Surviving university - during a zombie apocalypse (Part 1)

On Halloween, my university had a 'Zombie Armageddon' event which I thought would be good training for a potential outbreak (as well as being pretty fun). Now I'm not saying that a zombie apocalypse is likely to happen, but I mean, I'm here for 5 years (not taking into account the fact that I might well fail a year...) and who knows what will happen between now and then? Better to be prepared than eaten, as the saying (should) go. So without further ado, here is part one of my guide to surviving the zombie apocalypse at university:

Observation of the day

This is what happens when you have a 18:15 maths problem class -.-

'Solving a maths problem is a lot like trying to hit a pinata. There's a lot of blind flailing, an increasing amount of aggression and a few injuries but sooner or later, you're bound to hit it. And maybe get some sweets.'

Incidentally, can you get a maths pinata? Someone should fill that market niche quickly!

Resident Evil - The continuing saga of me getting eaten

After a good 5 minutes of me in hysterics over my complete inability to play the game, I restarted. I skipped all the cutscences ('cos I'm lazy) and the first 5 minutes went as before, just with less running into things (I was still weaving everywhere, but you know. Baby steps.). I saved this time, so at least when I died, I didn't have the embarrasment of having to start a completely new game again. Then I took a deep breath, and headed towards that zombie.

How NOT to play Resident Evil

So I got a new game this week - Resident Evil (as you might have guessed from the title...). It's the first third person shooter/survival horror game I've attempted playing before, but hey, how hard can it be?
Turns out, if you're as incompetent as I am, pretty hard.

Combining Procrastination with Revision

Want to look like you're doing important study practice without the mind-numbing boredom? Easy. Open up a past paper and mock all the questions. It's pretty easy to do actually.

Today's example is the context. The exam boards seem intent on introducing 'context' (The bane of my life in statistics - I always lose at least one mark for not putting something into context). Sometimes though, you have to wonder why they picked the examples they did. Did they run out of everything else?! Here is a lovely example of a pretty stupid context.

Where in the world?!

One of the games I've recently played was called 'Globetrotter XL' which involved looking at the given place and clicking the right place on a map. It was difficult enough to get the mouse in the right place (touch pad + shaky hands. Not a good combo) but it was actually quite fun. And, if you don't want to play it yourself, I'll give you a quick essence of it

Tie Die

Earlier this month, I had to try and do some tie dye. The actual tie dye itself went okay, surprisingly (except for two bits of fabric which, instead of having a gradual fading effect from top to bottom, was just a single block of colour) but not a lot else. So, for the benefit of other would-be tie dyers, I shall give a heads up about what not to do (though most of these should be obvious):

This is the result. Isn't it pretty?

Who needs a cryptic code when you have appalling handwriting?

As mentioned before, I carry around a notebook in case of writing emergencies (and ideas). Also previously mentioned is the fact that I only study Maths, Chemistry and Physics nowadays. In 1 and a fraction years, the most writing with a pen that I've done is doing a proof by induction (They are pretty darn long). My handwriting was hardly perfect to begin with, but now it is effectively illegible. However there is a silver lining in all of this. Unless you are me, you can't read anything I've written (seriously, not even my parents and close friends can decipher it).

The Chaotic Effect of Cake

In one of the first maths lessons of the year, our teacher made a small but unrecoverable error that basically caused the collapse of the entire lesson before it had even started.
She gave us cake before we'd actually started any work. Bad move.

Now cake is a good thing on the whole. Fewer things make a double lesson seem more managable than having a cake break scheduled. Especially delicious cake. But cake is a tricky thing, and it needs to be carefully controlled. Otherwise all hell breaks loose.

My view on doors

A few months ago, my friend asked me to write something for the school magazine. On account of me being lazy, I merely sent her a link to my post on selfish umbrellas (which, to be fair, is still a post I'm pleased with, so I'm not that irritated by my own laziness). Anyhow, the theme was supposed to be about doors so it didn't quite work but she still put it in anyway. She's slightly odd (yet lovely) like that for not laughing at my writing. But to make up for it, I am now going to write down all the random door-related thoughts that are floating around in my head.

In case of apocalypse

In preparation for National Novel Writing Month, I've been doing a lot of research into zombies - my chosen genre this year is 'Humorous Post-Apocalyptic' which can only go well... I've even gone so far as to order the Zombie Survival Guide (seriously, the zombies had better not invade before next week because that's when my book arrives) And, looking over the available zombie survival advice, I'm pretty much sorted for when the zombies come.

The benefits of peer pressure?

Basically my friends and I are sat in the school's computer room, desperatly avoiding doing our UCAS personal statement and we start talking about blogs (after googling ourselves, like all good bored teenagers) and I brought up mine (after a quick disclaimer that it was basically just me talking aloud to myself online.) So, as they try and decide whether or not to create their own, they challenged me to write one right now, completely kill any attempts at productive work.

Anyway, I'm taking up their challenge and writing about the benefits of peer pressure (rather suitably, I thought).

Why can't I be an astronaut?

Okay, so if you ask a little kid what they want to be when they grow up, they may well say something like policeman, fireman or astronaut. However, if you ask someone who is in the process of applying to university what kind of job they want, you wouldn't expect astronaut as a response, probably. Which means I may have a slightly awkward time during any interviews (To be honest, I'm also considering being a firefighter. But that's a different post).

42 - The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything (including procrastination)

Okay, if you haven't assumed this from my sporadic blog postings and recent 3 month hiatus, I procrastinate a lot. A LOT. It's an art form I perfected, somewhat accidentally, over the years. I can just waste time without realising it. Which is problematic considering this year, I'm trying to pass exams, go to university, train for my sport, write a 50,000 word novel in a month and maybe, just maybe, have a social life.

Fortunately, I've found a kind of helpful way to help me get some more work done. And, as you might be able to guess from the title, that involves that all-purpose answer: 42.

An assortment of writing totems

I stumbled across my writing box again today. (Yes, I have a writing box. Who doesn't?) Having been buried since November's Nanowrimo, I dusted it off and looked through it. And nestled on top of a sheet of paper, were my four special writing totems. Each totem was given to me by someone and each one now reflects a different part of writing. And here, in no particular order, they are:

Evil change to blog #1 - Jump breaks

So, in an attempt to cut down on front page clutter and a devious way to force interested readers to go on the page to read each article in full (which means I get to see more stats), I have started to add jump breaks to things! I've done this to the current 7 posts on the main page because I'm too lazy to do all of them. Except for this, because I've kept it (relatively) short.
Blog change announcement over. That is all.

Theme Parks - Way too much exercise!

Having recently been to a theme park, I feel like this is a topic I have a good knowledge of. Theme parks are a lot of work and are very tiring! This may seem odd at first - after all, most rides involve sitting down - but when you really break it down, you can find many pyschially challenging activities in theme parks.

The fun bits of shooting

By shooting, I here mean ISSF rifle shooting, at paper targets (the poor defenceless things!). This is a sport (yes, it is a sport even though I spend an hour and 15 minutes trying not to move at all) I've been doing for several years so it's kinda obvious that I enjoy it. So, for the purpose of informing others, here is a list of things I like about shooting:

The travelling fountain pens - Some things were never meant to fly

So, when I went on holidays recently, I decided to treat my fountain pens to a trip as well. I love my fountain pens (I took both to be fair to them even though my red one is my favourite [don't tell the other!]) and I intended to do some writing whilst abroad so it seemed like a good idea.
It wasn't.

Why umbrellas are selfish

As I said in this post, I love rain. So it's understandable that I'm naturally against umbrellas and haven't used one in 5 years. But I do feel that there is more of a reason to dislike umbrellas than the fact that they block the rain: Umbrellas are one of the more selfish inventions to have been created.