h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

GrRrrRrrR! I just lost a whole message again!

I have saw your brothers band then!!!! wow! i had a fabby time jumping around to them! gawd i remember standing around outside the venue like a sad little groupie all day!... okay dont tell him that next time u see him! they are doing really well! oh and have u already told me what he plays in the band? is it drums the same as u? are u planning on going to see em anytime they play Glasgow?

well i got my highers in 5th year... i could go back next year for 6th year but i wanna go to college instead... oh wait... i think u may be confusing this with the English education system... thats totally different and i aint totally sure how it works!

gawd your education system does sound really frustrating. we get so many chances over here... i mean i've been hitting the mark every time but if i had been failing all this time i still would get other opportunities to succeed... they keep dumbing-down the system over here. Making us out to be really clever when we aint!

yaay! well done concerning the orchestra! i used to play in the school Swing Band(okay not on the same level as the Drammen Concert Orchestra but still!). I kinda hated it actually but then juggling loads of school work and music stuff was never going to be easy was it?

I recognised Frank Zappa and that was about it! im not even kidding!... oh except Span of course... i still camt believe i've seen your brothers band!xxxxxxClairexxxxxxxx

WOW... how cool. That's one hell of a coincidence. He plays the guitar. And dont' worry, I won't tell him anything...

And actually... yes.. I am planning to go to one of their concerts in britain, and I've kind of decided that I want to see them in Glasgow (because I love Scotland, and I know some people there).

I see... yes, I was confusing your system with the English one. I had no idea your system was different, since you are both part of Great Britain (don't hate me for pointing that out ). I guess I could have asked my mom, she's a teacher, and, as I mentioned earlier, she studied in Scotland. Anyway, two A's? If that's the same as two sixes here in Norway, then I must say I'm impressed!!!

Well, I just needed to rant a bit about it. I'm really provoked when I see that hard-working people don't get to study music because of their lacking skills in mathematics and English. And the problem is that our system doesn't make us any smarter... It just puts more pressure and stress on us.

Thanks... well there is a difference between a swing band and an orchestra, I'll admit that... I really love playing like that, but the main reason I'm doing it is because I need a reason to practice something other than technique. Technique is practical, but hellishly boring.

I'm not surprised... Very few have heard of those bands... Well... some have heard of Dream Theater and Liquid Tension Experiment, but those bands are VERY heavy indeed.

I'm not going to start telling you about all my favourite bands... And yes, I have even more than those few bands that I metioned there.
But, NEVER heard of Blur and Dave Matthews Band???

Hmm... well, perhaps they're not as famous in Scotland. Blur is from England, and Dave Matthews is American. That means, that they're from the two countries that people dislike the most these days... At least here in Norway. But that's off topic, they're really well known over here, anyway.

oh we should meet up if Span play King Tuts again!"Claire wonders if she has just scared Oyvind"!

i thought they were really good so i think i'll go see em again anyway

two sixes? Well A's are the highest you can get. You need to get 70%+ in an exam to get an A. You need 60-69% to get a B. 50-59% to get a C. Any lower than 50% is a fail.

oh gawd yeah i have heard of Blur! duh!

i better go get sorted for going to visit the college. My friend has decided to continue her education at the same college as me. She went to a careers advisor to ask about doing childcare and realised she was overqualified! She got 4 B's and a C in her exams! She's far too intelligent to be a professional babysitter!Lolxxxxx

Claire
xxxxxx

Sure... will do...
Usually I'd be scared to death when someone I've never met before suggests something like this, but for some reason... well... I can't explain it, but I don't see the harm in meeting at King tut's.
But it won't happen for a wee while anyway... I'm booked for the autumn (charity work in Bosnia, actually). Possibly in the winter... but I'll have to see.

Glad to hear that . Really fun to find out that someone I've never met except on the web has seen my brother do a gig... Just totally incredible.

Well... You seem to be more giving when it comes to grades... you have to get it 95%+ to get a six in Norway... Six means absolutely perfect. You have to really understand it to get that. Then you have 70-94% for five, all grades from five and down may be noted with a plus or a minus to show where on the scale you lie. 4 is good, a bit above average. 3 is average, but not very good. 2 is not good, but you still pass, and 1/0 means that you fail, so we don't fail easily here... You practically have to misspell your name, and then not write anything at all to fail, but then the requirements are often higher if you want to continue studying. We all apply for a place to study, but only the 30 best(if there are thirty seats) get to study. Anyway, I'm still impressed. Great work, Claire.

Hehe.. thought you might have overlooked it among all the weird ones. I still recommend Cake, though, it's absolutely hilarious music. Totally redneck, only...not.

Well good luck in college. I'm starting up tomorrow...
Hahahaha.... that's weird... So what does she wish to do then?

Øyvind

Hahaha...
Just remembered the only story I've ever heard of someone failing a Norwegian exam. They had a paper on the subject: "What is laziness".
The guy just wrote his name on the paper, and then entered the sentence: "This is laziness", handed it in, and left. He later complained about his fail, and got a pass, because he had ansvered all the small tasks leading up to the essay. And his answer was certainly artistic.

lol...
Øyvind

Oh, and what are YOUR fav bands?

yaay! charity work in Bosnia? awwww thats o nice of u!... yeah i dont really see the harm in it either. It'll be fun! Plus it's not as if i'll be stuck to your side the whole time!

oh well i didnt get 2 6's then!It's still pretty good tho.

so what scary exams have u sat so far? Do u sit music exams outwith school or anything? I've been sitting piano exams for a few years now. Im just prepearing for my Grade 5 piano... Im pretty worried about it! Grade 5 is quite a significant landmark really.

oh thank you! Im just back from college actually. My friend Natalie was enrolling today for the exact same courses as me! Usually i would look at people who did the exact same courses as a bit sad but the truth is we have the exact same talents where education is concerned. Oh andi met someone who i going to be doing one of the courses i'll be doing! It seems everyone is as nervous about it as me... Thank God!

teehee...i liked your story! That was really clever i think!
i knew this one boy who in the standard grade english exam ignored the iinstructions completely. You were supposed to select one essay title from 20 titles. However he worked his way through as many titles as he could until the exam time was up!!
He ended up with 5 mini essays.

Hmmmm my fave bands? Well it changes all the time really... i really like The Darkness just now. I also like My Vitriol, King Adora, Muse, Smashing Pumpkins and ELbow(who im going to see at the start of October!yaay!)... i like a lot more than that but im having trouble remembering them...i better go look at my space!lolxxx

Claire
xxxxxx

Arrgh... some server trouble down there... ah well, here goes.

Jup, charity in Bosnia. We'll be going down there as a group, some guys from my class, some from the drama-class, and some other guys studying media. We'll be working with victims of war-traumas (Is that actually a word? I just translated it directly from Norwegian). Making some sort of musical/drama performance-thingy... well, I'm not really well informed, I just got asked if i could come, and it just sort of felt right.

Yeah... sure, it'll be fun, but I won't make any promises yet... It still takes a lot of planning to go to Scotland, buying a plane ticket, getting a nice B&B somewhere etc.

Yeah, like I said, I'm impressed.

Hmm... well, I just found out that we have a VERY different school system, and that, as opposed to what I though, I'm lagging behind. I won't be able to start what is the norwegian equivalent of college for another two years, and until then, our grades are mostly based on our overall performance throughout the year. This is mostly because our curriculum is a lot larger than yours (or so I'm told), we have to know something about everything, it seems. Also, we don't specialize as much as you do (Well, I've specialized in music, but i still risk sitting an exam in science, mathematics, English, Norwegian, French... the list is endless). Anyway, I have sat two written exams in english (easy going), and one oral in science. The worst I've had was actually only a practice session for the inevitable third-year exam. It was ten minutes alone with four old and experienced musicians, and I had to play two pieces, one melodical, and one for drums. Oh, the horror, I was so nervous I had to start over again once... But, they were very nice, and I got a good grade (Well, 4-5 was better than i deserved after such a totally hellish performance). I suppose I'll have to learn how to confront that fear sooner or later, I'm working on it, because in third grade we have an individual practical examination, twenty minutes each, five pieces, and it's open to the public.

Hmm... we don't have grades in Norway, at least not in drums (let's see, grade one: the subject has to be capable of holding two pieces of wood, and hitting objects with it, grade two: the subject has to be capable of holding two pieces of wood, and hitting objects with it, the objects should this time preferably be round...). So that is a new expression to me.. does it mean that you take some sort of examination? Is it done on your spare time, or through the school system?

Ahh... That's nice... good for you. I know what you mean, it's really pathetic when friends enroll to the same courses even though their talents don't lie in that direction. But, if you have that much in common then, well... Great . Oh, and don't worry, I'd be more concerned if I didn't have any nerves when I was standing in front of a change of that high significance.

Hehe... yes, that has occured here as well, according to my old teacher, there's two every year... It seems, however much the teachers specify that you should only write ONE task, some people are set on ignoring them... You really have 20 different options? Oh my, we usually only have about five, and they're usually all on the same, hellishly boring topic...

Well, seems I have the same trouble with your fave bands... I recognized Smashing Pumpkins, and that's it ...

Øyvind

war-traumas? Well i dunno if thats exactly a phrase in English but no-one would correct you because as i've already said your knowledge of English is far superior to mine.

oh gawd yeah... i forgot about your accommodation! I thought maybe your parents would come over to watch your brother gig too? Well it'll be fab if and when it happens.

hmmmm well at Standard Grade we have to do 8 different subjects (including Maths and English) do u do more subjects than that at age 14-15? When it comes to Highers the maximum you can do in one year is 5.(This must include English but we are not obliged to take Maths)

i do my piano exams outwith the school system The Associated Board Of The Royal Schools Of Music holds the examinations. Basically in my piano exams its just me and 1 examiner. I play 3 pieces, play assorted scales(he basically calls out something like C# Minor Melodic and i have to play it pretty much straightaway!), he also gives me sight-reading(a small piece of music i have never seen before. I study it for 30 seconds and then play it... and hope for the best!), i then stand behind the piano and the examiner plays about 10+ notes on the piano and i have to imitate them. At the correct pitch! Oh and then he plays some pieces and asks me questions about em... and then he plays some more pieces and i have to clap along to the beat. It seems like a lot i think but it goes in pretty quick y'kno? The exam is marked out of 150 and you need 100 to pass.For Grades 1,2 and 3 i got 126, 124, 126 respectively. 120+ is a Merit Pass and 130+ is a Distinction Pass. I 've never had a Distinction Pass!... och well.
I actually dont think the Associated Board does drum exams now i think about it... it's terrible but i dont think they class drums as an instrument! Very snooty i think!

oh gawd yeah... i remember doing my higher music pre-lims and then final practical exams. horrible! I failed my xylophone exam by 1 mark and i went home and cried for the rest of the night!

but did i read your post right?! Your music exams are open to the public!?!?! Shocked! Ours are super private!

Oh some people make such foolish makes in exams! Not us of course eh Oyvind?...

btw... do u have a special key on your keyboard which allows you to type the first letter of your name properly?

Clairexxx

Oh and when i said the examiner plays more than 10 notes on the piano and i have to imitate them i meant i have to imitate them by SINGING them! I can't even sing!... okay it's just La La La's but its still pretty awful!lol
Claire

Nah, as I said, I'm not sure about the expression, but you see what i mean, right?

Naw, I'm pretty much doing things on my own now, I wouldn't want them coming over actually, they'd only complain about the noise, the heat, and all the pushing and jumping. The only way to silence them is to put them in the VIP-lounge, and not all venues have that...

But sure, it'll be fab.

Hmm... standard grade, that's a while ago, but let's see...
Gymnastics, maths, science, music, cooking (oh, the horror), english, norwegian, french, art, history/geography/society-something...
That's ten allready, and I don't think I remember all of them...

At highers, we have at least eleven subjects, that's what we had this year, but totally, it'll probably be about twenty. Many of them are concerning music, though, we have instrumental knowledge, listening (I.e. analyzing classical pieces), cultural history, musical listening and theory (that's intervals, notation, scales, rhythms, usually the teacher plays something on the piano, and we have to write it down on notes by ear...), secondary instrument(usually piano, yes, I take piano lessons at school), chord-instrument(guitar or piano), conducting, singing (yes, I take singing lessosn as well)... The list is long...

Hmm... well, I suppose that exam is pretty much what we did as a test to get into studying music in the first place, only that we had a theory-test as well. But the level may be different. Anyway, as a drummer, you can't expect any sympathy when it comes to clapping rhythms. Had it been polyrhythms, or anything then you would have my full support. Haha.. well, many people don't do that, by now I just take it with irony, or I go for vengeance. There are loads of drummer-jokes, you know... Here's one:
How do you get two drummers to play nicely together?
Shoot one of them!!!
But yes, if you get the chance, do tell the people at the top that drums are one of the worlds oldest instruments. It has a LOT of culture and class to it. SO THERE!!!

Ahh, yes, I managed to pass, but I didn't know you had to do xylophones, the instrument that I played when I messed things up was actually a marimba (like a very BIG xylophone). So there's another thing we have in common, we've both messed up on an exam, and both on a xylophone-ish instrument.

Yes, our music exams are open to the public, but they are on a very bad time of the day for most people. I went to a couple of the ones that were this spring, and there were at least 30 people there...
I'm not looking forward to that...

No, we do not make those mistakes. That goes without saying, but I was shocked when I found out who it was that did it in our class... She's quite intelligent, so she should have known better... Oh well...

Yes, the Ø-key is situated right next to the L on the keyboard.
But you cna write it in another fashion as well, if you hold down the alt-key on your keyboard, press 0216 on the numpad (the square number-thingy on the right side of the keyboard) and let go of the alt-key, and voila... Ø...

Tricky and tedious, I know, but try it...

Øyvind

yeah i see what u mean

fair enuff really... i keep forgetting about your 10 siblings! well it'll happen when it happens.

oh gawd! when u said specialse u meant specialise!lol... gawd... we only did 8 Standard Grades... that seemed like a lot to us! How are u expected to do so well in all of them? The phrase "spreading yourself too thin" comes to mind.

do u like your piano lessons?

oh yaay! we both hate xylophones!lol... i was lucky to get a B for music in the final exam... i mean in my final xylophone exam i missed out 8 bars of music! I was just extremely nervous really... well that's my excuse for extreme stupidity anyway.

do u have to wear a uniform at school? I always meant to ask you that. Also are your teachers really strict?

ooooh! I just found out im getting £75 for passing my Highers!yaay!... i got nothing last year for achieveing 8 Credit passes at Standard Grade...!

Claire
xxxxxx

och it didnt work for me... i cant get the first leter of your name properly... is it perhaps because i'm on h2g2 through my telly and i have an infra-red keyboard thing?xxx

some drummer jokes i know:

Whwat do you call someone who hangs around with musicians? A drummer.

What do you call a drummer with ambition? A roadie.

How can you tell when there's a drummer at the door? Because he speeds up and comes in before you're ready.

What's the difference between a drummer and a drum machine? You only need to punch the information into a drum machine once.

A drummer walks into a shop and orders 3 plectrums, 6 guitar strings and 2 tambourines. The proprietor asks "You're a drummer aren't you?" The drummer says "Yeah, how did you know?" The proprietor answers "This is a fish and chip shop!"

hope you're not too offended! Im on the side of drummers anywayxxx

Hehe... I see that our school systems really are different...
Well... our system is different when it comes to examination results... Firstly, you'll only need to get it 20% to pass, and secondly, what matters when you continue studying is your average score. Like I said, we have numbers to define our grades, this spring I got twelve marks alltogether, I got six sixes(oh my, what an irony), five fives, and one four... That means I average at 5,45 (Yes, that is quite high, I'll admit it, just don't hate me for it). This again means that I get 54,5 "points", and these points again decide what you may study, plus, it's an advantage to have a good grade in the subjects you wish to advance in... You may increase your points through doing various side studies, not to mention enrolling in the millitary (NO, I'm a pacifist, but still, it's worth mentioning).

Well, I have chosen one of the most intense lines, we have 35 lessons a week, each lesson lasts for 45 minutes, on top of that, I live very far away from my school, so I get up very early, and get home all too late to do any decent homework. I really have no idea how i manage, but I do... The advantage of studying music is grat though, because we have loads of fun at school. I just got my new timetables, and the whole monday is one long day of fun (some would argue that science is not fun, but I disagree (Sure, if you wish to object, do so!)). Also, I forgot to tell you that the subjects I mentioned above are all spread out over three years, so we don't do them all at once, but we do have a lot of subjects.

Well, yes, I enjoy playing, it's fun, and it's really stimulating to try and express yourself in a new way (yes, there are ways of expressing feelings even when you do drumming.). Just don't ask me to play anything, because I'm a beginner, and I'm terrible...

Hehe... Well, I like xylophones (just as long as I don't have to play them ). I'll have to come to terms with the wretched things though... they are likely to play a large role in my final (public) exam.

I believe you when you say you were nervous... I recognize it completely, anyway.

Hmmm.. No, and no... We don't wear uniforms in Norway, I'm quite certain our teachers are not strict... Firstly, we usually adress our teachers only by their first name (I.e. Nina, or similar), and we usually consider them equals, but with the horrid job of knocking some sense in to the eager young minds of tomorrow (Oh my, I don't know where that last phrase came from, but I'm certain it's not mine).
Strangely, teachers don't really get the respect they deserve here in norway, it's considered only marginally better than being a professional babysitter, like what your friend was considering, and found out she was too good for. Our teachers are really very allowing, we try out a lot of strange new teaching methods, and some of them are really laid back, so some days at school may seem like complete relaxation, and one wonders why one can't do that at home instead...

Oooh, good for you. I've always asked my mother for a deal of that sort (If you get a good grade, I'll give you 100 NOK, if you don't start smoking, I'll help fund your studying for a drivers' license), but she claims that it would have been unneccesary, and that it would have bankrupted her (Well, i dunno about the last, but it's true about the first, I've never smoked a single cigarette)...

Anyway, congratulations once again on your highers, five is a lot, I believe... And congratulations on the money, spend them well...

Hmm, you have to make sure the numpad is activated (the "num lock"-key should be pressed, until a light flashes up somewhere on the keyboard), and you must see to it that you hold down the alt-key properly, and then dial ONE digit at a time, I'll try now: Ø... 0216...
Try it, and if it doesn't work, try removing the zero from the number, it should work, unless you are using a mac... It's standard ASCII/Unicode, so it should work anyhow, at least the number should be the same, but there may be another button for activating the function... Hmmm... Hope I'm not talking over your head here, but I don't know how to express the problem any easier, unless I should throw myself into a long and uninteresting monologue about standard codes for text.

Anyway, what sort of computer do you use to connect to the web, is it integrated in the telly, or is it some sort of console??? I'm corious when it comes to technology...

Øyvind

well yeah 5.45 is a lot im sure! i dunno how it compares to the Scottish system of education?... hmmmm... anyway gawd it seems like your schooling is almost your entire life... i couldnt have that!.. i feel like i've sacrificed enough years of my life on education and im just about through with it. Although 2 Advanced Highers isn't going to be easy but it has to be better than 5 Highers!

i know you can express yourself when drumming. My dad is a drummer remember?! I'm not allowed to say a bad word about drummers!lol

oh gawd we had to wear bottle-green blazers at the high school i was at! They were truly horrible. We weren't even allowed to walk through the corridor without it on. Yuk.

We don't call our teachers by their first names. We call them Miss and Sir. However we do call our college tutors by their first names as is the same at university.

Teachers over here don't get any respect either. Some teachers are so nice as well. I absolutely never want to be a teacher due to the abuse i've seen them subject to.

"I hope you spend them well"? Oooops! Wrong grammar!... and i bet you you're sitting there thinking "I don't correct her bloody awful grammar!"lolxxx Im joking your English is fabulous.

I'm actually at the library just now but when I'm at home i get onto h2g2 through a link in an e-mail i was sent about a year ago. Magical eh?!lol... I use an infra-red keyboard. I don't have the internet through my television(hence why i come up to the library often. I have e-mail through my telly though.

right i'm gonna try this letter now!

Øyvind! yaay! Øyvind!Øyvind!Øyvind!... okay i better stop now!

Luv Claire
xxxxxxxxxx

Hmm... well, I think a six compares to what you call a merit, possibly a distinction... 5 is something like an A, and 4 is somewhere in between A and B, I think. So that means that half my passes were merits, but I don't think our tests are tricky, and I have no idea how they compare to your tests...

Glad to hear that, I almost forgot about your dad... Hehe, so happy to find someone with at least a tiny little bit of respect for drummers!

Hahahaaaaaa... well... you have my full sympathy, I actually quit the school marching band because of their new (awful) uniforms (don't even ask...). Sorry to hear you had to go through that torture... but you're through with that when you go to college, right?

Hmm... Well, I've kind of decided never to be a teacher too, at least at such a low level, they get far too little respect, and they don't even get decent wages... Oh well... things may change...

Haha... well, there you are... I've got a better argument than that though... I haven't seen you writing in Norwegian, but I'm certain that if you attempted it, I would have quite a lot of work correcting it (unless, of course, you were to use a translation-engine). But you got my point, right? Thanks anyway...

Well, if you have e-mail through the telly, then there must be some sort of internet connection on the bloody thing... Anyway, if you can browse webpages you were sent a link to, then that would indicate that it has a webbrowser of some sort...

Allright, here comes a technical question, if you don't know the answer, feel free to ignore the next paragraph.

What I'm curious about, is wether or not the infra-red keyboard communicates directly with the telly, or if there's some sort of console(box-thingy) that it goes through. The console could be a play station2, or it could be some other sort of external device (something looking like a DVD-player, but is in reality a mini-computer)...

Yaaaaaaaaaaaay... I'm impressed... it worked...

Øyvind

Ahh... true, I won't have my highers for another two years, but I'm fine with it, actually, it's the same with everyone else, and I think it simplifies further studies a bit, because we have a much broader understanding of a lot of basic priniples (we are not taking error pyramids into account here). Besides, we start school at age six, I've heard you start at five???

Sheez, that last sentence was way too long... lol