Brainz

Brainz are fuzzy. Brainz have melted.

Today was the last exam. 4.5 hours (with break, 5). They changed the format from previous years, and published a model of the new format online a few weeks ago. The exam today was based on that model, but they didn’t give time enough to solve all the problems. Not even knowing what to do and plugging everything in the HP50g to do math fast, there was not enough time at all.

But, it’s done. I will take at least a couple weeks off now. Don’t want to know anything about university till then.

Anerriphtho kybos (or Alea iacta est)

Goodbye Hair

Scared you there, eh?

I did not cut all my hair, just gave it a trim cause it was starting to get annoying (waist lenght!), and the ends looked dry and brittle. Right now it’s below my elbows, long hair, just not as long. Proof:

Long hair, pre cutLong hair, post cut
Pre-cut, it was waist lengthPost-cut, it’s elbow lenght, better

Much much better now!

One Down.

My brain feels like it wants to explode and then run out of my ears. Love the visual, eh?

The exam lasted about an hour more than I thought, because the teachers realized that it was harder than they initially thought, and added more time to try and let us imagine we can solve it. When they start adding time to an exam, bad juju.

Oh yes, also publications (aka, those paid to make copies) apparently can’t read and made 50 copies less of the exam than they asked. I don’t believe that. I mean, really, not seeing a 50 in there? I’m more in the “we never thought all 450 of the students would come and sit the exam so we asked for kess copies”.

The content of the exam was… rather not talk about it. I just want to forget about it, and start on the next one. Tired of it all. Burnt out. Meh.

Insert long string of very explicit very loud cursing here.

Exams

Suck.

These next three weeks are basically devoted to flattening my butt (more) studying (more) for exams, and then sitting those exams. And then hoping I have passed, because I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve sitted said exams, and it’s really getting on my nerves (and that’s being very very polite about it).

Anyway, I doubt I’ll post as much as I’ve posted these past weeks, not like it matters much, does it? I still have to post a couple pics of the last delicious meal cooked over at Jan’s. Maybe I’ll post some rant or so, when I need to yell or else my brain might implode-explode.

And I just noticed the spam counter has gone over the 20k mark. It only took 450 days… (No, I didn’t count them, I used this tool)

Yourself In Pictures

Silly meme that I found in Flickr, and I’m posting here just because.

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys (mosaic).

The concept:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker).

The Questions:

  1. What is your first name?1
  2. What is your favorite food?2
  3. What high school did you go to?3
  4. What is your favorite color?4
  5. Who is your celebrity crush?5
  6. Favorite drink?6
  7. Dream vacation?7
  8. Favorite dessert?8
  9. What you want to be when you grow up?9
  10. What do you love most in life?10
  11. One Word to describe you.11
  12. Your (flickr) nick-name12

 
 
check out the notes:

  1. Diana
  2. Chocolate
  3. Arturo Soria – Not like anyone knows it!
  4. Red
  5. Sean Connery, he’s like a good wine, it gets better with time
  6. Water
  7. Relax – I know, it’s not a place, it’s a state of mind. It’s my vacation anyway
  8. Green Tea Icecream – Just so I don’t repeat the chocolate one
  9. Happier
  10. Life itself
  11. Eclectic
  12. Sade – go look up the About Me page

Gardening

I finally took pics of the greenhouse, and also yesterday we put up a raised bed to grow more stuff. Took a few hours of hard work, and today we’re dead. So I leave you with pictures:

Greenhouseraised bedGreenhouse
Greenhouse and part of the raised bedRaised bed, it’s L shapedAnother view of the greenhouse

The Bus, Part Two

A while ago I talked about public transport here in Belgium. Today I’m going to talk about the good things buses have here. (I’m not going to talk about how frequently do the railworkers strike, because it’s annoying, even tho I do not take the train often).

So first, lets talk about the tariffs, shall we? You can buy a single trip ticket on the bus for 1€ (approx $1.50). Or you can buy a single trip ticket via SMS with your cellphone for, if I remember correctly, about 1.5€ ($2.30). Yes, you read well, you can buy a ticket via SMS. You send a SMS to the number (that I do not remember because I’ve never used it), and then they send you a message back with a “ticket” that is valid for half an hour. Another option is buying a ten trip card. If you buy it in a shop, like a tabbacco shop or newspaper agents, it’ll cost you 8€ ($12.60). Or you can buy it in the bus, and it’ll cost you 10€ ($15).

And then you have the monthly card. This one is great. Mostly because it’s not valid for a “natural month”, that is, January, February… Nope! It’s valid for 30 days starting the day you buy it (or the following day if you ask them so). So you can buy it the 20th of the month, and still use it for 30 days, until the 19th of the following month. Lovely! And then the price: a normal month ticket costs 27€ ($42.5) for people between 25 & 55 years old, and it allows you to ride any bus from De Lijn, all over Belgium, as many times as you want, for the whole 30 days. And the best part? Living where I live, it’s half price! So I only pay 13.5€ for 30 days of buses!

OmniPas
This is my OmniPas, 30 days of bus rides!

The downthing of the buses it’s that they don’t ride very often. For instance the line I use the most, drives 3 times an hour (every 20 minutes) Monday to Friday, with the first bus at 5.45 am and the last at 10.10 pm (except during summer, when the last bus is at 9pm). Saturdays is also three buses an hour until 6pm, then once an hour, first bus at 7.50 am and last bus at 22.30 (that could get me home). And Sundays and Holidays are even better: one bus an hour, starting at 8 am and finishing before 9pm. However, if you have the schedule, you know when the bus will be at the main stops, and they are there at that time. Which is handy.

And then the drivers. Most drivers will know the routes the do like the back of their hands, or even better. You can politely ask them to please tell you when such-and-such stop comes, because you know you need to get off there, but don’t know the stop. They will greet you when you get on the bus with “Goodmorning / Goodafternoon / Goodevening” as approppriate with a smile. They will say “Thank you” after you show them your bus pass, or “Please” when the machine spits your ten-trip card out after validating it. And they will wave bye when you get off the bus. I have to admit that the “Goodmorning” really makes my day brighter.

And thus we conclude (hopefully) the talk about public transport in Belgium. Stay tuned for the next chapter of life here.