disillusionment

Degrees are never quite what you expect them to be. When I took animal behaviour as a course I had hoped it would have more leanings towards ethology than modelling. The primary difference being that the former involves watching and studying real animals, and the latter just constructing mathematical models of potential animal behaviour, which frankly is just too abstract (and dull) for my brain to cope with.
On the plus side, I have found a few universities that offer postgraduate courses in pet behaviour councilling, so this degree wasn't a complete misdirection! Frustrating as I waited four years to do this advanced animal behaviour course and it's rubbish! The postgrad courses do entail trying to get two years experience first, so I'll have to arrange something with that - harder than it seems as working with animals is competitive; even the voluntary 'no pay' type.
The other downside is the the nearest postgrad course to Plymouth is Southampton, so that may entail moving in a couple of years. Although that is a great deal closer than where I currently am!

Update

I've finished all of the requirements for last semesters' work - the oral exam was a nightmare. I was basically sat there blatantly making stuff up in front of the examiners. I now have to face my supervisor in this semesters' courses! Oh well. It's kinda wierd being back in lectures, especially as I can't really be arsed. Still, just another four months to go and I never have to worry about 'evolutionary stable strategies' or p-values again! Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed the course, just getting a little fed up now. I feel that I'm behind people my age with regard to life - i.e. most have permanent jobs, homes etc. and I feel a bit immature by comparsion!
I have a wedding dress! My mum came up to be there for the appointment along with my best mate. I hadn't intended to order one that day, but I just fell in love with it and knew it was the one! I won't go into details in case Gareth reads this and I don't want to give anything away, but there will defiantly be photos after the wedding (6 months time!).
I haven't seem Mum properly for about a year, so the week she was up just went too quickly, especially as I still had uni to go to in between her visit. It was great seeing her again, and thankfully it didn't snow like it did when she last visited!

Exams

'The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time' -Abraham Lincoln

I had the data interpretation exam today and it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Of course, that probably means I missed some pages somewhere, or missed an important point, but at least I didn't leaving it feeling suicidal.

I now only have an oral exam and presentation to do and that's the first semester over. Then there's two days off before the start of the next semester - who said students spend all their time on breaks?

round peg, sqaure hole

Thought I'd share the logic of university. We have to submit an electronic version of our thesis' on a plagarism detection site. The maximum file size it can handle is 9.5MB, and my thesis is 79.1MB - I doubt mine is the largest file either.

'When man wanted to make a machine that would walk he created the wheel, which does not resemble a leg.' - Guillaume Apolinaire

catch-up

Not a great deal of excitement going on just now. I've completed all the coursework for this semester early so I can relax a little before next semester (which starts on the 28th Jan).
I have an exam this Wednesday which you can't really revise for and a presentation followed by an oral exam about a week after, so not quite over, but more than halfway!

I'll actually be glad to go back to lectures next semester; it's getting a little dull being stuck in the flat all day.
My mum is coming up on the 24th to help with wedding dress shopping, so I'm looking forward to that. Hopefully my dad will be able to come to - it's been ages since I've seen them (the down-side of living so far from your home-town)!

Christmas photos II

I split the photo's into two lots as last time I tried uploading too many the site crashed. As I'm currently printing the final copies of my dissertation, I'm not taking any risks!

Willow's toy gets its revenge and bites back...

This is Gareth's first 'Bear Factory'

bear - it's a ninja bear from my mum.

He was a bit chuffed with it!

Christmas photos

The array of 'christmas' paper ranged from

parcel paper, birthday paper and included

some 'irritant' lab warning tape.

Willow like's new things, as you can tell

from this photo! The image is full of eyes

which amused me. I don't get out much.

Willow pretending butter wouldn't melt.

Shortly after this was taken, she ripped the

fin off one of the fish and left an eye dangling

from anothe. Bless.