Had my first "proper" day of college yesterday. The 6 hours of… - John C. Kirk

11:47 pm

Had my first "proper" day of college yesterday. The 6 hours of lectures actually got reduced to 3, which is partly good and partly bad. I was supposed to have a 10-12 slot (networking), but the 10am lecture was cancelled. That would have been more useful if I'd known before I'd left the house, but there you go. Anyway, the room was packed out - apparently there have been over 175 people registering for it. It looked interesting (and easy), but I already knew all the stuff they covered, so I won't be registering for that module. That then got me out of one of my afternoon lectures. The lecturer did say that you could get away with reading the course notes, and not turning up to any lectures, so I might see whether they'll let me buy a set without registering (only costs 3 quid). Then I had Algorithmic Graph Theory (another double slot), but the evening lecture (5-6pm) was cancelled because the guy had to catch a train. That was very interesting, and relates quite closely to some of the work I've been doing at PMSI recently (concepts I had to figure out on my own, that I can now study formally). I'll definitely continue with that module.

So, this is all looking good; my only worry is that it might be too easy, i.e. the qualification might not count for much. But I'm not too stressed about that. It's an interesting situation - although I enjoy the learning, my main goal here is to get the qualification, to prove my ability. Kind of like a driving test as opposed to driving lessons. On the social front, I've started recognising a few faces now (other MSc students), and I've subsequently forgotten most of their names, so that's upholding the standard fresher's week traditions :)

After that, had a distress call from PMSI (the company I used to work for) in the afternoon - they lasted 3 weeks after I left before they called me, which is vaguely impressive ;) Several people have suggested that this is a good time to discuss consultancy rates... However, they still owe me my final month's salary (+ bonus), so I'll keep them happy until the cheque arrives.

In the evening, went out to dinner with a bunch of people from ICSF, which was fun. Had a very odd conversation about creating a rubber band ball that would compress so far you'd get a black hole in the middle. My Durham friends may remember similar themed discussions from G house :)

Had a fairly quiet day today. Went off to a pet shop and bought a cat basket, then stocked up on Whiskas pouches at the supermarket. Cruiser is still retreating whenever I come near, but he's eating the food, and I heard him meow for the first time today. Then been watching the "Firefly" pilots, which I enjoyed. It does basically seem to be a western with space ships, but that's ok - I'm happy to watch a decent western/adventure series, so it doesn't bother me if it's not strictly science fiction.

Tomorrow, I shall attempt to reduce some of the stacks in my room...