Holidays

Summer has come to Glasgow. Surprisingly, it's not just a day, but a week of blazing sun. I've been out to the park frequently, and so has everyone else. The place is packed like a beach, with people tanning, reading, kicking around footballs (soccer balls), getting ice cream from a van that must be making a fortune, and playing music whether the people around them enjoy it or not. I've enjoyed it, but since I got a bit of a burn a couple of days ago I've been avoiding direct sunlight. Today it's finally cloudy, but it's still quite warm. I wonder if we'll get much more heat like this over the next few months.

Now that I don't feel compelled to go outside and hang out with friends, I've started to think about what projects I might take on. I have a book that needs editing, several books that need reading, and Project Euler problems to continue. After two years of hard work at university, it seems I can't be satisfied playing video games and watching TV for very long. I've only been finished with exams for a week now, and I'm wanting to work on something.

I move flats in two weeks, and start work a few days later. I'm looking forward to it, but it's a bit scary thinking that from then on, I won't ever be off work except for one month a year, and if I'm ever unemployed. At least I'll have weekends and evenings to myself, guilt-free.

Book Review #6: Winter Is Coming

Book 6: A Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin

I have to admit, the main reason I was drawn to this author was the title of the most recent one in the series, A Dance with Dragons. I love anything that has to do with dragons. So I looked up the first book, read some reviews, asked some friends--and was surprised at the amount of encouragement they had for me to read it.

I was gripped from the start. The prologue was exciting, haunting, and a hint that this book wasn't just kings and courts and castles--there was magic, too. Just enough to be intriguing, not so much that I've seen it all before. It was clear this book also wasn't going to just be another "chosen one goes on a quest to find magic item X and destroy/use it for good/evil, and in the process learns of their own magic powers." No, I haven't read anything quite like this.

There are quite a few characters, but I didn't find it as confusing as I've seen some reviews suggest. Many of them I've grown close to, even ones I didn't like at first. Martin is very good at making every character three-dimensional, and this is aided by having chapters written from many different characters' heads. This sort of thing has to be done carefully for it to be good, but I think he's done a fantastic job. I get annoyed when the reader is put in one character's head, then thrown into another, then another in the same scene, but Martin's avoided that. The reader can fully understand events from many different characters' perspectives.

It is truly a story of epic proportions. This book alone is about 800 pages, and there are 5 books published, with at least 2 more planned. But don't be dismayed. There were times when I was reading this that I would sit back and think of all the story to come, and be glad there was so much of it. Hopefully I won't tire of it... for now, I just want more!

I've watched the first season of the HBO series as well, and I think it's very well done. There are scenes left out--there always are, when a book goes to the screen--but I'm amazed that they've fit so much in 10 episodes. However, I would suggest reading the book first, like I did! It's so much more exciting when you don't know what's going to happen.

I've started the second book and will likely post a review on it as well, when I finish. My last exam is this Thursday, and then I'll have all the time in the world to read. In fact, that will be me, completely done with university. I still can't believe it.

A Full Education

A lot has been happening. I'm taking my final exams, I've had 6 and have 3 left. Two this Friday, and the last one the following Thursday. I had 9 exams in the spring last year as well, but somehow this year it feels even more dragged out. When I was about halfway through them, I never wanted to see an exam again... but I've been dealing with that feeling by doing equal amounts of studying and playing Skyrim. It's only a few more, and then, I'll never take a university exam again. I'm graduating in June.

Sometimes, I think about the idea that I'm coming to an end of a full university education. Yes, I don't have anything beyond a Bachelor's degree, but in my subject, what I've gathered is that you only go further if you're interested in academia. A Bachelor's degree is a full education. I've been taught everything that my university believes is important for me to know, to be able to work proficiently in the field of Computing Science.

This struck me particularly when I was browsing free online classes with video lectures on Coursera--really worth checking out, tons to choose from and run by Stanford, Berkeley, Princeton, and more. All of their Computing Science classes I've either already taken the equivalent of, or I was given the option to take it and I decided I wasn't interested. (Apart from a class on compilers, which I attempted to start a couple weeks ago and realized exam time was a bad time, if I wanted any time to goof off when I wasn't studying.) There is actually very little more that a university can teach me about my degree, apart from cutting-edge research. It's a thought I can't quite grasp yet.

And the future is looking even brighter than just graduation. I've got a promising internship lined up for the summer in Edinburgh. I'm very much looking forward to my first foray into adult working life: an interesting job, having my evenings and weekends all to myself without guilt, and of course, a paycheck.

Now, if I could just get through these last three exams a bit more quickly...