PLAYZONE! - Saturday - 15th of October

Today was a grand day. I had a massive lie in, noodles for lunch. After that I spent some time writing some more of the WoA readme, only to find that on windows, when using IE it looks really bad... At 1730 I set off for the Union, I got there after a 40 minute walk (including a quick sit because my shins hurt). I was the first one there so I checked the library for free books, none there, I went back and there were one or two people. We sat and chatted for a while, then the bus arrived and we piled on. The bus journey was not very long and we got to Playzone with plenty of time to spare, I stood and chatted to Launa, Lauren and someone whose name I forgot. For those not in the know, Playzone is a child's playarea, padded surfaces, slides etc. At the start everybody got used to the layout of the area, then, the only other person wearing shorts organized some games of Tag. It was really good fun, running around, I actually wore myself out and got some nice Friction Wounds (normally they are called burns, but wounds sounds better) on my left knee, I slipped and hurt my left foot, my right pointing finger (I think it's the index finger) got stubbed on something and now hurts quite a lot. There were four of us going back to Langstone and to my disgust they voted for a bus ride, I told them that when I get my bike down here, if they get a trailer thing I'll be able to give them free rides, assuming I'm going somewhere that is. I meant it too. Lesson of the Day - Playzone is fun

Grey Day - Friday - 14th of October

This was one of my most uneventful days, I laid in until fairly late, had a two hour lecture in the afternoon (it was quite boring) and then messed around with HTML and CSS for a while. Sorry for the short entry, tomorrow should be at least a little longer. Lesson of the Day - If you like the colour purple, come to Portsmouth University.

I Hate Washing - Thursday - 13th of October

I awoke really late today, mostly because I didn't set the alarm and because I didn't have a lesson until 1500. When I finally got up I didn't feel hungry so fiddled around with XCode on the Mac, I need to start learning C. Unfortunately I have no idea how to actually test anything I write, the readme, though comprehensive in what seems to be most areas, is somewhat lacking in the 'I'm a first timer, what do I do' area. At about lunch time I did my Laundry, the driers didn't do enough drying, so being the practical person I am, I simply hung what wasn't dry up in my room, went out to my lecture and came back to find it had turned cloudy and that my stuff was still damp, ah well.... I spent a little more time not figuring out how to use XCode properly and gave up for the time being. I had something else to do, I had some WoA readme that needed writing so started on that, for those who play WoA, the magic section will soon be looking a LOT nicer, it should also load slightly faster. In unrelated news, I am running low on loo roll (stupid cold made me use loads up until I found that running water is really good) and after my fry up breakfast tomorrow I will be out of Gammon and Eggs, looks like I'll be going shopping some time :( Tomorrow I have one lecture at 1300, but it's two hours. I just hope that whoever ANT and GHP are, they are good lecturers and the room has a powersupply, the 15" has a battery life of under two hours, that's assuming I am using textedit on a black screen, scary huh ^^. Lesson of the Day - If it isn't sunny, clothes will not dry as fast as you thought, especially if you do not have a washing line.

Fire! Fire! - Wednesday - 12th of October

I woke at 7 ish, I was going to do my washing this morning but I was too tired, it can wait. I was just about to get into the shower when 'RING RING RING' goes the fire alarm. It turns out it was a drill, I got some shorts, t-shirt and shoes on and got outside. I was the lucky one, most people had been asleep at the time, and that alarms are two arms lengths away from our beds, what a lovely way to wake up. My first lecture of the day was computing, I saw the lecturer about the Othello game (also called Reversi, mine is called Odummo) and found that we will only need to write an AI, they give us the basics of the game. This is undoubtedly good news as any AI I implement is very mathsy and can be written in any language very easily. During the lecture he asked for two volunteers, I of course volunteered for my side of the lecture room. We played pictionary and despite me declaring that I was from the 'best side' we lost. If anybody out there knows lots about machine learning or Othello strategy and wants to teach an eager pupil, just email me at sarkalian (squiggly A symbol) gmail.com and I'll be interested to improve my AI, at the end of the year, if they are good enough we'll be publishing them on sourceforge.net, and probably playing them off against each other (hence why I want mine to be the best ;) After the two lectures, before going to the library I travelled about half a mile to the 'nearest' Natwest building, there a very nice lady called Jane took the time to 1) Learn how to say my name, 2) Comment on it, 3) Spend several minutes trying to phone and then faxing another Natwest branch. I took out a lovely book on C programming and returned a Java one I wouldn't be using. I now have a book on CSS, Javascript, C and Graphical Algorithms. Combined they are 13cm high, I think I have read about 1 or 2 cm of that. When I got back to my room I found that my leaving the window open had allowed some rain in, luckily it was not too bad. I started work on the WoA results, it took a couple of hours. Myself and my floormates had dinner where Tom (head chef) told me a very intersting story about someone who thought that the meal tickets contained not 10, but ONE meal, she had thrown them all away. I hope that reception gave her some more... I had still not finished the WoA Results when the CU had their meeting. I of course went and had loads of fun, we played a game of Happy Families and also the Chocolate Eating game. I ran back to my room to get stuff several times, I also ended up with a quarter of a pack of pringles and half a bottle of Dr. Pepper (the two litre bottle) After the CU meeting Launa invited me to her floor for a drink of coffee, not being a coffee sort of person at 2200 I went instead for orange juice. Myself, her and some of her floor mates (I wont even try to spell their names, I will get it so wrong) played a game of Rummy, then, as they were not very outgoing, I introduced them to Cheat. I must say that I was very pleased at the speed that they picked it up and caught onto the many different ruses that sarcastic people can provide, I actually didn't win the game, I had a great time, maybe next time I should bring an Othello game along.... After that I finished the WoA results, wrote the blog, showered and went to bed. Lesson of the Day - Keeping a straight face is not the only way to win at cheat, the trick is to make them have no clue what you are planning

Mac killed my Inner Child - Tuesday - 11th of October

I woke at 0700, and as I had a lecture at 0900 I had to get up. I had a tuna fish sandwich (always tasty), washed and got to the right room on time. It was about web design, it appears that by creating a website for my World of Arl game I have actually done enough to get 100% in the coursework. The second lecture was all about algebra, thanks to the excellent quality of teaching from all my maths teachers at Amman Valley School I didn't find it too hard. Steven and Myself found we had a half hour to kill before the bus arrived so went to the library. I returned a book on HMTL and picked up two on Java. Steven however got lucky, he found that they were giving out free books, well, book. He now is the proud owner of a massive book on Databases, I'll be keeping my eyes open for any others that appear there. After getting back I grabbed another Tuna Fish sandwich and a dropped my Java books off before getting on the bus to attend a lovely two hour lecture. The lecturer in question Martin Cripps was really funny, and, uses a Mac. As it was a two hour lecture we had a break after an hour, during it he played several videos, including a very funny one I had seen before called 'Mac killed my inner child'. While everybody was booing Macs in general I was sitting behind the 15" laptop, ensuring that the brightness was high enough that people could see that there were two Macs in the room (Mr Cripps had one too). I have yet to see the lecturer about the Othello game (now called Odummo), it is progressing nicely and the AI can beat me most of the time. Just before writing the blog I used the Powerball, I'm not sure exactly how loud it is, but Sam next door says he can hear it, I am sure that a block a few meters away can hear it too, and I'm only hitting an RPM of 10,000. Interestingly at lower speeds it makes an odd 'wobbly' sort of noise, at high speeds it vibrates like a PC. Lesson of the Day - Some libraries give out free books

Two Song Names - Monday - 10th of October

For reasons that become obvious in the entry, the song 'I would walk 500 miles' and 'Everyday I love you less and less' become equal contenders. The Kaiser Chief song 'Everyday I love you less and less' applies to the busses, oh I like their timetable.... I got up at 8ish, got on the bus and went to the Anglesea building. I had a question about my timetable answered (this week is all over the place). After attending the lectures in the morning (well, midday) I attempted to connect to the wireless network in the building. Attempted is the wrong word, I found that the battery in the laptop I use was dead. I found that again, I had missed the bus, conveniently in the time-slot where I had to wait an hour, not half an hour, for the next bus. Being a resourceful person I took the time to wander around (in flashy shorts and t-shirt), borrow a book on computer graphics and still have to wait 10 minutes for the bus. After getting back I had a quick snack and then went to the bus stop, it transpired that AGAIN I had missed the bus, there was another hour break. This mean that I had two options, miss my lecture or walk. The choice I made must be obvious. I was only 5 minutes late and so I improved my time by 5 minutes. The lecturer didn't mind, particularly after I met him after the lecture to apologise. It should be noted that the bus back to Langstone went less than a few seconds after I got on it, another close call. The CU had a meeting at half six, so myself, Duane and Sam all went down to grab some dinner together. Sam decided that he wouldn't have his donut, I sit here eating it in between typing sessions (though I ensure that I eat away from the computer and wash hands if they become the least bit sticky). I met two very nice ladies at the meeting, Launa (sorry if I misspelt it) and Lauren. It appears that Welsh ladies are not the only ones that have the ability to completely not see the funny side of sarcasm. Lauren does not stay in Langstone so I would normally have made a sarcastic comment about it, I chose not to. Tomorrow promises to be an okay day, starting with a lecture at 0900, a lecture straight afterwards, finishing at 1100, though the second one has the same lecturer as yesterday afternoon, it may well end earlier. I then have a nice break until a 1300 lecture until 1500, I'll have to make sure I eat enough as we are not allowed food in the lecture rooms, hopefully we'll have at least a small break halfway through. Lesson of the Day - If you are thinking of doing something, get up and do it, and don't be embarrassed if you are the only one doing it, everybody else wishes they could be like you

The Long Way - Sunday - 9th of October

I got up at my usual early time, cooked a delicious Gammon and Egg breakfast, checked my mail and headed out to the Union. The Christian Union (CU) were holding a Church Crawl and I had missed the last two events. Langstone is a 40 minute walk from Langstone village, if that is you walk as fast as I do. One lady from my wales commented that I 'Power-walk' everywhere, that is completely untrue, power-walking involves swinging the arms, mine remain vertically aligned, therefore, I don't power walk. Of interest on the way was a sporty car with an interesting number plate. I cannot remember the whole plate, but the last three digits were 'CYA'. It gave me a chuckle. After arriving I was greeted warmly, and also with a certain amount of amazement that I had walked. Back in Wales I had attended an Evangelical church so decided that I'd go with that one here, it was so, so similar to the Welsh one that I half expected the pastor or youth leader from Wales to arrive. After the service there was a free cup of tea and biscuit, I talked to a couple of people, then, just when I was about to walk back to Langstone I was offered a Sunday lunch by the Mitchell family. It was delicious and cured any kind of homesickness that I may have at some point felt with regards to family meals at home. After the lunch I walked back, my amazing sense of direction failed me and I had to ask for directions. I stopped by Lidl and bought some boiled sweets, tasty. When I finally got back I was a little worn out so had a good sit down. Lesson of the Day - Never be afraid to ask for directions