Journal Entries
Alright about time I made another journal entry then.
Posted Oct 18, 2004
Golly I am hungry.
I'm currently waiting for my code to 
#$&*@$% Y RUN PROPERLY!
I'm up to the last part, of the last piece of assesment, of the last paper, of the last semester, of...well third year admittedly not the last year, but still WHY WON'T IT WORK! I want to go on holiday!
...well when I say holiday I of course mean study break *ahem*. Not that I'll be studying much because I'd rather be working and saving up lots of money so I can buy lots of yummy food.
Deelishus weenie!
Woo! 4662, the last runtime value I was waiting for. Yay it worked! I wonder why it kept freezing? I hope it doesn't do that when the lecturor looks at my program. 
Don't care now it's done.
mmmpizza.
Damn I have a visitor. I'll talk to you all again soon.
Discuss this Journal entry [6]
Latest reply: Oct 18, 2004
Woo! So much toil!
Posted Oct 13, 2004
Wow I've been busy! There's stuff I've been wanting to mention in my journal here for a fortnight or more, but I still don't have time to write it.
Basically I've got an exam coming up, but I'm not too worried about it (even though it's on complex programming algorithms, so I /should/ be worried 
). Before I can think about that, though, I have to get an assignment and a seminar out of the way.
Last night I finished one of the two parts of the assignment - well so I thought... I've actually just started on a "small" (god I hope so) change to it. Rather than go into details of how to optimise non-recursive recursive chaotic search trees, I'll just leave the description at that for now.
I've been putting off preparation for my seminar for /far/ too long, and I have to do it on friday. I really don't want to.
At least on saturday I can say Yay! I don't have to worry about the seminar any more!
Lookin' forward to that. 
I was late onto hootoo today because I was at a protest. The university council were voting on a proposed student fee increase, and basically the only thing that the university would get out of it is to be able to pay its council more.
So we invaded the meeting. There were four of us who knew our way to the board room, because we did exactly the same thing four years ago. That time, though, the council was taking the student's side against a proposed government fee increase, so they said we could walk in and basically take over the building. So we did. We were there for three weeks before the government retracted the proposal.
This time, however, it was the council working to its own agenda, and there was nothing we could do. The student fees will go up next year at 3.5% for domestic students, and between 8 and 10% for international students. Enrolments are down already, and have been steadily falling for the last three years.
I /really/ need to get out of this country.
I've said it before and I'll reiterate it now. 120,000 students - thats one hundred and twenty thousand students - now /owe/ the government $7,000,000,000 - that's seven BILLION dollars - because of the student loans scheme. Students now have no option but to borrow money using that scheme, unless they already have the savings behind them to live off for three to four years, plus the cost of the course.
Student's aren't eligible for any kind of living allowance, or for any kind of hardship allowance, or for any support over summer if they can't find work.
At 120,000 students and $7 billion, that's an /average/ of just over $58,000 debt each.
Which is calculated at an interest rate of 7% per annum. Calculated daily. Which is evil. Compound interest. Which is even more evil. As a seperate debt for each year of study. Which means compunding compund interest.
Which means that the /average/ time to pay back that debt, plus the whacking amounts of interest, is /no less/ than (depending on which demographic you look at I mean) 22 years.
In other words, the ones who can /best/ afford to pay back the amount that they borrowed to live while they studied, will take 22 years to do so, on average. For other demographics - minority cultures, women, or those who undertake a more expensive degree, for example - that number increases. For example, a female nursing student is expected to be in the debt of the government for /at least/ thirty-nine years. Assuming she went straight from school to uni, and from uni straight into the workforce in NZ, she'll be able to /start/ saving for a house or thinking about having kids, at the age of ... ... sixty one. 
Ye gods even I hadn't realised that was so bad!
For some other demographics, the numbers are upwards of fifty years estimated average repayment time.
Okay I'm fed up with thinking about this, I'm going to go reply to some posts before I get too pissed off.
Discuss this Journal entry [23]
Latest reply: Oct 13, 2004
Polysyllabic circumloqution
Posted Oct 3, 2004
There's so much I want to talk about here; I haven't been online properly for over a week now and quite a lot has happened. Importantly, I've had some extremely interesting conversations with some very smart people who have a clue, and I'm sure you'd all be interested to know.
But now for the bad news.
I'm currently right on the borderline edge of a mental breakdown, again, so I'm having extreme difficulty trying to concentrate. I was feeling fine after I handed in the assignment on friday, but my mental state seems to have completely gone pear-shaped since then. Not certain why, but it almost certainly has something to do with the fact that I haven't been able to sleep until at least 2am each night, and then I've been either dreaming or hallucinating - sometimes both - as I doze through the night. My alarm goes off at 6:30am, and usually I'm too tired to be able to move until well after it switches itself off two hours later. The dreams and hallucinations seem just as real to me as the conscious reality I'm currently experiencing, leaving me questioning my own sanity more than ever.
I hate nightmares.
In an attempt to remember later what it was I wanted to talk about here, here is a list of seemingly-unconnected phrases, brought to you my the letter 'blue':
Piggyback hobbyists.
Genetic self-mutation.
Van Eck phreaking.
Tempest(?) project.
Aspertame.
America's clipped teeth.
...There was probably more.
I'm not okay.
I feel sick.
I think I'll go and design a castle, and then try to enjoy this lovely long backlog I seem to have.
Discuss this Journal entry [28]
Latest reply: Oct 3, 2004
Arisztid! Over here!
Posted Sep 22, 2004
Don't freak! The only reason I'm logging out in a minute is 'coz I have to go get lunch, and get some books out of the library.
I'll be back soon!
For anybody else, this will seem like a really pointless journal to you, 'coz you won't even notice my disappearance. Meh. 
Discuss this Journal entry [10]
Latest reply: Sep 22, 2004
Just so's I can find them later...
Posted Sep 21, 2004
http://public.fotki.com/azahar/h2g2_friends/
...and...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/game.shtml
If anybody hasn't seen them yet, I recommend you go have a look.
...and does anybody think this quote is kinda strange, given the context?: "The site is one of many protected archeological sites on the NTS." NTS, in this case, standing for Nevada Test Site; where nuclear testing is done on behalf of the Department of Energy.
http://www.nv.doe.gov/news&pubs/photos&films/life&artifacts.htm (second photo)
Linked from: http://www.nv.doe.gov/news&pubs/photos&films/photolib.htm
Okay, now that I've got those links stored safely, I guess I can carry on with a journal... quickly! Before people start replying to my posts and I can't keep up! 
Started the new job yesterday! 
I can tell I'm going to like it /lots/! 
The boss and one of the other service reps flew up from wellington for the day, to meet me and show me around the offices... and also to get a couple of other jobs done on the side.
Showed me 'round, set up my profile on the national network, etc... I now have five e-mail addresses! What the heck am I going to do with them all?! 
The boss bought me lunch, then went to the other office to meet everyone there... I'm sure that's the same place my sister used to work! 
Everyone's really friendly, but I'm going to have my work cut out for me over the next month or so... It's going to take a while to find my feet after being thrown in the deep end, but that's okay I'll float.
Stopped by the manpower offices on the way home (the recruitment agency I was with, which got me the job) and told Monique all about it; she could see I was still buzzing! She's very glad for me, and I'm glad for me too. Way me! I've finally got a job which pays a decent amount, and it looks like I'll be respected and supported by the co-workers, too! Let's hope the office doesn't get shut down soon.
Discuss this Journal entry [18]
Latest reply: Sep 21, 2004
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Jerms - a Brief flicker and then gone again.
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