And as one semester ends, another one rolls along (rather quickly and unexpectedly if you are in mid-year break). A few days ago results were posted online - but not without added suspense. Supposedly they would be snail mailed to us on the 17th, and usuall they are released quite a few days before that online, but there was nothing, and we were very grumbly. Considering that we had all already chosen our subjects for next semester, it would be nice to know how we went in these ones, in case we failed or something. Then suddenly, they were locked, and we were unable to access them at all, which was a good sign, really, because at least something was happening. It's strange how you look forward to something even if there is a chance it could be bad news.
Then, finally, as I walked through the city, my phone rang and my housemate told me that grades were up, and he went well, and hooray! So I found someone with access to the UTS computer labs and interrupted my plans to find out my results. I'm not going to post them online because that's just obnoxious but I was definitely happy - for a few reasons.
Firstly, I went well in my English pre-honours course. This was a surprise to me because I decided for the 60% weighted essay that I would shirk all the essay questions and write 4000 words on puns. Then, I went well in a course on Samuel Beckett - also an English 3xxx course. I have no idea how that happened after writing an essay on the psychoanalytical implications in his work which made little sense to me at all. The art history courses I was not surprised by in the slightest but still pleased by. The important thing, anyway, is that I didn't have to unenrol from any of the courses for next semester which approaches quite fast.
In fact, we have less than a week before we go back, although considering that my timetable is only Wed/Thu each week, that statement is not entirely true for me. I have never had such a good timetable for four subjects! There is one slight clash but it is only with a film screening, which I can easily make up. I may have to switch some of my tutoring commitments around but other than that I am definitely happy with it. However, I have yet to calculate my text book dues for the coming semester.
Last semester I landed a book scholarship - the Walter Reid scholarship. That was back when you applied for it and other people didn't know and it was all calculated on your marks. Now, apparently, it is given out automatically to people who do really well. There is no mysterious money in my account so I am assuming I did not do quite well enough for good ol' Walter this semester, but that is OK. I must check all of this out and make a trip to the co-op soon, because it's definitely better to get in there early rather than late, as the queues get insanely long and windy. Some people meet in those queues, and by the time they are in the store, they are already engaged.
Extra-curricularly, I have been working on a film with some people from UTS as Director of Photography. It's a cool film and hopefully we'll be able to enter it in the USU short film comp, but if not we should try to get some other kind of publicity as well. I've signed on to design a production with SUDS (Sydney Uni Dramatic Society) with a friend which is giving me a good creative boost. I, at last minute, threw things at the Hermes (the big literary journal at USyd, run by student editors and the Union) which I now feel a little uneasy about, but whatever. What is done is done. And then there's Verge, the Union-run arts festival coming up, which I am kind of interested in doing some artworks for but am having trouble getting myself together for. It is holidays and I am stressed about commitments! Agh. And of course, as the HSC approaches, my tutoring work gets more hectic as well.
But let's not make it seem that I am unhappy. This has been the best holiday I have had in my whole uni career, I am almost finished knitting a pink scarf and I have almost finished watching all of the Alien saga. If only I had read more books...