(no subject)
Brief summary...
Went climbing yesterday. That was fun, although I think I've got a bit rusty by not doing it for a while. I climbed a 3 (easy), a couple of 3+ (challenging), and a 5 (suspiciously easy!), but failed to do a couple of 4s. On the plus side, I'm getting better about letting go of the wall to come back down - I think the ski trip helped, by giving me practice at launching myself at doom :) Just got a bit stuck on a 3+ at the end ("the hole", effectively a vertical tunnel), where it was a bit dark, so I couldn't really see what colour the handholds were, and there wasn't enough space to lean back on the rope properly. Ah well, I'll try that one again next time.
Went into Kings today, which was pretty productive. I met my supervisor (Richard), and I'm now feeling a lot more enthusiastic about the project. Contrasting him with my previous supervisor (Shalom), I remember that Shalom had loads of books in his office (including several written by him), none of which I'd read. So, that impressed me, since he was clearly well-versed in the subject. Whereas in Richard's office, there's quite a bit of overlap between his bookcases and mine (I've even read most of the books in the overlap!), so I think we have more in common, which is good. After that, I obtained my student card - it turned out that the problem was lack of a network cable! I did consider going and buying them one, but I was able to get my card printed by a different department instead, so that's ok. And I've now borrowed several books about bees and evolution (separate topics) from the library, so that should keep me occupied for the time being.
Richard agreed that my job is the equivalent of lectures/exams until the end of May, so I'll focus on background reading between now and then. After that (June->September), I should be working full-time on the project, i.e. 35 hours/week. In theory, I could continue doing a full-time job at the same time, e.g. if I do 2 hours on the project every evening after work, and 12.5 hours a day at weekends. I'll see how tired I get from that, and whether I need to take some time off work. But I will probably wind up in hermit mode for a few months, so don't be surprised if I do my "dropping off the face of the earth" routine again.
I was also asking him whether he thought it was worthwhile for me to go flat out on this, given that the best I can get is a pass. He said that it was worth aiming for 70% (since that will appear on my transcript), but I don't need to work myself into the ground aiming for 95%.
And now I'm off to the beer festival - back later.
Went climbing yesterday. That was fun, although I think I've got a bit rusty by not doing it for a while. I climbed a 3 (easy), a couple of 3+ (challenging), and a 5 (suspiciously easy!), but failed to do a couple of 4s. On the plus side, I'm getting better about letting go of the wall to come back down - I think the ski trip helped, by giving me practice at launching myself at doom :) Just got a bit stuck on a 3+ at the end ("the hole", effectively a vertical tunnel), where it was a bit dark, so I couldn't really see what colour the handholds were, and there wasn't enough space to lean back on the rope properly. Ah well, I'll try that one again next time.
Went into Kings today, which was pretty productive. I met my supervisor (Richard), and I'm now feeling a lot more enthusiastic about the project. Contrasting him with my previous supervisor (Shalom), I remember that Shalom had loads of books in his office (including several written by him), none of which I'd read. So, that impressed me, since he was clearly well-versed in the subject. Whereas in Richard's office, there's quite a bit of overlap between his bookcases and mine (I've even read most of the books in the overlap!), so I think we have more in common, which is good. After that, I obtained my student card - it turned out that the problem was lack of a network cable! I did consider going and buying them one, but I was able to get my card printed by a different department instead, so that's ok. And I've now borrowed several books about bees and evolution (separate topics) from the library, so that should keep me occupied for the time being.
Richard agreed that my job is the equivalent of lectures/exams until the end of May, so I'll focus on background reading between now and then. After that (June->September), I should be working full-time on the project, i.e. 35 hours/week. In theory, I could continue doing a full-time job at the same time, e.g. if I do 2 hours on the project every evening after work, and 12.5 hours a day at weekends. I'll see how tired I get from that, and whether I need to take some time off work. But I will probably wind up in hermit mode for a few months, so don't be surprised if I do my "dropping off the face of the earth" routine again.
I was also asking him whether he thought it was worthwhile for me to go flat out on this, given that the best I can get is a pass. He said that it was worth aiming for 70% (since that will appear on my transcript), but I don't need to work myself into the ground aiming for 95%.
And now I'm off to the beer festival - back later.