Eureka!

Success! Barely moments ago I finished the Week 1 reading for Stats. That's right, I opened, then read, the big blue stats book.

I have provided a rough approximation of my reaction to finishing the Week 1 reading below:

It'd be fair to this has been the academic highlight of an otherwise largely indifferent week. This week has been hot, then cold, then kinda hot when you'd be expecting it was cold and hence wore clothes to uni you'd rather not be wearing when it was hot, then cold again. But this indifferent week can be more squarely written off as been a result of the typical first week readjustment to uni than the erratic weather.

The first week back is always tiring and bit of a downer. For starters, I spend roughly an extra six hours a week driving. Personally, six extra hours of anything a week other than "sleep" is a drastic infringement on my personal time. And secondly, whatever shred of pre-semester enthusiasm you had worked yourself into prior to the first few classes is killed off the moment you start to look at the clock 25 minutes into a lecture and start pondering whether you can get out the door without disturbing too many people. Thirdly, it's expensive.

I can't think of many circumstances where I'd pay $90 for a book. Let alone $90 for a large, painfully slow to read, and annoying to transport, book that is going to dog me for the next 13 weeks. Yet, yesterday I did exactly that not once, but twice. Perhaps I could buy a few more and assemble them into a bit of a shanty in the backyard, get a tenant and charge some rent to recoup some of my costs.

Tutes start next week, more excitement then.