Jan
19
My Last 15 min!
Filed Under Daily
Before I head for the exam. I had to skip swimming today since I slept very late, around 3:30 am. I would not have ksipped it if I had a day to recover but Intellectual Law is tomorrow and I still need to stay up late to read few things about it. I will treat myself with a nice dinner Tomorrow to celebrate the end of the exam!
Jan
18
I have finished learning all 6 pages containing 3 exam answers. That was painful. Now,I will repeat every 10 min each part and take 10 min break until 2 am in order to smooth down all the little holes in my brain. It is not too bad I am feeling more confident now after digesting all this material. I will feel much better after the first exam.
I really do not care much about the grade as long as I pass. I would like to get a higher grade than most students though. We shall see if my strategy will pay off.
Jan
17
Suffering!
Filed Under Daily
I am learning so many pages by heart that my brain is over saturated now! I stopped and I picked 3 subjects that I think will be in the exam. I answer completely to these questions and learn by heart my answers. That is my last minute strategy. I hope I am lucky :)!
I really thought back in May 2004 that the defense of my PhD thesis was the last exam in my life. Look at how life is treating my certainties and plans! I hate life!
Jan
16
Swim Squad!
Filed Under Daily
Since I started swimming intensively, my hidden goal has always been to get closer to the speed of the Squad. I thought it was very hard to reach their training speed, especially if they do it on a 400m workout basic. I could reach this speed by racing them for only 50m lap few months ago. Today I did it with them and I did not loose much more than one arm stroke. That means we are now equivalent. It was really fun swimming today. The students are back and it was fun racing again with a few of them. They are still much faster on a competition level since I do not do any short racing training.
Swimming has kept me nicely busy the last 3 years. It is my third passion after hiking and photography. It was only intended to be temporary because I started swimming due to running injuries. I never thought I could reach this level!
I bought the plane ticket to Paris.
Jan
15
Back to Paris
Filed Under Daily
I am planning on flying back to Paris next week: I will leave Manchester on Friday 23 (late) and I will come back on Monday 26 (early). The plane ticket seems cheap 112 GBP for a return ticket. It is as cheap as the train but much shorter. The train would take about 5 hours and 30 min! The plane only takes 3 hours. I just wanted to see my dog, Lolita, one last time just in case I am staying in the UK. I also wanted to take some pictures of her with my Nikon D200. It might be a bad timing since it is very cold in Europe now but I don’t think I have time to plan anything else after the semester starts. Even though things have been hard to handle during this transition period, the outcome is not too bad so far. There were good surprises that were unexpected on the way.
Jan
15
A Long Nightmare Ends!
Filed Under Daily
After 5 months and two weeks, the long nightmare of my Australian Superannuation fund comes to an end.The fund is now in my ANZ Bank! Pfew! That was scary!
I am very cautious since I am making uncommon moves to change my life. I have to foresee my next move in 6 months and make sure I have enough money to do what I want. I have taken some risks though. I really thought I would have to pay a full tuition to Manchester and I thought I had enough money. I did not have enough money. Luckily Manchester University made a mistake and I am paying Home/UK fees. It is a saving of almost 10000 euros. That was my first unexpected good event. Also one month and half before leaving Dublin, I thought I had enough time to recover my Australian fund, it finally took 5 months and two weeks! That was my second miscalculated move.
The lesson from all this is that life is full of surprises and things will never happen the way you think it will happen but it is not a reason not to do what you want!
I am so relieved!!!
Jan
14
Major Crash!
Filed Under Daily
I woke up just in time in the middle of the night to see my computer crashing. Funny how the timing worked out! I went back to sleep knowing that I will have to reinstall again. My laptop has been extremely unstable and I wanted to replace it a while ago. I hope I can replace it soon…! The laptop would not be that unstable if the weather was better. Because of the cold, I have to turn on the heater and AMD processors do not like the heat. My next puter will have a pentium processor!
Jan
13
Naomi and Ruth Return to Bethlehem
Filed Under Daily
"Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried" I like very much this short extract from the bible.
Jan
13
New Mentality!
Filed Under Daily
Because of the exam coming, I am stressed and I cannot control my sleeping pattern. I have decided to let it go. I will sleep whenever I need to recover and I no longer care about the time. If I stay up late, I just brush up on my LAW material nighttime. It seems working better. Of course I do suffer when I go to swim but I can sleep after. I wish I could move my swimming time but it is not possible because 50 m lanes are only open from 6:30 until 8:30 am and there are less slow pokes swimming at these hours. Anyway hell will be over next Wednesday. I cannot wait!
It is hard to learn by heart but I managed. Already 4 pages…2 to go for Intellectual Property Law. 6 more for Trade Mark Law. I really wonder if all this will help me to change my life. I am starting to have doubts. I guess one step at the time and we shall see. I really do not care much what I will do later as long as I do not do research anymore and I have a chance to make more money!
Jan
12
Freaking Tired!
Filed Under Daily
2 hours and half of sleep! I am literally fucked! Stress time!
Excellent swim though. People are used to me now. They try as much as they can to avoid being in my way. I usually get my own lane for a while then I change when it gets too crowded! I am not supposed to move to other reserved lanes but the manager seems to allow it. Then one or two people join in but not for long. There are even people who move back and forth to give me more space… I did not ask that much.
Yesterday, there was a dude who tried several times to swipe his magnetic card to open the door unsuccessfully . He annoyed me! I told him to try slowly when he asked if I wanted to try with my own card. It worked right away! Stupid ass!
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