Monday/Tuesday – Day 80/81
October 19, 2012
Monday and Tuesday were both huge work days!
Monday I was up early working on a physics problem set before the recitation (tutorial) at 9AM and struggled with more electrodynamics. At ten was my usual algorithms class in which we finally covered mergesort, which was good for me as I had an interview scheduled for Tuesday in which I’d expected I’d need at least one sorting algorithm.
Tuesday also had scheduled a midterm for my operating systems class, but distracted by the Physics and interview prep I hardly had a chance to study for it.
Monday night was the usual rehearsal timetable, first a few hours of Glee, followed by an hour break to catch dinner and then two hours of University Choral Society. However, I was feeling so sick at this point that I notified Joseph Ooi, in charge of the roster for Glee Club and, let him know I wouldn’t be making it that night.
Dinner was at Hillel with a bunch of the Glee Club guys including Scott Ventre, who told some fantastic stories about his prior years at college but, before he could finish I had to run off to choir rehearsal. I walked to rehearsal with Thea Walton, a lovely girl from Perth and had a fantastic catch up with her. Rehearsal was filled with my coughs and I was so glad to get back to my room and too sleep.
Tuesday was a bit of a nightmare and full of stress. In terms of the physics work, I only managed the most basic set of questions. For the Operating Systems exam I found little more time to study and the test was significantly harder and longer than I expected. After Operating System, I had rehearsal till 7PM when my interview was.
The interview was a great experience with challenging but satisfying questions that though I didn’t feel like I answered particularly well, I at least showed the way I approach questions which I thought was too my advantage.
Following the interview there was the awful 9-12 PGC rehearsal and again, I felt too sick to make it to all of the rehearsal and ended up leaving at 11PM to get an earlier nights rest.
A Few Links
October 18, 2012
So today as I am still not feeling well and wished to post something that would have taken me less effort I leave you today with my favourite articles from the last day.
First up is ‘Telling Israel Like It Is – In Arabic‘, the story of an Arab Israeli woman who flies around the world giving a more factual presentation on what Israel is like for an Arab citizen as opposed to the junk that spews out of Israel Apartheid week and other similar events.
“Israel is my country, my home. Why would I leave to Jordan or Egypt? This is where my roots are. Here my grandfather and grandmother were born, all my family is here. This is my home,” – Boshra Khalaila
Next up is a fascinating piece on Apple’s design philosophy and the problems and advantages that go with it. The Real Meaning and Future of Apple’s Mantra: Designed in California breaks down the inspiration and process behind Apple hardware, software and retail, giving one a real insight behind to what lies behind their closed doors.
Perhaps the most revolutionary product Apple has ever designed is its retail store environment. Most retail design is about artifice, scenery design as a backdrop for products that try and sell you an idea, Apple retail design is about authenticity and customer service.
and I’ll leave it at that for today.
Sunday – Day 79
October 17, 2012
Until such time as I am in better health, I am going to be spending a little less time writing the blog and a little more time sleeping.
Sunday was another mad day of working and rehearsing, the main issue being the physics problem set due on Tuesday. Along side that, I had prep for an interview on Tuesday night and an Operating Systems midterm that I felt I had little to no time to study for.
On top of all this, today’s rehearsal for Legally Blonde was scheduled from 1:30 to 6:00 with a PGC and Penn Dance collaborative rehearsal set from 6:00 to 9:00. As you can imagine, by the end of this I was quite drained and didn’t quite have the energy to keep going.
I was so stressed out that I even let myself slip a little and played forty-five minutes of a game called ‘Supreme Commander’ that I used to play in Australia with my friends. Immediately after that I switched off the lights, set my alarm, and fell fast asleep.