You may recall in my last blog I told you that I had passed my A levels to such a degree that I cemented my place at Bangor University, I also told you that I headed off to Bangor the day after knowing I had a place ... this is where we shall pick things up.
The brief and basic plan of the day was thus;
6am - Left house
10.15 - Arrived at University
12.30 - Left the University; went for lunch
1.30 - Left City
6.30pm - Returned home.
As you can tell it was a long day, but well worth it might I add! What's got to be said is that Bangor is a really lovely place that I'm sure as sure as sure AS SURE can be that I'll enjoy my time studying down in Bangor; it just has a really nice atmosphere around both city and University, the two members or staff at the Uni seemed like really nice people who wanted to promote ''fun and learning'', so it'll be a good environment to work in; there wasn't a sniff of patronisation, or snobbery about the place...Ok I spent a day down there, but first impressions do matter and they were very positive ones.
So, this isn't a long blog by any means but I just wanted to give some details and info on things really.
Callum
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Sunday, 23 August 2009
I'm in.
I'm in, I did it, I'm on board, I've got my shot at the big time, and any other clichés and idioms you wish to add at this stage...
Don't dwell on that for too long, as the rest of this entry is one I hope you enjoy.
At this point it may be a good idea if I uncover the mystery to what I'm actually ''in'' on, that my friends is Bangor University; as I obtained enough UCAS points to be given the chance to study there. Hurrahs and hurrays are in order!
I will note here that I needed 260 UCAS points, and got 260 UCAS points. The reason for me saying that is so that you know I'm not going to be all high and mighty; the fact is I could have got higher in terms of both grades and therefore points. For example I know I was really close to a 'C' for English Language, but one or two bad exams gave me a 'D' overall; before anyone goes, ''oh well, he isn't very good then (at English Language)'', the fact is I like English Language and I am good at it, that is to say I understand the course content, and can speak about it well in the realms of the classroom this being said when it comes to actually writing in the exam itself (for whatever reason) I must do things slightly differently, because they usually come out lower than my practice runs. Although I did a resit in English which went from an E to a B, so I was chuffed as hell with that.
Just so you are aware for my other A levels; I got an E for French, I did really well (for me) in my coursework and oral exam, had my 'reading, listening, writing' paper been A LOT stronger who knows, I may have ended up with a D...
I got a D for General Studies, a C for Psychology, and this combined with a E for my AS Graphics 'ta da' 260 UCAS points, place confirmed; not exactly ''passing with flying colours'' by any means, but a place confirmed nonetheless.
Enough about that though, important thing is I'm going to Bangor University (in Wales) to study English Language and Linguistics (hence the bit about my English Language A level) and nobody can take that away from me; it's in my hands to decide where I want to take it.
Another pretty good thing is that my girlfriend (Vivien) got into Swansea Uni to study Egyptology and Classics, so I'm really happy for her :u).
I did visit Bangor the day after my A level results were revealed and my place confirmed at Bangor; I'll talk about the visit in my next blog.
I think this is a fairly short one, hope you enjoyed regardless.
Callum
Don't dwell on that for too long, as the rest of this entry is one I hope you enjoy.
At this point it may be a good idea if I uncover the mystery to what I'm actually ''in'' on, that my friends is Bangor University; as I obtained enough UCAS points to be given the chance to study there. Hurrahs and hurrays are in order!
I will note here that I needed 260 UCAS points, and got 260 UCAS points. The reason for me saying that is so that you know I'm not going to be all high and mighty; the fact is I could have got higher in terms of both grades and therefore points. For example I know I was really close to a 'C' for English Language, but one or two bad exams gave me a 'D' overall; before anyone goes, ''oh well, he isn't very good then (at English Language)'', the fact is I like English Language and I am good at it, that is to say I understand the course content, and can speak about it well in the realms of the classroom this being said when it comes to actually writing in the exam itself (for whatever reason) I must do things slightly differently, because they usually come out lower than my practice runs. Although I did a resit in English which went from an E to a B, so I was chuffed as hell with that.
Just so you are aware for my other A levels; I got an E for French, I did really well (for me) in my coursework and oral exam, had my 'reading, listening, writing' paper been A LOT stronger who knows, I may have ended up with a D...
I got a D for General Studies, a C for Psychology, and this combined with a E for my AS Graphics 'ta da' 260 UCAS points, place confirmed; not exactly ''passing with flying colours'' by any means, but a place confirmed nonetheless.
Enough about that though, important thing is I'm going to Bangor University (in Wales) to study English Language and Linguistics (hence the bit about my English Language A level) and nobody can take that away from me; it's in my hands to decide where I want to take it.
Another pretty good thing is that my girlfriend (Vivien) got into Swansea Uni to study Egyptology and Classics, so I'm really happy for her :u).
I did visit Bangor the day after my A level results were revealed and my place confirmed at Bangor; I'll talk about the visit in my next blog.
I think this is a fairly short one, hope you enjoyed regardless.
Callum
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
Football, and why it annoys me so...
They call it the 'beautiful game', then again a lot of people can use adjectives...
This blog is about some of the things that stem from football (soccer) which make me think ''oh dear'', ''why?'', and ''please don't do that''.
Don't get me wrong here, and see me as someone who has never played/watched football, I LIKE football, more the participating element; I just see it as more fun. From a fairly young age I liked to play football, up until year 11, I haven't played a game since.
Whereas the watching element suggests some sort of interest in the going-ons in football, and I will say that I support Newcastle United (yes, feel free to laugh), and would follow transfers and so forth a lot; sorry if I'm going on, I'm trying to set the scene. Simply, for the most part I'm a fan of football.
Right to the niggles, one such annoyance lies with the fact that if a player ''appears'' to commit a 'handball' (as an example) there is a giant up-roar for something to be given, be it a penatly, a free-kick, a card of some sort. My problem with this is it just seems a very childish thing to do, if I was a manager I'd instruct my players just to play on for God's sake! The phrase 'don't cry over spilt milk' comes to mind, ok in the grand scheme of things ''3 points'' will be worth more than the milk ever was, but I hope you can see my point, just get on with the game, I'd be far happier to say I got an honest 0 - 0, rather than being able to say ''ohh our team won 1 - 0, based upon our powers of moaning in order to get a penatly''.
The second thing is one many people will raise their hands in agreement with ''money'', be it transfer fees or players wages. Personally money in football, leaves me with a bad after taste in my mouth, I think everything that can be said has been said, but still here's my take. I'd like to see some sort of system whereby clubs are ''capped'' that is they can only spend so much money on wages, futhermore in a transfer window each team can spend up to ''£XXX'' amount; you can buy as many or as few players as you like, as long as you don't go past ''£XXX'', the point being that I believe that you would see teams developing their young players more than for example the Real Madrids and Man Citys of this world paying giant sums of money for players, who are only going there so they have loads of money at hand (not like I'm saying anything groundbraking here).
See I admire teams in England like Everton, and Aston Villa, because a few years ago they were mid-table teams, but a few good buys, and new exciting youth players have launched them within touching distance of the ''Big-four'', simple hard graft has been used here folks, not the ''Big-Money-Teams ways of doing it; trying to ''buy success''.
The last choice, wont be shared by a lot of football fans, but do hear me out. The thing is, with 11-a-side there is a tendancy for alot of ''bore draws'', games which move very slowly at times etc. My crazy idea, would be to make it 8-a-side, this way there would be goals galore and if you are a season ticket holder you'd get your money's worth (hopefully). Games would be able to be played faster, as there would be larger amounts of space due to the lack of 3 players for each side. I'd allow five subsitutes a game, in order to compensate for players running more, and I'd even be tempted to make games 80mins apposed to 90mins...some people may turn their noses at this and think I'm just changing things too much, but look at it, there are still two teams trying to get a ball into a net to score a goal, subsequent points, or going through to the next round of a ''cup'' and there still would exsist that bag of footballing clichés, puns, and word play that make football what it is, what some call, 'The Beautiful Game''.
Do hope you enjoyed.
Let me know what you think.
Callum.
This blog is about some of the things that stem from football (soccer) which make me think ''oh dear'', ''why?'', and ''please don't do that''.
Don't get me wrong here, and see me as someone who has never played/watched football, I LIKE football, more the participating element; I just see it as more fun. From a fairly young age I liked to play football, up until year 11, I haven't played a game since.
Whereas the watching element suggests some sort of interest in the going-ons in football, and I will say that I support Newcastle United (yes, feel free to laugh), and would follow transfers and so forth a lot; sorry if I'm going on, I'm trying to set the scene. Simply, for the most part I'm a fan of football.
Right to the niggles, one such annoyance lies with the fact that if a player ''appears'' to commit a 'handball' (as an example) there is a giant up-roar for something to be given, be it a penatly, a free-kick, a card of some sort. My problem with this is it just seems a very childish thing to do, if I was a manager I'd instruct my players just to play on for God's sake! The phrase 'don't cry over spilt milk' comes to mind, ok in the grand scheme of things ''3 points'' will be worth more than the milk ever was, but I hope you can see my point, just get on with the game, I'd be far happier to say I got an honest 0 - 0, rather than being able to say ''ohh our team won 1 - 0, based upon our powers of moaning in order to get a penatly''.
The second thing is one many people will raise their hands in agreement with ''money'', be it transfer fees or players wages. Personally money in football, leaves me with a bad after taste in my mouth, I think everything that can be said has been said, but still here's my take. I'd like to see some sort of system whereby clubs are ''capped'' that is they can only spend so much money on wages, futhermore in a transfer window each team can spend up to ''£XXX'' amount; you can buy as many or as few players as you like, as long as you don't go past ''£XXX'', the point being that I believe that you would see teams developing their young players more than for example the Real Madrids and Man Citys of this world paying giant sums of money for players, who are only going there so they have loads of money at hand (not like I'm saying anything groundbraking here).
See I admire teams in England like Everton, and Aston Villa, because a few years ago they were mid-table teams, but a few good buys, and new exciting youth players have launched them within touching distance of the ''Big-four'', simple hard graft has been used here folks, not the ''Big-Money-Teams ways of doing it; trying to ''buy success''.
The last choice, wont be shared by a lot of football fans, but do hear me out. The thing is, with 11-a-side there is a tendancy for alot of ''bore draws'', games which move very slowly at times etc. My crazy idea, would be to make it 8-a-side, this way there would be goals galore and if you are a season ticket holder you'd get your money's worth (hopefully). Games would be able to be played faster, as there would be larger amounts of space due to the lack of 3 players for each side. I'd allow five subsitutes a game, in order to compensate for players running more, and I'd even be tempted to make games 80mins apposed to 90mins...some people may turn their noses at this and think I'm just changing things too much, but look at it, there are still two teams trying to get a ball into a net to score a goal, subsequent points, or going through to the next round of a ''cup'' and there still would exsist that bag of footballing clichés, puns, and word play that make football what it is, what some call, 'The Beautiful Game''.
Do hope you enjoyed.
Let me know what you think.
Callum.
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