Miriam Parkinson

This is a series of flowcharts for different parts of the GTD process that I found very useful. I think I will create my own personalized version reflecting my collection places and contexts to make it even more useful… But not until after exams… Goddamn I hate exams. The trouble is that by the time they arrive you’re totally over uni and ready for a break so its hard to stay motivated.

I just nearly got hit by a car.

I’ve been in a kinda numb mood today and I’ve been pretty much travelling on autopilot all day. I really really shouldn’t leave the house when I’m on autopilot because I forgot to look out for cars when leaving a bakery and was literally one step from being hit by a car travelling at 60km/h in what I’m pretty sure was a 40km/h zone because I’ve never seen a car going above 40k down that street.

The driver saw me start to cross the street, didn’t even bother to slow down and just beeped his/her horn when I was around a foot away from the car. I heard the horn and stopped mid stride, turning to see the car fly past me. Literally one second delay in my response and I would have been squished.

At least I don’t feel numb anymore. After making it home in a state of shock I bawled my eyes out for about 15min, dry-retched a bit and now all I want to do is sleep.

I’m starting to learn that if I want to survive study for exams I need to do stuff other than study every now and then.

So I have been playing the guitar

Only problem is I don’t play that regularly so now my fingers are really red and sore and I’m not as good as I’d like to be. Being the perfectionist that I am I get frustrated at myself if I can’t play a Brian May solo within an hour of having a look at it. Never mind the fact that I’m having trouble finding the cords fast enough to play the rest of the song I want to be able to play ridiculously hard solos… NOW…

Maybe I should stick to the piano – which I would do if I had one! Grrr!
Not having a piano is starting to drive me insane. I haven’t had regular access to one in two years! And no I’m not going to get a pissy little electronic keyboard. You can’t play Chopin on an electronic keyboard!

…Other good diversions include playing Vegas-Style Solitaire. I like the extra element of difficulty. Anyways back to studying for my Embedded Microcontrollers exam on Wednesday.

I have two exams out of the way and they haven’t exactly gone brilliantly but its hard to tell how it really went.

Speaking of hard to tell I haven’t been able to work out for the life of me what my mood has been for the past week or so. Other than exhausted and stressed that is. I think I’m in one mood and I react to things like I’m in another. When even you can’t predict yourself you know you’re in trouble.

Anyways its just under a week until my final two exams so I’m taking it easy for today.

Just a small update on the world of Miriam…

1. I had a random attack of the crazies today and started alternating between giggling and singing Christmas carols, having five-year-old style tanties, sulking and standing next to Colin who was sitting on a beanbag and kicking the beanbag until Colin got sick of it and told me to go upstairs and study. I’m actually genuinely surprised that I’ve never been committed before considering this sort of behavior isn’t exactly unusual.
2. I randomly discovered mention of a book I was given for Christmas years ago and never read. I’m thinking next time I’m in Syd I should fetch it.
3. Through the magic of last.fm I discovered that Van Halen rules. I was looking at Cam’s profile and saw that it was in his top 5 artists and given I agree with most of the rest of his music taste I figured it would have to be worth a listen. I love discovering new music I like. Thanks Cam
4. I have an exam tomorrow and I’m very very stressed (this may explain the attack of the crazies). Its the first time in my life that I’ve been unsure of whether I will pass the night before. I’ve never failed an exam in my life and I don’t intend to start now!\
5. I’m looking forward to exams being over so I can concentrate on Nays project. (see below for details)

I’ve spent around 9.5 hours cleaning today. We’ve finally totally finished moving out of our old place so I spent today cleaning the old place. Its amazing how long it takes to totally clean a place all at once.

I’m glad that bits all over. I can be somewhat more relaxed about unpacking. The bulk of that can wait until after my exams.

It seems that my call for a purpose in life over my three month break has been answered.

My sister is just starting year 12 design and technology and she has a nifty little idea for her major work. It involves a whole lot of stuff which just isn’t her area of expertise. Like accelerometers, electronics and digital logic.
Given I’m studying Robotics and Mechatronics Engineering and just finished such subjects as Digital Electronics Design, Circuits and Electronics, Electrical Actuators and Sensors and Embedded Microcontrollers, I am in a unique position to be rather useful.

So whilst she is doing all the design work and conceptualizing like a good little designer/inventor, I get to do all the technical jiggery-pokery.

I wont tell you what the project is until she starts blogging about it except to say that it involves such intellectual fun as designing a state machine, fiddling *cough* calibrating analogue outputs from the accelerometer in order to get a nice digital 5V high when (and only when) it reaches the trigger acceleration and convincing an RF transmitter/receiver to behave.