General

6 Weeks Left at Bosch

Miriam1 Comment

I’m approaching the final stretch at Bosch which means a number of things.

Firstly and most importantly I need to take my finances seriously. Now I know I should have been taking my finances seriously before but somehow during the past 6 mths I’ve managed to not save a cent (Don’t tell my dad!!) Clearly all those minor discretionary purchases, you know: $1000 phone, $500 winter shopping spree, numerous nights out on the town, have added up and managed to eat up the solid $250 a week I should have been saving all this time. Bad Miriam!!!

To make up for all this financial naughtiness I’ve been doing some very sensible and responsible budgeting, and examining credit card statements and I’ve figured out how I’ll pay off my credit card in the next 6 weeks and all sorts of other well behaved activities. Then I get to suffer for my sins by working to earn the money I need to survive. Of course the best bit here is I wouldn’t have to work for a year if I’d been saving that money. Ah well, priceless lesson in the value of saving I guess. Anyway the upshot of all of this is I need a job (speaking of which if you happen to know anyone looking for a regular babysitter I am quite a lovely one, references and all)

Secondly I need to start revising my uni work. I’ve been away from uni for nearly a year now and I suspect I’ve forgotten most of the important stuff which will carry through to next semester. In fact, given I haven’t been exactly the most disciplined of students over the years there’s probably a whole bunch of maths things I never really learned in the first place. So over the next couple of weeks I will (attempt) to knuckle down and study all those things I either can’t recall (Fourier Series) or never really learned in the first place (Differential Equations) which I know will be assumed knowledge in subjects coming up this semester. Lucky me!

Finally it means that it’s nearly time for celebrating. Those of you who I’ve spoken to during my big break from blogging will know that to say I didn’t really enjoy my IBL placement is an understatement. Despite the stress of having to find a job in time the knowledge that in just 6 short weeks I’ll be outta here is a huge relief. However in the spirit of my new resolve to find the positives in every situation I have compiled a list of important life lessons I’ve gained while working at Bosch which I intend to form into a sort of series of blog posts for your entertainment.

The End of Semester

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The end of semester is approaching and it’s been a busy one let me tell you! My first freak-out cry was in week two of semester and the workload hasn’t really lightened up since. Now there’s a week and a bit left before exams start and after that a short break and then… I actually have no idea what’s happening after that, and its kinda exciting.

IBL (Industry Based Learning) is a program which gives students an opportunity to get a year of full time work experience halfway through their course. Officially I’m doing my IBL year starting July; however, I’ve only applied for one job. So, either I get the job of my dreams next semester and off to work I go, or I get 8 weeks holiday and then I’m back at uni for another semester. The way I figure it if I don’t get the placement I want this year I can always do IBL starting January instead and cast a wider net then.

I’ve been totally uninspired with my writing recently. I guess its a combination of stress, tiredness and the constant feeling in the back of my mind that I have something more important to do. So I apologize for the drop in writing frequency and hopefully I’ll think of something witty, imaginative or insightful to say soon.

What I (used to) do

Miriam5 Comments

As a special treat to everyone, and because I’m feeling nostalgic about my singing days, here is a recording of me singing the aria ‘Ah Belinda, I am pressed’ from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.
Its a bit of a dodgy recording but its the best I have. Its taken off the DVD of a school production where I played Dido. I hope you like it 🙂

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The wagon

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I’m realising that its hard to get back into blogging when you stop for a while. I’ve made several starts over the past couple of weeks but haven’t actually finished a blog post. I keep on feeling like I have nothing to say.

Anyway things have been fairly busy in this part of the world recently. I’m a week off halfway through my semester at uni and the workload is huge. I’m back into a proper programming subject again which I’m glad for. I almost would have liked to do a pure programming course but then all the IT subjects have their low points, for instance databases 101 (or its equivalent) which has a 60% fail rate simply because its boring as bat shit.

I seem to get a huge sense of satisfaction from programming. There’s something about writing a whole lot of instructions, pressing play and having the computer do what you want it to which is really satisfying particularly if you had to think really hard and learn new stuff in order to do it.

I’m also enjoying Machine Dynamics 2 because I had my first test the other day and actually fully understood the material. Maths is fun when you get it and like pulling teeth when you don’t.

Control and Automation is my least favorite subject. Its certainly the hardest but I’m starting to figure out what’s happening there too. The main problem is lecturer headaches. She’s lovely as a person but simply pisses me off with her teaching style!

Finally I have Machine Design which is a whole lot of fun. Its one of those subjects where you take all that stuff you’ve been learning for the past two years and actually apply it.

So that’s the playing field at the moment. I’m hoping for a straight run of distinctions or higher which would make it my best semester so far but I may as well shoot for the stars 🙂