Hectic

Am.Currently.Busy.Doing.Tripos.Questions.

The good news is... come this day next week I'll be free. Can't wait.

Yaz.

Oooo, another one!

Well, well, what do we have here? Looks like I’ve been missing out a lot before by not going to second-hand bookstores. This time, I found the book in an OXFAM shop in Cambridge. It costs only 99p! Granted, it’s hardcover but still, that’s a far call from the original price of £20.00. Even in Malaysia, I doubt that you can find it that cheap. He he, now my Wheel of Time collection is up to date.

Yaz.

Look what I found…

… in Galloway and Porter:

They’re just £1.00 each! I haven’t actually been into the bookshop much before because each time I went in, there’ll be a lot of people and it’ll be crowded and I couldn’t browse easily. But the other day I went in when it’s quiet and I found three of Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series, which is on my to-buy list even though I’ve read them. Unfortunately they don’t have The Eyre Affair or it would have completed the collection. Still, a bargain’s a bargain.

My revision’s doing well, I think, and I’m currently in the middle of it. Should be time enough to finish it and do some tripos paper questions. My gaming also went well, he he, and I’ve just finished the 2^nd disk in Final Fantasy IX. You know I’m gonna kick myself all over this if I fail.

Yaz.

Not Wise

It is not wise to design a heat exchanger that resembles a can of shoe polish or a strand of spaghetti (warning from my supervisor).

It is not wise to do a two-month project in two days (I really want to say this to someone).

It is not wise to always expect a sunny day in May in the UK.

It is not wise to tickle a sleeping dragon.

It is not wise to start an RPG game with only three weeks left for the exam (Final Fantasy IX, none the less).

Can’t help it, though.

Yaz.

Revising

Hello again. Finally (and after more than a week of not updating) I’m free from the evil clutches of this thing called the heat exchanger design project. I can honestly say that I haven’t done my best but, bah, who cares? It was good enough and I have better things to do anyway.

Speaking of which, I think those supervisors that assign us with lots of work to do this time around should be shot. It’s so close to my exams and those works interferes with my revision. Some people might say that those counts as revision in themselves but I prefer my revision to be organised and at my pace.

Microsoft conspires with my laptop today to annoy me. I’ve specifically told my computer to notify me for automatic updates and not just download it automatically (which ironically will defy its name) but today despite the setting it started downloading anyway and it irritates the hell out of me. Imagine sitting in front of your computer for half an hour without being able to do anything. Good thing I decided to go out and circle the city of Cambridge while waiting instead of punching a hole through the monitor.

Until then,

Yaz.

The New Term

Ho ho ho. I’m back! Sorry for people who have been religiously checking these pages for the wait (yeah, right, like I have more than a few regular visitors). It had been quite busy, but the strange thing is, I felt kinda happy. Maybe it’s because I can see myself finishing the laborious heat exchanger design project that I’ve been working on, or maybe because I basically have the whole of June free to do whatever I want, or maybe I have just now realised what a closed-knit and friendly department I have, which is evident from the fact that I can go to almost everybody and start a discussion about the project. Whatever the reason, it’s probably a good thing since it makes me not too stressed on the upcoming exam.

We, as in the chemical engineers, have a two-week term after the Easter break. Some people, like the mathmos or the medics, practically don’t have anything left that they have to attend. Not that it’s so bad for us. Half of our lectures this term are actually soft skills talk, in which the department invited people from different companies to give talks about things like team building, leadership, interview skills and the like. It was kinda fun. One of them asked us for an example in which we have lead a team to achieve a desired goal, and somebody answered ‘Championship Manager’. Another asked about instances in which we are involved in a team. “What about study groups?” he asked. We looked at each other for a few seconds and laughed.

A funny thing happened today. I met a friend from the department on my way to Sainsbury’s (I don’t think he remembers my name, so he called me ‘smiler’, which is a nick that he and his other friend came out with, though I really don’t think I smiled that much). We were browsing the food in Sainsbury’s when another friend called me on my mobile asking about the heat exchanger project. Since my friend who’s with me was more ahead in the project, I let him answer it. We must look pretty weird being in a supermarket passing a phone back and forth talking about pipes and flows. Then again, I suppose it’s not very weird in Cambridge. The elderly people you passed on the street might turn out to be famous fellows or professors, you never know.

Yaz