i need to think up better titles

by unanon at 01:37 PM on June 09, 2002

Many (ok, two people) may have been wondering where exactly I have been for the last two weeks. "Unanon," I hear you say, "Where have you been for the last two weeks?" (Unfortunately, those who did miss me are not the most creative minds around.) Well, for those who do wanna know, I have been doing a massive assignment, received some scary news, suffered from a case of mistaken identity, and made fun of my cousin.

The assignment, really, was pretty simple. Basically, we were writing a manuscript for a study that we had conducted. The study, for those who want to know, is the conditions under which racist attitudes are expressed. And no, I did not choose the topic. The actual experiment itself was fairly bland. For those who know the psychology jargon, we were manipulating the salience of in-group and social norms. For those who have no clue what I just said, it will suffice for me to say that we were fucking with people's minds, and seeing what happened. The struggle came with actually researching the thing.

Now, I'll be the first person to admit that I struggle to read any publication that does not have the word mad in the title, which really should be a serious stumbling block in my studies. In fact, it's a surprise to many people that, despite this fact, and the fact that I travel 4 hours to campus and back home everyday, I am just 6 short months from completing two degrees in 4 years, all while I release an EP on the record label I am starting up. The point is that I hate doing research (unless said research involves sitting in front of the computer looking at websites), which is why I put off doing a major (30% of final mark) assignment to the last week. That may sound bad, but I think everybody else, with the exception of the half-American chick who likes to show off her cleavage in winter, decided to do the same.

So, the scene was set: 30-odd psych students, an assignment, and 4 days of continuous work in the 24-hour computer labs. Now, I do have a computer at home, but I can't actually work at home for various reasons (basically distractions… electronic musical nerd toys, and my sister, who you don't wanna know about), so I chose to work at uni with other from who I could get to do my assignment for me help from. What really sux about that is that, after 7pm all the food outlets at uni close, so you have to eat overpriced and out-of-date vending machine food after that, which is not so great when you are there after midnight. The funny thing is that, because IT students put in all-nighters all the time, their computer labs, which also have swipe card access, have vending machines that dispense hot foods, and who doesn't like hot soup dispensed in the can. At home, I can have hot soup all the time.

The one plus is the camaraderie that develops when a group of people realise that they are seriously screwed unless they get their heads together to write their assignment, and buy jolt in bulk. This is further built when public transport stops at 11 pm, and you (or your old new friend) are the only person who has a car, and are nice enough to give everybody lifts to their homes. The point of all this is that a) Scandinavian students get large government subsidies to study in Australia, and can afford to rent nice apartments in top-notch inner city suburbs, and b) friendships can be really superficial, especially when they are based on something like completing a task and purchasing artificially caffinated beverages (which have to be imported because Australian food regulations prevent artificial caffination of foods and beverages produced in Australia. It has something to do with poor kids being hooked on caffinated orange juice by those evil juice companies, but this law may change because the idiot in charge of the country thinks that there is no problem with abolishing laws that make sure that meat pies have actual meat in them, but I digress).

to be continued.