It was fun. I feel like I should run around with a plastic gun in my hands firing lasers at my friends more often, really. Not to mention gorging myself on pizza, something that I always love. But then again, there are lots of things that I feel that I should be doing but just can’t be bothered to.

At the moment, I feel slightly… directionless. Like there was something more to the whole sixth-form routine that I’ve simply forgotten in the chaos of university applications. Which, I have to say, are looking good. I’ve got a conditional offer of AAB from Durham University, and have interviews/visit days for Manchester, York and Bristol coming up.

Then, the Cambridge interview. Which will be at Churchill College, some time between the first and fifteenth of December. I’m less nervous than most people seem to be, mostly because I actually look forward to the interview. The thing is, I love talking about computers and most of my friends (even those who take Computing alongside me) don’t really keep up enough to have a proper discussion with.

I’m not talking about “Hey, what do you think about the new iMac? Do you want one?”, I’m talking about Biocomputing, Quantum Computing, Computer Vision. The cool things that I’ve been imagining could be possible since I first heard about them. There are plenty of gadget geeks and programmers, but nobody who likes the theoretical side. So yeah, I look forward to an interview.

I should be in bed, really. The next couple of days are going to be packed. Tomorrow, I need to be in Hecky for 10 to do some maths interview practice. Sunday, I’m buying a suit and practising a set which hopefully I’ll be performing at Matty’s open house in a week. Monday, I’m competing in the Senior Team Mathematics Challenge, in the regional final.

And being busy is probably a good thing, because then I can’t spend hours sat at my pc doing nothing before deciding to write a blog post at gone 1am in the morning. Whoops.

~ Godders.

Too long.

I don’t really even have anything to say. Every time I think of making a post, I forget to make a note of whatever’s on my mind.

Everything seems to take so much effort at the moment. I have loads of homework to do (Maths, Computing, EPQ. Fun times.) but I can’t really face sitting down for any length of time and working on it. So I’m sat here listening to Last.fm, bored out of my skull and unable to settle or do something useful.

In actual news, I saw Four Year Strong, Ghost of a Thousand, Alexisonfire and Anti-Flag at the Eastpak Antidote Tour on the 17th October. A fantastic gig, I love the energy and the message that Anti-Flag have. It’s even better when you go to see one band and the others are all enjoyable too.

On the 19th, I was supposed to see Billy Talent. However, Benjamin Kowalewicz was ill so the gig’s been postponed. I’ll tell you how it is if I don’t end up choosing a refund though.

Then on Tuesday the 20th (yes, three events in four days. Crazy, moi?) I saw Michael McIntyre live at the MEN Arena. Honestly, I’ve never laughed so hard and I really did need a humour-filled evening. Absolutely all of it was new material and I actually enjoyed the train journeys to and from Manchester.

And I have a party this weekend. Fancy dress. Normally, I don’t do dressing up but I figured I might not have too many chances to just be silly with my current group of friends. The universities rear their ugly heads – some people already have offers lined up! Also, who can argue with drunken fancy dress?

For a post where I have nothing to say, this has actually turned out fairly long. I might post again soon, if anything happens. Not really that likely though, hah.

~ Godders.

The book was good though. Above Suspicion by Lynda La Plante: It got quite a bashing by some critics though the review in question is about the TV drama, not the book. I don’t read enough crime to have a ‘reliable’ opinion but for what it’s worth, it had me gripped.

So: I’m flying out to Crete this morning. You won’t get any more updates till next Tuesday or Wednesday (depends how knackered I am when I get back, really) at which point I’m sure I’ll be sick of my family, sunburned and weary of the heat. Still, it’s my last family holiday at least before I finish university and possibly until I have a family of my own, and I fully intend to enjoy it.

I’ve given up any hope of sleep. The four hours I’d get aren’t worth going to bed for, to be frank. Time to decide how to spend the first half of this morning.

Currently listening to “Ghost of You” by Good Charlotte. This is almost old-school haha. Not listened to it in ages, but it’s not bad.

~ Godders.

Having my own business is one hell of an attractive idea, and being able to earn money from using my personal programming and designing skills would be absolutely amazing. These two ideals, in my opinion, go hand-in-hand. I could draw you out an idea of what I want the website to look like, and even how I would begin to go about making the thing, just from my brain refusing to let me sleep last night.

But it begs a few questions:

1. Is it worth the time effort? Especially over the next year when I should be working hard to make sure I get my grades for University.

I think it is. It’s not like I do a whole lot of homework anyway – any work I do tend to be in topics where I don’t know things and hence for interest as much as for my teachers.


2. Would I actually have the capabilities to run a business? And isn’t it cheating calling a one-man-band a business?

Any business requires an idea, and I have that. Ok, ideas for what products I’d actually make aren’t quite specific, but it’d be making video games: In all probability, these would be flash-based games that earn revenue from advertising; cheap windows-based games that people would buy online (emphasis on cheap); or Xbox 360 games distributed on Xbox Live Arcade. The second question is beyond my scope to answer, but it would be adding a whole new level to anything I produce – would you rather buy a product from John Smith, or from his company that has a flashy website and no mention of the fact that it’s him on his own?

3. Would I make any money out of this at all, or would I be wasting my time?

Well, the advertising idea would certainly make money – no matter how little – and more importantly, any of these ideas would make money after the games cease being useful for me. Let me clarify: once they’re finished and I’ve learned any techniques that I’m going to from making them, they then start earning me money. The way I see it, that’s the perfect way to have it working until I finish University.

But yeah. All of this is summed up in an article I was just shown: Ramen Profitable, but I was thinking of it anyway. It’s certainly an idea, and I can just do what I normally do: Make programs and learn new techniques. The fact that I’d be earning money on the side is honestly just a bonus. It could well be a good experience for me, though I’d certainly not be starting until I’d produced a couple of games that I consider web-worthy, and messed about with a website until I had something that looks great.

But I’d be interested to know what you think: If you just read this, tell me. I don’t care if your comment says I must be off my face to think of this, or if you think I’m less skilful than a dead rat – I’m asking for you to think of the cons that I’ve mostly neglected to cover, and whether or not you think they outweigh the advantages.

~ Godders.

Since breaking up for the summer, I’ve hardly been active on the social front. This weekend was spent coding and playing Halo 3, and I went to Matty B’s BBQ last week which has been my only contact with anybody I know outside work. Apart from bumping into a couple of friends who go to a different college and I’d not spoken to in ages on the bus home.

Unfortunately, buses aren’t the best place to have a catch-up session, especially when you’re only on said bus for 20 minutes. Alas. Anyways, you’ll be wondering what the purpose of this post is if it’s not web design.

Well, one of my closer friends has been ignoring me lately. And being ignored is a lot like passive whitespace on a web page for the following reasons:

• You can’t do jack to stop it being there, even the best designs will only minimise it.
• You don’t really want it to be there at all, you’d rather everything just fits.
• It’s main component is nothing. Just emptiness. And that sucks.
• It’s not useful like active whitespace – those points in conversations where the silence is useful, whether you’re just mulling things over or just happy in one another’s presence.

But hey, life goes on. Work is pretty good, though lack of a bass pedal for the Rock Band drum kit means everyone’s just been playing Fifa at lunch. I take the opportunity to check Facebook/forums and just generally chill out, because I suck at Fifa multiplayer haha.

So: the 50 Things update.
5. Start to learn Java.
This was fairly easy. I’ve only done the basics thus far but to be honest, picking up a new language once you know a couple isn’t too difficult. It’s mostly just about learning the syntax, and your IDE does a lot of that for you.

Am on track for 11, as long as I don’t miss one in the next week and a half.

16. Get my main PC connected to the internet.
And it is glorious. Oh how I missed having a quality computer to use.

22. Cook a meal without being asked.
I should have specified that this is for my family, not for myself. At any rate, I’ve done both: lots of crappy dinners for myself and a Vegetable Risotto for the family, which was yummy.

31 remains out of reach for the moment: am 920/1000 GS in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. 60 of the remaining points are easy to get but take a little tedium. The other 20 points could be gained in as quickly as a minute, but are for a damn-near-impossible level (Mile High Club, on Veteran difficuly. Ouch)

A tweet tomorrow and Wednesday will complete 38, thanks to the fact that they let me tweet while at work.

41. Forgive somebody.
While the injustice of what a certain someone did a while ago is evident, it’s in the past and it changed nothing. So who cares?

That makes 9/50, with a further 3 close to being done. Progress, if a tad slow for my liking. Oh, and I have ActionScript planned for this weekend. Fun times.

~ Godders.

1. I can’t code right now. This is quite a geeky thing to be annoyed at, but when I’m in a bad mood I find that coding lets me turn off the part of my brain that’s focusing on why life sucks and apply it to something useful. As it is, XNA’s website is down. Which means that my only current coding project is unusable – I’ve not got enough knowledge of using XNA’s tools to continue without the tutorials. At all.
2. A grand total of one person has actually initiated a conversation with me today outside of work. At the moment, there is only one person actually speaking to me and the conversation started less than thirty seconds ago – I can count the number of my friends that I’ve spoken to today on one hand. I’ve been sat here for ages with nobody to talk to and nothing to do. Never a good situation to be in.
3. My parents are trying to mess around with my sleep schedule. Again. I still wonder what part it is of them that refuses to face up to the fact that I have insomnia and it’s certainly not just going to go away overnight. I refuse to take sleeping pills, though nothing else seems to work.
4. I can’t play on the Xbox 360. Because it’s in my brother’s room, and he “needs to go to bed early”. He’s in there playing it now, he’s at home all day and when I get back at about quarter to six I can’t even get a go because he’s ‘hardly been on today’ (Bullshit, I say.)
5. One of my ‘best friends’ is in his house by himself, throwing parties every other day, and I’ve been invited to not one. Not even one on a weekend, after all he does know that I’ve got work. Well that’s just fine. After the way people seemed to have been too pissed to look after themselves, I’m not sure I’d want to be there anyway.

Those are the sources of my bad mood. A little vain, maybe, being annoyed because people aren’t paying much attention to me. But yes, this is a cry for conversation and social interaction. Because I feel so damn lonely, sat here with only my headphones talking to me.

~ Godders.

It’s not even like I’ve been doing a lot, I’ve just not been on my computer a lot. Missing one night’s sleep earlier this week completely hit me for six, and I’ve not caught up on it yet. Lie-in tomorrow though, don’t have to be in until 9:40 (success!).

That said, I honestly see no worth in this last week of 6th form. I’ve done nothing other than miss my coursework deadline in Maths (that said, Sitong hadn’t handed his in as of this morning, and is liable to get 0 marks on his coursework. At least mine was in within four days of the deadline)

Today, I did a grand total of nothing.
Period 1: Skills, was cancelled because there’s nothing to do. Played cards in common room.
Period 2: Maths, printed coursework for Dr. O and did nothing else.
Period 3: Free. Played cards in common room.
Period 4: Further Maths, got some work back and went through a question.
Periods 5-6: Maths. Ate cake and watched “The Story of Maths” (documentary by Marcus Du Sautoy)
Lunch: Played cards in Room 41.
Periods 7-8: Chemistry, cancelled. Wandered aimlessly around school.
Periods 9-10: Computing, cancelled. Collected my A2 textbook and sat doing random maths with Yifan.

And tomorrow I’ve got 40 minutes of travel for a 5-minute interview with my form tutor to receive my report and justify getting Effort 2 (or possibly even 3!!) in Maths and Further Maths (before you ask, I cba with ‘easy’ Maths. So yeah, lack of effort there.)

Other than this, I am ever-so-slightly pissed off. I got a new Halo 3 disk the other day: My brother and I have done Legendary on Co-op. Except when I signed in today, the Xbox 360 had mysteriously forgotten all of my Halo 3 stuff. Everything. So, despite having done every single level on Legendary, I have no achievement for it. Annoyed.

Mostly annoyed because it means we have to do it all again. And it wasn’t exactly easy (admittedly, it’s taken us a grand total of 5 days to do, and one of those was purely on the last level) the first time.

I’ve also been playing some Oblivion, having bought a pre-owned copy to replace my mangled one. Loving it again, mostly doing thiefy-type stuff and assassinating people for The Dark Brotherhood.

But yeah, lots of doing nothing and Xbox 360 while I chill out before full-time work commences on Monday. I’m looking forward to it, just hoping that there’s more of the website structuring than website updating: It’s far more interesting making websites than just adding new content.

That’s about it,
~ Godders.

I was gutted for Lewis Hamilton, he got off to a cracking start and if it wasn’t for Webber weaving all over the track up to the first corner he would have been in the top three with no trouble. As it is, Webber bounced off of Barrichello and then caught Hamilton’s right-rear tire. The puncture took him out of the race completely.

Which is mostly down to the rules being crap. Admittedly, the blue-flagging of people who are being lapped and going slowly is perfectly fine, but Hamilton was going at the same pace as everyone else until he started getting blue-flagged. I think that if he didn’t have to slow down to let everybody else past, he may well have been able to unlap himself.

Nextly, Massa holding up everyone else bugged me. Just because it’s boring. I know he eventually got a podium out of it, but it was dull to watch. It cost Barrichello a chance of a race victory too because right when he needed to be doing his best, he was stuck behind some red car that’s going two seconds a lap off of the pace.

And if I were Adrian Sutil, I’d have waited for Raikonnen after the race with a metal pole and beat him into a coma. Seriously. After coming out of the pits, he was between the Ferraris of Massa and Raikonnen. He had the racing line going into Turn One, and Raikonnen came around the outside and crashed straight into Sutil, who then had to pit again and had his race essentially finished there.

He cost Sutil the chance of getting his first-ever championship points, and he did it in a way that was against the rules. Sutil had the line, he should have yielded and let him through. And it appears that because Raikonnen then retired from the race, he’s not going to be punished at all. This is complete and utter bull.

Other than getting angry at the Formula One, I’ve not really been doing a lot over the past two days. The reason that you’ve not had an update is because there’s been nothing to write about. England are doing poorly in the cricket and apparently because my brother’s not allowed on the Xbox 360, I’m not either because it’s ‘unfair’. This is why it shouldn’t be in my brother’s room.

I’ve just done a revision of my Personal Statement, but it’s still too long. I’ve cut it down from 56 to 52 lines, but the space limit is 4000 characters or 47 lines, whichever comes first. Also, I have Maths Coursework to work on (yawn.) and Mechanics homework to do (which I can’t remember the specifics of) so yeah, fun times ensue.

~ Godders.

And yet, I don’t feel stressed at all, which is a tad weird to be frank. I’ve got quite a lot to write though.

For once, we’ll start at the beginning of the day: The Doss Skills Lesson. Was checking out Warwick’s website and it looks like their CompSci course is actually crap. They might be slipping down the list by the time I actually submit my UCAS application. Everyone else was working on Personal Statements because like fools they hadn’t finished their first draft yet.

I can’t be so cocky about Maths coursework though. Draft is in for Monday and I’ve done next to nothing on the writing front. All the maths is there, but I dislike all the wordy crap. Sigh.

We’ve started Mechanics 2 on the Applied side of Maths, but Friction honestly isn’t that interesting – at least not with the examples we’ve been doing so far. I imagine it’ll get more complex soon though.

I was going to get a Statistics 2 book (as I intend to be doing an AS in Additional Further Maths: 3 extra modules which are looking like being Mechanics 3, Statistics 3 and Further Pure 3) but I forgot. Go me. I’ll have to be sure to remember that tomorrow.

At lunch, I had my singing lesson. Which, as always, was great. Absolutely love it, and I like the approach that is currently being taken – start with basic techniques, then get thrown into the deep end, then go back to the basics and realise they’re easy. It works. (Con: I then spent the rest of lunch singing in Room 41, haha)

Chemistry proved, as usual, to be pointless. One week of crappy lessons to go, then it’s done. Thank goodness for that. And Computing was cancelled, so I hung around with Matty B etc. for a bit. We went around finding all of the pictures of Leonidas (from 300) that have been stuck over people’s faces on various posters all over the school.

Period 10 entailed some preliminary work for when I hopefully have my Cambridge interview in the winter. Mr Crowther, despite his awesomeness, doesn’t do computers, but thankfully he has a transcript of a previous student’s CompSci interview and lots of it is logic/maths based anyway.

The questions were quite cool, to be honest. I like the whole concept of thinking on my feet for each question and needing a fairly broad knowledge of my subject. The four questions we covered involved Permutations, Logic, Problem Solving and optimizing the solution and Natural Logarithms, all of which I can deal with. If it doesn’t get any more complex, then the interview could well be a doddle.

I came home and played on Forza Motorsport 2. Getting 115GS in one day is satisfying – I completed the Arcade side of the game (Exhibition Races and Time Trials) but still have a ways to go on the Career side. I’m going to play more of Infinite Undiscovery this weekend though.

Then the cricket highlights. Our tail-enders performed well, Swann and Broad are turning into excellent all-rounders, and I thought our score of 435 was respectable. Then the Aussies came out. I think not bringing in the spinners early was a mistake but then, I’m not the captain. My prediction: High-scoring draw. Unless they fold tomorrow, or we fold when we finally skittle them out.

The day was rounded off with Torchwood. Most dramatic episode yet, but holy crap it almost brought me to tears at the end. It was one hell of a shock seeing their plan go belly-up, and I think that tomorrow may well be the end of Torchwood. I may be wrong.

So yeah… Hectic. And I didn’t even mention everything.

~ Godders.

Now, the English cricket team has frankly been a shambles of late. Our performance in the T20 World Cup begs the question “Why do we not have a specialised one-day/T20 team?” because our Test cricketers are clearly not cut out for the faster pace of the limited-overs version of the sport.

Still, I think we might have a chance of posting a good score if our tail-enders aren’t caught sleeping in the morning. And I’m not sure if starting it in Cardiff was a fantastic idea, but the fans seemed enthusiastic enough even if they are Welsh.

Of course, today wasn’t just about the cricket starting. I went to visit the University of York, and I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere there. It had that ‘place of learning’ buzz, but depending on if Warwick’s CompSci department wows me or not I might not be applying.

Visiting York’s Computer Science department was essentially useless other than finding out that they do a 4-year BSc with Industrial Placement, because they’re busy building a whole new section of the University for 2010 which will include a brand-new set of facilities for CompSci.

However, the fact that they have a course with a placement is interesting news indeed. I definitely want to do a year in industry (whether that’s planned with the university or just via a gap year) and they have links with companies such as Intel, IBM and QinetiQ.

Thirdly and lastly, I am absolutely loving the new mini-series spectacular that is Torchwood: Children of Earth. It’s only getting more dramatic and I am really looking forward to tomorrow and Friday’s episodes.

~ Godders.

PS: If you’re reading this, please feel free to comment – I’d love to hear your thoughts and have a conversation.