Sunday, April 29, 2007

Receivers

That's that then.
Assignments that is.
3 completed a day in advance. Planned, kind of.
Number 1 is fine - thought I had bitten off more than I could chew with it given that it dealt with quite philosophical points but in the end, I think it turned out well.
Number 2 is the throw away assignment. The 'bit of fun' topic. Rushed the conclusion and I'm not convinced that it runs together particularly well but since it was the final one, you just get to the point where enough is enough and no matter how much time you spend on it, it's not gonig to improve it greatly.
Number 3, the statstics assignment. Think that could go either way. It coud be excellent but equally it could be fine. Hopefully the former. I did what I could - plus with only having 3000 words to play with, it was difficult to decide exactly what to include. I think its quite tight in that there aren't any tangents and it flows. It did come in slightly over 3000 words but within the 10% over limit. Not sure the same could be said of one of my classmates who was looking at 4500 words and included everything, even the kitchen sink. I hope she gets penalised for that. Harsh but true. If I thought that I could have gotten away with writing that much, then I would of. Equally, if she gets a better grade, then questions will be asked. Not that I would be bitter. Much.

And now is a few days of doing nothing. Cos i'm worth it.
Next though is Dissertation time. I have a plan which needs ok'd. That though can wait time next week. Then it will be summer and then hand-in time and then it will be graduation. Honest.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Silver

Have been debating about whether or not to comment on the shooting spree. Yeah, that one.

Devastating waste of life really. Sympathies to the victims and lets be clear, everyone who was shot and/or killed were victims in some way or another. And the families...

His Koreaness, in my opinion, has nothing to do with it. It's just a label 'yeah, he was Korean'. So what? What difference does that make. If he had been Mexican would he still be labelled 'Mexican'. I guess its just convienent to say 'he's from such and such...' and apportion 'blame' to where he came from.

Have to say, I'm deeply unimpressed by the media coverage of it. I just want the facts. On those facts, I can base my own judgements. I don't need some journalist telling me how I should feel about it or trying to tell me about all the imponderables and unanswerable questions that they put forth in there reporting, particularly when it comes to trying to 'explain' why he did what he did. They don't know, so don't give me your hypotheses, just the facts.

Example being the 'Madman' headline. Fuck off.

The journalists don't know that, yet some editor has ok'd the use of it. And then everyone who sees the headline think 'oh, he must of been mad then'. Do the media realise the influence it exerts?

As for 'madman'. Sensationalist at best.

Look at the video. He knew what he was doing. He knew what was going to happen and the consequences. He knew why he was doing it. Is that the sign of a 'madman'? No it's not. Cold, calculating and cunning, extreme, brutal certainly but mad. Don't think so.

He certainly wasn't 'ordinary' and there can be no justification or condoning of his actions but instead of getting all sensationlist about it take a look at it and understand. I'm sure years of abuse for not being 'ordinary' didn't help.
Did he have a point about all the rich kids who had everything but wanted more? Perhaps.

Enough.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

over

Yes, no postings for awhile. It's stress. Countdown to deadline day is fast approaching and to be honest, I just haven't had time. That said, I do seem to have loads of time for procastinating. Getting fairly good at that actually. Especially when trying to start a section on the criticisms levelled at Qualitative Research with regard to vaildity. Validity is a positivistic concept which has been applied to non-positivistic Qualitative research and its methodologies. It's like trying to put round tent poles into square whatever the hell they are and then getting criticised for it. Hence, the retort which will point to a new concept of validity specifically designed for the uniqueness of Qualitative Research.
Clearly, I haven't been able to quite put it like that in my assignment, hence the procrastination.

Instead, its onto Stats. Coming along is all I can say. Seems like the data is a damb squib with nothing really exciting to report.

Which is very much like my postings currently.
Roll on 2nd May when all the assignments will be in.

Monday, April 09, 2007

you come on so fast so numb that you can't even.

this is now, this is here, this is me, this is what i wanted you to see, i've been around, i'm gasoline.

that was then,

that has gone/

wait around. that is obscene. you are the star.
that eclipses the sun.
out of sight.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

us.

Sometimes, just sometimes it all clicks.
Writing that is.
Days pass when nothing meaningful comes to mind and then suddenly everything you write turns out to be bloody brillant.
Today, well thought it wouldn't be good but somehow it's not bad. I might read what I've written tomorrow and think 'my god, that's shite' but for the time being it's fine.

Think number 1 is almost there.
2 more assignments to go.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

1st-sleep

I agreed to publicly thank our New Zealand friend for her kind hospitality, so there, I just did.

Alas, on the way home from her mansion I had the pleasure of sitting opposite a blind drunk bloke who insisted on talking utter crap. The thing is with people like that, you never really know what they will do. You secretly hope that they 1. get off the bus quickly or 2. fall asleep.
But, failing that, they just shut up and let you travel in peace.

This bloke however just wouldn't shut up. At times he would laugh manically at his own jokes. In that situation, you just have to laugh with him otherwise it could be a stiff punch from the bloke. All he seemed to talk about was the fact that he was hungry and he wanted to get some food. Fair enough really. We've all been there, done that.

1st of all, he wanted to get a Baked Potato with cheese and colesaw. I was quite impressed with that actually. He must look after himself. As we continued on our journey, the Baked Potato made way for a Kebab and Chips. He was worried though because the last time he got that, he only ate the chips. He had woken up the next day with the kebab untouched. Then he recanted, he wanted the Baked Potato again. But then he suddenly decided that he didn't want any of them. Instead, he wanted a KFC. Bearing in mind that it was 11pm on a Sunday night, there might be a small problem getting one. But, since this idea popped into his head there was no changing his mind. He was set. KFC it was. Thankfully, he got off the bus near the Festival Theatre. And that was the end of him. I doubt he got his KFC because it was closed. I'm sure he did get a hangover though.

Knobhead.
And to cap the journey home was the sight of 2 teenagers trying to sit at the bus-stop but falling off the seat. Pissed, both of them. Finally, one of them decided to vomit all over the bus stop. Mingin.

Welcome to Sunday night.
Edinburgh style.