Here we go again

So it’s been a while (8 months in-fact) since I posted. To be honest I almost expected this to happen. I would read about some new craze, get real excited and then loose interest after a few months. But that’s not the only thing that’s kept me from my blog. Architecture came knocking on my door around November ’04 and pretty much took over my life. This wasn’t unexpected; actually they (my tutors) said it would happen. I didn’t believe them at the time, I just sat there thinking this year was going to be easy and that I would have plenty of time to pursue other thing, blogging included. Turns out, I underestimated things slightly. Since November, I have done nothing but eat, drink and sleep architecture. To be honest, I loved almost every moment of it. This year couldn’t have gone much better for me. But now I’m back in London for the summer, and I figured why not start posting again. Hopefully this time I can keep it going.

My buddy Dreamweaver and I are working on a new look for the site. That should be up and running in the next few months. In the mean time, check back here for more new posts.

Raj.

Cheating bastards!!!

I fuckin hate Man Utd. Being a Arsenal fan I’m supposed to hate Spurs more, but frankly I couldn’t give a shit about them. Right now my anger is completely directed towards Old Trafford, and those fuckin goons that call it home. If anyone saw the game today (not Man U fans coz they’re all wankers) they would know exactly what I am talking about. It was as if they were playing by their own rules (copy’s of this rule book can be purchased exclusively at the Man Utd store and the Yankee Stadium store), and then there’s the referee. They say that this ref is the best in the business (here in the UK), frankly after his performance today he should put against a wall and shot.

Its not as if Arsenal played badly and even they did have an off day they would always grind out a result. Today this was not the case and I put it solely down the blatant cheating on the Man Utd’s part. You talk about foreign players coming into the Premiership and using diving tactics to win free kicks and penalties (Pires comes to mind), what about Shrek fuckin Rooney? If you look at the replays there was no contact at all. Then there’s Rio “I forgot” Ferdinand (reckon you’re a n’u’gger with them corn-rows). As the last defender he should have been sent off.

I'm not so bothered that the unbeaten run came to an end today. However I am extremely pissed off that Man Utd beat us and at the way they did it. My hatred for this team has moved to a level beyond my comprehension.

And don’t get me started on the Neville brothers, ill leave that to you Tim. I’m gone.

Lectures? yeah right...

I need to rant. This is my first rant but it’s been a long time coming.

Now I’m in my second year and everything I do from now on will count towards my final degree classification. So for me, lectures are vital. But I’ve noticed over the last couple of years that some tutors don’t make enough of an effort to prepare the lectures they give. Everyone knows how most students don’t bother turning up to lectures and those who do, end up face flat on the desk, asleep. Now some lectures are just plain boring, but others could be quite interesting if the tutors did that little extra to prepare.

One of the most annoying things (for me anyways) is turning up to a lecture and having to sit there a listen to a tutor read right off the lecture slide. Seriously what is the point in that? I could sit in my room and read the same thing, probably faster too. Surely offering an alternative explanation to the topic in the lecture would be more helpful to students. This way you get a better turn out at the lecture and you get more students who know what’s going on.

The other thing I cannot understand is why there is such a hurry to cover the subject material. There has been one history lecture so far this year, and already I’m thinking of skipping the rest. The problem with does not lie with the content, but with the way it’s delivered. With this lecture you have a combination of lecture slides and an oral lecture by the tutor. Normally this is not a bad thing, but when you have to listen and record what the tutor is saying as well as take down what’s on the projector, it becomes very frustrating. You end up with only half of what was displayed on the projector screen and the other half of what the tutor had to say; basically it’s a complete waste of time and effort.

On the bright side though, I’m quite lucky that my department provides a full set of lecture notes/slides on the information-super-turnpike (the internet). This means I can read through the notes prior to the lecture (if I’m really keen) and hope that the tutor throws in a bijou (a jewel of a note) during the lecture to make it worthwhile turning up.

As for the second predicament, I’m going to try a new approach. I have recently purchased a Griffin iTalk. This is an attachment for your iPod, which allows you to record voice memos straight to your iPod. So I’m going to turn up to the lecture, set my iPod to record and sleep for the 2 hours. I’ll update you on how I got on.

No internet connection

I haven't posted in a while and the main reason is beacue we don't have an internet connection setup at the new house. Good news though, we are having a cable line installed tomorrow, so I should be back up and running again soon. Keep checking back for updates.

Raj

The big move

Well it’s finally here, the summer holidays are over and I’m heading back up to university on Saturday. This will be my third year at Nottingham, but more importantly my second year studying Architecture. From now on everything I do will count towards my final degree. I other words the whole year will be like one big exam – a scary thought. But those things aside, I am moving into a new house this year with two guys I’ve known and lived with for the two years. Last year we had a house of 7 people. This got a bit hectic at times but was a good experience all the same. I think all 7 of us discovered over the year what it was like to live amongst one another, and divisions in the household became apparent very quickly, to me anyways.

The main problem was that I got on with everyone. So when it came time to choose where we going to live this year I had the hardest decision out of all 7 of us. There were two camps; on one side there was Stu, Tim, Alex and Chris. On the side other was Adrian and Pat. And I’m sitting in the middle thinking I like all of these guys; so I deliberated over this but to no avail. I ended up picking out of a hat (no-one else knew) and got Pat and Adrian. The good thing is that the other guys got a house close by so I’ll be seeing them pretty much all the time. I’m quite glad it worked out this way since our house for this year really nice (for student accommodation that is). I’ll put pics up as soon as I move in.

Since I’m going to be back at university, I’ll have more interesting things to share with all you fellow bloggers, so keep checking back for more thoughts, observation and other crap…

Lego for grown-ups.

I said in a previous post how I haven’t really been able to explain why I made the change from computer science to architecture at the end of my first year at university. I figured it’s about time to put it down on paper, since it might be easier to explain.

Until I actually made the change, I had shown no interest (openly) in the world of architecture. However, I think inside, I have always been curious about building design and construction. As a kid I remember getting my first Lego set; I must have been about 3 years old, and from that age till I turned 10, Lego was my favourite pastime. I could sit there for hours on end coming up with crazy designs for buildings and vehicles. I think this early creative streak kinda embedded itself and has never really gone away.

Then there is the question of my so-called expensive taste. My mom is always quick to point it out to me. According to her, everything I own and everything on my wish list has a hefty price tag (my lovely PowerBook included;-). The way I see it, yes some of my possessions are expensive items, but that’s only because somebody has taken the time to design them well and then make sure they work like they should. The fact that form is more important to me than function makes me wonder why I didn’t choose architecture (or something similar) in the first place. This is not to say that function should be ignored; in-fact the two are complementary, one does not work without the other. But my point is that design and the way things look have always come first.

This became more evident when we moved house about 5 years ago. We had actually bought the house a year earlier and stripped it down to just four walls and started over. Now at the time I was still in high school, so I didn’t really have a say in what went into the new house. I wanted to get stuck in and contribute in a major way. It annoyed me slightly since all I could do was sit back and watch my folks make decisions about the look and layout of the house. It is now apparent that some of these choices made (I won’t go into them) in the early stages of the renovation were bad ones and this infuriated me greatly. So anyway this was just another push towards my chosen area of study.

This doesn’t explain how I ended up choosing computer science ahead of architecture. To understand this I think you have to look at the workings of a typical Indian family. Its quite simple really; there is a level of expectation within the family. Obviously they want you to be successful in life (what family wouldn’t?), but there is a group of about 5-6 careers from which Asian students are expected to choose from. This isn’t an official thing, but choosing something outside this list will result in major disappointment, especially amongst the older family members (although they won’t say it). In my previous post I explained, how at the time, computer science seemed like the perfect choice, and with a hint of persuasion from my family I genuinely believed it was. A year on, I realised that it wasn’t for me and in the back of my mind I was craving for something a bit more creative.

This is where architecture comes into the equation. Here I get to use the other side of my brain (the side that has been lying dormant since the end of my Lego playing days), and it gives me the chance not only to be creative and expressive, but also allows me to have fun. I am a strong believer in enjoying your work, as you are more likely to be successful at it. In a way, studying architecture has allowed me to go back and play with my Lego set. It’s just like being a kid again ☺.

Gmail invites...

This is interesting; I’ve just noticed I now have 6 more Gmail invites in my inbox. I was under the impression that once you used up your initial 5 invites that was it. Doesn't seem that way though, which means I control the play. So I need to figure out a way of exploiting this newfound power.

Raj

Comments

Ok i've added a hit counter so that i can monitor activity, but i'm not really sure what people are thinking when they read my posts so please feel free to leave comments. I dont care if its critisism (got to be constructive though) or praise, just some feedback is always nice.

Raj

Sinclair ZX-81

For all those who dont know what a Sinclair ZX-81 is, follow the link


Thanks for that Ken


Raj

One simple email should do it...

I've been making my way through some newbie posts on the blogger forum and found a lot of people asking why their blog was not found on a search, and how they could get their blog recognized. Now I'm no expert on these things but surely you can start with the basics and work up. If like me you want to publicize your blog then tell people about it. Send a group email to everyone you know and tell them to do the same. If this works, you're bound to get hits on your site. Once you do, request for comments, and leave it open, so that people can comment on whatever they want. At least this way you know that people are hitting your site and the feedback you get could be useful for future posting.

Now that i've said this, i've just realized that someone (probably many people in-fact) have already suggested this and I'm about 10 years too late. Oh well, its my blog, and i'll put what I want right?


Raj.

Me!!!

Me!!!,
originally uploaded by raj.patel04.

I wanted to upload my pic to my profile section. Not sure if this i gonna do it.