Like Patience on a monument, smiling at Grief.

Hi folks,

Well, today I officially finished my first semester of university. That’s one tenth of my tertiary education over. I wish I was deluded enough to be able to say that I passed with flying colours — I am content with having survived this initial hurdle. Things are supposedly meant to be ‘easier’ (in the strictest sense of the word) from now on, so we’ll see if I manage to stay (relatively) sane next semester.

The 142 exam was very interesting. That is to say, it allowed us a lot of scope for our content, and I enjoyed that. The 141 exam was this morning. Is it just me, or were the first two questions absurdly longer than expected? I didn’t get time to even substantially flesh out the third question; I think I wrote about two paragraphs and then time was up. Not a happy camper about that. However, my 141 assignment mark brightens me considerably.

Next semester I’m off to do Legal Research and Writing, and Laws and Global Perspectives. At the risk of sounding completely off-the-bat, they sound neat. This whole first semester law experience has been quite positive overall. Having had a little bit of time for some general reflection, honestly I can’t wait to sink my teeth into some more law. I also acknowledge that the examination time-tabling was very kind to me — it’s fortunate to have such a long break, and I am fully aware that such fortunate time-tabling is a luxury that I am most unlikely to experience again.

Holiday plans: stay up overnight watching Wimbledon for two whole weeks (sleep deprivation, indeed), draft more on screenplay, re-read Austen novels, attempt writing companion vignette to Soldier Boy (has anybody heard this song? — movingly sad), and earn some more cash for uni fees. Excellent.

See you all around (maybe even at the Justice Kirby lecture),

Sherryinabottle

PS: One huge dampener on this post-semester mood is the ridiculous French Open result of my tennis person. He has faced humiliation at the hands of ‘he who shall go unnamed’. I am so glad it’s now the grass season.

Why, Justine?

Hi everybody

End of week 12! That pretty much says it all.

Don’t know about you, but I find doctrine of precedent logic hard to wrap my head around. At the same time, however, I find myself coming back for more — sort of like a drug. Yes, tackling question after question about case precedent is like a drug.

After many weeks labouring over statutory interpretation questions, I’ve taken a liking to them. It’s aggravating that almost everything can and will be rebutted – if not by my own ‘critical onlooker’ then by my tutor – yet pedantically analysing a piece of legislation, word for word, is peculiarly satisfying. One comes to realise just how limiting words can be. Nitpicking the English language is a great way to pass time.

Gave blood again. This time, when the needle came out, my wound refused to stop bleeding. I think the nurse ended up bandaging me three times. Now my iron levels have hit a new low, from all that loss of blood. Fascinating that I haven’t fainted yet.

Finally got to see Phantom of the Opera. As in, the actual opera. Live. Only got the understudy lead but he was so utterly good that nobody cared it wasn’t Anthony Warlow. The show was simply phenomenal. You know, that feeling: when you know exactly what’s going to happen because you already know the story back-to-front, and yet the performers are so good that they can still stun you and send chills down your spine. They handled the ending very well.

Also watched Made of Honour. What was with the random appearances of the random dogs? Anyway, French Open draw comes out later tonight, and play starts late Sunday. Henin, dear dear Henin. She will be sorely missed. Women’s tennis has a huge void now.

See you all later,

Sherryinabottle

Do not start what cannot be finished

Hi everyone

Been keeping busy…that’s the only excuse that I can come up with for not having posted until now. Counted up all my assessment pieces and came to the grand total of 12 — which really isn’t too bad when I think about it. 12 summative assessments, that is. The 142 assignment didn’t turn out to be that much of a workload. Though I have to add that footnoting for it took much too long than it should have.

So week six is chugging along and it’s a tad disturbing that this semester is passing so quickly. What happened to those days when we could just sit in a classroom and stare out the window? That’s not to say I did a lot of that, thank-you very much. Still, it doesn’t feel like I have any control over my uni life: it’s just all these assessment dates speeding closer in a bid to deprive me of all my sanity. And most of my sleep. You know: those (many) nights when the reasonable fraction of your brain is urging you to go to bed, but you’re wrestling with yourself wondering whether you’ve done enough revision/reading/summarising/all of the above for the day. Then you go to bed worrying that, no, you really haven’t done enough for that day, and end up feeling guilty. Is it just me, or do other uni students also find that if they haven’t squeezed every last atomic-second out of their waking day into hitting the books, that there’s something wrong with them? Or maybe I am just suffering from mid-semester-itis. Must find quick-fix cure and get rich!

Right so I’m a head-case. Deal with it. Denial is not your friend. Something else that is making me glum is what’s going on with the Olympic torch relay. I’m of Australian nationality in the legal sense, but the events stemming out from my homeland is painful to me. And since this whole debacle erupted, the work we’ve covered in 142 surrounding human rights and UN human rights declarations have really tugged some strings.

Okay this blogger shall see you later, before she turns any more sour.

Sherryinabottle

Catching up should be an Olympic sport…

You know, being behind at Uni is rather fun.

Seriously.

I like challenges, so I’m weird like that. I’ve totally missed way too many science lectures, and a few Law ones to boot! Awesome, I reckon. Now I’m competing that that wicked long-distance event called “catching up”. It’s a slog, I’ll tell you that much. Got to have the right technique, otherwise you’ll get yourself a red flag. DOn’t want to fail right before you get the gold (like an infamous Australian once did, 10 points if you know who I’m talking about!)

I’ve got two assignments that I know of. Hehe. One is easy (SCB111), and one is interesting (LWB142). Looking forward to getting ‘em done next week on my break…

…as I attempt to run my own business. Gah. I need the money too, my laptops screen just died.

I’m a sad panda.

The light is not on

Hi people!

It’s just the beginning of week four but by heck is this semester flying by like some super-speed concorde … or a Millennium Falcon … on top of all the reading there is to do, there is also group work to think about for business, and a law essay sneaking up on us (somewhat) unsuspecting souls. I am rather grateful that this first assignment for law doesn’t require any further research; in fact all the research is handed to us on a silver platter ready to be churned into a 1000-word script. Note to self: better touch up on assignment-writing skills.

Up until the middle of last week, I was beginning to fear that I’d never be able to properly understand and analyse a case. It’s all well and good to be reading a case and finding out the judgment, but having to answer the tutorial questions was a feat I was finding difficult to tackle. Alas, along comes Friday’s tute and it was then that I discovered just how incredibly patient our law tutor could be. It still takes me some time to work my way through a case, but my head is no longer six-inches deep in mud about it anymore.

My work lost power for half the night – now that was interesting. Found a bit of time to watch Vantage Point. Some intense acting from Dennis Quaid there, I have to say, so three stars from me. I’ll have to go read The Time Traveller’s Wife now since you guys have brought it up. I read a short summary about that book a while back that piqued my interest. Has anyone read this short story called The Green Door? It’s about this man who, one day, finds this green door. When he opens it he steps into a literal paradise, but after he exists, the door disappears. He then spends his entire life searching for it again. Many, many years later, he finally finds another green door, but this time when he opens it and walks in, he falls to his death. Yes, I realise that it’s an untimely demise and that I’ve completely ruined the story for everybody, but it’s worth a read just for its unfortunate ending.

Laters,

Sherryinabottle

You know, I should probably post…

Man, am I late to this party or what?

Anyway. I’m Josh, a Law student (duh) at QUT Gardens Point (duh). I’m currently doing a double degree: Law and Applied Science, which some handy squirrels informed me that its pretty popular this year!

I’m 17, live on the Gold Coast, and travel to and from the Gold Coast to Brisbane every day. Only an hour train trip, no biggie. I’m currently running my own web design business as well, which is proving quite challenging with Uni, that’s for sure!

I’m still working out my timetable and what classes I’m meant to be and where. Ah well, it happens

I’m into music. Lots of it. Mostly stuff that I guarantee you uncultured people wouldn’t have heard of! I joke, but I’m into Hardcore Punk, Metalcore, British Indie, as well as random acoustic stuff, and some other genres like Underground Hip-hop, etc. Basically anything that has meaningful lyrics, which effectively rules out everything on the radio.

I’m heavily into Rugby Union, being that I’m from New Zuland (sic) originally. I have to say though, the fush and chups is nowhere near as good over here. I referee Rugby, which proves an exciting challenge and also very fun.

Erm, yes. That’s about it. Any questions?

(minus 410)

Hey there!

Well, I’ve made it to Friday. Don’t fret, it’s not as depressing as it sounds. I have about three chapters to read over the weekend but apart from that (and, you know, work) there’s nothing demanding going on in my life.

Someone placed a hold on one of my textbooks so now I have to speed-read – something that I haven’t quite mastered yet. Actually, try, like, never had much success there at all.

Did I mention that I gave blood on Wednesday? Having just turned 18 this month, I figured I needed an outlet. Plus one donation can save three lives, and what’s a better incentive than that? I took along a friend for moral support; we were there for close to 90 minutes. Firstly they checked my BP, my iron levels (with a ‘finger prick’ – stabbing a small needle into my middle finger and squeezing my blood onto a microscope slide), my height and my weight.

Then it was into the donation area and onto a specially-designed chair, sort of like a dental patient’s chair. My vein took a bit of locating, and because it was my first time, I got given a stress ball. The donation needle is quite long and about four times thicker than your average vaccination needle, and the tip hurt. It was a case of, here we go, stab. For the first two or three seconds, the only thought going through my head was that my arm was hurting quite a bit more than I had anticipated. After that my brain adjusted my body’s response and I resigned to the fact that I’d be sitting there with a needle protruding my arm for the next ten minutes. Watching the donation bag fill up with blood was a sight in itself. There’s so much blood and it’s all so red.

When it was over, the nurse came to take the needle out. I hadn’t even contemplated this part – maybe the loss of blood was turning my senses to mush -, although she just told me that all I’d feel would be a slight tug on my skin. Here I’d like to say that it was more than a tug, it did actually hurt, though thankfully not nearly as much as when the needle went in. Bandage got slapped on, and the procedure was over.

I donated 410ml, plus a sample amount. The normal donation amount is about 470ml, but mine had to be adjusted because of my body size (if you’ve seen me around, you’d understand).  Being a person who must watch where the needle is and what it’s doing at all costs, my memory won’t be shaking away the image of the offending object anytime soon. I have to watch the needle because I absolutely hate not knowing when the pain will start. If I don’t know, then I have no time to brace myself. And that’s just not happening.

My arm looks bad at the moment, but it was much worse on Wednesday night. It looked like a war-zone for most of Thursday. You can still see the point where the needle went in, and the point where the needle stopped under my skin. If it’s any comfort, only about 3/4 of the needle actually goes into your arm.

Anyhow, this post didn’t exactly cover much about uni … so if you want more of that, you’ll have to stick with this blog!

See you all around campus.

Sherry
(And if anyone’s wondering about my avatar, yes, I’m a Federer supporter. Nadal supporters are still welcome to comment.)

A “doublie’s” first days

HI TO ALL!

About me

My name is Sherry and I am studying a Law/Business double degree, with a major in accountancy.  For those of you who are interested, I was born in Shanghai and moved to Brisbane when I was very young. I hold a crazy obsession over tennis, so if there are any tennis nuts out there, please let me know! I’m also into Star Wars, Star Gate SG-1, and I love a good Jane Austen novel. On the music side, I can’t go past Chopin, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Hayden.

Week so far

I’ve been to four lectures, three of them being law. My first tutorial will be tomorrow afternoon. Came very close to missing the train on Tuesday – 8 o’clock starts are going to take some getting used to : ) I’m getting to QUT by catching the train to Southbank and then walking the Goodwill Bridge (apparently I need the exercise).

This week hasn’t been too stressful, mainly because the lectures are very introductory. That said, there is already a tonne of law material to read. Mainly I’ve been trying to read chapters at least a day before that unit’s lecture, just so I can get my brain into gear again after the summer break, and also to make sure I don’t get too overwhelmed come the weekend. One thing I will say about lectures is that the air-conditioning is ferocious in the front row – so bring a jumper and jacket, even if you’re just there for an hour. Next week I may try the middle and/or back rows to test out the air-con in those areas, so watch this space.

Being a direct school-leaver heading into uni, I hadn’t much idea of what to expect in this environment. In these first few days, I’ve found that I have a lot more free-time to myself. Assessment is still some weeks away but I’m already a bit anxious (I’m kind of a stress-head). If you enjoy reading, then law is a great area to study because the reading lists are long and the recommended reading lists are almost as long, if not longer. I loved English back in year 12 so, as weird as it sounds, I’m really looking forward to hitting the books over the next five years.

If that wasn’t incredibly nerdy enough, here is where I must convince you to go check out the brand new law library! I don’t know what the old one was like so I have no basis for comparison, but I swear this library looks like something out of a 23rd-century novel (think Jules Verne). It’s pretty amazing; a really fantastic place in which to study.

Well, hope this insight into my first week hasn’t bored anyone to sleep. I’ll put up a more relevant avatar by next week (this one is in response to the freezing conditions in the front row). Please feel free to leave a message – share anything you’d like.

Sherry