Weblog

If you can't see any updates, try refreshing the page!

Apologies for the long absence ... I'm still here, and I'm still alive! I have, however, recently shifted to a fresh weblog powered by the all-new Blogger system. You can find it here, so please update your bookmarks.

Posted by Alex at 2:30 PM

|

03/02/07 Cherry beer ... mmmmmmmmmm

We went to the Fat Cat again last night, and worked our way through a variety of brews, notably the fruit-flavoured beers! The cherry one was particularly good. I ended up drinking rather a lot of it. Grace did too, and in a repeat performance of the previous occasion had to be supported while walking home, otherwise she would have walked into walls and fallen over.

I have a thumping headache this morning but apparently Grace has no hangover whatsoever! Some people have all the luck.....

The big piece of good news for this week is that we DEFINITELY have a house for next year! The property in question is very close to the uni, has a massive garden, and is far larger than my current house. Grace, Bex, Rachel and I went down to the landlords yesterday morning to sign the contract. It's certainly a big relief to have everything sorted out so soon.

As far as my course is going, the law/business unit is starting to get really exciting! We narrowly avoided a £10,000 fine in the virtual business game world yesterday, and are now face to face with our biggest challenge yet: the offer of a very lucrative deal, but attached to a rather harsh contract. It's going to be fun wrangling through the different options.

With regards to the June trip we're now planning on climbing Helvellyn via Striding Edge, which will enable me to spread my wings a little and do something new in the Lakes. I'm really looking forward to this trip on many levels. Not only is it a great opportunity to enjoy a holiday with some of my closest friends, it's also going to be challenging for me on a logistical level as the group's guide. This is invaluable experience and when I finally come to do my Mountain Leader Award this will hold me in very good stead indeed!

Posted by Alex at 1:30 PM

|

30/01/07 Plans for later in the year

Pub quiz was awesome on Sunday! After work I headed round to Grace's house for dinner, we headed off to the quiz and proceeded to win third place, despite Grace and Bex trying their best to pin me down and write on my forehead. Apparently next week they're bringing permanent markers ... I shall never be safe again....

Anyway yesterday entirely out of the blue I came up with a really good idea for a holiday later in the year. Lately Grace has expressed an interest in trying a little easy fellwalking, so we're planning on heading up to Langdale some time in June, along with her boyfriend Richard, my brother James, and also our friend Polly (a fellow Lakeland fan). At the moment exact details are still up in the air due to uncertainty as to when everyone's exams finish, but three days in late June (before James and I go the Alps) would probably be idea.

The plan is to start with a gentle introduction to the mountains. The first day will probably be an easy walk up Lingmoor, which is the idea hill to get people hooked. Next day will probably feature an ascent of Pike of Blisco, which is in my opinion one of the finest mountains for its height anywhere ... 705m of pure quality! Ideas for the third day depend on what people want to do. Bowfell or a route in the Langdale Pikes (walking only, no scrambling) are all possibilities.

It looks set to be an awesome trip and will be a lot of fun, I think! Plus if we can drive up (Polly has access to a car apparently) it will be much cheaper than the average trip, particularly now they've put the rail prices up again.

Posted by Alex at 11:25 AM

|

27/01/07 End of week report

Yesterday was certainly interesting and varied! After meeting up with Grace in the Hive for coffee in the morning, we headed off to view some possible houses for next year. Of the first two we looked at on Crummock Road, we liked the first one very much, the second one less so. However the really well-situated one on Mottram Close was also really nice and it's going to be a close thing choosing between them. The next stage is for Bex to come and have a look at the houses with us. All of them are quite large, being four bedroom places, and in particular the Mottram Close property has an ENORMOUS back garden.

Rachel dropped me back on campus for four, which was my Professional Practice and Project lecture. As usual, Professor Harvey gave a memorable performance! His teaching style is based heavily on learning through actual experience. For example he tricked us into accepting a business opportunity in the virtual business game world, then explained why we would now all be in the line for prosecution if the Managing Director is dishonest ... and subsequently revealed that he was in fact on the disqualified list.

This is certainly turning out to be a varied and exciting course! I think I am going to appoint Grace onto our Board of Directors as our unofficial legal adviser. Should certainly give us an edge when the business game really hots up in a couple of weeks.

Today I have spent my time doing some reading, watching the director's cut of Stargate (the film), and some SG-1 episodes. I believe we are still in Season 6.

I'm working tomorrow, but am looking forward to the pub quiz!

Posted by Alex at 18:50 PM

|

25/01/07 An interesting day!

Other than my incredibly dull Electronics lecture at 9, yesterday was fun. Spent some time in the Hive with the usual characters, occasionally visited by Jack who was starting to wrap up his election campaign. The results have now been announced: unfortunately Jack was not elected as Ethical Issues Officer, which is a shame because he did put a huge amount of effort into his campaign and really believed in his policies (which were in themselves damn good). He brought an entirely fresh and humourous approach to the process. The good news is that the students have voted for Coca-Cola to return to Union outlets, which is excellent!

Anyway my parents came up at one-ish, and Grace and I met them in the main car-park. They had been wanting to meet Grace for some time, no doubt to determine whether or not she really is as mad and dangerous as she appears to be on the Internet. I think good impressions were made--mum even said she was a "good influence" on me! Grace and Amber certainly loved each other.

In the evening, I had to forego the usual Piratesoc social in favour of Fell Club's gathering at the Fat Cat. I couldn't see anyone I recognised to begin with--the little pub was packed--but someone in the club recognised me and led me over to the table ("Alex Roddie, I presume?") I learned a little about the process of becoming a leader, was encouraged to try for a committee position next year, and exchanged epic tales of heroics and disaster in the hills.

Bex and Inigo were also there to begin with. The Fat Cat really is the ultimate pub for the ale fan, and Inigo and I worked through a number of different brews, including the pub's own Top Cat and Honey Ale (both lovely). To my astonishment and delight, I also noticed that they also had Skye Brewery's Black Cuillin ale ON TAP! I wasn't aware that stuff was available outside of Scotland. It's a classic 'mountain ale', right up there with Gable Bitter, Coniston Bluebird and Old Peculier.

Grace and Rich turned up a while later and it was at that point that we sort of hijacked Fell's social and turned it into our own little gathering! The beer did indeed begin to flow and Grace even had a fair bit to drink (for her), and had to be very carefully walked home, supported between me and Bex. The dear girl described her condition as "merry", although I think "floppy" might have been more appropriate! To be honest none of could describe ourselves as sober though, which made walking back to her house along verglas-coated pavements rather interesting.

Stage 1 of my cunning plan has been completed. She may still obstinately insist that Adnams is disgusting, but she has developed a taste for real ale!

Anyway this morning I had a lie-in because all I have to do today is a group meeting for 2P20 in the afternoon. Yay!

Posted by Alex at 10:10 AM

|

24/01/07 Snoooooow

It's snowing here in Norwich! The snow is pretty damp and not terribly deep at the moment, but it's enough to make life interesting walking along slush-covered pavements. This morning every surface was slick with verglas and thaw-crust, leading to treacherous conditions. A car had piled into a tree right next to the school on South Park Avenue. Made the crossing of Colman Road even more time-consuming and irritating than usual when walking into campus early this morning.

My course is starting to get off the ground properly now that we're into Week 2. We got to play with microchips and oscilloscopes and big machines in the electronics lab session on Monday, and on the Databases unit, things are getting a little more interesting (even if they're not yet remotely "hard" or "challenging" as promised). It's certainly interesting approaching database design from the perspective of relational alegbra ... an approach that I had expected not to understand well, but it's actually pretty logical and makes a lot of sense.

Today I spent a lot of time in the Hive as usual, although the big event was the Union Elections. Current issues are electing a new Ethics Officer and determining whether or not the Coca-Cola boycott should remain. Unfortunately in the latter issue the question was appallingly ambiguous, leading me to suspect that it was made up by someone who wanted the vote to slide in favour of KEEPING the boycott.

As far as Ethical Issues Officer goes, there could only be one choice: Jack Shannon! He is the only candidate with any kind of sense of humour and who doesn't seem to have an inflated sense of his own importance. His posters are insanely great and I don't doubt that he will get many, many votes simply because absolutely everyone has heard of him!

Tonight Grace and I had one of our Stargate nights (another chance for Grace to drool over Micheal Shanks, and for myself to glumly note how much less attractive Amanda Tapping is than when the show first began). This time Bex also joined us to see what all the fuss is about ... I think the subtle brilliance of Stargate was rather lost on her!

Tomorrow I have the evil 9am Electronics lecture in Chancellor's Drive Annex, followed by work in the Hive. My parents are meeting me on campus at 1. Grace also wants to play with Amber so will be meeting my parents ... should be interesting! That evening I am foregoing the usual Piratesoc meeting to head up to the Fat Cat on Dereham Road, where Fell Club is holding its first social of the semester. I believe Bex, Inigo and maybe Grace will also be there, no doubt spying on me.

Posted by Alex at 12:00 AM

|

21/01/07 Update!

Other than the occasional six-hour stint for sleeping purposes, this is the first time I've really been at home all weekend so I guess I'd better take the opportunity to write on the blog before I have to be rushing away again! The past week has been awesome. The Law/Business unit I'm taking, Professional Practice and Project, looks really challenging and is such a change from the same-y boringness of Electronics and Databases so far.

According to our lecturer (Mr. Harvey, an utter LEGEND), opinions on this unit are split roughly half-and-half. 50% of people find it an amazing, life-changing experience; 50% hate it and do badly. I'm hoping to be in the former category. I've already assumed the position of acting group leader/organiser for our team until we can formally assign roles.

On Thursday I took Grace into town, where we shopped around for Richard's birthday presents, got a bite to eat, then went and saw Night at the Museum at the cinema. As Grace herself says in the comments section below, it is a very funny film! We were in hysterics at several places, particularly the bit where Attila the Hun is reduced to quivering tears. An awesome evening all-round.

Yesterday I had to do a stint at the Co-Op, but went straight round Grace's house after I finished work for Richard's birthday party. I helped to prepare the enormous amount of food which will probably be feeding the house's residents for the next week, given how much of it was left over when I left! The party itself was awesome, although I am certain the people who weren't used to the convoluted little jokes in our group were rather concerned at the humour!

Jack Shannon was there of course, which provided much entertainment, largely involving jokes regarding his "big policy". Grace showed her evil side by popping lots of balloons with her Swiss army knife, then throwing little ragged bits of rubber at me. Polly is apparently scheming to steal the domain of the Garden Shed away from me for the nefarious purposes of the three ladies (which means that myself, as The Gardener, have been relegated to the laundry room!) Richard was repeatedly indecently assaulted by Jack and Bex has evidence of this on her camera! The photos will soon appear on Facebook for all to see.

This evening we are going to the pub quiz: the first one of the new semester! I am looking forward to it.

Posted by Alex at 5:30 PM

|

17/01/07 An interesting day

Today didn't start off so great. I had to wake up at the ungodly hour of 7AM in order to find a mysterious place on campus known as CD-Annex for my nine o'clock Electronics lecture. This lecture--a two-hour affair--turned out to be utterly boring, and to be honest the lecturer was an idiot who seemed to know little about the subject. I learned absolutely nothing new. Hopefully next week will be more challenging.

After that I headed over to Socmart to see if anything fun was happening. Ended up joining the Conservative Society, which is run by friends of mine, and ended up hanging around with them for a couple of hours ... during which time they enlisted a grand total of eight members! I also partook in the ancient and time-honoured tradition of poking Grace and stalking people I knew. Life is truly back to normal!

I was also welcomed back to Fell Club and am now finally a fully paid-up member of that society again. People I hadn't seen before in my life seemed to have heard of me, and I chatted to the people I knew about my trip. Plus there's a good chance I'll get to be a group leader, which is definitely a good thing!

Had our house inspection this afternoon ... we were a bit worried about Frankie's fish, because keeping pets is technically against the contract, but the inspector was a good chap. Turns out he's a mountaineer himself of the old school, and we chatted for ages about Welsh mountains and how ice axes aren't made like they used to be. We got on well and he turned a blind eye to the fish, luckily! Only one more inspection to go before we move out in six months time now.

Anyway tomorrow is my day off, but I daresay I will spend a great deal of time in the Hive anyway. Grace and I are going into town to watch Nigh at the Museum in the evening, which should be awesome.

Posted by Alex at 5:50 PM

|

16/01/07 Apologies for the long absence!

Hi guys, I am still alive, honest! Over the Christmas period I've mostly been using Facebook instead of the blog, because it's easier to update. To be honest I am not sure of the future of this site as something I'm going to be updating regularly ... I'm aware that I need to write three trip reports and no end of mountain and scrambling / climbing files, but they do take a long time to write up from scratch!

So Facebook has replaced many aspects of this site. I will continue to update the blog regularly (because Facebook isn't a weblog), but from now on new photos and trip reports will probably only appear on my Facebook profile. Of course the material that already exists on this site will remain for people to use.

Anyway, things have been moving on the mountaineering front lately! I went up to Glencoe last week, and despite poor weather which forced me to stay at the camp for two days, I pioneered a new winter climb out of the Lost Valley. I've named it Windslab Wall due to the high avalanche danger at the time! It's a 250m length Grade II mixed route, finishing up a 70-degree snow wall, and I completed it alone and unroped. Not bad for a start to the 2007 Scottish winter climbing season.

My brother and I are heading up to Glencoe / Nevis again in a couple of months, and will be attempting many more climbs in the Bidean nam Bian massif, as well as another go at the notorious Lochaber Traverse.

In the meantime, the Spring semester has begun here at UEA so it's back to the grindstone for me!

Posted by Alex at 11:10 AM

|

19/12/06 Back home

I'm back home in Suffolk now, and have been occupying my time doing not very much at all! Having nothing to do is certainly a change from the frantic activity of the past few weeks, but I'm certain the novelty will wear off soon. I popped into the forest yesterday morning and checked out all my old haunts.

Found out that the place has changed a fair bit: certain clearings seem to have a different character about them, and the 'bivvy clearing' in which we built the small hut four or five years ago has changed quite dramatically. The hut itself is decaying and almost collapsed, and the 'totem pole' things (complete with animal skulls) we put up at the entrances to the clearing have been cast aside and are quite rotten, the skulls all piled in a heap. The birch clearing nearby hasn't changed that much, and still features the 'berkana' statue in the centre of the glade, seeming to protect it from outside forces. There are indications of a lot of deer movement in the Birches and also hints of more activity from the resident wild boars ... found an empty rifle cartridge of quite large caliber and power.

Anyway I have little to do other than wander in the forests and start rebuilding my website (note I've cleaned up the blog page ). I'm thinking I might revisit Staverton Forest, revisit some places I haven't been to in years. And of course I have to honour the tradition of visiting the supposed UFO landing site in Rendlesham Forest on the night of the 27th. Sometimes I miss the days of collecting information before I started writing Project Cold Witness. So much crazy stuff happened but I got to know this area pretty damn well! And it would be just typical if this time, years after I stopped working on the book, I finally see something 'weird'.

Meh Suffolk has done some crazy stuff to me and I can tell it's going to do some more crazy stuff to me in the next few weeks. I only hope I still have my sanity when I get back to Norwich.

Posted by Alex at 1:10 PM

|

15/12/06 It's finally all over

It's the last day of the semester, and I've finally finished everything! We are still negotiating our provisional mark for Internet Technologies due to a mere five lines of code rendering our software effectively dead in the water. Unfortunately I'm not going to be going back to campus before I go back home on Sunday, and Chez has gone back to America, so it's basically up to Thierry and Andy to fight our corner now.

Yesterday afternoon Grace came over for one last evening in watching Stargate and Firefly. We got through about two Stargate disks (eight episodes in all! ) and the first episode of Firefly. I gave her her Christmas present and walked her home, and said goodbye ... I hate saying goodbye to people, even if it is only for a few weeks! I'm going to miss her.

Today we had our house Christmas, which was awesome. I am currently full of turkey dinner and unable to eat anything else. Presents-wise, I got a golden retriever puppies calendar from Frankie and Richie, and from Dan a 1955 copy of Summits of Adventure by John Scott Douglas. This is a rather rare account of the mountaineering accomplishments of the early 20th century, which is my period of special interest. It's quite a find and is greatly appreciated ... will make an awesome addition to my collection of mountaineering literature.

Tomorrow's going to be pretty lazy again I think (it's quite a novelty having nothing to do after all this frantic activity), on Sunday I have work, and then I'm being picked up by my parents that evening to go back home to Suffolk. It's going to be very odd adjusting to life in Suffolk again, but after all it won't be for long. I'm going to be back here at weekends for work, and next semester isn't that far away!

Posted by Alex at 2:50 PM

|

13/12/06 Ups and downs

Today has been interesting. We ended our Internet Technologies project on a high note. Despite the fact that we failed to implement a fairly critical aspect of the website (which Dan Smith described as a "small but crucial knowledge gap"), our group received praise for our excellent teamwork and communication. Out of all the teams using the Blackboard for online communication, only one group used it more effectively than us. I think the fact that I was already good friends with Chez, and that Andy and Thierry were housemates, made things much easier right from day one!

Systems Analysis is currently on hiatus at the moment due to a bit of a disaster with the written report. I'm not going to go into it here because the problem has not yet been sorted out, but I think I can safely say that if the unit director doesn't see our point of view, we are all screwed. The presentation is tomorrow and I'm not looking forward to it.

On a happier note, it would appear that my fame is spreading! Apparently when we were in the Hive the other a couple of random girls (described as "pretty and trendy" no less ) pointed in my direction and said "Oh my God, it's Alex Roddie!!" This has happened a few times now, with random strangers recognising me and displaying surprise and admiration etc. I seriously don't know what I've done to become so famous! Heck, some guy off the internet recognised me in Scotland simply because of my Sigg bottle....

Secondly, I now have a more solid plan for my upcoming trip to the mountains. The idea is the head up to Scotland on the 8th of January, jumping off the coach at Glencoe or Glen Nevis, whichever takes my fancy. I'm leaning towards Glen Nevis: although that's the place I went to in September, I have grand plans for that valley!

Ben Nevis (Britain's highest) is a mountain that fascinates me, a huge peak rising above an entire range of lesser giants. I have climbed it once via the tourist route but I feel I have so much left to explore on that mountain. It has a powerfully magnetic quality, like Great Gable or Bowfell or Tryfan ... it's just one of those mountains that calls out the explorer in us, a rugged place, a place where all mountaineers come back to time and time again.

My current plan is to climb the mountain via the Carn Mòr Dearg Arête, a remote knifeblade ridge connecting the Ben with the Aonach mountain range. This is the crucially exposed traverse that I will need to know in order to even have a chance of completing the Lochaber Traverse in March. The fact that I will be alone this time is a cause of concern, but it also gives the whole thing a greater sense of adventure!

I really am a masochist at heart. If I survive this one it will prove that there's a god out there somewhere who likes me!

Posted by Alex at 12:15 AM

|

12/12/06 I'm alive!

The last few days have been utterly manic. On Saturday, Chez and I spent eleven hours round our friends' house working on Internet Technologies, and jolly good fun it was too--although I think the "cookie" joke got a tad strained by about midnight. I got a good five hours of sleep that night. On Sunday I skipped work because there was just no way I'd be able to finish all my uni stuff if I went into the Co-Op.

I ended up spending nineteen hours in the Library over Sunday and Monday, with only an hour at home. Managed to pull a successful all-nighter in the 24hr IT labs and got an absolutely vast amount of work done. It was actually fun in a strange sort of way: some crazy stuff happens at five in the morning in the Library! The whole place was swimming with trash and people crashed out under the desks and others going hyper on concoctions of Lucozade and Red Bull.

At nine o'clock I was in the Hive as promised, although when Grace found me I was asleep with my head in my hands. She took me for breakfast in Zest and I ate my first proper meal in days, followed by coffee (which I haven't had enough of lately). That girl really is an angel--don't know what I'd do without her to look after me. It's pretty obvious I am too single-minded to do such unimportant things as sleeping and eating when I've got deadlines on the horizon, unless someone reminds me that is!

Spent the morning working frantically on both projects, running between the Hive, Library and PC Labs to consult with various people. Everywhere on campus was frantic and packed full of students. That's deadlines day for you I guess. After all the written work was handed in at three o'clock I returned to the Hive where my mind sort of shut down for a while.

I got twelve hours of sleep last night, and I'm feeling a hell of a lot better for it! Only have one presentation to do today, and another tomorrow, to get out of the way now. Then I am done and can have some time off.

When all this is over I am so looking forward to spending some time in the mountains. I keep getting flashbacks from previous trips--good flashbacks for a change!--and that's always an indication to me that I've left it too long. My mind needs a dose of mountain-ness every now and again to re-align everything, if that makes any sense at all. I need two or three days doing nothing but climbing famous snow-capped mountains in epic locations, breathing freezing air and eating frozen maltloaf.

Posted by Alex at 10:20 AM

|

9/12/06 The name's ... Roddie, Alex Roddie

Today has been an awesome day. Got 9+ hours of sleep (thanks to wise people insisting I slept before I died), pottered into campus in late morning, had a productive group meeting for Systems Analysis in which we figured out exactly what we had left to do and who was going to do what. One of the group members is still being a bit lazy and clueless but by and large all would appear to be going to plan.

Met up with Grace in the Hive after the group meeting, and on the spur of the moment we decided to head into town to do some Christmas shopping. I got most of my remaining presents, which was very useful ... Grace also showed me a small and out of the way Army Surplus-type shop which sold miniature Sigg bottles. I couldn't resist and bought myself a little (0.6l) red one.

After shopping was done (I still don't understand the way women shop! ) it was still relatively early, so we decided to go and watch a film. We'd been planning on seeing The Prestige for ages but had been too busy, and it turns out that it has now stopped showing in Norwich. Saw Casino Royale instead, and a damn fine film it was too! Grace was swooning over Daniel Craig and wincing at the needles and gore and I was gaping in astonishment at some of the free-running involved in the first big chase scene. Awesome stuff! I think it's a return to 'classic' Bond and definitely refreshes the genre. The final scene was particularly spectacularly shiny.

Anyway, aside from caffeine withdrawal symptoms my stress levels are now at virtually nil, thanks to some sleep, the care and concern of my friends, and spending the afternoon and evening scurrying around the city with Grace. These fine people deserve my thanks and gratitude because without them I wouldn't have got to where I am now, with the end of the coursework in sight. Special thanks go to Grace for organising my work time and time off (and of course for being her wonderful self), Andy's friend for saving the day with regards to Data Structures and Algorithms, Chez for working hard and being generally awesome, James (systems analysis) for knowing lots of useful stuff, and Jack Shannon for providing comic relief.

The end is in sight folks. I can do this!

Posted by Alex at 12:45 AM

|

7/12/06 I've had enough

It's submission day for Data Structures and Algorithms and I am absolutely destroyed. Spent 12 hours working on it yesterday (on top of four hours of Systems Analysis). Ended up staying in the Library until 6am working with Andy, helping each other to get the findSVD algorithm working. He didn't want to let me leave because he needed help with the timing experiments, but I was on the verge of total collapse and needed rest desperately. Eventually I just said "I'm going", packed up my stuff, and staggered back home.

I got to sleep at about 6:30am, planning to be up at 8:30 and on campus again by 10, but overslept due to my left arm automatically switching the alarm clock off again. I'm now sat in the Hive, by myself, typing up the huge stack of rough work we did last night and wondering how the hell I'm going to survive the next few days.

Apparently I am looking pale, ill and exhausted, which is not surprising tbh. Kind people are doing their best to organise and look after me but at the end of the day the source of the problem is my workload, which will be with me until the final presentation next Wednesday. On the one hand I want it all to be over as quickly as possible, and on the other I would like more time.

And to all my currently absent friends: COME TO THE HIVE!! I need coffee, sympathy, and love otherwise I'm going to fly apart.

Posted by Alex at 12:10 PM

|

5/12/06 Week Eleven

Q: Why is everyone stressed and walking around like zombies?
A: Week Eleven.

Q: Why is the Library full of students at midnight?
A: Week Eleven.

Q: Why do friends do horrible things to each other for no readily apparent reason?
A: Week Eleven.

Q: Why do there not seem to be enough hours in the day anymore?
A: Week Eleven.

Q: Why is coffee more important than food, and word counts more important than hours spent sleeping?
A: Week Eleven!

It's coming up to the end of the semester and the last few days have left me and everyone I know a complete wreck. I am surviving off a maximum of four hours of sleep per night and staying down the Library until about 3am. Today I had to wake up at seven in order to get down campus in time for a project meeting, which lasted four hours in the labs ... then an hour a half break (coffee with Grace and Bex in the Hive, my only spare time today), then another three hours churning out code.

We have made massive progress on this assignment today but once again I am back in the Library, about to start Data Structures and Algorithms 'properly'. It's due in for Thursday and I have made hardly any progress due to teh fact that I've been concentrating on the two group projects. We also have two presentations early next week and documentation write-ups to finish for our software ... when we've finished that!

I think everyone's pretty fragile at the moment and tempers have been rather short lately, probably partly due to the fact that nobody really has a clue what day it is or even what time of day it is. I personally feel like death and am constantly shaking ... although I surprised myself earlier by a two-hour burst of extreme productiveness, in which hard programming tasks made perfect sense and I solved many problems.

I just want it to be Week 12 when we have our house Christmas and I can just spend time with my friends doing things we want to do, instead of destroying myself trying to finish these hideous assignments.

On the plus side, I am currently on track to get a decent 2:1 for these three units, so I've obviously been doing some things right!

Posted by Alex at 7:45 PM

|

1/12/06 A little less pressure

Had a meeting with my Systems Analysis group today, after a week of no contact. I had started to worry that either people hadn't been doing work, or that it would be in a different vein to the stuff the rest of us had done, leading to incompatibilities. Luckily everything was in order. In fact we're quite a bit further on than I'd thought, so that's a big pressure off my mind!

One of my group members, James, met up with us in the Hive for an hour before the seminar, and was I think quite disturbed by the inane chatter of Grace and Frankie. Grace was in one of her manic 'northern' moods and Frankie was being a hyper little child, and the overall effect was bewildering! I think by the time we went to our meeting James was under the impression that those two women are total loonies....

In the other assignment, we are making progress by leaps and bounds but Chez is currently ill. I have picked up a mild cold from somewhere so might have caught it from her. Meh everyone seems to be tired or stressed or ill at the moment. Although today has definitely been overall a happier day than Thursday, which was pretty miserable for all the people I bumped into down campus by all accounts.

I guess it's just the fact that it's coming up on the end of the semester. Everyone has massive work to do and yet nobody really wants the semester to end. It's gone really quickly this time ... scary to think I'm already nearly a third of the way through my second year at UEA.

Anyway I have plenty to do tomorrow (hmmmm today by now), namely tidying the house before my parents arrive at 11:30, meeting up with my parents, then finishing off some agreed objectives for my two assignments by the end of the day.

Posted by Alex at 12:10 AM

|

Weblog archives

Disclaimer
Okay, some of these posts may have been made while I was very drunk, lonely, dangerously bored, or coasting on a manic mountain-high. Therefore they don't necessarily reflect my true personal opinions. Please don't sue me if I've said anything to offend you. It's easier just to find me and have a rant in person, honest.

... However there's no helping some people, so if I really did mean what I said, no I'm not sorry, and no I won't apologise!