Phenomenally fair and fantastically unbelievable

When you study for a degree, everywhere you go you’re being judged and measured. Your efficiency level is being worked out and your capacity is being calculated. It’s a fairly tiresome thing.

But, you can always comfort yourself with the fact that at least people don’t relate to you with ambivalence, or shrug their shoulders in ignorance when you pass by.

I don’t know, today I would have preferred not to know, and stayed blissfully ignorant and motivated; because this semester, every teacher on the program seems to have it in for us. Hard work and devotion can fly out the window, it hardly matters what you do; the good grades appear to be lagging behind.

Today came the point where he limit was reached. Not only me, but a fair share of people felt cheated by the system. I know, fair doesn’t exist, in this life you have to fight for what you want (hence the vast negotiation of grades throughout the semester). A reasonable reward for a strong effort is apparently not to be taken for granted.

I can accept that teachers critique the extent of my work or point out the insufficiency of my analysis, but when I get evaluated by my peers only to get downgraded by the system, there is no way I am keeping quiet.

An absurd amount of exercises in university promote competitiveness; that is one thing, another is to punish team-work. Many will not be estranged to the scenario of carrying somebody else’s workload when working in a team, nor will they be unfamiliar with the feeling that this effort goes un-noticed. Well in this evaluation it didn’t, great! However what happened to the balanced groups? When you pulled your weight in a strong group, what you got was ZERO!

Now, this girl is not one to stay quiet, I don’t expect anyone to drop justice in my lap. Module leader got a civilized mouthful….is how I would describe it: it’s disappointing really that an institution that is supposed to prepare you for a successful professional path will create a situation where elitism is preferred over team-work and where consistency and coordination is ignored. Why would they want people to take on a manipulative attitude to group-creation? Choosing groups which will make you shine and get you ahead, due to their insufficiencies, rather than choose to combine fantastic resources to learn, evolve and advance.

An idealist to the marrow, I know….I know… But I like to think, I was the first of many e-mails that will be flowing in… Maybe now that I have gotten this of my chest…I will be able to continue to study

It’s phenomenal really how much you can do and how little you can get for it… unbelievable….fantastically unfair

Cross your fingers x

At least the corporate strategy book will have taught me something...?

So... I am making a brave attempt to study my corporate strategy... so far the most influential quote I found is this:

"It's easier to act yourself into a better way of thinking, than to think yourself into a better way of acting"

Any accurate?

I'm still alive...

... and today I actually had time to live a little (for a change)...



...move my legs (althoug not my sea-legs this time)...



...move me to nostalgia (?)...



...make me dream...



...in good company...



...play around...



...discover (yes, this is still central London)...



...even take the time to look for the funky details...



...and then just soke up the sun.

New take on The Stockholm Syndrome?

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
The Stockholm Syndrome
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
The Stockholm Syndrome Pt. 2
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Retiring Euclid

It’s been a rough few days. Those Greeks, they’re quite sticky, even after they’re dead, they will still be there to haunt you... Euclid; the father of geometry; the source of my misery (his eulogy, only 2300 years too late).

For the past few days I’ve been dealing with the tedious task of determining the quantity, size and placement of schools in a ‘new town’ (which has the double population density of London! But that is beside the point). The Euclidean Metric is the way to do so.

Now I am not what you would call a mathematical person; I speak five languages, but math is not one of them. I would gladly reason myself to any solution, calculating just tends to seem complicated. Nevertheless, yesterday I finally bent to the needs of the task, and sat myself in front of a spreadsheet (highly confusing), to crunch some numbers. To sum it up, early afternoon, became late evening, became early night… and I was still on a date with Euclid (I told you! Sticky!).

This morning however, instead of using his metric, I got to spend just a few precious moments criticizing his tiresome method (Joy!). All in all, tables, spreadsheets and accompanying explanations and maps; 43 pages (wow?). And now I get to hand it over to someone else and move on to yet another thing I need to study; no more ancient Greeks, I’m retiring Euclid.

When you want to dance...

...Waltz with Bashir.
Truly amazing.

Plague Prevention

Pandemic prevention? Or plague prescription?
So, this is apparently what is supposed to protect us from the escaped swine flu virus strands, and save us from mass-death. Somehow, I really doubt that... The whole elastic band around the neck, makes it a bit difficult to digest. Quite a disastrous scenario actually; a crammed train car in the London tube, and everyone is wearing a plastic bag on their heads? Probably more people would get sick from the plastic bags, not to mention the environment. How about that sustainability? Sustainable health problems...would probably be more like it.

Same day, BBC writes, there is no scientific evidence that the virus can be air transferred... hmm?

Tadaaaa! Pest medicine #1: Hand Sanitizer. Even when you enter the hospital now days, they will tell all people, visitors and employees alike, to carefully clean their hands. The reason why I know that is another (not very dramatic) story. Preventive medicine is really just common sense, come on (!) any routined Londonian has owned, or at least contemplated buying, hand sanitizer, public transport is like a bacteria culture in itself.

So for now rest assured, hands are clean, with a 51p sanitizer from Tesco (of all places). Is sustainable cleanliness really plague prevention? Let's hope so.

Moleskinned

I've followed the lead of Van Gogh and Picasso, and finally gotten a Moleskine planner. I always saw myself having one, don't know why I never got it. A Moleskine feels a bit like an artistic statement, maybe it will inspire me, and make my words flow (?).

Also, to the dismay of my boyfriend, I spent close to an hour walking up and down the shelves of a book-store. I know, I know, what a patient boyfriend, right?! Funny thing is, small decisions always leave me at a crossroads, doubtful and anxious, while big decisions, like moving abroad, or choosing a university, I always make with preparation, speed and intuition. I should really learn more from myself...

It will last me until the end of 2010, my Moleskine. So, I feel like I bought just a nano-piece of my future, or at least...now I can plan for it. Because God knows I LOVE planning. Let's hope for some big dreams, luck and inspiration; now that I'm Moleskinned.

Losing it

I'm losing my favourite game (I'm losing my mind again??), well not quite to that extent, just feeling a bit drained of energy and inspiration. Does it ever stop? I wonder.

I am officially exhausted... for a while now. Some days I feel like crying when I see a book, others I really just wish I had time to read one, a real novel, with poetic words and intriguing stories. I'm making a mental list and secretly planning to go raid a book store (recommendations are warmly welcome).

There is only one more week now, of scheduled classes, then I'm in for a different kind of hell; exams. Not feeling too enthusiastic, but at the same time I just can't wait to be done. I just feel like sleeping.

My life isn't really interesting at the moment, I feel bad whenever someone asks me, haha, last week the most exciting thing I can think of that happened is that I went to get a haircut (She knows how to have fun this one...!!).

Thank god for Love...it's a major motivator, like a light in the dark almost...yeah, Loves is like the spoon full of sugar that helps the medicine go down.