Estoy en casa

¡Hola amigos.

I don't really have much to write about, seeing as I am a very dull person. However, I have just returned from Spain and it really highlighted certain language barriers. 

For example, in the hotel we stayed in, there was only one other group of people who has English as their first language. Yet that did not stop any interactions between myself and other hotel guests. The main languages I could pick out were Spanish, German and French. 

The main point, which I am poorly communicating, is that all of our conversations (excluding hello, goodbye and thank you) were in English. I do not believe that I am alone in this. As a country, our basic grasp on other European languages is poor. This point was emphasised when I couldn't understand a cry for help, from a young child, coming from the pool. Some poor unsupervised child was struggling, and it took for his head to start dipping below the water, for me to notice what was going on. I did help him, but I felt bad for not getting there sooner. Luckily. he was okay.

Therefore, I have decided that I will make an effort to improve my language skills, before visiting another foreign country. I do intend to go on holiday with some of my friends next year, so at least I have plenty of time. 

ps, why was the Higgs announcement in Comic Sans, I'm still laughing about it now.

pps, my results day is exactly a month today. I genuinely feel sick with nerves. This month is going to be a long one.

I'm free.

I am so very free currently, as exams are over and I only work two shifts a week, therefore I am extremely bored. I need entertainment immediately in any form. For anyone with an interest in Physics, if you would like to recommend a few books titles, I will be eternally grateful. I am very close to tidying my room, due to the immense amount of boredom that I am currently experiencing. My teacher said, in an email, that these are the longest holidays I will ever experience - thank goodness. I cannot cope with having so little to do. My brain needs stimulating with some interesting Physics or ANYTHING.

That is all.

Ps, I went to visit the Queen in my space dress. One was very impressed (or one would have been, if one had looked outside)

The first of May.

There is just something about the beginning of May that I despise. I think it all comes down to the fact that my exams start in 8 days and I would just rather not have to sit them. If it isn't that, it could be because my lessons at Bilborough College end this month, and I do not feel ready for life after college. That is probably a serious issue, but the end is near and it is coming whether I like it to or not.

Usually I would attach an image, but as this is officially the most boring post I have ever written, I do not feel like it deserves one. (I can't decide if that is grammatically correct, my English is currently terrible)

I love revising.

If anyone has read any of my previous posts, you will notice that my general opinion towards revision is negative. Previously, it just felt so tedious and pointless. However, a few good marks later and I am feeling the most positive I have in a long while. It's either because of it going so well, or that my daily reading session is really helping to reduce stress levels. I did a bit of internet research and it suggested two main ways to help control stress levels - exercise and reading. I decided to start with the second option, as I am yet to come across a form of exercise that I don't hate. 

After that brilliantly short post, I must return to the books. I do intend to write a blog post later in the month, if I do find something interesting to write about. It is highly unlikely though.

I love my physics folder, even if it does currently looks worryingly empty.

Where does my time go?

I really do want to become a regular blogger, but I find it so hard to fit into my life. It's so busy! In between college, work and my poor attempt at maintaining a social life, I just don't get the time. 

First of all, so I can get it out of the way and never discuss it again - exam results. They were unfortunately rather poor and I definitely need better if I want to get AAB and go to Cardiff. I was hoping for better than ABCD, but there is nothing I can do now, other than resit and promise myself they'll go better this time. This way of thinking is the only way I can get through the next few manic months. I would like to emphasise manic, because I only have 2 months and 9 days officially left at college! This terrifies me.

Secondly, I still haven't discussed how great Astrofest was (what is the world coming to?!). I met Sir Patrick Moore, Brian May and many more. I bumped into John Timmons (Peak2Valley instruments) and couldn't resist chatting with Pete Lawrence. The day was almost as good as the Peak Star Party, but not quite. The conference aspects were fascinating. I really enjoyed the talk by Lucie Green about the current projects observing the Sun. Also, I feel like I have to mention Simon Singh passing a high voltage through a pickle, it was a strange event to witness. It was brilliant. 

This was a really special moment for me, I didn't know what to say to Patrick Moore. It's the quietest I have been in a very long time. Also, to the lovely person that took this picture for me (whoever you are), thank you so much. 

Who is that guy in the background? He appears to be posing for this photo also. 

Talking of astronomy and all things related, I have been taking a few pictures lately. They're nothing special and they've been taken with a very normal and boring digital camera. I do enjoy my Moon pictures though, my Physics teachers thought they were quite good too. 

 This is the (badly, hence the sky looks navy blue) edited photo I took in my back garden. I thought the plane (left of the image) looked cool. Orion looked beautiful that night.  

 Using the afocal imaging technique, I took this with my Samsung ES65 through my 130mm Skywatcher Newtonian reflector. Not bad for my first attempt at the technique. 

 This is just a zoomed and cropped version of the above image. I want to name the craters, but I am having serious issues trying to locate them on my rubbish Moon map. I like the detail highlighted by this phase of the Moon and I will take a few more as the phase changes. 

This is sadly my view of Venus. It doesn't photograph well with my camera or look very nice in my telescope. 

It took me a few shots to image Jupiter. I was quite impressed (even if the image isn't visually pleasing) with my efforts. I think it's the fact that I, with very little knowledge of cameras, can take a picture of something so far away.  

I love this image. It's not even particularly good, I just like how interesting the Moon looks. Just above my neighbour's house (the house on the left) you can see Mars! My poor camera even managed to pick out a few stars in the constellation on Leo. 

 During my ISS stalking phase (that will resume again in April), I took this of the darkest location within 1 mile of my house. It was a poor night for viewing the ISS because of all the clouds. It caused the Moon to look green in my image also. 

For now, that will be enough of my astro imaging attempts. However I'm not done with pictures for this blog post. 

I feel like I should discuss something which has recently taken over all of my life - my Electronics project. I currently spend about half of my total time in college in C3.1 and it is getting on my nerves. My project is some weird audio game thing that has taken me a very long time to build, which is surprising considering how small it is. It is finally finished!

 The finished masterpiece. I think I spent too long trying to make the wires look neat. 

This is an oscilloscope captured image of my input signal (yellow) being distorted (blue). I may have jumped around for several minutes after seeing this. 

Okay. Now I am done with images and sadly this blog post. I think I might try and spend another hour on my Electronics report before sleeping as it is due in on the 27th. I hate deadlines. I do realise that I normally finish my post with an image, but I think I have already included too many.

I'll try not to leave it so long between blog posts next time.

It's been a while...

I know I said in my last post that I'd be back on the 26th, but I have been seriously busy. So now I'm going to make up for it with an extra long post; well as long as I can make it in 15 minutes, I don't want to miss Eastenders.

First topic of this post - exams. If I had to rate how well they went on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being absolutely dreadful, I would rate them like this:

• Core 3 - 5 (I forgot a Core 1 formula, who does that?!?
• Mechanics 1 - 3 (I may have started crying near the end because it was impossible)
• Physics 4 - 6 (I think I spent too long on Section A and had to rush Section B :( )
• Electronics 4 - 8 (I don't think I have got an A* like I wanted, but I've hopefully got my A)

To be honest, I don't think I have gotten the grades I need for university, which is a minor setback, BUT I still have my exams in May and June. It's not over yet. After that, I finally decided to go and experience a real night out. I went out, didn't worry about spending too much money and got in at 2.30am. It was so much fun. On the other hand, Electronics the next day was painful. 

Oh I have 5 minutes before Eastenders, so I'm going to quickly end this post here and write a longer one after. I haven't even mentioned Astrofest yet (until now).

Best episode ever.

February, please hurry up?

Revision makes me want to hide away in my wardrobe until February. It is that bad!

Okay, I am exaggerating a little; but there are some days when it doesn't seem to be worth the hassle. It's so stressful and I just seem to be getting nowhere. However, there are some days when everything makes sense and I even get stuff right. Those are my favourite days and usually occur after several cups of black coffee.

If tons of revision wasn't bad enough, I now have the worst cold. I don't appreciate this. So now, instead of crawling back into bed and putting on Doctor Who, I have to do a Mechanics paper. To say I'm not impressed would be an understatement.

My only happy news for this blog post is that my Saturday Astrofest conference tickets are booked (sessions 3&4)! For anyone that hasn't heard of Astrofest, it's a two day exhibition that hosts a variety of stands, ranging from the Society for Popular Astronomy to Peak2Valley Instruments. There are also lots of interesting people speaking. I'm probably looking forward to hearing Hanny van Arkel speak the most, but only because she is probably one of the luckiest people to ever go on Galaxy Zoo. I am actually really excited! Even if I do have to go on my own. It's a present from me to myself for completing my exams. Go me!

Seeing as I've now ran out of coffee, this seems like a reasonable place to stop typing and start revising. Goodbye until January the 26th.

This episode of the Big Bang Theory is one of the most hilarious things I have ever seen.
ps, if anyone noticed my HUGE error, it was more a typo then lack of knowledge.