Lecturers though smart really have no idea how to operate technology.

I fully understand that he/she is only a statistics lecturer, but seriously how hard is it to get the microphone to work. I'm not really listening anyway, it's a topic that I know already. I'm not 100% confident about confidence intervals but I know enough to tune out. I really don't recommend tuning out in your lectures, it quite easily leads to failure.

One does come out of daydreaming when the lecturer actually says something useful or they stop talking, something that only happens when the lecture is over or something has gone wrong with the technology. The joys of modern technology. We no longer have to actually listen, one can just download a lecture from the web. That is only applicable when your lecturer is actually living in this century, unlike my current math lecturer.

I'm not exactly tuning out at present, I'm just preocupied in this blog. But statistics is boring 90% of the time and when one actually knows what's going on then one can have the luxury of bloggin and chatting on facebook of course. Being a female multitasking is natural.... Blogging, chatting and learning about "Determining Suitable Sample Size when estimating a population proportion."

ok I think I need to start tuning in again there is only 15 minutes left, and my battery is slowly dying.

What I like to call death week.

Death Week, is a term that refers to the week from hell. That week where you are sure that by the end of it you are going to be dead. It's one of those horrific weeks where you think that the world is against you and you're in a living hell.

Nothing about these weeks are ever easy, in fact they are anything but. Right here right now I am having a death week. I have begun the decent into living hell and am unlikely to return and be reincarnated into the normal world until at least the end of the week. Death week is just a right royal pain in the butt. But unfortunately due to the stucture of university they become a regular occurance.

Essentially(my word for the day), it is one of those weeks where you have more than one assignment due and more than one test. For me I have.....
A Calculus test
A practical test for computer programming
A weekly calculus assignment due
A 1800 word religious studies essay due
A weekly statistics assignment due
and to top it all off
the weekly lab practical that is due.
SO basically besides the two tests I have 4 assignments all due this friday and today is Tuesday. Most of tonight is out all thanks to my Calculus lecturer deciding that the calculus test should be in the evening. Be warned people. If you don't live on campus and don't own a car or motorcycle you are screwed. Evening tests require a little prior planning when it comes to getting home. I had to smile and bat my eyes at a mate so that he can come and pick me up after the test. I hate relying on other people.

Ok, so basically what we all know but try to avoid thinking about and acting on are all those tests that are on and all those assignments due all within a couple of days of each other. But I think if I were to give you advice is take things one step at a time. Focus on the little things first before attemping the big picture.

Door handles are just for show.

The world is full of idiots. I'm not talking about the ones who do idiotic stuff like riding a motorcycle into a swimming pool, or those stupid people who qualify for the Darwin Awards. I'm talking about designers who don't think about the general population and those of us who think too logically to fully understand applications in the real world. Yes I do class myself as someone who thinks too logically. It can be my downfall somedays, but then there are others where I think with just enough logic to survive in the real world. I am an overthinker and there really isn't much that I can do about it.

In an analytical world we are in desperate need of alternative thinkers, the ones who think like the rest of us. Who test the designs and functions of the real world. Designers do not think like the rest of us. When you put a pull handle on a push door then really, what use is it for us? How are we suppose to know that it's a push door. Come on people, try and help out those of use that think in an almost overly literal sense. The world is about functionality and unfortunately due to the designers of the world not much of it includes functionality. A door needs to function in the way it should, pull when it needs to be pulled and pushed when it needs to be pushed. It is a basic rule in life, make it literal and then the world can survive.

I realise that this really doesn't read like it is related to university, but essentially it is. When universities design their wesites they like to base them on usage by staff and not us students. Most people who enter into a university degree know how to use the basic functions of a computer. But there are times where what is a logical website to the designer is illogical to the rest of us. Help us to navigate it in the way that we need not the way that you need.

So essentially what I am talking about here is doors and their lact of functionality. Every university on the planet will have at least one door that lacks its true functionality. It will pull where it needs to push. It will have the door handle on the wrong side and it won't tell you that it's stupid. Basically a door can stump even the most intelligent of us. Don't worry about looking like an idiot when you slam into a door beacuse logic says that it should push, the person behind you has done it before, or is about to do it.

My Miserable Attempt at Baking.

Here is a quick and easy recipe for what will most likely be the best chocolate brownie you will ever taste.

Microwave Brownie Delight:

Ingredients:

100 grams of butter
1cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
2 eggs
3/4 cup of flour
1/4 cup of cocoa
1 teaspoon of baking powder

1) Melt the butter in a deep, microwave safe dish(with a lid), for about a minute.

2) Add the sugar, vanilla essence and eggs. Mix until it's all combined.
3) Sift in the flour, cocoa and baking powder.
4) Gently mix it all together, till it is only just combined. DO NOT OVER MIX! It is the worst brownie if you over cook it.
5) Put the lid on the dish and microwave for 4 minutes, until the top is soft and bubbly.
6) Eat and enjoy.

My first attempt really was a disaster, the second finally looked similar to the picture. But overcooking a cake in the microwave turns it brick like, with terrible consequences. After the "brownie" had cooled down (first attempt) I was unable to even get a knife in it, it was that hard. I did try a bit when it was still warm and I could still cut it and it was only average and not that nice.

So basically DO NOT OVER MIX... and DO NOT OVERCOOK!

Hope you enjoy and have better success with your first attempt than I did.

Annoying quizzes that require answers.

They call them "quick" online quizzes. But do not be sucked in by the word "quick", because 9 times out of ten (90%, 0.9, 9/10, whichever way you want to display it statistically), they take more than a few minutes.

This latest one took me a while because our 'kind' lecturer, decided that though most of the questions were multiple-choice they would all require copious amounts of reading and statistical equations to answer. It really wasn't appreciated, but I did come out with full marks, after lots of reading, typing buttons, clicking the mouse and looking at my notes for inspiration. Whoever said statistics is dull is.... it is up for debate as to the dull status. I sit towards the dull side, but there is just enough useful and random stuff within statistics to make it kind of interesting.

Do not be fooled people, quizzes do take more time than what is suggested. It is the lecturers way of making sure that we were actually paying attention in class, which isn't very often if they are one of those monotone speakers who is very robotic and unemotional.

Late nights at the Library

Right here, right now I am in the university library studying for tomorrows test. Do not fret I am actually studying and not procrastinating by writing this blog.  It is not 5am like one of my previous posts, but 8pm. I arrived at uni at half 8 this morning and apart from a short hour at home to cook and eat dinner(very quickly, possibly too quickly), I have been nowhere but uni.

An essential part of student life is those late nights spent in the shady depths of the library. It's in no way shady where I am, but it is pretty lonely. Earlier today I struggled to find a spare desk, but now there are too many to choose from. It shows that it is only dedicated students such as myself stay late at the uni to study. But the concept/idea of me studying was once unthinkable. I was in no way studious and right now I am only just learning the skill. My mind does keep wandering from Pre-Axial phase, through the Axial Period and into the Post Axial Phase. Don't worry about that last bit, that's more for my memory than for your learning. But feel free to Google the Axial Period; Oh and it is related to the evolution of religion from the ethnic or tribal identies to a identity that is starting to take the form of a religion.

Religious studies lecture over, time to get back to my study. Be Back Soon.

Ok study session over temorarily, I need sustenance and a trip to the supermarket for such sustenance is required.

 Sustenance has been attained. I think sustenance is the right word, according to the definition on http://www.dictionary.com/ it is the right one. So anyway back to the sustenance, I have gained the likes of corn chips, dip and chocolate. All three I didn't need, but decided I needed to have, but did I really need all that junk? No probably not, but that is what you get for following your cravings. I did however remember as my mate and I were driving towards the supermarket that I needed to buy the ingredients for a brownie.

I'm not sure why I agreed to make a brownie, but I did and there is no going back. It's not like its hard to make, in fact its a real simple recipe that can only be screwed up if you cook it for too long. I just hope that it turns out. But since its in the free student magazine it should be easy. Did attempt to post a link to the recipe but unfortunately the magazine website was a little outdated and there was too much to sift through to find it.

I think I have said enough about those late nights studying. Tonight it's going to be late night at home studying I think. This is turning into one of those blah, blah, blah... epics. So, Fare thee well until next time.

How not to use a laptop in a lecture

DO NOT OPEN An UNKNOWN LINK!!!! Sure it's funny to watch them trying to close down that like that contains R-rated video footage. But what isn't funny is when the guys behind you can see the video clear as day. But hey this adds hilarity to a potential boring lecture.

I should really be paying attention right now, but to be honest, my blog has become a little addictive.

Ok back to the dramas of Bella.... right now she is absolutely terrified that the NASTY video has given her a virus.... hahahaha, I know I shouldn't laugh but her freaking out is absolutely hilarious. So is watching her attemp to close down the pop-up window containg the video.

Just a quick note... the know it all is correcting the lecturer again.

NB. Names have been changed for privacy purposes. Also she chose the name.... possibly a twilighter.... I wonder which team she's on.... Edward? or Jacob?

Sleep Deprivation, not something one wants....

Sleep deprivation is a common ailment in university life. I would be lying if I said I wasn't suffering from this. Last night was a 5am bedtime with a two hour rest in bed. Note I call it rest. There isn't anyway that I can justify calling those two hours of sleep, sleep. It was more like resting.

I created a video about sleeping in lectures, which is a common thing if one has sleep deprivation. I actually ended up doing a remake as the original was just too monotone and boring. Oh I also looked like a walking zombie, to me that is. My beloved video gives one tips on how to stay awake in a boring lecture, which after last nights sleep, I will be using my tips. My lecture isn't boring as such, it's more along the lines of tedious, and the fact that it is two hours long doesn't help.

Ok, I believe that my sleeplessness has brought this blog to an abrupt hault, so I might as well end it here.