Yes, it’s that time of year again, that wonderful time of year when Study Time > Blogging Time.
Instead of writing some long-winded post that some of you may or may not read anyway, I’ll just link you to some phishing article over on my personal blog.
Happy holidays to all you school kids.
What a day. I’m starting to sound like Benny (apologies in advance 
).
Wednesday, 14th of January. The ‘Acceptance session’ day for the University of Tasmania. Students-running-around-with-parents-day.
Basically, a day where you go and the Uni reps talk to a whole group of people interested in enrolling in Uni for this year. This day was specifically for the previous years’ grade 12’s (like me). The main lecture theatre wasn’t exactly full, but there were enough people to feel ’surrounded’. Having at least 4 sessions throughout the day accounts of the apparent ‘lack’ of people. The Uni guys talked about the usual stuff, and then split us into groups based on degree areas. For example, the group whom I was a part of was one surrounding the computing department, and this included computing/info systems/game development and most likely others.
This was the spot where things got a little interesting. See, I had organised the day with my friend James to make things easier for the both of us. Now, once we were split into the computing group,James and myself were the only ones in it! SCORE! That, personally, made me more comfortable in the various wanderings around the department buildings. Dells and Macs. Meh.
The second ‘score‘ was the quick visit to the office of the degree coordinators’ office. Various thick textbooks on stuff like XML, but the one that really stood out was the textbook on UNIX! And this was after she mentioned that she teaches Computer Security!
Oh yeah, and for Benny’s sake, she has a mac laptop.
Then was the supposed final part of the session, the so-called E-tour (basically an online guide on how to enrol and do bits and pieces). After initially going into one wrong location, and then being given a location that had previously had the tours earlier (the signs pointed to it), we were finally told the final location of the tour. At this point, James decided to leave, and we were informed that the staff that directed persons to the specific areas (the guys out front) were misinformed about the location of the E-tours in the first place!
At least I (and my father) got a good tour of the Uni. I no longer feel like a ant on approach to a hay bale, if anything a human now on approach to the said hay bale.
During the session, I saw something on the computer in front of me to make me think of this day as weird in every sense of the word. Where , on the Uni site, they would usually have a picture of a student to ’sure-up’ the reality of going to Uni (or something like that), I saw a picture of a person familiar to myself and one of my good friends, Martin P. It was his (this is not confirmed, I am assuming this by previous data sent to me) sister-in-law. WOW, I couldn’t believe my eyes. And thus did the E-tour begin.
Now I thought that after this had finished, we had finished up for the day. How wrong I was. The most important meeting was about to begin.
On my way out from the computer room in which the E-tour was being conducted, who should I see at the entrance but two of the Calvin 2008 leavers, Ellen and Amber. They had a quick chat with me, and then we parted ways. It took about 10 mins after we parted ways for me to finally realise something that was mentioned in great depth to me before I graduated from Calvin. “You’ll miss them, You’ll miss the leavers”. The first time I actually realised this, was this day, the UTAS day. Was I really that close to the students in my grade that I’ll actually miss their presence?
That left me in a state of thought that I did not escape from for at least 2 hours afterwards. I still think about it to the present day. I must have been blind that day, ’cause I know I was the day I last saw the leavers.
And that was my day, the UTAS day, Wednesday 14th January 
.
/weed
Heheh – two exams today, so this post is brought to you by the freshbytes lackeys who seem to have nothing else to do but study… Apologies for not putting it up sooner, I wanted to get some sleep.
You hear the horror stories about how calculators can die suddenly due to a loss of power during end-of-year exams, and you worry.
You hear how harsh the TQA are on spontaneous calculator battery death (as we’ll call it), and how they don’t tolerate any excuses for spontaneous calculator battery death.
You hear how someone was sitting on an EA before they went into the exam, but are now only going to get an SA because they suffered spontaneous calculator battery death.
Well, okay – so I made that last one up, but I’m sure it has happened to someone, somewhere at sometime in the past!
Right – so I wasn’t going to let that happen for me. No way. I needed as many points as I could get, and spontaneous calculator battery death would just lead to a whole world of pain – namely, year 13 at Calvin (that, in and of itself wouldn’t be so bad, but having to do year 13 in the first place would be)….
Anyway, as you shop for batteries, there are a lot of questions to be pondered, such as:
Anyways, that’s about the end of my battery-buying advice. If you’ve got any more tips that you feel I’ve missed, then shout out in comments!
As for school, well, I’m smack bang in the middle of exams. Chemistry was last Friday, and I’ve got Maths Applied and Computer Science tomorrow (Monday). Thursday sees the Physics exam, and after that – the Magazine needs to be done, I’ll work a heap, and work on a couple of projects I’ve got planned… Yeah, my holidays are fairly jam-packed as is.
On the Radi8 front, we should have a couple of good events to finish up the year with, which should be good.
The song for this week is Michael Buble’s Everything – from his album Call Me Irresponsible. If you’ve got iTunes, hit the links – they’ll take you to the correct iTunes Music Store page.
Other that that, I’ve got nothing.
Comments below.
Right – as a sort of payback for the abysmal 50th post here on freshbytes, I’d like to try and write something a little better now that I’ve got some sleep, and also because I”ve got some study out of the way.
Righto – so I’d just like to open by saying that I’m not a fan of leaving Calvin. It’s been more than fantastic, and many people will tell you that your school life is the better part of your life. For me, I feel like there won’t be too many events which eclipse the pure awesomeness of your school, and especially your high school.
Having been a Calvin-ite for all my schooling years I feel like there’s this connection to the place which will always be there – as it should be!
I was asked by a colleague (who also went to Calvin, incidentally) if I shed any tears at the final assembly. I didn’t, but I’m sure that some of last year’s year 12’s did, and some of the girls this year were on the verge… Anyway, my colleague – he’s a man’s man. They kind that drink intense amounts of beer, go on massive outdoor treks, party hard, etc. I was actually surprised that he, of all people would have been one of the ones to get all emotional at something like your last assembly.
Perhaps the difference between us was the fact that he shed tears – and I didn’t, so maybe that’s why I’ll keep hanging on for a long period of time. I have no idea whether he wants to go back or not – but I am dammed sure I do.
So I read somewhere that people might not remember what you said, or what you did, but they will always remember how you made them feel – and I just thought that was incredibly profound.
Now, how have I made people feel? Once you ask yourself that question, you’ll know how you stand when you meet your friends in the street.
I know that I’ll have made some people feel awkward. Awkward silences can do that, as can incredibly-long, over-stretched relationships (or lack thereof) that have just peetered out (yes, that is a word) into the void… My fault, not theirs.
I also know that I’ll have made some people feel relaxed. Don’t feel obligated to to say anything when you’re around me – we can just sit, each to their own thoughts, and just “be”.
Maybe that’s the kind of person I am – if so, I can live with that 
Regrets? Sure. I don’t think I know anybody who wouldn’t do it all again differently – at one point or another, we’ve all stuffed up in our life and for some, that can have real consequences – but for others, it’s mainly stuff that that they wouldn’t have done again.
Would I have started my own website had I had the chance? By all means, yes. A hundred times, yes.
Would I have spoken more had the time called for it? Probably.
Would I have bought black forest cake for a certain someone again? Definitely. A hundred thousand times yes.
In the end, it is about the choices that we’ve made, and it is those very same choices that will shape how we are as human beings – and I feel that Calvin has played a huge part in how those choices have affected my life.
Comments below.
These days it seems like I’m stuck in a rut:
Wake up, eat, study, eat, study, eat, study, sleep.
After rinsing and repeating for x number of times, you start to go a little crazy.
You start having weird dreams which have don’t reflect reality, but the truth is that your subconscious mind is processing information – stuff that you might have learned, thoughts you might have floating about, and anything else which it can lay it’s ever-reaching arms on.
Sometimes, your subconscious mind tells you things which you madly wish were true – ah, if only such things could happen in reality!
Anyways, if you haven’t noticed, I am, along with the rest of my known universe (because you guys matter to me that much) busy studying.
This has lead to what I call study syndrome – where you stay up really late every night, cramming examples, formulas, and just about everything bar the kitchen sink onto your information sheet, in the feeble hope that you’ll have enough information to take into the exam with you.
It’s exam week now, and everyone is in full study mode; in particular, I’d like to make a shout out to those lucky guys and gals who have Biology and Legal Studies exams today. I salute you for your valour.
I won’t, however, wish you luck – if you need luck at this point in time, you’re in the wrong reality.
Reality – you’re doing it wrong!
You can tell by the quality (or lack thereof) of this post that it’s very late (or is that early), and I need some sleep.
I’ll catch y’all sometime later.
There might even be something (better than this, to be sure) up tomorrow morning.
Heh, just noticed that this was Freshbytes’ 50th post. Wow, how utterly anti-climatic…
Well, the inagural Study Camp for 2008 has been and gone.
Sure, the study sessions could have been longer and more frequent, but it was fine. Really, it was.
Sure, there were 6 laptops there (and one most excellent Linksys WRT-54GL router w/DD-WRT), and Mr Lineage is more than correct in saying that they were just going to be a distraction from study – which they were. I’m glad I didn’t take mine.
Because of the Study Camp, I don’t have any pre-prepared content for y’all to enjoy this weekend, so I’ll just whip something up now…
On my last post, there was a comment from turkeybrain about how he doesn’t think that anyone else reads this stuff.
Now, he may have gotten that from the fact that y’all don’t post any comments, man! I mean, really! Go ahead. make a comment – for what it’s worth, they’re free and you can say whatever you like – internet anonymity is awesome for that kind of stuff. Of course, I’ll know who you are (depending on your screen name and whatnot), but at least you’ll have the satisfaction of posting on freshbytes…
Anyway, I can safely say that there are actually people who read this stuff – even if you don’t know about it. Just because there is a definite lack of comments doesn’t meant that this place is a ghost town, turkeybrain.
I fully understand that not everyone is into the whole “ooh, Internet!” thing. While I certainly am, there are those of you who clearly aren’t with the exception of the odd MSN/MySpace/FaceBook session. I get that, I do.
Another thing I understand is how geeky it is to have your own website, let alone two. That’s a topic for another time, though.
Anyways, I hope you’ll leave a comment on this post – if you haven’t left a comment, ever, why not post one on the Freshbytes Wall? It’ll show up on every page – it’s the little block on the upper right hand corner of every page. Hit the button to get started.
I’ve been wanting to post this for a while now, so here it is…
Ever since McDonalds bought out the new burger packaging that has the funky info on the inside, I’ve been wanting to know what the value of M is. You know the one that tells you how much beef McDonalds bought, how many Mmmmm’s that equates to, etc.
Well, Lumus from the MacTalk Forums managed to work out the value of M – as according to McDonalds. Unfortunately, his working was out by a factor of 16, but hey – his post on his MobileMe shows just how easy it is to create a quick website using Apple gear.
You can read his post here. (Original credit MacTalk Forums)
One last thing – there are 5 days of school left. Forever…