Journal – January-March 2003

Welcome to my next instalment of journal entries. I’ve combined the first few months of the year here, as they haven’t been particularly eventful, so the entries are fairly short. I’ve continued to buy some nice things to keep myself entertained though, and I’ve got some more results for my university work, plus there are a couple of other notable events (one good, one not so good). So I hope you enjoy looking through it all!

Wednesday January 1, 2003

Happy New Year!

Another year has begun, and no doubt this will go as quickly as the last. I stayed in with Mum, Dad and Nan last night, watching Jools Holland’s Hootenanny on BBC2 as it was the only decent thing on. We didn’t like all the acts, but some were good. I haven’t made any special New Year’s resolutions, only to try my best in whatever I do and to be happy. And I’ve still got one and a half weeks of my holiday left before I go back to uni, which is good.

Friday January 10, 2003

Not much has been happening since my my last entry. Nan went back home earlier this week and I’ve done some studying. I’m back to uni next Monday though. But it’s not too bad – I get 2 weeks of uni, then a study week, then another 7 weeks of term before Easter. A study week is a week without any lectures, but anybody who has exams at this time of year has them during that week. I’ve got my Information Systems exam on the Tuesday (28th) at 9:30. It shouldn’t go too bad, I’ve got plenty of things I can use to revise.

I met up with my best mate again today, so that was good. I also got a couple of PlayStation 2 magazines. And I got series 2-4 of The Professionals on DVD. I got my dad series 1 for Christmas, but I’ve seen those episodes now and I’m hooked, it’s a great show. So we now have all of those.

Monday January 13, 2003

Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees sadly died yesterday, he was only in his 50s. I only know a few of their songs, but they are good. I saw the Gibb brothers on TV this morning talking about him. They obviously miss him a lot, but they say the Bee Gees will go on.

I went back to uni today, so there isn’t much to report there as it’s the same as ever.

Saturday January 18, 2003

Uni’s going well as usual, and I’m still doing bits of revision for the Information Systems exam soon. Apart from that, people are going mad over the next Harry Potter book (Order Of The Phoenix). It’s not out until June but it’s already becoming a best seller from pre-orders alone! I’ve never read a Harry Potter book, but I might one day, as I know there are many adults who like it.

Tuesday January 28, 2003

I had my Information Systems exam this morning at 9:30 for 2 and a half hours. I think it went ok, I managed to type 7 pages for 3 questions. Because I have a sight problem, I’m allowed to use a word processor for my answers, and I get a bit of extra time too, which really helps.

Sunday February 2, 2003

I must express my sympathies to the American and Israeli people today. The space shuttle Columbia exploded into a fireball during its return to earth. Travelling at many times the speed of sound, the astronauts (all 7 of them, including the first Israeli to go to space) had no chance of surviving.

It exploded over Texas – only a little while longer and it would have landed at Cape Canaveral. Mission Control were talking to the crew, who had reported a few minor problems, then they lost contact, and shortly afterwards it came down. Parts of the shuttle have been spread over hundreds of miles. For instance, one bit landed near some horses, another piece near a road (miraculously it didn’t hit any cars) and another in a person’s office (how scary is that?!).

The cause isn’t yet known, but NASA have suspended all future missions while they carry out an investigation, which could take a long time, so I hope they’re able to figure it out, for the sake of the victims’ families.

Tuesday February 4, 2003

I’m back to uni as normal now for about 7 weeks. So far, nothing special to report there, although there’s a Management Accounting case study coming up (we get the marks back for our essay for that module next week).

I bought a couple of PlayStation 2 magazines yesterday, and I bought 3 CDs:

• The Best One Hit Wonders In The World… Ever! – There’s quite a few good tracks on here, as well as a few awful ones of course!
• Friends Reunited: The 80’s – Yep, they’ve done a CD too, following in the steps of SchoolDisco.com obviously. Good 80s tracks on here though, and some I don’t know.
• Funkin’ 80s – Some tracks on here I haven’t got too. The 80s were better than the music we have now, that’s for sure.

Thursday February 6, 2003

I started a new module today (to replace Information Systems, as I did the exam for that last week). This new module is Audit, which might be interesting, although the first lecture wasn’t too exciting. It doesn’t sound too bad though. And the CDs I bought were good, as I expected.

Wednesday February 12, 2003

There’s still not much going on at the moment. My studies are going fine as usual. I did buy Red Dwarf – Series 2 on DVD on Monday though, and I’m enjoying that.

Friday February 21, 2003

I got my Information Systems coursework mark today – 62%! That’s worth 20% of the overall module mark, so I’ve got a minimum mark of 12.4%, plus whatever I get for the exam (hopefully we’ll get the result for that soon).

Audit, the newest module on my course, is not as interesting as I’d hoped, but it’s ok I guess. It’s the most boring of the 4 I’m doing though. There’s a lot of reading in the textbook. I reckon I’ll be ok in the exam, it’s just not a very interesting subject.

I also bought Series 5 of Minder on DVD this week, so I’m looking forward to watching that.

Monday February 24, 2003

I’m getting a bit busier at uni now, it always does around this time of year. There’s 2 group projects I’m involved in and there’s a big project for Financial Accounting too that involves consolidated accounts. If you don’t know what they are – don’t worry! They’re quite difficult! Still, there’s plenty in the textbooks and handouts to help with it all, it shouldn’t be a problem.

Travelling to uni was a bit more peaceful today – it’s half term for the schools, so kids piling onto my train in the morning, woohoo! It makes the town centre a bit more crowded though, but I’m used to crowds, so it’s fine.

Wednesday March 5, 2003

Uni’s still busy as usual. I got another mark yesterday. This time it’s for an essay I did for Management Accounting – 70%. That counts 10% towards that module, so I’ve got a 7% mark already. That may not sound like much, but it helps. That and the mark for the Information Systems essay have got me off to a good start.

Monday March 10, 2003

I’m back from uni early today, really early. In fact it’s only 10:50am my time. I usually have a lecture at 9:00am, but I went all the way in by train and got there to find out that it was cancelled! Don’t you just hate it when that happens? So I’ve come home again, and will get another train this afternoon for my 3pm lecture. So I get a few hours at home now.

Next Monday will also be short, because there’s no morning lecture then either. Although it’s intentional then, whereas I don’t think it was today. Next week we’re doing a presentation as part of a small group project and the mark from that project goes towards the mark for Management Accounting (the lecture that was cancelled today).

Only 2 weeks left of term, and it’s going to be fairly busy. Thankfully, though, I’m up to date and I don’t think I’m going to need to rush everything at the last minute. I’ve been planning what revision I need to do over Easter too, there’s quite a bit, although it shouldn’t be a problem over 5 weeks.

Tuesday March 11, 2003

Today I went to a careers workshop for students with disabilities, which was useful. I’ve got some leaflets and stuff to read, so that’s good. I also got 2 CDs today, both double-disc sets – the Greatest Hits of Led Zeppelin and The Clash. I’ve got no Led Zeppelin songs elsewhere in my CD collection, so I’m glad I’ve got some of their stuff at last. I’m playing them now in fact, and so far so good. Many of their tracks are quite long. The classic Stairway To Heaven is 8 minutes, and there are a few 6 minute tracks and even a 10 minute one. So there’s plenty to listen to!

Saturday March 15, 2003

Comic Relief has come around again. For those who don’t know, it’s a charity event that happens every 2 years to raise money for good causes in the UK and Africa. It’s called Comic Relief because people are encouraged to do silly things to raise money. 

This year’s theme is the Big Hair Do, meaning people can have their hair done in a silly style or colour to raise money. People buy Red Nose related things too (not just the red noses themselves, but air fresheners, stickers, t-shirts, etc with the Red Nose logo on). Some people also do silly stunts including sitting in a bath of baked beans! Strange I know, but it all helps to raise money. The silliest thing I ever did for Comic Relief was at my boarding school one year, when I agreed to wear a school skirt instead of trousers to breakfast in the main dining room. That was a long time ago, and thankfully there are no photos of it!

Anyway, the Comic Relief appeal reaches its peak on Red Nose Day, in a 7-hour telethon on BBC1, which was last night, and it was good fun. The money raised during the telethon isn’t the final total for the current year’s appeal, but it is a huge chunk of it. Put it this way, last time they got £25 million on the night and that grew to £55 million in the end! And now take a look at the total by the end of last night: £35,174,798! They’ve never broken £30 million on the night, so they’ve set a new record for themselves.

Apart from that, I’ve just got 1 week left at uni. There’s a presentation to be done on Monday, and a couple of things to be handed in during the week, but I’m up to date with everything so it won’t be a problem.

Monday March 17, 2003

We had to do a group presentation today for Management Accounting. It went well, and was over fairly quickly. We need to finish putting the written report together by Friday, so that’s plenty of time. We didn’t have any lectures today, only that presentation, which was good too.

Friday March 21, 2003

It’s the end of term, so I’ve now got 5 weeks off! That’s good, although the holidays will be mainly used to revise of course. Still, it is a break, and I’ll try not to overload myself with work.

I’ve had another couple of results yesterday and today (my Information Systems exam and my Taxation essay). So the results I have so far this year are:

• Taxation Essay – 67% (worth 20% so approx. 13.4% of module mark)
• Management Accounting Essay – 70% (worth 10% so approx. 7% of module mark)
• Information Systems Essay – 62% (worth 20% so approx. 12.4% of module mark)
• Information Systems Exam – 67% (worth 80% so approx. 53.6% of module mark)

That means I’ve got all my results for Information Systems, so the overall mark for that module works out as 66% by my calculations (which is a 2:1 in uni speak). So I’m happy with that, and also with the other results.

Wednesday March 26, 2003

After a couple of days revising, I decided to have yesterday and today off, as me and my parents went and did some shopping (my Dad’s on his holiday too right now). I’ll get back on to revision over the next few days, then have another break. It wouldn’t be a holiday if I didn’t relax sometimes, would it?

We had a good trip. Mum and dad got some clothes and food mainly. I got a couple of PS2 magazines, plus DVDs of Series 1 & 2 of Keeping Up Appearances and Queen’s Made In Heaven films. The latter is the films made to go with songs on the Made In Heaven album. As Freddie had passed away, they decided to do something different and asked the British Film Institute to get people to make short films for the songs. I haven’t watched the DVD yet, so I can’t comment on it, although I know one or two of the videos already.

The other interesting item we got was a digital radio. They’ve been hard to get hold of, but we finally found one. It’s good and we can get quite a lot of stations (15 as I write), including:

• BBC Local Radio
• Classic (same as Classic FM)
• Classic Gold (same as on MW)
• Core
• Gemini (local station, same as Gemini FM)
• Kiss
• Life
• Oneword (Spoken word)
• Passion
• Planet Rock (It does rock, trust me!)
• PrimeTime (Easy listening)
• SBN (Student radio)
• The Storm
• TalkSport
• Virgin (same as on MW)

Most of those stations are obvious, the ones I haven’t made any comment for are mainly pop music, except TalkSport. I’m listening to Planet Rock right now, and it’s a great station, worth the DAB set on its own to be honest. The only thing I find strange is that I can’t get BBC Radios 1-5, and they’re national like some of the others above! Oh well, it’s not important, I expect we’ll get them eventually!