…for the record, I went to all of my lectures today.

And that’s not a good ‘omg’.

I have scary amounts of work to do. And I’m doing it. Although, obviously, not right this second.

I’ve got maths homework in today (it’s late now), more maths homework for tomorrow and a programming assignment due Thursday, all as normal. Also, I have computer science written work due Friday. Now, I can hear you saying, “That’s not so bad,” and you’d be right but for the two maths exams I have, one Thursday and one Friday.

I just wanted to write that lot down so that at the end of the week when I’ve done really well in everything (hah!) I can look back and see a major(ish) triumph over laziness and procrastination.

A quick note on progress with my last post… Er, very little. None that is.

Never too late! Each day is a new day! Etc. [insert self help truism here]

So starting tomorrow, I’ll begin again. To help me, I’ve made this:

In other news, I submitted work today! That really does deserve an exclamation mark, as it was on time and everything. I even feel as though I’d made a good job with it! I have another piece due tomorrow so I will shortly be leaving for the library to get it done. Doing stuff feels good at the moment.

Four exclamation points were harmed in the writing of this post.

So my last self improvement project didn’t go so well… I failed miserably at not playing video games, I think I gave up after just one day of not playing! I think that I may have been a little overambitious.

So now to the probably important bit: my new idea. In fairness, it’s not my idea, I’m pinching it from this blog. It’s important because you have to write what you’re aiming to do down, otherwise it is all too easy to just forget about it completely. I’m going to attempt, for just 7 days(!) to start my morning at the same time and follow the same routine each morning. The routine is as follows:

1. Drink a glass of water.
2. Open the window and let some fresh air in, but not the curtain just yet, I’m on the ground floor and I’ll most likely be naked.
3. Make myself breakfast and a cup of tea.
4. Wash and dress.
5. Open the curtain.
6. Make my bed.
7. Tidy my desk.

That doesn’t seem like too difficult a task… but we’ll see!

So on Saturday I made a fairly straightforward decision to take a week off from playing video games. I’ve not crumbled so far but in fairness I’ve been busy doing other things. I have  so much work on at the moment that it will really pay not to be play. In particular I need to prepare for two exams  at the back end of this week.

As I said in my last post, I’ve not really been participating as fully in my courses as I should be, missing lectures, workshops, not turning in assignments… the whole shebang. This fact coupled with not having sat an exam where I have to remember things without a book open prompting me I’m just about ready to shit myself with fright burst with anticipation.

But first there are more pressing demands, I have a piece of work that, by the grace of god, I’ve been given an unexpected reminder and time extension for due at midnight tonight, and another that needs to be submitted by 10am tomorrow.

It will be interesting to see how not playing TF2 until the early hours of the morning will affect my attendance and participation with the academic side of things…

Just to see if this posts properly to twitter.

Oh wow, its over a year since I last posted… Well, a swift catch up might be in order.  I applied to uni, got into Lancaster to read mathematics. That’s about it I think.

So it’s going okay at the moment, I could be doing a lot better though. I have to be honest somewhere and write it down so there’s a record of me being honest… This week I’ve missed a lot of lectures, and missed all 3 of the weekly assignments I was supposed to submit. Why? Because I’m a dick. One of them I even did but fell asleep all day yesterday and didn’t hand it in. I think keeping a journal of what’s going on might keep me from being such an ass, although I guess it might be just another form of procrastination when the pressure is on.

Next week I have a few exams and tests so it’s really important that I have a good weekend of studying. I have past papers so I’ll just work my way through those and hope things will be okay!

Today… the plan today is to go to all my lectures (gasp!) and tidy up a little. If I’m not too exhausted I need to plan the next weeks meals before doing some shopping. Getting back on track with GTD wouldn’t be a bad idea either. I just have to make it to 8pm (24hours of being awake) and I’ll be sorted for a good night’s sleep.

As mentioned in a previous post I need to articulate the reasons for my desire to study Mathematics at Lancaster university. I’ve decided that as I am going to have to write a personal statement for my UCAS application anyway, I am as well to just write a draft of sorts here…

As it’s the easier part, I’m starting with the choice of location and university, to be followed in a different post by the course choice and general motivation for starting a degree again.

So, Lancaster, city of my birth… I have family and there are many friends of the family around there. That’s pretty low down on the list really, I don’t really know many of them or much about them, I only lived there until I was two and a bit years old.

It is close to bits of the country that mean something to me though; where I went to school, the Lake District, the Howgill Fells and other bits of the best fell walking country in the world, for example. It is also pretty close to Blackburn, home to Blackburn Rovers, the football team I support. So fell walking society and occasional trips to Ewood Park it is.

More seriously though, Lancaster university has an excellent reputation for teaching and it has always been on my radar when it comes to choosing a university for that reason. More recently though, having now read their prospectus properly, or perhaps I just now appreciating how good it is, I really like the sound of their course structure… It goes a little something like this:

The plan with this is to apply for maths and be able to add other things; Music, Philosophy, Sociology, Economics, Accounting or an intensive language course all appeal. As you can see from the little chart thing, at the end of the first year I could then go on to do a combination degree (timetables permitting I think) or single honours in any of the subjects I’ve studied.

This allows me a great deal of flexibility, which is a breath of fresh air. Even having decided to apply to study maths, I’m still not 100% sure about it so the value of this is huge and very difficult for me to quantify. I haven’t seen this kind of freedom around degrees anywhere except the Open University and I’m about to start a course there.

The incredibly flexible degree structure at Lancaster is what sets it apart for me and is the reason that I have picked it before anywhere else with a similar reputation for research and teaching.

I think that just about rounds it up for location. Obviously this is far too long for a personal statement but the main idea was to get my ideas written down… Thankfully some ideas about motivation to study, both in general and specifically maths, have come into my head as I’ve been writing so I shall end here and jot them down.

the poet

Originally uploaded by 1115

I was looking through pictures taken with the slide film I’m going to get for my new camera and came across this masterful portrait. Love it.

Hopefully I can have my cake and eat it too… (ho ho ho)

So it’s been little while since I posted, never mind. Not much has happened really, at least not that I can remember. I think that’s because I’ve not been updating my one sentence diary.

A quick summary of things that I can remember so that I can remember in future:

-Bought a camera on ebay: Nikon F80

-Sold my first ever thing on ebay today

-Saw The Dark Knight in the cinema, which was really good

-Felt like I’ve been toiling hard and long when in fact I probably haven’t

-my brother got his a-level results and they weren’t very good; we aren’t sure whether he is going to university this year

The main thing I feel I need to put down on paper is my plan for getting back into university.

The first part was deciding where I want to go which I decided at some point last year was going to be Lancaster.

Then there are several other things that I need to decide and do.

-What I want to do.

-Articulate why I want to do it beyond a gut feeling.

-Show that I’m actively taking an interest in the subject.

-Apply through UCAS (yuk).

-Wait, save money, learn to drive and various other things.

So at the moment I’m waiting for a prospectus to arrive from Lancaster before sitting down to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest it. At the moment I’m leaning towards maths, philosophy or some combination of the two.

The great thing about Lancaster, one of the main reasons why I want to go there, is that in the first year (for most courses) you can study 3 different subjects. Bearing this in mind I will probably apply for Mathematics and take Philosophy alongside it and then make a decision after that year about what I want to do. At least that way I get to put making the decision off at least another two years… So Maths.

For the actively taking an interest and showing recent study, I’m going to sign up for an Open University course. There are two mathematics courses I can choose from, one which is building on a basic understanding of maths and the second which builds from a more advanced understanding of maths. I’m going to register for one tomorrow (Monday) after I’ve talked with my parents about it and plans in general.

Once I’ve done that, I need to submit an application through UCAS to Lancaster which will involve writing down and articulating not only my reasons for choosing Lancaster but my reasons for wanting to study maths. But obviously I should try to at least think about that in the mean time.

The waiting part will be difficult. I’m terrified that my application won’t be strong enough and that they’ll reject me, but I’m not really sure why. So I should basically not think about it too hard and get on with doing well in the OU course and other things like learning to drive and taking photographs etc.

The wonderful thing about my plan is that it is quite flexible. Even if Lancaster reject me, I can (and probably will) apply to other universities as well at the same time. I might even see what some of the really tip-top places say. My first choice is still Lancaster though, it would take quite a lot to tempt me away from flexible courses combined with beautiful hills and walking just to the north