The end is nigh

That's right, in just 7 short hours I shall undertake what will hopefully be the last exam of my university career - Computer Hardware & Digital Design. It's going to be a bastard.

To bring you up to speed, my AI exam last week was so-so. It was worse than I was expecting based on last year's paper (as is seemingly the trend this year) but I got somewhere between 42% and 65% depending on how optimistic I'm feeling. 65% would get me a 2.1 overall, 42% would get me a 2.2 - anything inbetween could get me either.

Once this is all over, I've got to find myself a job, which will be fun, but I've also got to sort out all the stuff associated with Burn AND try to figure out what I'm going to do for the next month or so before my results come out. Following my results I'll probably spend a few weeks crying in a corner somewhere - although I think that one's pretty much a given.

Now let's see if I can procrastinate sufficiently effectively in the next few hours to allow me to make a few more posts before the exam starts.

Spad.

Exams, glorious exams...

Or not, as the case may - and in fact is - be.

I'm halfway through my final year exams and it's been 'interesting' to say the least. My first exam (Computer Graphics) was, in fact, a poorly disguised maths exam written by a sadistic lecturer with plans for global domination.

OK, so to my knowledge he doesn't really have plans for global domination, but it was still a shit exam.

Exam number two was Computer Networking, which I had hoped would be a piece of piss - given that I spend most of my spare time messing around with networks. Boy was I ever wrong; 2 hours of obselete networking protocols, routing algorithms and carrying out RSA encryption and decryption by hand. Overall it didn't go too badly - I'm probably looking at about 50%-60% - but I'd hoped for an easy 1st.

Coming up next, this Wednesday, we have AI, which I need about 20% in to pass thanks to my astounding coursework result (2.1 - so somewhere between 60% and 69%) - unlike most of my coursemates, who having failed the coursework need around 60%+ to pass the module. That's what I'd be revising right now if I wasn't writing this instead.

Finally we have VHDL, next Wednesday. This is the hard one that I've been dreading; I only got 40%-49% in the coursework and it's a 40/60 split, so I need at least 40% to be sure of a pass mark. Now in theory if I knuckle down and actually spend the week between exams working, I think I can pass it. However, I also know myself, which means I'll probably waste most of the revision time.

Anyway, regardless of all that, my results are published on the 16th of June, at which point I'll be able to tell you whether or not you have to start addressing letters to "Mr A Beardwood BEng" or not.

Till the next time.
Spad.

Where are all the Geek chicks?

Why are there no attractive, single, geeky women out there? And by 'there' I mean within a reasonable distance of me.

At the moment it seems to be a depressing case of pick any 2 from 3. Not that there's anything wrong with attractive, single women, but it does somewhat reduce available topics of conversation when I can't talk about anything that I have an interest in.

Is it too much to ask for an abundance of attractive geek girls who aren't already attached. Even just one or two would be an improvement.

[/rant]

I need help...

...Don't even think it.

I'm sitting here at 2am, with a report deadline at midday tomorrow. I haven't even started the report and I cannot for the life of me motivate myself to do anything about it.

It might have something to do with the fact that I don't really know what I'm writing about, because the notes we've been given are utterly useless - loads of background math, not actual code - and while I can bullshit for England, there needs to be something vaguely concrete to base the work on.

Regardless, I've been procrastinating frantically all day - so far I've watched all 23 episodes of CSI season 3. I've played Crimsonland for a good few hours. I've listened to music, watched a couple of movies, browsed NX and now I'm trying to find something else to do rather than work.

If I don't get this report done, I'm screwed - not least because I'm liable to do fairly badly in the exam and if I don't pass this module, I fail my degree - falling at the last hurdle, if you will.

Of course this doesn't seem to worry me psychologically - possibly because my life is so shallow and meaningless at the moment, possibly because I'm self-hating, or possibly because I'm just inherently apathetic, who knows. Whichever it is, I need something to motivate myself to work. Right now I've got 10 hours, which is more than enough time to write the report - if I knew what to write - but at this rate it's not going to get done.

So there you have it. Half rant, half plea for help. Do with it as you see fit.

Spad.

Firefly

Firefly is the greatest show ever, for one reason...

It has silent space battles.

Spad.

Another Day, Another Woefully Short Game...

...I frequently rant like an old man about the good old days when games actually took some effort to complete and entertained you for more than a weekend, but sadly it's reached the point these days where style seems to take precendence over longevity.

My current target for abuse? Hitman: Contracts. The reason? I just completed it in under 12 hours.

If I'd actually bought it, that would have worked out at about £2/hour. Now admittedly Hitman has reasonable replay value, but that's somewhat besides the point. When I paid £35 for Final Fantasy VII several years ago, it worked out as being less than 30p/hour - and that's only for a single play through.

Not to slam Hitman completely - it's certainly a good game and a massive improvement over the last one. It looks great and there are always 2, 3 or more ways to complete a mission, but it's still far too short.

The only major PC game I've played that was shorter was Red Faction 2 (8 Hours) - excluding Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets, which I can do in under 3 hours.

I want more System Shock 2's, more Blade Runner's, more Monkey Island 2's - games that last, where you don't have to worry about replay value because they keep you occupied for so long the first time round.

Is that really too much to ask?

Spad.