| Maybe this is how OCD starts... |
[Feb. 22nd, 2009|05:15 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  one for you, and one for you | ] |
I've been counting the first 300 words produced by 2 bilingual kids. I've been doing this for a while, putting them all into their different categories so I can analyse them the way I want to. And all I've succeeded in doing is making tables with numbers in. Numbers never did make much sense to me; I need things explained in prose - 'Table 1 shows that X which means Y' is a good sentence skeleton for me.
Problem is, the numbers don't even add up right. Total vocab should always be 300, and yet suspiciously isn't. I don't know where I've gone wrong. I don't know how I got two extra words in there. I really don't want to go picking through my data set to find out, because it will take forever, and most likely wind up giving me a total of 299, or something similar.
Oh, update on the York Award - turns out I sound a lot more positive when I stop being angry. Who knew? Resubmission has gone. Now to see if I can be suitably positive (and employable) in the interview! |
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| 'Does having a degree make you more employable?' |
[Feb. 11th, 2009|11:42 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  livid | ] |
'No' is not a valid answer to this question, apparently. Despite it being a yes/no + discuss question.
The reason you can't argue 'no' is that you have to claim 20 points towards your time at uni making you employable from academic study. Despite the fact that I have more than the required number of points compiled from other sections without needing them.
Got my York Award application back from the careers service today - I didn't actually claim my degree doesn't make me more employable (it just doesn't make me more employable than anyone else with a BA), but I'm required to resubmit 2 questions because I didn't provide enough 'specific examples' to go with the skills and 'learning experience' developed through my degree course.
I spent multiple days and hours on this form, I've been to everything the York Award people have put on that tells me how to fill it in. It's not just me either; my housemate has had it sent back from the same question, but different reasons. And I'm not convinced I'm going to have enough time to sort it out, given how long it took me to write it in the first place. Gah!
Pisses me off how seriously the York Award people take themselves too - no employers outside those involved in the York Award actually know what it is, or credit it. Why kick up such a fuss?
The second question is 'Evalutate the support your department has given you with regard to preparing you for you future career'. Lol, whut? They gave me support? |
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| Resolutions - not in priority order |
[Jan. 1st, 2009|04:39 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  cautiously optimistic | ] |
1 - Challenges. Shrink from none - take as many opportunities and do as many new things as I can possibly fit in.
2 - Degree. Work as if working hard will get me a First.
3 - Japan. Find a not-cripplingly-expensive-and-preferably-career-enhancing way to get myself there.
4 - Weight. There needs to be less of it. This entails getting control over and changing my eating habits.
5 - Writing. There needs to be more of it. Same with reading. |
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| Kiss me and tell me it's not broken |
[Dec. 24th, 2008|02:29 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  flat | ] |
The Good News: The JET Programme have invited me down to London for a formal interview to be an assistant language teacher.
The Bad News: Two hours after my interview is scheduled, I have a module exam for Introduction to Psycholinguistics up at York. I think we can all see how this is not going to work.
My friend who is applying with me has received the same letter, on the same day, and is in exactly the same position.
It says very clearly on the letter that 'candidates unable to attend the interview will not be considered further'. And that interviews cannot be rescheduled.
I can't get hold of anyone at the JET office at the embassy, and the ansaphone message says they don't re-open until the 5th, which is only a week before the interview. I've emailed them asking if the interview can possibly be moved, but I don't think there's anything else I can do. Except fret.
Shoulda seen this one coming a mile off. Freakin' double bookings! |
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| I never know what's good for me |
[Oct. 30th, 2008|12:14 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  overthinking | ] |
I went to Kendo, which, broadly speaking, is Japanese fencing with bamboo sticks. Based on 2 sessions, I'm really enjoying it. I've wanted to do some kind of combat-martial-art-thing for a long time. I think if I don't start Kendo now, I'll never get into it.
However, there are some... considerations:
If I want to continue for the whole year it will cost me around £278, which includes joining fee, cost of two sessions per week for 27 weeks, AU membership, the basic uniform (but not armour) and a bamboo stick of my very own. I wouldn't have to pay it all at once by any means, but even £60 is a lot to pay if I drop out after a few weeks.
It wouldn't take up much more time than writing group did last year, but there is a lot of other stuff I need/want to do this year, such as a volunteering placement, York Award courses, LFA Japanese and NaNoWriMo (all of which I did last year as well). I'm concerned adding Kendo to that list might impact on my ability to put enough effort in to get a First, if indeed more effort will yield higher results.
I have reason to believe that not only will I struggle to master the routines, footwork and cuts (I dropped out of Ju Jitsu and Karate after a couple of sessions because I felt I couldn't keep up), but that I will struggle worse with actual sparring. I just have this nightmare image of none of the others wanting to spar with me cos I suck so bad that it's pointless for them. Those of you who I've LARPed with will know how tentative I am at fighting. But then, that's an aspect of my personality that I'd quite like to address.
An aspect perhaps not so easily addressed is my inability to make decisions on my own. I just want to have all the relevant information I can gather, including people's opinions. So that's what I'm asking for - opinions. Help? |
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| The Doctor... |
[Jul. 5th, 2008|09:38 pm] |
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... He took away her adventure. |
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| Pink like unto a lobster |
[Jul. 2nd, 2008|11:53 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  sore | ] |
Y'ken how it was very sunny this morning? Well, I spent the sunniest four hours manning a zebra crossing for the uni open day. All I had to do was smile incessantly, and explain the way to the exhibition centre / central hall as required, which left a lot of time to get SUNBURNED!
My face goes from true lobster pink at the forehead, down to relatively normal skin tone at the chin. My forearms are pink too, and the left has a pale watch-mark on the wrist. My poor nose has it worst of all.
In Other News: my house feels really weird. It's empty of people I know, and full of people I don't. I don't want to be here anymore. Also, we have apparently accumulated seven easy-squeezy bottles of mayonnaise over the last year, none of which are mine, and all of which I have lined up in the door of the fridge, partly for posterity's sake, partly because I'm pissed off that people have abandoned their stuff, expecting me to deal with it cos I'm the last one out. |
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| Generative Grammar: Real Life Implications of Minimalism |
[Jul. 1st, 2008|10:24 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | not calm | ] |
Following Chomsky, all transformations (including but not limited to Pack, Prompt to Pack, Exclaim about Current Lack of Packing and Seek Boxes) may be replaced by a single operation: MOVE X, where X is Chris, Eleanor, Helen etc. |
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| Outrage, justified or no? |
[Jun. 15th, 2008|11:00 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | malcontent | ] |
I had never been kicked out of a Wetherspoon's before. Not for being underage, not for being with drunken idiots, not for tripping and spilling drinks, all of which I've done, and all of which might warrant being thrown out.
Last night, AnimeSoc got kicked out. I first need to stress that we weren't doing anything offensive, because, hey, this is AnimeSoc we're talking about. I swear no one could overhear us talking about tentacles and lolicons. But yeah, we got told to 'leave or buy more drinks' by an exceptionally rude member of staff. In all fairness, we none of us had a drink on the go at that moment, but earlier in the evening we had bought 6 pitchers, 11 shots, various individual drinks, and most of us had ordered food of some description. We felt that justified us a bit of 'dossing around', as he put it, especially as they really didn't need the space for more heavily drinking patrons, as it was emptying by this point.
So, the four of us as wanted more drinks went and bought them, and ten minutes later, the guy came back, and told us that four people buying more drinks wasn't good enough.
We aren't going there again, but I'm curious as to whether the level of outrage I'm feeling is reasonable. And whether refusing to ever go in any Wetherspoon's again is reasonable (and practical). Thoughts? |
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