Four exams down, one to go. And it's only the toughest one left... I'm however glad that they're nearly over, I think this has been the most hellish year at University by far. So far I believe I've done alright for myself, especially considering the criminal lack of studying I put into certain subjects. I don't want to predict my grades though because what generally happens is that I end up by predicting wrongly and thereby disappoint myself when I see my confirmed grade! Having said that, I had a study plan, which I decided to implement, and I believe that for the most part, it paid off.
Certain papers have been more difficult than others; a case in point being the International Law exam (surprisingly!!) yesterday and our Economics exam (not so surprisingly!!) today; the latter especially being hard on us law students for a multitude of reasons. One, we only really had half a day and a bit of the morning (unless someone did an all-nighter) to study for the subject, considering that there was International Law - which had a minimum content of 100 pages worth of notes - to do the day before it. Two, with all due respect to the EDRC, its staff and its students, it was our (final?) subsidiary exam and therefore did not merit half the amount of attention that our law examinations required. Three, the majority of us were clueless on the subject. Four, and perhaps most critically, the majority of us also couldn't give two hoots about it, knowing that a Compensated Pass would be enough for us to get through!
And so it boils down to the famed Obligations. Weirdly enough, it's the exam that I'm the most unmotivated for at the moment, despite it being the make or break scenario, the subject which has given many students many a sleepless night. No wonder, what with those 120 odd cases to study by heart! And then, following that, comes the reward of summer - at long last - until I start working, yet again, at EF. I prefer calling it Oestrogen Central, due to the overwhelming female teacher ratio vis-a-vis males, but nothing can be done about that! In any event, it's been a long road this year, but one that's been travelled full speed ahead. If only this theme could be repeated until Monday, I will be forever grateful!
Till Monday, 12.15pm: Obligations... "Till Death do us Part."
God Bless You all!
Matti
Showing posts with label Exams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Exams. Show all posts
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
The Master of Procrastination
At the time I started writing this, my computer clock read 21:09. I'm on page 28 out of 33 of the notes on Company Law that I have to study and won't, in all probability, finish them tonight. The reason? I, like the majority of my peers at this moment in time, are the masters of time wasting and procrastination.
And the worrying thing is that I'm even willing to blog tonight and there's like... er... I think 25 days left until my first exam; and 27 days left until the exam that I'm currently studying for is also done and dusted. I should really get a move on, but there's no desire - at least at the moment, and, in all fairness, probably until the end of the evening too - to do so.
This is just horrible and it's starting to play on my head. Whenever I meet up with friends, all that's coming to the fore, at the moment, is how far we've got in our studies. Apart from people starting to sweat, naturally; myself included. It's getting hot, it both a literal and metaphorical (I actually lost my train of thought here, and was going to initially write 'not-so-literal' instead) sense. We got that update yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that too. And I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but we're going to get it tomorrow too. At least the day after that is Saturday, so that's two days of not hearing a comparative analysis of studying. Or is it? The curiosity is practically too much to handle, and invariably, a problem will arise for one of us (knowing my luck, it'll be me obviously) and we'll be back to square one when we phone up each other to get to the root of the above-mentioned problem!
This afternoon, our disdain towards the horror topic took a new twist though, one that I suppose would want to make you cringe. The question that arose was which of the case studies that we have already done strikes us as our favourite and why. It just took my depression levels to a whole new (low) level, but invariably, simultaneously, I can't help but laugh about it. Our heads are so programmed in this manner at the moment that we are actually trying to find alternate ways of humoring ourselves vis-a-vis the work we have done. For good measure, after a little bit of thought, I opted to go for a case that involved some Arab dude purchasing a piece of furniture that was advertised as being made of oak when it wasn't. He only realised this was the case when he had taken it home. What was the furniture made of, might you ask? Chipwood. Yes, some fool couldn't recognise the difference between oak and chipwood. The best thing about this all is that his action for damages was not upheld by the court, and he was asked to pay the defendant company the remainder of the balance on the piece purchased.
And then they say Americans are stupid. Which they are, just for the record. Some answers they provided in a questionnaire asking the most basic of question produced the following results:
- A triangle has four sides;
- The currency of the United Kingdom is the 'Queen Elizabeth money';
- Iran is an island that is in the perceived South-Eastern part of the globe, i.e. it's a nation that is actually on a continent called Australia;
- There are ten Eiffel Towers in Paris;
- The non-knowledge of the name of a country beginning with the letter 'U'.
I wanted to cry, but instead, I just found myself laughing. And laughing. And laughing. It's when you actually do laugh at such stupidities that you realise that exam stress, perhaps, has finally taken over.
It is now 21:28. 19 minutes wasted on blogging, not bad. Time to get back to the black and white sheets that I don't really feel like seeing.
God Bless You all!
Matti
And the worrying thing is that I'm even willing to blog tonight and there's like... er... I think 25 days left until my first exam; and 27 days left until the exam that I'm currently studying for is also done and dusted. I should really get a move on, but there's no desire - at least at the moment, and, in all fairness, probably until the end of the evening too - to do so.
This is just horrible and it's starting to play on my head. Whenever I meet up with friends, all that's coming to the fore, at the moment, is how far we've got in our studies. Apart from people starting to sweat, naturally; myself included. It's getting hot, it both a literal and metaphorical (I actually lost my train of thought here, and was going to initially write 'not-so-literal' instead) sense. We got that update yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that too. And I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but we're going to get it tomorrow too. At least the day after that is Saturday, so that's two days of not hearing a comparative analysis of studying. Or is it? The curiosity is practically too much to handle, and invariably, a problem will arise for one of us (knowing my luck, it'll be me obviously) and we'll be back to square one when we phone up each other to get to the root of the above-mentioned problem!
This afternoon, our disdain towards the horror topic took a new twist though, one that I suppose would want to make you cringe. The question that arose was which of the case studies that we have already done strikes us as our favourite and why. It just took my depression levels to a whole new (low) level, but invariably, simultaneously, I can't help but laugh about it. Our heads are so programmed in this manner at the moment that we are actually trying to find alternate ways of humoring ourselves vis-a-vis the work we have done. For good measure, after a little bit of thought, I opted to go for a case that involved some Arab dude purchasing a piece of furniture that was advertised as being made of oak when it wasn't. He only realised this was the case when he had taken it home. What was the furniture made of, might you ask? Chipwood. Yes, some fool couldn't recognise the difference between oak and chipwood. The best thing about this all is that his action for damages was not upheld by the court, and he was asked to pay the defendant company the remainder of the balance on the piece purchased.
And then they say Americans are stupid. Which they are, just for the record. Some answers they provided in a questionnaire asking the most basic of question produced the following results:
- A triangle has four sides;
- The currency of the United Kingdom is the 'Queen Elizabeth money';
- Iran is an island that is in the perceived South-Eastern part of the globe, i.e. it's a nation that is actually on a continent called Australia;
- There are ten Eiffel Towers in Paris;
- The non-knowledge of the name of a country beginning with the letter 'U'.
I wanted to cry, but instead, I just found myself laughing. And laughing. And laughing. It's when you actually do laugh at such stupidities that you realise that exam stress, perhaps, has finally taken over.
It is now 21:28. 19 minutes wasted on blogging, not bad. Time to get back to the black and white sheets that I don't really feel like seeing.
God Bless You all!
Matti
Friday, April 30, 2010
The Month of Desperation
Incredibly so, we're already moving into the final stretch. Time has flown by so quickly and third year, in my case, is practically over!
It was around this time last year that I remember blog frequency increasing to the extent that sometimes, people were posting a blog a day so as to alleviate themselves from the boredom that studying emitted. I somewhat see the same thing happening sometime soon - indeed, it always seems to be that when May comes about, and us students' desperation increases day after day, so too do the amount of writings increase.
The horrible thing about this all is that this year especially, I really shouldn't have the time to stay writing away, yet I come back and time after time I stay rambling on about different things. It's like an addiction or something... at least though it's not one that's detrimental to my health! It's something worse than that... it's detrimental to my time!
So onto the month of May we go, that wretched month of desperation, where among the features I seem to expect Lanf's blog/vlog to resurrect, Matt to remain silent in an attempt to read as much information as that brain of his can absorb, Bettina to post more music, Krissie to not blog - as she tries to get out of touch with the world of technology* and Zoe to keep on worrying a bit too much about A Levels!
May. You've just got to love it. For its procrastination and desperation, and for its ability to post some utterly ridiculous things on Facebook (such as the group I created yesterday afternoon against those promoters placed at University, and the Law Restaurant menu this time last year).
God Bless You all!
Matti
*Thank God you don't use Windows 7 then (see Facebook group for further details).
It was around this time last year that I remember blog frequency increasing to the extent that sometimes, people were posting a blog a day so as to alleviate themselves from the boredom that studying emitted. I somewhat see the same thing happening sometime soon - indeed, it always seems to be that when May comes about, and us students' desperation increases day after day, so too do the amount of writings increase.
The horrible thing about this all is that this year especially, I really shouldn't have the time to stay writing away, yet I come back and time after time I stay rambling on about different things. It's like an addiction or something... at least though it's not one that's detrimental to my health! It's something worse than that... it's detrimental to my time!
So onto the month of May we go, that wretched month of desperation, where among the features I seem to expect Lanf's blog/vlog to resurrect, Matt to remain silent in an attempt to read as much information as that brain of his can absorb, Bettina to post more music, Krissie to not blog - as she tries to get out of touch with the world of technology* and Zoe to keep on worrying a bit too much about A Levels!
May. You've just got to love it. For its procrastination and desperation, and for its ability to post some utterly ridiculous things on Facebook (such as the group I created yesterday afternoon against those promoters placed at University, and the Law Restaurant menu this time last year).
God Bless You all!
Matti
*Thank God you don't use Windows 7 then (see Facebook group for further details).
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Cheesecakes for Sale! Going for Free!
I have just finished the best part of an hour and a half's work at one stretch, which, in normal terms, would be great - especially by my rather hopeless working standards where even the mere sight of my (non-working, dead battery) clock, which looks like a brake disc from a Formula 1 car, would generally distract me.
The only thing is that this last hour and a half has, when you look at it in personal terms, been wasted. This statement, on the facet of things, is rather contradictory especially considering what I have just said in the paragraph above. But I know for a fact that I have not lost my mind and that I still am indeed sane, despite the work constantly piling up at now alarming levels (don't we nonetheless always get through this all in the end?).
The fact of the matter is that for this last hour and a half, I have been organising many series of notes for others to enjoy and study from in the forthcoming exams. To use the Maltese expression, I feel like "qed nbigh turtiera pastizzi". Of course, there is a wee bit of a personal gain here as well as this organisation of notes and insertion of missing lecture notes into their proper places has obviously put me on track to just study everything in an apparent plain-sailing fashion, but I don't think much from that which I read has really entered my head at the moment, which is a tad worrying!
But I don't mind doing this. I'm not saying I enjoy it, but I don't mind it; and I don't mind it simply because I'm a Christian and because I'm being there for other people by doing this. It's not easy for me to give out my notes practically all the time, but who said being a Christian is easy? I do this because even though I try not to believe it, I do know deep down that it is a way of bringing out the Christian in me at the end of the day. I don't grumble when giving out these notes, and I never will - and indeed, this is not a grumble, but just a statement. Being a Christian, I don't expect anything in return for what I'm doing.
At least my life is serving a useful purpose, apart from stirring up debates, now that being a 'taxi driver' no longer really happens any longer.
God Bless You all,
Matti
The only thing is that this last hour and a half has, when you look at it in personal terms, been wasted. This statement, on the facet of things, is rather contradictory especially considering what I have just said in the paragraph above. But I know for a fact that I have not lost my mind and that I still am indeed sane, despite the work constantly piling up at now alarming levels (don't we nonetheless always get through this all in the end?).
The fact of the matter is that for this last hour and a half, I have been organising many series of notes for others to enjoy and study from in the forthcoming exams. To use the Maltese expression, I feel like "qed nbigh turtiera pastizzi". Of course, there is a wee bit of a personal gain here as well as this organisation of notes and insertion of missing lecture notes into their proper places has obviously put me on track to just study everything in an apparent plain-sailing fashion, but I don't think much from that which I read has really entered my head at the moment, which is a tad worrying!
But I don't mind doing this. I'm not saying I enjoy it, but I don't mind it; and I don't mind it simply because I'm a Christian and because I'm being there for other people by doing this. It's not easy for me to give out my notes practically all the time, but who said being a Christian is easy? I do this because even though I try not to believe it, I do know deep down that it is a way of bringing out the Christian in me at the end of the day. I don't grumble when giving out these notes, and I never will - and indeed, this is not a grumble, but just a statement. Being a Christian, I don't expect anything in return for what I'm doing.
At least my life is serving a useful purpose, apart from stirring up debates, now that being a 'taxi driver' no longer really happens any longer.
God Bless You all,
Matti
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Bureaucratic Processes at the University of Malta
I'm still debating whether to publish my opinions vis-a-vis this subject in the Times in the form of a letter; principally because I am somewhat fearful of obtaining some kind of negative 'label' from lecturers (despite my common name, and all) and hence influencing my exam grades in some manner. However, basically, the point behind this written below is a complaint about how long it takes for exam results to be published at University.
While I can understand that lecturers lead a busy life and that they tend to many students, I think that it is particularly shameful that a month has passed since our first January exam and no results have yet come out. The point behind this is that foreign counterparts at foreign Universities are given a specific timeframe in which to have the students' results at least preliminarily published, i.e. indicating what grading bracket the student would fall into, but in Malta, the truth is that students are faced with the opposite scenario altogether.
Us students have come to accept the fact that results do take a bit of time to come out, especially if there are many people sitting for a subject; and that as a general rule, one shouldn't expect anything to emerge within at least two and a half weeks from the date of the examination. However, I find it downright irresponsible and unprofessional on behalf of the lecturers who correct our papers - if they even do correct thoroughly, that is - that they continue to procrastinate accordingly, causing agony to the student, who would generally be keen to find out how he or she fared within the exam that he or she sat for. A pristine example is what happened to me last year, in a credit in which there were not more than 40 students sitting for final assessment. The lectures took place over a weekend in February, following which the lecturer had informed us that we would be given a 1,500 word assignment on the subject that was due for April 1. One would estimate that at most, the result would come out around a three weeks later - but no, the result actually came out in June 30, i.e. three full months after the due date. I don't know if there is a certain criteria preventing results from being published in the middle of a semester, but I find this shameful, to say the least.
As stated above, in almost all Universities abroad, lecturers are given a timeframe in which they must correct their students' exam papers and publish results, and, unpredictably, this is adhered to in practically all circumstances (barring exceptional ones). Here in Malta, last year, it was suggested that if six weeks (from the time of the examination) had passed whereby the result of a subject hadn't been received, we should send an email to the KSU Education Commission, who would then investigate the matter accordingly and get back to us after supposedly putting pressure on the lecturers to deliver the results. I have personally had mixed experiences with this system, because while I did get a prompt answer in relation to, if I remember correctly, my Family Law exam back in March 2009; I did not get any answer whatsoever from the Commission vis-a-vis Administrative Law exam in July 2009. Needless to say, the result for Administrative Law came out on July 23 - the exam was held on June 4. Therefore, seven weeks passed before we received any confirmation of our results. In itself, this also brings up a criticism of KSU, who, in defending the rights of the students, should have at least had the decency to answer my email accordingly, even if the answer that I would have received would have been something to the effect that they had no idea when the result would be coming out. Alas, perhaps a member of the Education Commission was on holiday at the time - or received her results already - and therefore the need to tend to my request was deemed unimportant.
To conclude with my arguments, here's my personal suggestion to lecturers. Last year, they had made a whole fuss because their collective agreement had expired and that their pay was measly. They justified this argument by stating that they should be receiving the same salaries as their European counterparts (for people who are meant to be pioneers in their field of research, I find this argument extremely flawed because none of the lecturers seemed to take into account that the cost and standard of living in Malta is lower than that in Europe - someone with even half a brain would had been able to successfully argue that). Well, following a lot of hassling, a new collective agreement was reached. However, if they really did want to be paid like their European counterparts, then why don't they start acting like their European counterparts too? This includes not skipping lectures without prior notice, using the proper media to deliver lectures, actually delivering lectures properly and not giving (sometimes) conflicting information, and, finally, correcting those wretched exam papers within a stipulated period of time and publishing the results as soon as possible! Until then, such lecturers should firmly put their money where their mouth is.
God Bless You all!
Matti
While I can understand that lecturers lead a busy life and that they tend to many students, I think that it is particularly shameful that a month has passed since our first January exam and no results have yet come out. The point behind this is that foreign counterparts at foreign Universities are given a specific timeframe in which to have the students' results at least preliminarily published, i.e. indicating what grading bracket the student would fall into, but in Malta, the truth is that students are faced with the opposite scenario altogether.
Us students have come to accept the fact that results do take a bit of time to come out, especially if there are many people sitting for a subject; and that as a general rule, one shouldn't expect anything to emerge within at least two and a half weeks from the date of the examination. However, I find it downright irresponsible and unprofessional on behalf of the lecturers who correct our papers - if they even do correct thoroughly, that is - that they continue to procrastinate accordingly, causing agony to the student, who would generally be keen to find out how he or she fared within the exam that he or she sat for. A pristine example is what happened to me last year, in a credit in which there were not more than 40 students sitting for final assessment. The lectures took place over a weekend in February, following which the lecturer had informed us that we would be given a 1,500 word assignment on the subject that was due for April 1. One would estimate that at most, the result would come out around a three weeks later - but no, the result actually came out in June 30, i.e. three full months after the due date. I don't know if there is a certain criteria preventing results from being published in the middle of a semester, but I find this shameful, to say the least.
As stated above, in almost all Universities abroad, lecturers are given a timeframe in which they must correct their students' exam papers and publish results, and, unpredictably, this is adhered to in practically all circumstances (barring exceptional ones). Here in Malta, last year, it was suggested that if six weeks (from the time of the examination) had passed whereby the result of a subject hadn't been received, we should send an email to the KSU Education Commission, who would then investigate the matter accordingly and get back to us after supposedly putting pressure on the lecturers to deliver the results. I have personally had mixed experiences with this system, because while I did get a prompt answer in relation to, if I remember correctly, my Family Law exam back in March 2009; I did not get any answer whatsoever from the Commission vis-a-vis Administrative Law exam in July 2009. Needless to say, the result for Administrative Law came out on July 23 - the exam was held on June 4. Therefore, seven weeks passed before we received any confirmation of our results. In itself, this also brings up a criticism of KSU, who, in defending the rights of the students, should have at least had the decency to answer my email accordingly, even if the answer that I would have received would have been something to the effect that they had no idea when the result would be coming out. Alas, perhaps a member of the Education Commission was on holiday at the time - or received her results already - and therefore the need to tend to my request was deemed unimportant.
To conclude with my arguments, here's my personal suggestion to lecturers. Last year, they had made a whole fuss because their collective agreement had expired and that their pay was measly. They justified this argument by stating that they should be receiving the same salaries as their European counterparts (for people who are meant to be pioneers in their field of research, I find this argument extremely flawed because none of the lecturers seemed to take into account that the cost and standard of living in Malta is lower than that in Europe - someone with even half a brain would had been able to successfully argue that). Well, following a lot of hassling, a new collective agreement was reached. However, if they really did want to be paid like their European counterparts, then why don't they start acting like their European counterparts too? This includes not skipping lectures without prior notice, using the proper media to deliver lectures, actually delivering lectures properly and not giving (sometimes) conflicting information, and, finally, correcting those wretched exam papers within a stipulated period of time and publishing the results as soon as possible! Until then, such lecturers should firmly put their money where their mouth is.
God Bless You all!
Matti
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
End of Exams... Soon
Finally, in 17 hours from the time that this has been written, exams will, at long last, be over. Until the end of May, but still.
The last week and a half or so has been relatively hectic for more than one reason, the principal one being trying to cram in every single bit of information possible into that relatively stubborn cranium of mine with mixed success. I always hate the period that ensues after exams, that lengthy bit of time that it takes to wait for results accordingly. People are all too often so curious to see how they've fared and whether they got the grades that they really desired and/or deserved after putting in a substantial effort into a particular subject. I believe I fall into that category. Others, of course, are quite nonchalant about this but to each his own, I guess.
So far, third year has been more pressured than last year, but I know all too well that the worst is still to come. As the second semester approaches, so too do 120 cases to remember solely in Contract Law (God help me, I was already struggling - relatively - to remember around 15 for our January test!!), another unspecified amount in Tort Law, more precious time (wasted) with everyone's favourite lecturer in Señor Quintano, and the horrors from hell at the end of May, all probably condensed into one week of sheer wrist-slitting. Something to really look forward to; it really makes me appreciate what former students have passed through, practically sweating blood to make it. At least if we're going to get our LL.B.'s, we sure as hell are going to earn them.
It just makes me want to go back to the January 2009 session of examinations and do Family Law all over again. And I thought that was bad... how wrong I was.
And on a completely unrelated note, I will conclude here with a powerful Bible verse that I came across...
"My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in. (Proverbs 3:11-12)
God Bless You all!
Matti
The last week and a half or so has been relatively hectic for more than one reason, the principal one being trying to cram in every single bit of information possible into that relatively stubborn cranium of mine with mixed success. I always hate the period that ensues after exams, that lengthy bit of time that it takes to wait for results accordingly. People are all too often so curious to see how they've fared and whether they got the grades that they really desired and/or deserved after putting in a substantial effort into a particular subject. I believe I fall into that category. Others, of course, are quite nonchalant about this but to each his own, I guess.
So far, third year has been more pressured than last year, but I know all too well that the worst is still to come. As the second semester approaches, so too do 120 cases to remember solely in Contract Law (God help me, I was already struggling - relatively - to remember around 15 for our January test!!), another unspecified amount in Tort Law, more precious time (wasted) with everyone's favourite lecturer in Señor Quintano, and the horrors from hell at the end of May, all probably condensed into one week of sheer wrist-slitting. Something to really look forward to; it really makes me appreciate what former students have passed through, practically sweating blood to make it. At least if we're going to get our LL.B.'s, we sure as hell are going to earn them.
It just makes me want to go back to the January 2009 session of examinations and do Family Law all over again. And I thought that was bad... how wrong I was.
And on a completely unrelated note, I will conclude here with a powerful Bible verse that I came across...
"My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in. (Proverbs 3:11-12)
God Bless You all!
Matti
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Reflections of when You're Bored Stiff
It's that time of year, isn't it... The time of year where exams come along once again. And, as usual, an element of unproductivity has come about, especially for the last hour and a half or so, as I haven't been able to concentrate to save my life and have hence resorted to the evil machine that is called my laptop. Unlike in May last year, where blogs seemed to become everyone's common factor because everyone seemed to post something due to exam stress, this time about, minimal posts have sprouted up and indeed, reading and delving in other texts has been rare at most. Oh well. At least the headache is nonetheless finally subsiding and I believe that I should soon be able to (unfortunately) get back to the books.
Time for a period of self-examination, methinks. (Thanks Krissie, by the way, for kind of confirming that I had to write this after reading your blog!)
Yesterday I was reflecting about life had treated me over the last few years while have a couple of drinks with some friends of mine, and it dwelled on me that I have been truly lucky and blessed to have a life that really never has a dull moment. I looked back at the relatively recent past and saw that I have had people around me who have really been a positive influence on my life, and for this I am really thankful. I'm so glad that I didn't go down any path that could have resulted in having severe consequences in my life and so thankful that I wasn't brought up in that manner either. It felt so liberating to confirmedly know that when walking back to my car, I was walking in the company of people with a similar upbringing to mine and that such people would never try to explicitly take advantage of me or influence me to do something that I would regret in the future. To the contrary, if I were to do something of the sort, I believe that such people would actually persuade me to not carry out such an activity and try knock some sense into my admittedly hard head.
Then, when I got home, I turned the spotlight onto myself for a few minutes - literally, as this was rather late at night - and looked at how I saw myself in the light of other people. Weirdly enough, I realised a couple of paradoxes vis-a-vis what I said in the above paragraph. Firstly, I noticed that for all the positivities that I outlined above, I didn't warm up to the people I was surrounded by - with the possible exception of a few - with immediate effect, and had to actually 'gel' with such people before being myself with them. I've realised this on countless occasions, that being the fact that initially, I'm quite cold with people, and will continue to be unless I really get speaking to someone or finally learn how to appreciate and understand them. Secondly, and perhaps this is where I was a bit shocked, I felt that in quite a few circumstances, when I did indeed warm up to those people, I've been a better friend to them than they have to me. Rarely have my friends been entirely mutual, in the sense that giving and taking was equal among both people involved. It's a weird scenario and one that perplexed me, and still does, in all fairness. I tried putting my finger around it and put it down to perhaps being someone that people look up to, a role model of some type, but I believe that that's being rather boastful of myself and so I am more than willing to discard this theory. The case in point is though that often, I feel that it's other people that throw sticks and stones at me first for some odd reason, when I wouldn't have done anything of the sort to them. And other things, obviously. I'd really like to be enlightened on something like this, though, because it did play on my head and indeed, still is.
But overall, I can't complain. Things have really fallen into place for me over time and I believe will continue to do so in the future. I know about, and am conscious of, my various faults and indeed, am constantly trying to make an effort to improve them; but I am only human at the end of the day, and us humans err.
And on a side note, as for the recent derogatory remarks that have been sprouting up, with the perpetrator obviously hiding behind an anonymous mask due to extreme cowardice... Get a life. It's my blog so the posts that go up are what I want to write - if you don't like whatever is posted, you don't have to read it and furthermore uselessly comment on it.
God Bless You all,
Matti
Time for a period of self-examination, methinks. (Thanks Krissie, by the way, for kind of confirming that I had to write this after reading your blog!)
Yesterday I was reflecting about life had treated me over the last few years while have a couple of drinks with some friends of mine, and it dwelled on me that I have been truly lucky and blessed to have a life that really never has a dull moment. I looked back at the relatively recent past and saw that I have had people around me who have really been a positive influence on my life, and for this I am really thankful. I'm so glad that I didn't go down any path that could have resulted in having severe consequences in my life and so thankful that I wasn't brought up in that manner either. It felt so liberating to confirmedly know that when walking back to my car, I was walking in the company of people with a similar upbringing to mine and that such people would never try to explicitly take advantage of me or influence me to do something that I would regret in the future. To the contrary, if I were to do something of the sort, I believe that such people would actually persuade me to not carry out such an activity and try knock some sense into my admittedly hard head.
Then, when I got home, I turned the spotlight onto myself for a few minutes - literally, as this was rather late at night - and looked at how I saw myself in the light of other people. Weirdly enough, I realised a couple of paradoxes vis-a-vis what I said in the above paragraph. Firstly, I noticed that for all the positivities that I outlined above, I didn't warm up to the people I was surrounded by - with the possible exception of a few - with immediate effect, and had to actually 'gel' with such people before being myself with them. I've realised this on countless occasions, that being the fact that initially, I'm quite cold with people, and will continue to be unless I really get speaking to someone or finally learn how to appreciate and understand them. Secondly, and perhaps this is where I was a bit shocked, I felt that in quite a few circumstances, when I did indeed warm up to those people, I've been a better friend to them than they have to me. Rarely have my friends been entirely mutual, in the sense that giving and taking was equal among both people involved. It's a weird scenario and one that perplexed me, and still does, in all fairness. I tried putting my finger around it and put it down to perhaps being someone that people look up to, a role model of some type, but I believe that that's being rather boastful of myself and so I am more than willing to discard this theory. The case in point is though that often, I feel that it's other people that throw sticks and stones at me first for some odd reason, when I wouldn't have done anything of the sort to them. And other things, obviously. I'd really like to be enlightened on something like this, though, because it did play on my head and indeed, still is.
But overall, I can't complain. Things have really fallen into place for me over time and I believe will continue to do so in the future. I know about, and am conscious of, my various faults and indeed, am constantly trying to make an effort to improve them; but I am only human at the end of the day, and us humans err.
And on a side note, as for the recent derogatory remarks that have been sprouting up, with the perpetrator obviously hiding behind an anonymous mask due to extreme cowardice... Get a life. It's my blog so the posts that go up are what I want to write - if you don't like whatever is posted, you don't have to read it and furthermore uselessly comment on it.
God Bless You all,
Matti
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Of Countdowns and Observations
While the build up on my MSN nickname has been intense as ever in the last 14 odd days, today, the official countdown to the end of exams - and eventual promotion to LL.B. III (already!) - has now started with the completion of exam one out of four. At the time of writing, us law students are precisely 1 week, 6 days, 11 hours and 45 minutes away from freedom! Anyway, I'm happy to announce that Commercial Law remained as predictable as the past papers indicated it would be, and I'm also happy to announce that that will probably be the easiest 10 credit exam that I sat for in my life. Seriously. Let's now hope that the Commercial honchos aren't the worst or strictest of markers out there, to the extent that they have to get off their high horses to appreciate that with studying, the student can produce some good answers in an exam.
Onto this afternoon's happenings, where I was drafted into EF for Teaching Observation. To be honest, I didn't go in with many high hopes because I thought it would be a waste of time, but I actually ended up by realising how much one can learn from others with a certain amount of experience, no matter how short the sessions at hand are. This doesn't mean that I will not be adopting my own teaching style come when I settle into the job at the end of June, despite my inexperience, but it did help calm my fears about teaching being a real hard ordeal. When one has textbooks at his disposal, the ordeal automatically becomes a hell of a lot easier, and then it's simply up to the teacher to be in control of the class. At least, that's how I felt it.
And in a blog that is bereft of ideas, I might as well fill up another mini-paragraph with one common sentiment: for the one time that I went there to study; last Thursday, to be precise, because of the presence of the maid at home; I actually miss Room 101! Okay, maybe not the room itself, but the company that is associated with it. Seeing that I feel capable of getting more content done at home, this has kind of left people like myself a bit socially deprived during the week due to the fact that, well, I'm staying indoors! On the other end of the scale, however, I really am thanking God that I didn't take Architecture as a course at University... while I, and other law students, might be going bonkers over Administrative and Criminal Law now, our 'bonkers' is simply nothing compared to that suffered in Architecture. I actually pity the people there... and a clear example of what they're passing through can be seen and illustrated clearly by none other than the ever-increasingly popular Lanf! ;)
God Bless You all!
Matti
Onto this afternoon's happenings, where I was drafted into EF for Teaching Observation. To be honest, I didn't go in with many high hopes because I thought it would be a waste of time, but I actually ended up by realising how much one can learn from others with a certain amount of experience, no matter how short the sessions at hand are. This doesn't mean that I will not be adopting my own teaching style come when I settle into the job at the end of June, despite my inexperience, but it did help calm my fears about teaching being a real hard ordeal. When one has textbooks at his disposal, the ordeal automatically becomes a hell of a lot easier, and then it's simply up to the teacher to be in control of the class. At least, that's how I felt it.
And in a blog that is bereft of ideas, I might as well fill up another mini-paragraph with one common sentiment: for the one time that I went there to study; last Thursday, to be precise, because of the presence of the maid at home; I actually miss Room 101! Okay, maybe not the room itself, but the company that is associated with it. Seeing that I feel capable of getting more content done at home, this has kind of left people like myself a bit socially deprived during the week due to the fact that, well, I'm staying indoors! On the other end of the scale, however, I really am thanking God that I didn't take Architecture as a course at University... while I, and other law students, might be going bonkers over Administrative and Criminal Law now, our 'bonkers' is simply nothing compared to that suffered in Architecture. I actually pity the people there... and a clear example of what they're passing through can be seen and illustrated clearly by none other than the ever-increasingly popular Lanf! ;)
God Bless You all!
Matti
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