Friday 29 August 2008

Walking.

What are you meant to do when you are behind a group of people who are walking only slightly slower than you, but you still want to overtake? I refused to ignore the situation, and decided to overtake them by walking in the road. A car quickly put a stop to this plan. If this had been the cause for my death, that one car that quickly came and chased me back onto the pavement, I would have been pissed. Luckily I was saved from one of the most pointless deaths ever, by giving up, and slotting back in behind the only slightly slower group.

True story.

Saturday 23 August 2008

XKCD

XKCD rules. A free online webcomic, which is hilarious. It is also often very true to life. This perfectly sums up my summer holidays.

Friday 15 August 2008

Results Day

I was scared. I think that is a safe, possibly even understated, summary.

I had only one choice, there was only one university I liked, that I had visited, that offered the course I wanted. Exeter University wanted me to get an A in History, which would be hard for I had only gotten a B last year, an A in English, which was safe due to my good previous results, and therefore insecure due to overconfidence, and an A doing intensive politics, two years in one, which no-one has ever got at Richmond College.

My options were limited. If I, realistically, failed top get 3As, I could go through the mayhem of clearing, getting a course I did not really want at a Uni I did know, take a gap year where I stay at home and get a boring job, or go to Portsmouth Uni, a fine, but not top, University. I could see all these failed lives stretching out from this one moment. All my fault, I sat the exams, I day-dreamt in class, I did less work that I could have.

Therefore, scared. Unable to sleep terrified, could also be applicable. Unable to move, due to dread, is not much of a stretch. Like I am about to jump out of a plane, and remember I have knitted my own parachute. Out of wet spaghetti. Hopefully by now you can grasp my fear.

So I met up with some friends early in the morning, and we sat on the bus. This bit was tense. It seems that the idea they have for results day is that you queue a lot. You queue to get into the building, then queue to get your name, then queue to get your results. This means that when you finally get your results you are so shocked at the queuing to have ended, it takes a moment for you to process that you are now free to wander, in a queue-less environment.

So, my results. I got an A in English. This I was confident in, for I got 90/90 in my Hamlet exam last year, and 117/120 in my Poetry & Prose in January, but as I said before, confidence can mean fail. Luckily, I got my first A.

History. I messed up my exam on the Russian revolution last year, so I needed some strong results this year to build me up. I got my A. Two for Two! Making me happier, in advanced extension history, I got myself a Merit, which I am amazingly pleased with, for that was a hard exam.

But now for the tense bit. Intensive politics, studying both my first and second year at once, which no student has ever got an A before. well, now one has. I got my third A. My results for the first half were brilliant.

So, Three As. I am off to Exeter, and I am feeling great. Things are going well all around. Michael and Jon also have great results, getting into their Universities, Jon to Cambridge. So did most of the other people I met, Ross is in to Brunel. To make things even better, we celebrated with one last Creamichoc from the vending machines, and Jon got double change! Free Creamichoc!

So I came home, all buzzin'. Phoned family members, who all were mighty pleased. Then, off to James' house for a barbeque. Saw people I had not seen in ages, ate burgers, and got drunk. played drunk football, and came home. This was one of the best days ever.

In one emotion - relief. I get to go to Exeter. Wack-O!

Wednesday 13 August 2008

Stargate Continuum

Stargate used to be a fun show, but everything ends and so did it. However, it did not die! Instead, two straight-to-TV movies have been made, to test the fanbase for a full feature length movie. As you may recall, the first of the came out a several months ago, and was a wonderful end to a good show, wrapping up all the loose ends. Sadly, this ends everything on a whimper.

The plotline of this involves the last villain remaining changing history, and (some) of our heroes being the only ones who know the old timeline and try to restore it. But do they have the right to change history, yada yada yada...

I have a huge sense of déjà vu, because this is a story that the writers would produce every few months for the series, and after the first dozen times of alternate timeline you start to get a bit bored. I am not going to pretend that SG1 was always a classic show, almost every other episode would be terrible, and this follows that trend. The action was poor, there were no funny lines, no sense of tension or adventure, nothing that made the show great in the first place. Just an excuse to bring back all the people who had died, because, guess what, in an alternate timeline, all those villains are still alive! Alive with very fleeting cameos!

I guess I might be being a bit hard, maybe it was not as bad as I feel. But it did nothing for long term fans, and it was in no way inclusive to people who had not watched the show before. The problem is that I have been waiting for this for a year-and-a-half. Not eagerly waiting, but expectant, hoping that with this much time to produce and edit, the end product would be shining example of a fine show. However, this was a poor finish, and that is a shame.

And one week after this is released, the sister-show, Stargate Atlantis, is announced to not be picked up for a sixth season. This movie killed Stargate, and it was badly made and badly written. That is a bad result.

Driving Theory Test

To cut a long story short, I passed with flying colours.

Now for the long story. I have, in the last month or so, started to have a go at learning to drive. The stuff that I thought would be hard, not hitting other cars for example, is easy. The stuff that is hard is the stuff that looked easy. Stopping in the right place at traffic lights for example, without braking in too judderish a fashion, and being able to move off at the right time, without stalling. That looked easy when my Dad did it.

Anyhoo, the sensible thing to do seemed to be to get the driving theory out of the way, and then focus on the lessons once I was done with that. So I spent the flight home looking over the highway code, and the few days since I got back looking at the past questions, in order to be ready for this exam.

But I was depressed. The hazard perception section of the test is one of the worst point-and-click reaction tests ever designed. It does not function properly, and I knew it would make me fail. That was not a good confidence boost.

So anyway, tearing my hair out, I sat on the tube and went all the way out to Uxbridge, where the testing centre is. I passed Wembley stadium on the way, which is one of my favourite buildings ever. While on the tube I looked over past questions, and this is the most important bit of the revision. Those past questions saved me!

So I got there, and it was cold. I found my way to the testing centre without getting lost, which I think is a grand achievement. I went in, waited in a line, and was sent to a computer, where they used a touch screen to get me to answer multiple choice questions. Now, you get given a lot of time, so I took it slow. This was a good decision.

The hazard perception part sucked. But I passed. The belief that saved me was, "if in doubt, click."

The I filled in a questionnaire pleasantly, for good luck, and was given my results. The first words were "congratulations", and that was all I needed. And so I got myself a burger and a magazine and was happy. Now all I can do is pray that my new found success carries on into my A-Level results.

Gulp.

Monday 11 August 2008

Tunisia

That was a fun holiday. It was nice to spend some time with family, which led to many humourous anecdotes, such as upward swimming and magnetic dinner knives.

I was free. Free, to not have to worry about any other stuff, like the football or the TV. That said, I did miss the TV, and every day I was itching to find out what was happening in the football transfer-market.

Also, Tunisia is hot.