Friday, December 14, 2007

Since the last post...

Much has happened since I last posted. I hope I can recall them all.

  • I had a group report and presentation to participate in. My group initially had 5, then the Costa Rican dude went home leaving four. Then priorities took another member leaving 3. I think we did well enough.
  • Two days after I had my first exam. Went well (I suppose an A could count as such)
  • I spoke to one of the lecturers for a course and found out that a group failed a group project (which I realised could potentially mean they failed the course). I had a hard time forgetting that bit and only mentioned it to a few people. We decided to not freak anyone out and made a pact to keep it to ourselves. Of course we didn't know which group had failed.
  • Had a rather unsuccessful study session on Sat following exam. Weekend was somewhat similar- not focused and could not get much work done.
  • Week of studying by myself and with a friend online (which was really helpful and cool)
  • Second exam was...ahm...interesting. I found out 2 days before the exam how the structure was going to be and I only found out because I emailed and asked. Apparently it was not on the main agenda to inform students. I should also mention that the response had the whole class in a "What the...?!?!" frame of mind. 8 questions in 3 hours...hmmm. I have no idea how he marks so I really hope and I pray I got another A.
  • After 2nd exam, I decided to get my grade for the course where the group had failed (only because a member of my group got an A so I was confident it was not our group). I got an A too... but it was bitter sweet seeing that others passed but failed the course because of the project they failed.
  • Third exam was sweet (I hope). I could have done more or less all 6 questions on the paper though I was required to do 3. I ended up doing my 3 questions in 2 hours (exam is supposed to be for 3 hours). For the first time in history I left an exam this early (and I was also the first one to leave) and still felt somewhat confident I passed. I wanted to put some ease to my mind so I went to the lecturer and told him what I did, so I aint worried at all now.
  • Went to town with some friends (classmates) and walked with them as they shopped. Got home late, but didn't stay long because I went over to some friends apartment to lyme. Really cool end to the semester.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Bim's Independence Weekend

This has been an eventful weekend for me. And it begins on Thurs, Nov 29...

Thurs: This is the day of our GIS field trip. We went to Farley Hill on the UWI bus, but on the way we stopped and got pizzas; we also bonded with classmates. Being at Farley Hill was really nice- the view and the weather and the company. We ate and took GPS coordinates with our machines (borrowed). We spent a total of about 2-3 hours on the road.




We went back to school to put our data in a format that can be used in GIS. We opted to use Access and import the data to ArcMap. And my group was the first successful group to do it! So as we waited for the other groups to finish so we could combine data, we realise that the earth was shaking. It took a little while for me to figure out what was really happening but when I did, adrenaline kicked in and my heart started to race. It had help from one single fact- I was on the bottom floor with 2 floors above and aint no way I was gonna go under a desk! I grabbed my bag and headed for the emergency exit (which wasn't far thank God). Outside, I had a hard time determing what was earth shaking and me shaking separately.

I decided I aint going back into that building that day, so I told all bye and was gonna walk home. On the way, I had a headache, so opted to take the bus. So happens that there was traffic blocked up at one point so I got off and had to walk a rather long distance. I was not amused but spoke to God and asked him to keep me calm and I walked and listened to some gospel music on my music player thingum.

Home was nice to be. A nice warm shower and a bed will help any bad feelings.

Fri: Today is 41 years of independence for Bim. I woke up and watched a cartoon. Then attempted work. I was invited to a bbq so left home about 4 to go. It was interesting. Started out coughing like crazy because of the smoke. Had to almost run from that area and go elsewhere. Food was good. Entertainment was interesting- it was songs of ole done my youths and then a "fashion show". I was kinda not amused that I was there as long as I was and was feeling VERY anti-social and really just wanted to be home. But I stuck it out (like I had a choice) and got home around 10 pm.

Sat: I woke up early to head to school for 10. Group project time! Got there about 10 min late because it was extremely difficult to get up out of bed. We worked. Idled. Worked. Ate. Worked. Idled. Worked. Left. Then I walked home with 2 friends. Came home and watch The Little Mermaid [sniff]. Nice story. Wanna see it again. I think I did some work after as well. Yeah...I did.

Sun: Set my alarm for 7:30 because my understanding was I was gonna be picked up at 8:30. It seems there was a glitch in communication and church was starting at 8:30, so I saw the text when I got up at 7:30 and had to rush to get ready. Did not get to eat much (I doubt 1 slice of bread is much). Church was longer than I anticipated. I really need to work on my waiting skills.
Got home just in time for dinner. Yay! Real food. I did some work, then slept for about 3 hours (1.5 hours longer than I prob should have). Got up and did work, ate again, did work, downloaded music (legally), and watched tv. Then went back to work.

Weekend over! Tomorrow is our Christmas party at school so looking forward to that. This is gonna be an interesting week since I have group work to finish, exam to study for (for Fri), and group presentation (which I hate...seems I hate giving public anything). Thank God for blessings beyond measure. After all, the weekend could have been WAY worse.