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| Sunday, April 29, 2007 |
| No Shit! |
Your Taste in Music:
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90's Alternative: Highest Influence
80's Pop: Low Influence
80's R&B: Low Influence
80's Rock: Low Influence
90's Hip Hop: Low Influence
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Labels: music |
posted by korova @ 2:59 pm  |
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| Thursday, April 19, 2007 |
| A New Chapter Has Begun....... |
Hello!! I'm back in the land of blogs!! Yay to that! What a week I have had as well!! I don't know where to start describing the many wide and varied events of the past few days! Well, I'm sure I will find a beginning......
I know this is going to sound more than a little sappy, but I once more felt like I belonged somewhere. I have always felt comfortable in academic surroundings, it just seems to feel right to me. It's kinda weird though. Being out of the 'academic world' for so long (nearly 10 years!!), you start to feel like you are regressing back to the days before you commenced your first degree - at least, that's how I felt. You begin to convince yourself that you are actually not very clever at all and are only just higher than wood lice on the evolutionary scale. It came as quite a surprise to find that I wasn't out of my depth after all. Lecturers and students nodded with approval on the rare occasions I managed to contribute - aahhh, the warm feeling of acceptance.
Having said that, it is still very easy to feel a bit despondent by the experience. As always, there was a small group who decided to play the old 'alpha-male' trick. Dominating lectures and questioning the lecturer's arguments in an attempt to make them look superior. Initially, I thought I was the only one who hated their behaviour. Right from Day 1, I had their cards marked as typical competitive students. As the week progressed I discovered, luckily, that everyone else hated them too. This discovery came at around the time I wrote the word 'C**T' on my notes when one of them came up with a typically pedantic question. A guy behind spotted it and laughed out loud before expressing his contempt as well (luckily!!). By and large I tend to ignore people like that. I am never too concerned about other people's backgrounds and apparent superiority. Nine times out of ten, they end up exposing their stupidity, rather than the other way around. Still, they were DEFINITELY 'C**TS'.
Still, other aspects perked me up no end. Now, I know this is wrong, I'm married and I shouldn't be looking at other women, but I'm only human, so I did (sorry!). One girl in particular caught my roving eye (sorry!). She was stunningly beautiful. She came from the Middle East and she was almost flawless. Dark hair, tanned skin, dark eyes, gorgeous (although, of course, marginally less beautiful than my wife). Well, we kind of had a running joke about me chasing this girl during the course of the week, but I hardly exchanged words with her at all. And then, just when I thought the moment had passed, I bumped into her in the library the day before we were due to leave. I struck up a pretty unexciting conversation about travelling home and what-not, the kind of conversation that just kills time to save embarrassment, when she said something that struck me dumb. She asked me if I had ever been to her country, I replied 'no' and, before I knew it, she invited me over there to stay whenever I wanted!! My initial thought?? SHIT!!! Of course, I would never take up the offer, but where the hell did that come from???? I know nothing was meant by it (I understand that they are very hospitable people), but it was still a little disconcerting for a Westerner. I guess I better not tell the wife!!
Then, on top of everything else, I managed to wind up a couple of our tutors on the final night. The university had arranged a pub quiz for the evening, so we couldn't resist the opportunity to show off our (lack) of knowledge. We ended up next to the lecturers which meant that, at the end of every round, we would have to make their papers (a funny little twist of fate!). Much to the shock of my team-mates, I decided to taunt our rivals (our rivals that will decide my fate on the course I hasten to add). On the first occasion I wrote the words:
'CHEATS'
at the top of their page. A risky thing to write for sure, but we were behind them and they deserved it! I decided to tone it down on the next sheet and wrote (with a smiley face):
Only joking (please don't fail me!!)
Thankfully they seemed to see the funny side, but then I decided to taunt them again on the last round with a hefty:
HA! HA!
Did someone say 'line', 'cross', 'do not'??? The beauty was, my tactics worked!! My decision to resort to intimidation drew us level with the lecturers, after being well behind! Who would have thought mind games would be so much fun??! However, I did get concerned that I was going to get shit marks on my assignments so I did decide to check with one of the members of staff that they are marked anonymously. They are. PHEW!!! Note to self: wind up the lecturers at the end of the course, not the beginning!
Anyway, I guess I will share more of my experiences over time (if I have any now I am starting a Masters) so prepare for more boredom in the near future (hey, at least I have posted here, ok???!!!). |
| posted by korova @ 5:42 pm |
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| Friday, April 13, 2007 |
| Off to Study.... |
| I won't be posting anything until next Friday as I am away at university preparing for my Masters. Mask will still be operating under the watchful eye of Rickb of Ten Percent, so keep reading. See ya soon....... Labels: Blogging, Masters, Ten Percent |
| posted by korova @ 9:48 pm |
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| Tuesday, April 10, 2007 |
| A Nice Little Surprise.... |
Something must be wrong. There's definitely something not right here. Two posts in a matter of days in what many consider to be the blogging equivalent of second-class post. Well, actually I am here to blow my own trumpet. I was rather chuffed this morning to discover that Mask of Anarchy has been nominated as 'Best Political Blog', which was a bit of a shock to say the least. I don't fancy my chances of winning anything (or even gaining more than 1 vote - and that would be me!), but it's kinda cool anyway. I guess if nothing else it gives a little bit of free publicity, which is a good thing, right?
Anyway, thanks to all of you that have been reading my political musings over the past 18 months, it has been a lot of fun so far. I will be off to university again on Sunday to begin working on my Masters, so blogging might decline a great deal. I already have another fantastic contributor in RickB at Ten Percent, who will be blogging in my absence, so things will continue to chug along nicely. Of course, this doesn't mean the end of my blogging, just a reduction as my focus shifts to my studies. Anyway, I might convince my fellow students that we should have a blog to accompany our course. This blogging thing is addictive! Labels: Awards, Blogging, Masters, Ten Percent |
| posted by korova @ 3:07 pm |
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| Sunday, April 08, 2007 |
| Egg-cellent |
So it's Easter. Doesn't mean much to me. Of course, I still bought my wife a little Easter surprise but I wasn't expecting anything in return. Typically, she surprised me this morning and actually gave me a chocolate egg. Fortunately, it was an organic chocolate egg (she knows me so well!!), but it left me feeling a little awkward. Of course I accepted it graciously, but it niggled away at me. This is just commercial. It means nothing else other than a nice piece of (organic) chocolate to munch on.
It's difficult to know what to do. After all, Easter eggs are just part of a marketing campaign by the chocolate companies. One of my sisters asked me the other day what the point of giving an Easter egg is, what does it represent? To be honest, I haven't got a clue. I fed her some crap about it representing the resurrection of Christ (what with the egg signifying birth and all that) and she seemed to buy it (my reputation as font of all knowledge is intact!!). According to Wikipedia:
In Christian times the egg had bestowed upon it a religious interpretation, becoming a symbol of the rock tomb out of which Christ emerged to the new life of His resurrection. It can also represent the darkness inside the tomb inside a hollow egg. Over the years it progressed that the egg, representing spring and fertility, would be merged into an already pagan springtime festival. Connecting this symbol to Christ’s Resurrection in the spring required much creativity and human reasoning.
So I was close. Either that, or someone else has been bluffing and posted it as an entry on Wikipedia.
Sadly, I am destined to always have to acknowledge Easter (it would be a bit harsh to ignore it when you are married to a Christian). However, not all commercial days are the same. I have agreed with my wife that Mother's and Father's Days will not be observed when we start pro-creating (oh, sounds so romantic, eh?). Which I take as a particularly satisfying victory. After all, they are probably the most pointless celebrations in the entire calender. Well, unless you count Administrative Professionals Day® that is (April 25th this year if you had forgotten).
While I'm here, I have an opportunity to share a couple of photos from a recent trip to London. I took my wife to see Chicago in the West End for her birthday recently. I actually hate musicals, but we had a good time (and the female lead was pretty hot!!) and the weather was great which always helps!
 Labels: chicago, chocolate, easter, london, musicals, Photos, pointless celebrations |
| posted by korova @ 4:59 pm |
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