I only post on this blog when I’m trying to procrastinate from doing some kind of work.  Which is pretty much true.  But it’s a piece of work I don’t see the point in doing, so it’s alright.  It’s a LaTeX-written reflection of all my course units thus far, talking about the best, worst, most surprising, most important parts of the module, talking about such fascinating subjects about what I’ve learned about what I’ve learned, how I’ve developed, and changes I need to make for the future.  For each of my subjects, apparently.  I’m not sure if reflection is the point or if it’s reinforcement of learning how to use LaTeX, but either way it doesn’t seem…. important.  I think COMP10900 in general is too focussing on reflection.  True it’s the tutorial-style module, with group tutors and team projects and fundamentals of how to use fundamental programs, but well.  I’ve never been fond of tutorial-style classes with reflection and the like.  It just feels so pointless.

Meh I’d best get back to this actually, since I’ll get more and more work tomorrow to do.  And it’s for Thursday.  So begins the long grind of semester 2.

And I need more pepsi max, I ran out.  Ugh.

SNOW!

University Reading Week: The Story So Far

Somewhere, deep in space, a small blue-green planet called Earth.  On this world is the island of “United Kingdom”, home to many universities.  One such of these is Manchester University, and is attended by one Mindez.  This post is very much about this one man, this one man and his struggle to learn in an environment encouraging such behaviour.  His struggle to do what he’s here for and not get distracted by.. eh.. shiny ball..

What was I saying?  Oh yeah.  The first sixth of University life has come to a close.  The evidence? A messy student room with an overflowing washing bag and empty pot noodles strewn carelessly around.  A tower of pepsi cans, the contents of which would fill the Atlantic 3.14 times over on my top shelf, taking up the space that should probably be given to work related stuff.  And probably not much money left; I’ve not actually checked my bank balance.  I’m far far too scared to do that.

On a similar note, I am now the owner of an iPod Touch.  These two statements are not conjoined in any way and any links between them a purely coincidental.  Yes, I own a fantastic iPod Touch.  I’ve always needed a proper MP3 player rather than cheap Japanese imports that break after a couple of days.  So yes, iPod Touch.  I figure if I say it often enough it will eventually break this page with it’s awesomeness; iPod Touch.  I feel like such an apple user .  iPod Touch.

It should also, for the record, be noted that I have not used any of the following items that I brought since I got here:

1) My tally counter.  This saddens me.  I thought in a university situation there’d be tons of use for a tally counter.

2) My clipboard.  Strangely enough, a desk seems to materialise whenever I need to write something down.  That or it’s in a hardback notebook and I do not need to rest it on anything.

3) Post-it Notes.  I’ve never found the need.  Sigh.

4) My sandwich toaster.  8 students in a flat, 8 sandwich toasters.  First sandwich toaster to be put in the kitchen won the race.

5) Pencils.  Why bother when pens are so fun to use!

6) My thesaurus.  No essays yet.

7) Poker chips.  Meh.  Also Cards.

On the same note, a few new things that I have managed to accumulate during my time here:

1) Lots of pepsi max.  I need it.  How will my tower get parapets otherwise?

2) A number of books.  Les dawson jokes, the Private Eye annual 2008, a QI book of quotations, the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy quadilogy (Quadilogy?  Meh, it’s like a triology but with one more.), a new Doctor Who book.

3) A number of DVDs, including Life On Mars, Tommy Cooper, Black Books, and the first twelve episodes of Inuyasha.

4) Pot noodles.  I feel dirty.  Lets move on.

5) A printer/scanner/photocopier all in one.  I love my printer/scanner/photocopier all in one.

6) iPod Touch.  iPod Touch.  iPod Touch.

7) A learn japanese book (Yes that’s right, I have STILL NOT GIVEN UP on that.  Buy all the books THEN give up, that’s my motto!)

A number of posters.  Some were involved in a poster ripping scandal which we shall henceforth refer to as Postergate, but nothing major.  At the moment I have a world map and a “Heroes” poster up.

9) Knowledge, and that’s the most important thing.

10) The ability to say “The usual please” at a chip shop and not have to say anything else.  This is probably a bad sign, but it helps shave a few syllables off my vocal chords.  Which will allow them to work for longer.

On the same note, a number of things that I have run out of and that I need to get people to buy for me during the next few days as I’m back home:

1) Pepsi max.  Can never have enough pepsi max. And I want PARAPETS DAMMIT!  Where are all the little pepsi people going to stand?!

2) Blank paper.  And I mean shedloads.  You can tell which printouts are mine because all my printouts are on lined paper which the printer has ripped or folded inappropriately getting ink everywhere because the paper is so annoying.

3) More pepsi max.  Parapets.  Pepsi people.  Etc.

4) As many AAA batteries as I can find and steal before people notice.  My wireless headphones are very annoying in this respect.  I have set up battery rotations, as they are rechargable, but if I forget just one rotation then I need to replace them with normal batteries.

5) Kaine.  Come back to me Kaine.  I love you.  Kaine, incidentally, is my desktop computer.  I have been toying with the idea of bringing him here, it would mean actually working out how to put the side back on him and all though. Depends if I can work out how to do that within 3 days.  On that note, I have found out why Kaine sometimes output random red dots to the screen.  It is a sign that his motherboard is melting.  If only I’d known that SOONER.  I do hope he’s alright.

6) A new belt.  My belt broke today, the thing that keeps the belt tight snapped.

7) Pepsi max.

Clean washing.  That’s what reading week is for isn’t it?  Popping home to get washing done?  No?  ..Oh.

9) More gel stick pens.  I ran out of black, and almost ran out of dark blue, red, green, and purple.

10) Anything and everything I can get my hands on that there’s even an outside chance I may need.

So, how are my studies going?  Pretty well, I’d say.

1) COMP10020 – Mathematical Techniques for Computer Science.  In this we’ve done about set theory, predicate logic, etc.  We’ve done one assignment which we’ve not had marked yet, but I think I did as well as I could, hopefully 15/15.  I also have an assignment to do for the Wednesday after reading week and a course test on the Friday, plenty of revision/WoW to do in reading week.

2) COMP10031 – A Computational Model.  In this we’ve done about the workings of the ARM processor, and how to program with assembly code, how java can be translated into assembly code, binary representations, registers, etc.  We’ve done 2 assignments in the laboratories (10/10, 10/10) and have another one to do for the Wednesday after reading week.  That’s going to be a fun wednesday.

3) COMP10081 – Object Orientated Programming With Java 1.  In this so far we’ve looked at the basic concepts of java, syntax, potential errors, compiling, loops, selection statements (if-then-else), methods, classes, etc.  We’ve not yet done anything with Object Orientated Programming yet, I believe that comes shortly after reading week.  We’ve done four assignments in the laboratories  (120/120, 220/220, 120/120, 220/220), and have another one due for the Friday after reading week.  That will be fun.

4) COMP10211 – The Underlying Machine. In this we look at the basic building blocks of computer systems – logic gates.  We’ve extended this to look at combinatorial logic systems, transition state machines, Verilog, looked at Computer Aided Design, etc.  It should also, for the record, be noted that I do not like this module.  I thought I would, and indeed it covers my interests.  But the CAD software we use is so unforgiving, and with the notes we have been given we are expected to just play around with it and try and find how to do what we want.  The problem with this, as I say, is that the software we use is very unforgiving, it’s far too easy to press the wrong button and totally mess up your schematic, simple-seeming actions take far too long and lock the program while they run..  I understand how it’s good from learning, as once you make a mistake on this software believe me you won’t want to make another one.  But at the moment it’s SOOO SLOOOOOW.  We’ve done two exercises in the laboratories for this, one marked (26/30) and one not yet.

5) COMP10900 – First Year Team Project.  This is just a general term for a module everyone in the department takes.  The labs are generically linked to Linux – they just enforce certain principles and techniques that allow us to learn how to use Linux.  I, incidentally, hate these labs.  They are also very confusing.  Faster, but confusing.  Ever tried reading the manual for bash?  It’s horribly complex, I must say.  I can sort of see how most of the stuff we’re doing in the labs could be useful, but I could never derive it, make a shell script that does something from scratch I mean.  Lab marks (16/16, 16/16) with another one due in on the Monday after reading week.  Also covered in this module is a series of lectures (which predominantly have been “Linux is great, linux is so much better than Windows” with not much other content) and group meetings.  This group is a group of 6 people that will be doing the first year team project together.  So far we’ve investigated the arguments for and against software patents (I had to argue for, an argument which I find ridiculous mind) and we’re currently discussing ethical frameworks.  I have a 1500 word essay to write on ethical frameworks for the Tuesday after reading week, also.  That has to be written in LaTeX.

Work for after reading week: Maths assignment, Maths test revision, Architecture third lab, Java fifth lab, 10900 LaTeX exercise, ethical framework essay.  In addition to this I also need to go back and read over all my notes and really reinforce everything I know so far.  Or I could just play WoW.  Yes, that’s a good idea.

Next point I want to make, right.  Gosh this is a long blog post.  Probably my longest so far.  Anyway, I Created stuff.  They came into being when I realised that these mathematical techniques for computer science lectures would be much funner if they were in comic form.  I shall now output these Creations, in image format:

I posted all 5 of these onto the COMP10020 forums and the reaction was surprisingly good.  Assorted comments such as “Wow these are great!  I don’t think i’ll ever see quantifiers in the same way!!“, “Truly awesome in every way“, “You should create some form of webcomic“, “you made my day ^^ i actually laughed and have this silly grin plastered on my face“, “OMG! those math comics are 1337!“, “These comics are awesome! They do seem to be a lot like xkcd….which is also awesome“, and “I’d pay for notes set out like these” make me feel loved.  From seven different people, no less.  And indeed no more, as 7 comments from 8 people would be a bit odd.

What else is there to talk about?  I went to a poker night last night, courtesy of the University of Manchester Poker Society.  £10 buyin freezeout no-rebuys no-limit texas holdem.  I didn’t win unfortunately, though the people there seemed really nice (for people that were just there to take your money, after all) and the evening was fun.  I think I was fifth on our table to go out, but it was well after people started dropping like flies from all tables.

I was short stack so went all in with Ah Ks, Big Slick.  My opponent called with Qc 9c.  Flop comes Qs Ac 8c.  We both get a pair, I get the overpair.  Then flop comes 6c and he gets the flush.   AK has always hated me though, really.  I always lose with AK, always win with AQ.  That’s odd and shouldn’t be.

For reading week, I am going back to Bolton on Sunday at “noonish, oneish” and returning on Wednesday afternoon/early evening.  I figure that this will be sufficient time to update everyone on my status, get a few free meals (Obviously I want Wednesday tea before I leave, or at least sandwiches.  I’m not paying when I could stay longer and get a free meal), while not staying too long that I don’t hate any time for finishing my work.  Since I have to use the computers in the CS building with their magic awesome linux configuration.

I can also plan it so that I can do some work such as the test-planning and pseudocode in my log book in Bolton and then write up the java code back here.  Oh the possibilities!!!

Right, I’m going to shut up now.  If I think of anything else to blog about, it will come in tomorrows update because this one has become FAR too long.  Making it longer would just be a bad idea.  A really bad idea.  And what would be worse would be if I were to attempt to be funny and ironic and write a long paragraph referencing the fact that I must not make this blog post any longer by writing long paragraphs like this one.  And that would be ironic because the solution is contributing to the cause.

Fight the long blog posts.  Fight them.
} //End method “BlogContent”
}// End class “BlogPost”

Family and friends are hidden treasure, seek them and enjoy their riches

So, what’s it like going to the kitchen in halls of residence flats?

>Go North
You can’t do that, the door is locked.
> Open door
You can’t do that, the door is locked.
> Unlock door
You unlock the door
> Go North
You can’t do that, the door is closed.
> Open door
You open the door.  The door swings shut again.
> Open door
You open the door.  The door swings shut again.
> Find door wedge.
You find the door wedge.
> Open door and use door wedge.
You do not have the door wedge.
> Take door wedge
You take the door wedge.
> Open door and use door wedge
You open the door and use the door wedge.  The door stays open.
> Go north
You are in a corridor.
> Go north
You are further along the corridor
> Go north
You are even further along the corridor
> Go north
You walk into someone elses door
> Go west
You go west.  You are at the bottom of stairs.
> Climb stairs
You climb the stairs.  The stairs are slippy. You fall down.
> Go east, south, south, south, south
You are back in your room
> Find shoes
You find your shoes
> Wear shoes
You put on your shoes.  The door slams shut behind you.
> Open door and use door wedge
You open the door and use the door wedge.  The door stays open.
> Go north, north, north, west
You are at the bottom of stairs.
> Climb stairs
With the added grip of your shoes, you climb the stairs!  There is a poisonous snake to the west.
> Go east, north, north, north, west
You are outside the common room.  You hear the noise of people talking in the common room.
> Enter common room
You go in to the common room.  You are greeted by social interaction.  You fail, and completed 3% of this text adventure.  You should have thrown in the snake!

Lectures are going fine, labs are going fine, I’ve eaten my first pot noodle and seen the light, trip to sainsburys tomorrow to buy 100 of them. (3 for £2?! 50 days of food for £66!?)  I hope I win a spinning fork.  My one aspiration in life is to own a fork that actually spins.

Don’t give up and don’t give in

You are here alone again
In your sweet insanity
All too calm, you hide yourself from reality
Do you call it solitude? Do you call it liberty?
When all the world turns away to leave you lonely

The fields are filled with desires
All voices crying for freedom
But all in vain they will fade away
There's only you to answer you, forever

In blinded mind you are singing
A glorious hallelujah
The distant flutter of angels
They're all too far, too far to reach for you

I am here alone again
In my sweet serenity
Hoping you will ever find me in any place
I will call it solitude when all my songs fade in vain
In my voice, far away to eternity

So, today I decided to actually open my wardrobe and unpack my bags.  My room feels a lot more… homely now.  Got all my folders up and organised, lamp, tidied up a bit.. I’m feeling better now.  Had a slight panic attack from people banging on my doors and windows at ridiculous times and shouting in the streets outside, but I feel better now.  Last night I felt trapped in a breezeblock cell, but now it feels more.. comforting, now I have familiar books on the shelf and everything feels a bit more ‘me’.

Went shopping yesterday.  My god the Arndale centre is busy on a Saturday.  Queues of at least 100 people in Primark (Decided against getting anything.  2 hour queue no thanks).

Got a call from grandma today.  She sounded in tears, complaining that everybody had abandoned her.  So now I’ve got that on my conscience.  Marvellous.

In general though, it’s been a boring 3 days.  My mood’s been very up-and-down recently, I’m not exactly skilled at dealing with change in my life.  It tends to be associated with something bad happening.  And can someone tell me how the fuck shouting “ARIBA ARIBA!” over and over again, banging on doors and windows, and ringing doorbells 37 times for 4 hours is considered fun?  I respect that you need to be intoxicated to feel any kind of stimulation, please respect that I don’t.

It got too much last night; I think it was the aftermath of the Fresher’s “Ball” that apparently happened last night.

Anybody know anything about software patents?  Go go gadget research..

Oh and I desperately need a printer.

Consider things from every angle

Ever had a Fray Bentos pie?

My advice is don’t.  They’re horrible.

I mean okay, perhaps it would be alright if the cooking instructions worked (30 minutes on gas mark 8?  It was risen and burnt after 15) and then the taste, agh.  Oh and don’t get me started on getting the damn thing open.  My tin opener was not strong enough.  I had to borrow someone elses better tin opener.  That felt humiliating.

So, what is there to talk about today?  Ah yes, lectures.  I’ve had a number of lectures about Computer Science and blah blah today.  I was asleep through most of it.  And I got my timetable.  It’s available online at http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/undergraduate/timetable/timetable.php?year=2008&timetable=SPLUS4CE9B3-2008 as I am in group Z3.

Looks relatively alright, there’s no days with one at the beginning and one at the end – I always hated those.  They happen a lot in colleges.

I’ll take tuesday and wednesday please.

Too tired to continue.  I’ll sum up: Boring lectures, got timetable, met tutor, free lunch, back home, WoW raid, boring.

10-12 session tomorrow, followed by a meetup of the people from TSR forums.

Goodnight zZzzzzzzzzzzzz

Avoid negative sources, people, places and habits

Day one of freshers week comes to a close, and this was also the end of my first day of lectures and talks and such.

My lectures on computer science, entitled “Welcome from the head of school”, “Introduction to the introductory week activities”, “Health and safety in the school”, and “Pass/SSO/Sport/UMSU” started at 9 in the morning, so naturally as a student I got up at 11:30 and got on the first bus to university.  I doubt I missed anything major.

But I did arrive in time to visit the Freshers Fair.  This being an event whereby all societies and clubs and random companies all get together to give out free stuff.  I went in with enough vouchers to feed myself for a month, I came out with enough to feed myself for at least 3.I just walked up and down oxford road and helped myself to 6 free slices of pizza and books of pizza vouchers.  That was pretty much dinner.

I got enough crap and free leaflets from that to fill half a bin bag.  I was just taking as much as I could, then sorted out the vouchers and free stuff from the crap later on.  I ended up with three wall planners.

Also, there was a poster stall.  And I bought posters.  “Bunny Suicides” and “Return of the Bunny Suicides”.  A nice sum up of them can be found on http://files.kavefish.com/pictures/collections/bunny_suicide/_index-list.html

Some favourites of mine are:

Yes that’s right, I now have many pictures on my wall of bunnies committing suicide in various horrible but funny ways.  I call him/them Uttley.

Tea was spent in a subway up oxford road.  I used one of my vouchers.

At 6, all residents of Beech Court and Sycamore Court were called forth to a COMPULSORY FIRE SAFETY AND SECURITY TALK which had its moments.  Not when the security guy was on, he had the most boring voice I’ve heard in years.  Didn’t learn anything besides the typical ramble, “blah blah common sense blah blah crime blah windows blah don’t piss about with fire alarms blah”.  Apparently there were 25 false fire alarms last night in oak house alone from people thinking it was funny to press them.  …I didn’t hear any, and I -LIVE- in oak house.

We also received a room inventory, a checklist of items that are supposed to have come with the rooms and asked to tick whether they were there.

Now, waste bin I can understand.  Drawers I can understand.  Fitted carpets and wardrobe I can sort of understand.  But did there really have to be an entry for “walls”?  I think it’d be a little obvious if a room didn’t come with WALLS.  And “Ceiling”?  Does it expect I’m sitting in a field thinking “Bit chilly in here, I wonder what happened to the ceiling?  Hi flat upstairs!”?

Tomorrow, in at 9 (ON time this time), get yesterday sorted, school registration, then university registration and collection of my library swipecard and such at 10. UNIX lab at 11, then I’m free from 1 onwards. Maybe I’ll finally bake this damned pie that’s been sitting here because I’ve been too lazy to cook it.  Who knows.  The world is my mussel.

INTERVIEW FROM A LOUP

Have you met people?

Aside flatmates and a few friends-of-flatmates that stop by every so often, no.  Not met anyone new today, anyway.  Flatmates and Friends Of Flatmates seem cool enough though.

Have you joined societies?

Errr I don’t know.  They make you do crazy things at freshers fair.  I have signed for LGBT though.  Roleplaying society (Dungeons and Dragons, yay.) wasn’t at freshers fair for some reason.  Maybe tomorrow.  Funny part of fair was one stall having a guy waving booklets around shouting “Anyone want money?”.  Turns out he was advertising part time jobs.  I fell for that ruse.  I feel a fool.

What are the buildings like?

They’re.. buildingy?  Well, oak house is a frigging freezer.  Breezeblock walls, heavy doors, radiators don’t work yet.. temperatures get VERY low at nights and early mornings.  Even by my standards, and I have low standards for this kind of thing.  University buildings look modern, not really explored them though.

What kind of atmosphere is there?

Imagine you’re in a confined space with 5000 other students and nobody really knows where they’re going or what they’re doing, they’re just collecting free stuff and joining random queues.  That kind of atmosphere.  Apart from this, it’s a relatively breathable atmosphere, oxygen and carbon dioxide levels similar to Earth’s own atmosphere.

How does the palce make you feel>

Err… Like I’m a black sheep lost amongst thousands of lost white sheep.  But now I’m a black sheep with posters on my wall.  HOW DO THEY FEEL NOW?

What does it remind you of?

Freshers fair reminds me of when I went to GMex to the packed room with lots of universities setting up stalls trying to entice me to apply to them.  University life reminds me of… nothing.  It’s a new experience.

Does it, for example, resemble any kind of film set?

I’ve never really seen a film primarily featuring cold bland rooms with only basic necessities.. oh wait, The Green Mile.

How warm are the rooms?

On a scale from one to ten, minus twelve.

How well ventilated?

Fairly.  But I mean, not adequately so when I’ve been out walking all day.  It’s ventilated but there’s no nice cooling breeze.  I may have to invest in a fan.

What are the facilities like?

Facilities?  I’ve not had any problems with anything that could be described as a facility.

Do the showers work?

Yes.  And they are nice.  Specially early in the morning; we only have a limited amount of hot water and it tends to go after one or two showers.  Getting in early is the best solution.

Are the beds comfy?

Yes, except any movement causes the headboard to bang very noisily against the back wall.  I may have to move my bed slightly away from the wall, actually.  I’ll do that now.

Are the environs tidy?

5000 students in a small environment, could you imagine it would ever be anything like ‘tidy’?  Not really.  There’s a lot of litter around everywhere; especially in terms of free leaflets and guides.

How many, and what type of  live bands are playing soon at the SU bar?

Many.  I’m not interested in many actually; there’s about 2-3 a night on.  But what I am really interested in is Dragonforce on Friday evening.  I’ll be going to that.  Dragonforce rules.

Are there plenty of places to sit down outside and would you want to?

Not in the fallowfield campus.  Outside, there are a number of bars and restaurants to sit out of which look quite pleasant.  But by night all of them are somewhat vomit-covered.  And that makes them quite unattractive.

Pizzas?

Not had any, but have many vouchers.

How do you intend you spend your free time?

If in between lectures, not coming home.  Buses are slow and painful.  I’ll just sit in subway, or have an explore.  I really should find out where the nearest waterstones is and get some reading material.  If at the end of lectures, I’ll come home.  Sit on computer, or make some food.  In the evenings, raiding on WoW as ever.

You know there’s something wrong..

You know there’s something wrong with your life when the “Sci Fi And Fantasy Society” looks much cooler than you are.  http://www.warped.man.ac.uk – Then again, that looks terrible.  Like it’s just an excuse for small group of people to go out and get drunk.  Which I suppose at the end of the day, all societies really are.

I need a societyless society, where all the people for whom there are no relevant societies can sit together and enjoy the mutual loneliness.

Classic Doctor Who showing Friday 26th September 4pm

Oh yeah, and I’m going to that.  I’ve not seen Pyramid of Mars before.  Problem I have with that society though is that it just seems like.. one classic sci-fi screening to get people interested, then blow the rest of the societies funds on nights out for the rest of the year.  I will appreciate the free screening of Doctor Who though.

And last nights chilli was gorgeous.  Pasta shells and meatball bolognese sauce for dinner today and fray bentos pie for tea I think.  Never had to think about making meals before, I’m surprised by how easily I’ve got into a routine.

Why so hard?

Last night I posted this but it didn’t show, may as well try again:

Well, I went out. To clubs and everything. And I have to say it was the most boring experience of my life.

Mindless noise played to drown out any hint of conversation, flashing lights to blind and disorient those that happen to be in its warpath, people shouting at full volume because other people have to shout at full volume because other people have to shout at full volume..

I literally can’t see any reason anybody would want to go ‘clubbing’. I just don’t ‘get’ it. It’s not social, you can’t speak to anyone, interact with anyone in a meaningful way, find out more about them because you can’t HEAR them over the sound of screaming and thumps. Oh look at me, I sound middle aged. That’s not good.

Which is odd considering I’m the generation that it’s aimed at. Even more vexxing, anybody that doesn’t engage in antisocial clubbing activities is a social misfit and unable to integrate into the student base. ERROR: INTEGRATION FAILED.

I am angered by what the norms of youth culture has become. Well, perhaps I’m more angered by the fact that I just don’t, no matter how hard I try, fit in. I feel like a jigsaw piece that’s clearly the wrong size for the hole that’s trying to jam itself in and cut bits off in order to fit. And it’s not working.

I can’t do this, it’s too much of a step. Live the student life. It’s just.. ridiculous.

And my feet still hurt.

They prefer the overactive stimulation of loud music and flashing lights, I prefer the intellectual stimulation of performing to the best of my ability in World of Warcraft raids.  Let’s just leave it at that.

So I’m now a student, as my diet can attest.  Day one, beans on toast. Day two, ravioli & sweet and sour chicken and rice (Well, maybe not that one). Day three, subway.. and I’ve got enough subway vouchers to literally live off them for dinner and tea for over 4 weeks.  And they have to be used by november 30th, which means one every third meal at least to even stand a chance at using them all.  Good thing I loves me my subway.  Nice and cheap.

Chilli con carne and rice for tea I think.  Managed to figure out how to work the cooker and the intricacies of using a saucepan.  How to tell when an electric oven is hot without actually burning yourself is going to take some work though.

Followed up by a nice relaxing and stimulating world of warcraft raid.

I still have no idea when first lectures are.

(Apparently, looks like I will be blogging.)

Housekeeping

Just a few regular housekeeping activities since the blog’s been recently brought to my attention. Added TSR to the Forums list on the left, and all the webcomics I’m currently reading to the Webcomics list.

Quick life update; in 10 days I’m moving to Manchester, Oak House in Fallowfield. Flat 49, Beech Court. A flat that will go down in history as being the greatest ever flat in the history of flats ever. Probably. Maybe. Well, possibly. Well, okay, maybe not. Yeah, no. Just.. no.

There I will be studying Computer Science at the university of manchester. And possibly having fun, I don’t know.

Either way, I don’t think I’ll be updating this blog. As part of going to university, I want to.. be different. Be a bit more who I am, let myself out more. And this blog restricts me too much from that. Who knows, I might decide to update this blog anyway. I’m running wild, who knows what I’ll do next.

Manchester, them what invented th’Baby

I have been to Manchester University. I took a whole one photo (I have failed you, Dad). The lack of photo opportunities was sad.

“YEAR WE’RE DA BEST UNIVERSITY IN DA WOOOORLD”So yeah, nothing much happened there. A whole load of “YEAR WE’RE DA BEST UNIVERSITY IN DA WOOOORLD” interspersed with lecturers telling us repeatedly that they were the home of the first memory computer, Baby. And a rather simple look at recursion in object orientated programming which I found great fun. Yeah. And talks about accomodation and other such random details. I have lots of informations now. I have a choice of university at different prices; catered or selfcatered, and standard or washbasin or en-suite. My gut instinct is self catered (Pizzas every day, of course).

I still have to make my decision of Computer Science vs Software Engineering though. Computer Science is broader and covers more theoretical aspects of the computing course such as networking, architecture… etc. And software engineering is more developing software, programming, solving problems…

I have no idea which of these two to go for. Computing teacher says I should go Computer Science to increase my employability, and I think I’d agree with him really. At the end, employability is really the main reason that I’m going through this 3-5 year sentence, anyway. It’s not that I value or am interested in Software Engineering above Computer Science, it’s just.. I hate making choices. I hate the word ‘or’. Because ‘or’ means that there will be one path, in my life, completely closed off for me. “You can go to Manchester OR Imperial”. Choosing between the two is agony for me, as if I choose Manchester, I miss out on all the opportunities that Imperial could have offered me, perhaps the entire course of my life changed on that decision. Perhaps I would become rich and famous beyond my wildest dreams if I’d gone to Imperial instead, and I’ve blocked off that path. I HATE DECISIONS.“Perhaps I would become rich and famous beyond my wildest dreams if I’d gone to Imperial instead”

So many decisions, so little time. BSc, BEng, MEng, Industrial placement for a year? *sigh* I feel like the next couple of months, up until I have finished applying, will define the remainder of my path through life. From going to university, going through the course, moving to America [providing it still exists and hasn't been destroyed by terrorists with nukes yet].. Bah. It’s not the decisions particularly much, it’s the fact that everyone’s putting such pressure on me, saying that these decisions are the most important ones ever blah blah. And I get that like every year. Choosing my GCSE subjects was the most important decision ever, choosing a college and subjects were the most important decisions ever, and now choosing a degree and university to go to are the most important ever. While I normally wouldn’t believe them after 2 blatant lies, this is the pinnacle of my decision making life. And the view’s lovely.
“They keep feeding me the same lie and expect me to believe it this time”
Another thing is people constantly telling me that I will meet so many people, living in halls of residence, so many new friends to make blah blah. And this annoys me so much. It’s exactly what I was told at the end of infant school, the end of junior school, the end of secondary school. Has it come true? Not one bit. They keep feeding me the same lie and expect me to believe it this time because it’s a bigger place, but that in my mind just means more people to hate and ignore me. I may have to work on my image before I go to the university. I need help to become someone else. Blah.