| Monday 11th August 2003 - 1145 |
Well, nearly two months have passed, and I still can't believe I have a
degree. Went to Dublin the day after my last posting to celebrate, and
ended up out in Blanchardstown in EmmaC's house. Spent the next day
hobnobbing with celebrities (Colin Farrel and... wait for it... Keith
Duffy!!) and drinking manky blossom hill. Anyway, to cut a long story
short, Emma poisened me and the next day I had this mad pain in my
stomach. Not getting any sympathy form Emma, I went to the doctor, and he
sent me to the hospital where they ended up taking my appendix out! So
that was really sore for a few weeks (not that I got any sympathy from
anybody) and I finally got around to applying for jobs last week. So, I'm
in the Chocolate Bar for happy hour last Thursday at 7pm and my phone
rings. It's this one-o from Dell and she asks me to come in for an
interview the next day at 12. So had to borrow clothes and stuff, got
there (Cherrywood, Cabinteely) hungover and late, but..... they gave me
the job! Can you believe it? I can't. It's just Tech Support, but the
pay is ok and it's handy for commuting (still living in Wicklow (for the
time being)). So, I start tomorrow! Which leads me to be here, in DCU,
again, looking for books that will hopefully help me not get fired in my
first week. Back where it all started 5 years ago. I probably won't be
back here
much if at all before my graduation in November.
But anyway, yeah, that's it. I dunno if I'm going to keep the blog going,
after all it was only supposed to be a 30-day thing, but if I have web
access in work, god knows I won't be doing anything else....
:-)
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| Thursday 26th June 2003 - 1520 |
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I PASSED! Can't believe it, I actually did it, and in some style too, by
the skin of my teeth again. I really don't think my teeth have any skin
left at this stage. Will post more as soon as my hands stop shaking.
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| Wednesday 25th June 2003 - 2015 |
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Riiiiiight. So, the results are out tomorrow. Yikes. Absolutely
terrified.
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| Wednesday 21st May 2003 - Day
40 - 1309 - Exam day 2 |
Ouch. OR did not go as well as hoped. I think it was a tough paper,
my 5 questions came up, but some of them were a bit weird, and I
seriously ran out of time towards the end. I'm really annoyed about
it now. Just hoping that I'll scrape a pass. Everybody hope with me, come
on! *hopes*
:-)
Gah, if I fail that I really don't know what I'm
going to do. There is no backup plan this time. What's more, my predicted
ecstatic feeling of end-of-exams has collapsed with a whimper. Don't know
if I can go out tonight and enjoy myself. Might go home early or
something. Boo.
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| Tuesday 20th May 2003 - Day
39 - 1626 |
In the immportal words of The Onion, HOLY FUCKING
SHIT!! I'm soooo worried about OR tomorrow. More worried than I have
ever been about an exam (I know that doesn't say much, but I'm really
worried!) I know what you're thinking: less worrying more studying. And
it would seem like sense but for the warning in my heart... no, wait, it
is sense! Stupid Lord of the Rings taking up useless space in my
head. Space that could be filled with OR!!! Can't wait to
be finished tomorrow, so I can bang my head against a wall
(and/or drink) and lose all this stupid stuff I'm learning.
Ah, universitylicious.
Still in Wicklow at
the mo, getting bus up to Dublin at 6. Rachel has once again very kindly
granted me the use of her floor, not that I'll be doing much sleeping.
Anyway, next time I write here, it'll all be over one way or the
other...
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| Monday 19th May 2003 - Day
38 - 0124 |
I don't think there are any words to describe how much I love the film
Aliens. *sigh* Such a classic. And a great break from all the
study I'm not doing. Fuck. You know what I hate about OR? It's
fucking suckiness. And it's sucky fuckingness. I could go on, but the
main reason I hate it is because it's got nothing to do with computers,
which, believe it or not, I have a vague interest in. Fucking
stupid non-easy core-module-failing thingumibob.
In unrelated
news, Conor
flew off to India the other day! And still no word from him. I think his
worst fear has been realised - they don't have computers there! Poor
Booms...
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| Wednesday 14th May 2003 - Day
33 - 2203 |
Hmm. My "30 days" has quickly gone over-time. When I started I was
assuming that both of my exams would be on at the start of the exam
weeks, but Operations Research isn't until next Wednesday. So I'll keep
going I suppose... I could change the name to "How to get a degree in 40
days", but anyone could do that, so I won't. So anyway, LDI was ok. I
knew I recognised loads of the questions (which I expected), but only
when I got home and checked did I realise that it was the 2000 paper
copied word for word. So I was able to check my results against his
sample answers and this leads me to believe that I didn't fail
miserably. Booya.
In other news, XMen was cool, better than the
first. Can't wait to be finished!
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| Monday 12th May 2003 - Day
31 - 1249 - Exam day 1 |
Just come from my first exam, and...... I think I passed! Woo! Go me! *does
victory dance*
Wouldn't it be funny if my over-confidence came back
and bit me in the ass? Well, no, no it wouldn't.
Right, I'm off to
sleep/eat/go see XMen.
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| Sunday 11th May 2003 - Day
30! - 1211 |
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Wow, has it been 30 days? Certainly doesn't seem that long. Last night was fun,
Mongolian Barbeque was nice, and pub afterwards was good if a little draughty.
Slept soundly but have a headache now, pah. Haven't done anything yet, but am
starting now. I mean, now. NOW. now? NoW. Soon.
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| Saturday 10th May 2003 - Day
29 - 1055 |
Crap. Ok, doing some stuff, but no idea if I'm going to pass or not.
Exam in 2 days!! Woo! I'm more worried about OR actually, due to
vagueness of questions, but LDI can throw up some stinkers
too.
On a lighter note, heading up to town tonight for a going
away bash for Conor. Hopefully Rachel will let me kip on her floor for
the next 2 nights, should get a good bit done tomorrow in the
library/labs. Report back then. Crap!
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| Thursday 8th May 2003 - Day
27 - 1252 |
Yikes. LDI going okay, but loads more to do. I mean, I know a lot more
than I did the last time, which is good, but don't feel confident of
passing yet, which is very very bad so near to exams. Finished parsing
though, so that's most of the course. Isn't it? *worried*
:-)
See Rebecca's set up a weblog... what a nerd ;-)
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| Tuesday 6th May 2003 - Day
25 - 0030 |
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Okay! One week left. I'm quietly worried.
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| Sunday 4th May 2003 - Day
23 - 1552 |
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Didn't do anything yesterday. Really annoyed at myself/worried.
Put up pics of The next (last!)
Lord of the Rings, then went for
a pint with Rachel. Was great to get out of the house, but would also be
nice to pass exams. Anyway, better go
get something done today.
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| Friday 2nd May 2003 - Day
21 - 2345 |
No posting for a while, I've been too
busy studying. Har har. Nah seriously, doing a bit more but loads
more to do. LDI going well, finally understand FIRST() FOLLOW() etc.
Is it just me or are they the worst-explained things in the
universe? Anyone? Just me? Ok...
Parents went off to France
for a couple of weeks today, now I can breathe again! They're also gonna
visit my sister who's in Barcalona. And my brother's jetting off
again next week too. What a family. So I'll be on my own. Studying.
And going crazy. Rachel's back home for study weeks though, so we
promised ourselves a well-deserved pint tomorrow night, looking
forward to that.
Congrats to Colm for finishing his essays in
record time. Although, he probably won't read this, he'll just visit
the page but not actually read the text, 'cause he's like that
;-)
And finally, congrats too to Conor, who paid a teary
farewell to Sitel today in anticipation of a fast-approaching
sejour to India. The countdown has begun, we all beter make
the most of these couple of weeks, Ireland's about to become
de-Conorised...
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| Wednesday 30th April 2003 - Day
19 - 2248 |
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I started "Language Design and Implementation" today. My God, it's soooo
boring and shit. Still, making good progress with the textbook (thank
you, Andy). Gah, can't wait to see XMen2, looks really cool. No news
really. Oh yeah, I started a holiday fund! Yeah, me, saving. The mind
boggles. Found my old Post Office savings book in my room, which had 4
old pounds in it. They kindly upgraded me to a sparkley new blue
euro-friendly one, and added 15 cent interest which I had made in the
last 6 years. 15 cent! Anyway, there's 50 quid in there now that I'm
not touching until I'm ready to go on holliers this summer.
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| Tuesday 29th April 2003 - Day
18 - 2036 |
You know, somehow the shooting dead of 13 people (inc. 6 kids) and
injuring about 70 seems worse than what the Americans have been doing
over the past few weeks. I know it's not, but I guess we Irish know what
it's like to have soldiers shoot innocent unprovoking citizens, in our
case the British paras. I suppose some things are just universally
shitty. We all hoped we were passed it, but Tony Blair seems to have
turned out as bad if not worse than what came before him. And then to
hear him preach about weapons in our country is really just disgusting.
My
last shred of faith in humanity is held on by my sheer belief that these
people will get what's coming to them in the end of the day.
Oh,
and... Two weeks yesterday.. blah blah blah... shitting it.. blah
blah... Parents annoying.. blah...
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| Sunday 27th April 2003 - Day
16 - 2104 |
Had a good night out in town last night. Carol is as nuts as ever, and
also met up with Andy, Emma, and Emma. Went to the downstairs part of
"The Oak" on Dame St. Very good, general-rock-type music - loads of
different
stuff, decent enough place and a nice crowd. Makes a break from other
rocker bars which usually smell really really bad. And it was
free in and open til 3ish.
Thought XMen was opening here this
week and was really looking forward to seeing it. Turns out it's next
week, so I guess I'll wait til the day of my first exam. It can be my
treat for passing :-)
And in the meantime I've passed the
half-way mark on my 30 days. Wow, scary.
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| Friday 25th April 2003 - Day
14 - 2222 |
I found the OR notes I thought I'd lost. Which, coupled with waking up
in a sparkling clean room spurred me on to do 2 and a half hours study
today. My best yet. Now, I just need to double that, then treble it,
then go back in time 3 months, then be someone else... and I should
pass!
Oh, and a big shoutout to Becky, who is in Poland at the
moment! Glad you like the site, Becks, thanks for the texts and I'm sure
I'll get round to
mailing you one of these days!
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| Thursday 24th April 2003 - Day
13 - 2041 |
| Ok, less depressed than I was earlier.
Cleaned my room today, which I think is the first step towards 16
hours of study a day, innit? Was gross actually, I think spiders
may have been nesting in there. Think I'm heading to Dublin on
saturday. Because, like, I have all this free time and money, and
stuff... Carol's coming in from Milan so I can blame her when I
become a failure and have to sell my body for cash. She'll probably
be my best customer :-)
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| Thursday 24th April 2003 - Day
13 - 1600 |
I'm gradually getting more worried.
Actually, I'm more worried now than I've ever been this far from
exams (usually doing all of my study in one week). Which in itself
is worrying. I suppose I realise that this is my final final
chance, there's not going to be more repeating. If I fail, that's
it, I'm pretty much screwed.
Which is the message from the
parents today. I've been getting the "...very important.... rest of
life... we didn't have this opportunity..." lately. I've been
getting that for years at this stage though, and obviously it
doesn't have any effect on me, but that doesn't mean it doesn't
annoy me.
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| Monday 21st April 2003 - Day
10 - 2240 |
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Went to pub last night for first time in ages. Was fun. The bank
holiday is over, all the scum are pouring back up the N11 to
Dublin, it's raining... time to study. Tomorrow. :-) |
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| Thursday 17th April 2003 - Day
6 - 2319 |
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Did nothing today. |
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| Wednesday 16th April 2003 - Day
5 - 2100 |
I did about an hour and a half overall today.
Maybe a bit more. Covered the Simplex Method in OR. Boring, but easy. I
really need to clear my room out, there's 4 years worth of junk in
there, plus all clothes on the floor/every surface etc. Not very
conducive to study. Also, something else not conducive to study: not
studying. I seem to have a problem with that.
I realised a long
time ago what my problem is though - I can't study unless I'm under
intense pressure. I noticed it first with the Leaving Cert. I mean, I
failed 4 of my mocks for god's sake, then just crammed like mad in the
last 4 weeks. Thing is, when the exams start getting harder the cramming
loses it's effectiveness. Drat. :-) |
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| Wednesday 16th April 2003 - Day
5 - 1405 |
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Ah, Easter holidays. The sun is beating down,
the birds are singing, the young teens are drinking warm cans in the
fields. I don't know about you, but when I was 14, I didn't spend my
Easter holidays knacker drinking. Scumbags. And as for those fucking
skater kids all over the place like a rash, roll on schooltime again
(I'll get Avril Latrine if it's the last thing I do). |
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| Tuesday 15th April 2003 - Day 4 - 2320 |
Just got off the phone to the lads. Conor Andy and Karl (Thought I
should give them a "shoutout", apparently my weblog is, like, world
famous or something :-) ) are in the Turk's Head after the RedBrick
AGM. I wonder how it went.. suppose I could read newsgroups and check,
but who'd want to do that. Anyway, getting back to the point - I HATE
BEING IN WICKLOW! It sucks. It's so boring, nearly everyone I know has
fled the town already (not that I blame them). I mean, if I lived in
Dublin I could be in the Turk's Head right now! *pause* The Turk's
Head's kinda crap, isn't it?
Anyway, re: Wicklow sucking - not
long now... *packs suitcase*
*realises has no other
clothes*
*unpacks*
Oh yeah, check:
Conor's Jaipur
Journal
for all your Jaipur-related needs, well, it will be
when he finally goes. Sheesh, some people just don't know when they're
not wanted
;-) |
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| Monday 14th April 2003 - Day 3 -
2040 |
|
Got a very nice letter in the post today from "Noeleen" in the exams
office to tell me that my timetable is online. I wonder did they send
one to everyone or just us pathetic external-repeat-o's. I suspect it's
the latter; it's nice to get some preferential treatment for once
(although it probably is just because they think I'm slooooow, yeah?
From Caaaaanadaaa...). Anyway, Good News! - My two exams are 9
days apart. That means I have a whole extra week to study for one of my
subjects (Operations Research). Yippee. So, it goes without saying that
I didn't do any work for the rest of the day. As a reward. For getting
that letter. Go me. Or something.
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| Sunday 13th April 2003 - Day 2 -
2200 |
|
Gah! so tired. Shouldn't have stayed up last night watching that stupid
(but hilariously crazy) "Kids in the hall" film. Opened a book today
though, and read two pages. Slow and steady wins the race :-) Or makes
me fail miserably.
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| Saturday 12th April 2003 - Day 1 |
So I decided to start a weblog. So I suck. So kill me. But wait! There's
a twist. This weblog is guaranteed to be only 30 days long, at the end
of which time there is a large chance of me having egg on my face. Or at
least, being a total failure. Y'see, In a month's time I'm sitting two
exams. Two final year exams. For the third and final time.
It's not like I'm dumb or anything... well ok, I'm a little bit dumb.
I'm dumb not to care what sort of a degree I get. Dumb not to study the
boring subjects. Dumb to have picked to do a degree in Computer
Applications in the first place. But this log is to prove to myself that
I'm not totally dumb, that I can pass these two subjects. Because it's
up here for anyone bored enough to see, the pressure is on me not to
look stupid. So here goes...
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