1/15/2017

Diary Clip: Jan 12-14, 2017

Jan 12
Sitting at a cafe, plugging into some music while two women have an emotional conversation. One of them is basically shouting. I can hear that shit through my in-ears from two tables away, and my volume is up at 25. She's got her feet (with sandals) on the chair as well. The uncivilized are everywhere, I suppose.

I would leave and head back to my room to study, but it's hot. At least there's air-con in the mall.

I've been learning a lot from this course. The lecturer goes hard, but unlike stats or corporate law, he's at least somewhat interesting. I really like that he doesn't try to hide that his political opinion sits left. A lot of lecturers (partly due to rules) try to hide their political sitting but still try to push their agenda subtly (cough, 1002). It's probably more straightforward to simply admit you have a bias, and then explain the reasoning for your side. If a student is inclined to agree with you, then he or she has all the better reason to do so; if not, at least he or she feels honestly dealt with, and is less likely to make a complaint to administration.

All in all, it's great. I definitely don't agree with everything my lecturer says (for example, I don't think the minimum wage argument applies to every country in existence) but I'm slightly more convinced of the arguments. Indeed, almost all Western economists in the modern day lean "left" with regards to economic policy, even though they may lean right in other areas; as Milton Friedman said, "We are all Keynesians now." And I expect nothing less than for my lecturers to have a coherent idea. Dude's got a PhD after all.

Jan 13
Was going to make time to visit my tutor's consultation today. However, I realized I actually know basically all of the tutorial material and there's nothing to ask him, so w/e. The problem lies with practicing so I remember, something which I have been failing to do in my courses all 2016.

I should probably head to my lecturer's consult next week though. This morning's lecture was pretty tough: I was particularly stumped by the Keynesian Cross (some form of derivative of aggregate demand) and the geometric series to determine the Keynesian multiplier. The lecture is just full of stuff I never thought I'd be seeing in a 1-level course. I do wonder how much of his complicated shenanigans are on the exam though, because the tutorial material is quite tame in comparison.

My facewash is missing from the pigeonhole, as of this afternoon when I got back from class. I suspect one of the guest students have stolen it; there are several Koreans on my floor and they seem a bit strange. A shame really, because that facewash is dermatologist-prescribed and not found in regular stores or pharmacies. But not quite a shame because I believe it was on the verge of, if not already, expired. I wish the thief all the best with his or her skin.

In the meantime, I already have a replacement sitting in my room (a regular store-bought one, this time). But I doubt I'll put it in the pigeonhole now.

Anyway, I better get studying. I admit to slacking by and large this past 2 weeks; my excuse is that I've been unpacking, getting settled into Sydney, trying to bear the heat, attempting (in vain) to correct my sleep schedule, and so on. But it's been long enough.

Jan 14
So I'm back at coffee. It's bloody hot out, and I've got nowhere else to go without looking funny. At least here, because I come so often and know all the baristas, they're not going to throw me out. In the past I've sat here for like 3+ hours before without issue, so it's cool.

Yesterday was terrible, 30 degrees at MIDNIGHT. I'm not sure how I am going to function like this. It's hurting my focus and my laptop as well, which slows down because laptops are bad and can't cool themselves as well as desktops. At least tonight, the forecast says it will drop to 22. That's not too bad.

I want to get together a drawing sometime. One of the reasons why I have yet to quit playing video games altogether is because I think it stirs my imagination. I definitely have to do a good pokémon drawing when I get around to playing the game.

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