Semester Two 2010

Without even realising how quickly it had gone by the break is now over. Next week kicks off semester two and, as always, I find myself grossly unprepared. Partly I think it’s because I’ve been working so much to save up some money before I go back to the 20 hour limit but I also think the break made me lazy. That being said, here are some predictions for the semester to come.

I will buy all my books and only find half to be useful

This is probably one of my biggest problems. Every semester I spend roughly $300 – $500 on text-books and readers and every semester I only really seem to use one or two of them. I could very easily wait till about the mid-point in the semester to get a good idea of which books would be useful and then purchase them but every semester I get into a mild panic and decide to simply trust in the wisdom of the booklist.

I will get sick

Universities are the modern day plague pits. I know that sounds a bit melodramatic but allow me to illustrate it with a small tale that I am sure many people can relate to.

Student A is an over-achiever and refuses to let anything stand in their way when it comes to academic progress. Student A unfortunately catches the flu one cold night in the library. However, rather than simply take a few days to recover, Student A rushes to Uni the next day and spends the entire lecture coughing, sneezing and spluttering. Jonathan is usually seated next to Student A.

I’ll usually spend the next week huddled in bed with a fever and praying for a wrathful God to smite down Student A.

I will lose all the pens I buy

We’ve talked before about how absent-minded I can be. I have often walked into a room and completely forgotten what I was doing. I don’t wish to imply that I spend most of my day in a dazed state but rather I seem to be overcome with bouts of forgetfulness. Before class I usually remember all the important things such as putting underwear on before pants (Superman could learn a lesson from me) and that shirts are important in preventing a nipple faux pas. After class however all bets are off. I personally blame the lecturers because they obviously fill my brain with so much knowledge that I cannot keep track of small details, such as picking up the pen I’ve just been using to write my notes or draw my doodles with.

I will make a calendar with all of my assignment due dates on it

Every semester I sit down and painstakingly plot out when my assignments are due. Then I spend more time working out the best time to start work on each assignment and how much time I’ll need to spend on each essay or project. Every semester I’ve turned out to be completely wrong, the assignments that I have thought will be easy turn out to be modern-day exercises in torture. Even though I am always wrong I live in hope that I will one day get it right so I will be picking up a calendar on Monday when I go to get all my textbooks.

I realise that all of these sound negative but that honestly isn’t the case. I know I will have fun this semester just like I know that at some point I will hate all my units and not believe that I am capable of doing them. I also know that I will get all my assignments done and submitted on time (relatively on time). I am really looking forward to this semester.

Also, here is a picture of a koala in Taronga Zoo: