Beneficial Insects and IPM posters.

      

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the bad guys

Break time.

Did my only exam for the semester yesterday. I'm not feeling too good about it, as there were two rather nasty questions on stuff we barely touched which therefore I had no idea how to answer. Even the parts I thought I knew I don't feel so good about. Hopefully I will somehow manage to squeeze a pass out of it, but I won't be holding my breath.

If it's like last years exam for the same subject one of the questions was too hard for everybody and so the marks were scaled up. I can only hope. It's an interesting unit and I understand it all in theory, but the maths has gotten the better of me, and I have also discovered I don't seem to be good at writing reports. Next time, I will have to get someone else to read my draughts so I can try and fix some of the stupid mistakes where marks get lost.

Not sure how long until exam results come through. I'd hate to have to repeat it because I understand it and that would make it really boring to do again.

Uni blues.

I've got the "I have a stats test tomorrow and barely understand a thing" blues. Luckily we're allowed to take cheat notes in so I may at least get marks for the right formula...if I can figure out which is the right one.
Poooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. I've tried to study but it makes me feel bad. Still I guess it's stopping me from thinking about the terrible state the planet is in.

I planted a new Grevillea out the front. Grevillea rhyolitica - it's endangered where it comes from but is available as a garden plant. It comes from near the coast over east so hopefully it will be a good replacement for the one that just died out the front.

The Lord Mayor of Sydney has made a bold move in council meetings by trying to make sustainable choices when it comes to food choice. She is going for more sustainable fish choices, not using chocolate that enslaves children in its production and organic over conventional produce from local farmers where possible. Brave move and highly controversial as far as all those gooses with their heads in the sand thinking there is nothing wrong with the way the human species behaves.

Summer all of a sudden.

Today has been hot. I used it as an excuse to go see a film I'd been waiting to see. Vicki Cristina Barcelona. Good film. Lots of laughs and some thinking moments, too.

Anyway, it was a diversion for a couple of hours. I am looking forward to getting back to uni. I'm not very good at using up spare time and am well aware that I should do anything I want while I have the chance coz when i get back to studying it will be flat out and I'll have no time for anything except reading those two hefty readers I picked up earlier this week and learning what the squiggly bits mean for statistics.
The subject matter looks interesting - lots about geology and soils, and the second half, hydrogeology looks quite hefty, with a fair bit of maths. But after having passed intro to chem, I'm feeling much confident that I can learn hard content if I try hard enough.

I passed my chemistry unit. Second times the charm.

Look, I know it's just Intro to Chemistry and many high school students get by every year, but it was damn hard for me, forcing me to repeat it. It was such a nightmare the first time around, making me feeling depressed and awful the majority of the time. The concepts are so foreign to anything but its amazing to learn how atoms and molecules works.

The second attempt felt much better because I was already familiar with some of the ideas, and the bits I didn't understand first time became clearer and clicked into place as they need to with chemistry. I could feel my brain stretching and its amazing how much better I remember small details. My memory isn't always too flash, so its brilliant to experience the pleasure of retraining my brain and knowing it is working better than before.

The total relief at passing has made me feel good since I got the results. I am more confident now that I know I can learn things I had a really hard time understanding.