Journal – April 2002

Here’s my next instalment of journal entries. This month I got the result for my latest group project, enjoyed a lot of Queen’s music, bought various comedy DVDs, and watched the Queen Mother’s funeral on TV, among other things. so I hope you enjoy!

Friday April 5, 2002

This morning I watched the procession in London where they took the Queen Mother’s coffin to Westminster Abbey so it can lie in state until Monday evening. Lying in state means the public can go in and pay their respects. It’s being guarded day and night under tight security. It was a great procession, and very sombre sometimes, and just shows how much she meant to the country. An historic event I have witnessed, certainly.

Sunday April 7, 2002

Today is hot and sunny again, don’t know how long this will last. Right now I’m listening to the Beatles album 1 (27 number one songs).

Monday April 8, 2002

I’m very happy. I went to meet a friend in town today and ended up treating myself. I bought 3 magazines, which won’t interest anybody. More importantly, I got 2 DVD’s (Bottom Live 3 and Harry Hill Live at the London Palladium).

More important than all that, I bought 3 Queen albums: The Miracle, A Day At The Races and Made in Heaven. I’m currently on The Miracle, and it’s awesome. The bonus 12″ version of The Invisible Man is very good. Made in Heaven is supposed to have a hidden track, I’ll let you know in a second if I find it, I want to let this Invisible Man finish first.

While we wait, if there are any Queen fans out there just with the Greatest Hits albums, get the proper albums too. Some of the tracks are longer or unedited on the albums. So far, I’ve noticed Fat Bottomed Girls is slightly longer, One Vision is its full length on its album (A Kind Of Magic), plus there is an alternate version of A Kind Of Magic on that album, an instrumental of Who Wants To Live Forever and an extended version of Friends Will Be Friends. I Want It All is in its complete form on The Miracle too. So the albums do have merits over Greatest Hits compilations, but they are cool anyway.

Nearly there…YES! There is a hidden track on Made In Heaven! Woohoo! Well, there are 2. It just came up on my CD player as tracks 12 and 13, when only 11 are listed. Track 12 is Freddie saying Yeah, while Track 13 is nearly 23 minutes long, so I’ll let you know what that’s like!

Tuesday April 9, 2002

I watched the Queen Mother’s funeral today, it was very good. And those Queen albums I mentioned yesterday are awesome. Track 13 on Made In Heaven is 22 and a half minutes long, and is a lovely relaxing instrumental piece. Why it’s there, I don’t know. But it is beautiful. Other than that, nothing else to report really. I’m just glad I got those albums. Queen rule!

Saturday April 13, 2002

Ok, it’s the weekend. London Marathon tomorrow. Today we’ve been having a new boiler installed, by a guy who’s done a lot of building work for us. He did the loft conversion I’m in now. He ain’t no cowboy builder, that’s for sure.

Monday April 15, 2002

One more Queen album in my collection – The Works. Very good, as usual. I’ve nearly got all their albums now. Just The Game and Flash Gordon left to get I think. Plus, I got the new Hank Marvin CD – Guitar Player. Plus, I got some DVDs to keep me going over my final week: Bottom Live 1 & 2 (to replace the copied video versions I had, I’ve already got 3 & 4 on DVD) and – after months of trying to find them – a 2 disc set of both Hotshots films! Classic films, but I’ve only just found them on DVD, even though they’ve been out for ages.

Tuesday April 16, 2002

The CDs I bought yesterday were brill, the new Hank Marvin CD is very good, it got to number 10 in the album charts, which isn’t bad.

Saturday April 20, 2002

I’m nearly at the end of my holiday, but thankfully I’m only at uni for 3 days next week, as for various reasons I don’t have to be in on Monday or Friday. Woohoo! Studying’s going ok too. Other that I’m enjoying the chance to be lazy before work starts again. Bye for now.

Monday April 22, 2002

Back to uni tomorrow. Oh well. Today I bought another couple of Queen CDs – The Game and Flash Gordon. The Game in particular is very good, as usual. They’re the last ones I need, so I’ve completed my Queen collection, unless anyone knows any better. I’ve got all the albums, including Greatest Hits 1, 2 and 3, plus some videos too (Box Of Flix, Greatest Flix 3, Live at Wembley ’86 and the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert).

I’ve been invited by my friend from my old college if I wanted to go to an ABBA tribute concert with them on Tuesday May 7th, so I said yes. Should be fun. If I can see an awesome Queen tribute band, I think someone else can do ABBA well too.

I’ve got the wedding reception for another of my friends on May 18th. Then I’ve got exams at the end of May and during the beginning of June (4 in all) so it’s a busy few weeks coming soon. This week is only short, Tuesday-Thursday, so it’s not too bad. Bye for now.

Tuesday April 23, 2002

Well, somehow I’ve done it again, although this time it was a group effort. Our group project for accounting proved successful. I don’t know what the other members got (I’m not sure if we all get the same mark each or if it’s spread out depending on how much each does) but I got 88%!

Here, for anyone who is remotely interested, and mainly for my reference too, is how I stand before the forthcoming exams. To go on to next year, I need to pass in every single module shown here. A pass is 40%, but obviously I would much rather get higher than that. That may sound easy, but I have to get 40% in every individual exam/project too (it will then average out to 40%), otherwise there could be problems.

Business Law

I took this in the first semester and got 76%. That’s all I had to do, so I passed that well.

Statistics

First exam (Jan): 40

There were 60 questions (some with more than 1 right answer). +1 for right, -1 for wrong, 0 for no answer (it prevents guesswork, it’s safer to pass).

Any mark above 40 was rounded down to 40. It means, basically, that I have got 40% done already as it counts for that much of the course. So I’ve technically passed-ish. Remember I still have to get 40% in the next exam though.

Accounting

The first exam counts 25% towards the overall mark, the group project 20% and the summer exam 55%. So here are the marks I have so far, and what they mean overall:

• First exam: 62% –> 15.5%
• Group project: 88% –> 17.6%
• Total so far: 33.1%

I need 40% in the next exam at least. That would give me a 22% boost, taking me to 55.1% overall. But obviously I want better than that.

Management Concepts and Practices

Arguably the most boring of all the modules this year (there always has to be one, I guess), this is marked on a group project (weighed at 40% overall) and the summer exam (the other 60%). I haven’t done either of these yet. I’m not looking forward to the exam, but I’ll do my best.

Computer Skills For Social Studies

Seems easy, but I haven’t got a clue (nor has anyone else) about the results. This was completed a while ago too. We’ll find out eventually, I’m not too worried about it.

Ok, that was very boring I know, but it’s something I can refer to even if nobody else is interested. Overall, it looks promising *crosses fingers* Bye for now.