Well it's been a while since I rambled anything on here, so I guess I should probably put down what's been going on. The past two weeks I've been quite busy keeping the new seniors at TSC quite inebriated and fulfilling my role as social secretary in addition to being the chair of the committee. I think I organised about 5 or 6 socials, in addition to a few others that were organised by the new seniors themselves. Pretty good that they all seem to get along with each other, should make working with them next year much easier.
On top of this, I got my resit results as well. Had to take 3, all exams that I didn't put that much effort into initially, so I finally decided to put some effort in and if it doesn't pay off then at least this time I did try. Well, it paid off. Passed all 3, but I don't know whether or not it was with flying colours 'cause everything is capped at just a bare pass. Whilst it's something of a relief to know that I do have a good enough grasp of everything to pass modules in such thrilling topics as quantum mechanics, it's somewhat irritating that the motivation to work has only really properly hit me now. That said, I think that if I can do well in my third year (which for me is the last year of my degree programme) I should be able to leave university with a 2.1 which is a pretty good degree. Should get me where I want to be at any rate.
I've been thinking, as well, that perhaps since one of the careers I'm considering perhaps going for is something research based (which I should be able to do with a 2.1) is having a crack at improving upon some of the notes from some of the lecture courses. I've found some notes for most of the modules offered at Sheffield, and whilst a lot of them are really pretty damn good there's quite a few that really suck. Couple this with lecturers that aren't all that brilliant and you've got a handful of students that might struggle. It'd also be quite good revision, since I'd be going over old material that's still relevant to the third year. Quite looking forward to some of the modules, as well.
The only other thing to report is that my room is considerably tidier than it has been. I can see my floor again, and all that remains now really is to vacuum it after I've got hold of some carpet cleaner stuff.
Catch ya later!
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Thursday, 3 September 2009
Dance Dance Revolution!
[Now Playing: Chicane - Poppiholla]
I've borrowed the name of a popular dancing game for this entry, since my shopping on the iTunes store has recently leant very much towards that particular genre: dance. The majority of my music remains very much rock and metal, but so far there's 59 purchased tracks on my iTunes and only about 10 aren't classified as "dance" or "electronic". Which is quite weird, on some grounds, but not that weird on others. Before high school, pretty much, I didn't really mind dance tracks and in all honesty I've never really harboured that much of a dislike for the genre. There's been the occasional track I've heard on the rare occasion I've been subjected to commercial radio that I've actually quite liked.
[Now Playing: Special D - Come With Me]
So, anyway, I've kinda started listening to some of it again and I've discovered that like with metal and rock there's quite a bit of stuff that comes under "dance" that I'm none too fond of. Trance is very chilled out and all sounds the same, as does house music. Techno seems to be worth a listen, alongside the good ol' eurodance and that lot. I found it quite amusing that in the past few months, Blumchen has got to the spot of my 6th most listened to artist according to my stats on last.fm - that's more listens than such greats as Muse, System of a Down and others.
[Now Playing: Melody and Mezzo - I Wanna Be Your Star (Speedy Mix)]
Aside from the little diversion my music taste appears to have taken, not much has been happening since the last serious entry. The resit period has finished, which is quite the relief, but that's only replaced the anxiety of exams with the anxiety of waiting to find out how I've done. I'm 99% sure I'm OK, but things have a habit of not going my way when I think they have so we'll wait and see what happens. I'll be proper annoyed if I've cocked up, I really will. I had a read through the work I did before the resits and there's quite a bit of it (well over half a 200-leaf refill pad) just of questions and worked examples I found on wikipedia to explain bits I couldn't do from the notes or derivations I couldn't find in a textbook. That's on top of, for quantum at least, some reading around the subject that I did by borrowing or buying some non-academic texts aimed at going some way to explaining quantum mechanics to the layman, if you will. Some of them were not only very useful, but they were also a jolly good read.
[Now Playing: Be My Dream (Alvaro Radio Remix) - DJ Dejan]
I found it quite amusing that, after 3 years at university, I've only now really acknowledged the fact that the only thing stopping me is my attitude. I'm not exactly lacking the capacity for passing this degree - I think that's clear by the fact that, in second year I only failed 3 modules and that wasn't with me exactly putting in 100%. That's not something you'd usually be proud of, but in this case the fact that I could pass (in some cases, rather well) 3/4 of the year without being "nose to the grindstone" 24/7 makes me think that for 3rd year if I actually spend less time doing useless stuff like playing with internet spaceships on EVE or wasting time just lazing in bed I might actually pull off a reasonable degree. Especially since the 2 modules that were essentially my reason for going to university in the first place are in the 3rd year: nuclear physics and particle physics. I'm not really top-level researcher material, especially since my existing knowledge of a lot of what's going on in high-energy research right now is rudimentary, but I still agree that my UCAS personal statement is right today - and that they're pretty much my two main interests.
[Now Playing: Calvin Harris - The Girls (Radio Edit)]
The only other thing going on is that from next week we're training the new seniors for TSC at the University. Two weeks of hands-on practical training as well as some theory and health and safety talks so they don't accidentally kill people with the 3-phase power supplies. Wouldn't wanna be shocked by that, really. Not pleasant. Still, it should be quite amusing seeing how they hold up with the social side of the fortnight. Stuff from laser-quest to pub crawls, all should be jolly good fun.
[Now Playing: Freestylers ft. Pendulum - Painkiller]
I'm running out of things to say here, so I think I'll wrap it up for now. TTFN.
I've borrowed the name of a popular dancing game for this entry, since my shopping on the iTunes store has recently leant very much towards that particular genre: dance. The majority of my music remains very much rock and metal, but so far there's 59 purchased tracks on my iTunes and only about 10 aren't classified as "dance" or "electronic". Which is quite weird, on some grounds, but not that weird on others. Before high school, pretty much, I didn't really mind dance tracks and in all honesty I've never really harboured that much of a dislike for the genre. There's been the occasional track I've heard on the rare occasion I've been subjected to commercial radio that I've actually quite liked.
[Now Playing: Special D - Come With Me]
So, anyway, I've kinda started listening to some of it again and I've discovered that like with metal and rock there's quite a bit of stuff that comes under "dance" that I'm none too fond of. Trance is very chilled out and all sounds the same, as does house music. Techno seems to be worth a listen, alongside the good ol' eurodance and that lot. I found it quite amusing that in the past few months, Blumchen has got to the spot of my 6th most listened to artist according to my stats on last.fm - that's more listens than such greats as Muse, System of a Down and others.
[Now Playing: Melody and Mezzo - I Wanna Be Your Star (Speedy Mix)]
Aside from the little diversion my music taste appears to have taken, not much has been happening since the last serious entry. The resit period has finished, which is quite the relief, but that's only replaced the anxiety of exams with the anxiety of waiting to find out how I've done. I'm 99% sure I'm OK, but things have a habit of not going my way when I think they have so we'll wait and see what happens. I'll be proper annoyed if I've cocked up, I really will. I had a read through the work I did before the resits and there's quite a bit of it (well over half a 200-leaf refill pad) just of questions and worked examples I found on wikipedia to explain bits I couldn't do from the notes or derivations I couldn't find in a textbook. That's on top of, for quantum at least, some reading around the subject that I did by borrowing or buying some non-academic texts aimed at going some way to explaining quantum mechanics to the layman, if you will. Some of them were not only very useful, but they were also a jolly good read.
[Now Playing: Be My Dream (Alvaro Radio Remix) - DJ Dejan]
I found it quite amusing that, after 3 years at university, I've only now really acknowledged the fact that the only thing stopping me is my attitude. I'm not exactly lacking the capacity for passing this degree - I think that's clear by the fact that, in second year I only failed 3 modules and that wasn't with me exactly putting in 100%. That's not something you'd usually be proud of, but in this case the fact that I could pass (in some cases, rather well) 3/4 of the year without being "nose to the grindstone" 24/7 makes me think that for 3rd year if I actually spend less time doing useless stuff like playing with internet spaceships on EVE or wasting time just lazing in bed I might actually pull off a reasonable degree. Especially since the 2 modules that were essentially my reason for going to university in the first place are in the 3rd year: nuclear physics and particle physics. I'm not really top-level researcher material, especially since my existing knowledge of a lot of what's going on in high-energy research right now is rudimentary, but I still agree that my UCAS personal statement is right today - and that they're pretty much my two main interests.
[Now Playing: Calvin Harris - The Girls (Radio Edit)]
The only other thing going on is that from next week we're training the new seniors for TSC at the University. Two weeks of hands-on practical training as well as some theory and health and safety talks so they don't accidentally kill people with the 3-phase power supplies. Wouldn't wanna be shocked by that, really. Not pleasant. Still, it should be quite amusing seeing how they hold up with the social side of the fortnight. Stuff from laser-quest to pub crawls, all should be jolly good fun.
[Now Playing: Freestylers ft. Pendulum - Painkiller]
I'm running out of things to say here, so I think I'll wrap it up for now. TTFN.
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