Yes, It's Year 11 from today, with that brings up the biggest challenge so far in my life, VCE as you've guessed.
The classes have all changed although I knew most of my classmates well enough by this stage of High Schooling. Half of my classes ended up being in the portables as my Science classes got kicked out of 523 and 524 into the portables.
More work for me to do as I am ready to take them on, time to really put my skills into work.
Meanwhile my social skills hadn't changed much at all. The group I social with have certainly changed though. Time is running out as we speak and I will add more tomorrow.
From now on I will write fortnightly in this blog about random aspects of my life.
Back in mid-December I went to my Aunts' place in Ulla Dulla, NSW. Kind of a good place actually, quiet space and beach is 10 mins drive away, what are you asking for, more? It's good enough.
I walked into the house and the first thing is that I noticed a cupboard full of books. Nothing special about the cupboard, but after that I found something I wanted so much, Reference books for Physics, Chemistry and even maths, something so good that I won't be able to bring them home as I thought about them. I sat down and started reading about Organic Chemistry (Written by C. W. Wood, A. K. Holiday and R. J. S. Beer, published 1973, The English Language Book Society) and suddenly my auntie came to me,"You can take those home If you want" was the first sentence she spoke. I was so happy about it, yes very happy about it. I will need them with me to survive the onslaught in the coming two years in which I need to do extremely well. I choose what I need and put them into a box and I am still awaiting them to be sent. to my home.
I chose about 4 books to go with me on the plane back to Melbourne and they are:
Organic Chemistry (Written by C. W. Wood, A. K. Holiday and R. J. S. Beer, published 1973, The English Language Book Society)
Physical Chemistry (Written by C. W. Wood, A. K. Holiday, published 1973, The English Language Book Society)
Teach Yourself Calculus(Written by P. Abbott, published 1973, The English Language Book Society)
How to Solve General Chemistry Problems(Written by C.H. Sorum, Prentice-Hall 1969)
At this stage I am only going to talk about the Organic Chemistry since it's the only one I have started reading because I am really lacking knowledge of Organic Chemistry and I have better knowledge on Physical(Inorganic) Chemistry.
The book itself is designed for GCSE A-Level so the reader needs a knowledge level of GCSE O-Level to read it. I didn't have it so I went over the new Year 11 Textbook to catch up with the missing knowledge. There's not much to catch up tho as the book talked about most fundamentals in the opening pages of the book. Also the language used to write the book is quite old which is very interesting.
Every chapter are really detailed as it should be for the 70's. It came in much more detail when compared to my Year 11 textbook which didn't provide a lot. The book gave a lot of interesting details about the bonding in different compunds and what is means to the Properties of the compound. It also talked about how functional groups which has simliar bonds can be similar in chemical properties. The Chemical Properties section is also full on in-depth ideas in which I haven't learnt at all.
At the end of chapter, the authors gaves us a simple summary of what the chapter has talked about and some exam questions which was hard since they took it out of A-Level and even First-year Examinations and I need to work on it.
The book also talked about organic synthesis and the determination of Molecular Formulae in which can be leftover for now as I have to study about
the functional group fundamentals first.
Overall the book is a great read which will help me a lot in the coming years. They are hard to find now because It's been out for more than 35 years but still I got to find them and taking them with me.
There goes the first episode of Gordon's Corner ans I would be back on the 11th of February.
It's 2010 so Happy New Year. But it comes with an exciting element, a new resolution has to be done and yes I am doing it so don't aruge about it.
1. Be hardworking. 2009 was pretty laid back and with it brought some disappointment. Espically in maths where I averaged about 83% which is quite low in my standard. Yr 11 is coming and I would fail epicly if I laid back so gotta get working. I don't want to screw up English either since it's bad enough already. I need to do alot harder than this year.
2. Be organised. 2009 was a pretty unorganised year, with all my notes flying around. It ended up slowing up my efficency as I had a hard time attempting to finnd all these notes. More Folders and a better sue of my journal should solve most of these problems.
3. Be prepared for anything and react quickly. There's always challenges which are presented to me in multiple forms. I need to prepare myself and react to it really quickly.
4. Don't be discouraged. Often there's multiple things which would either distract or discourage me from doing important things. I need to get through them and keep pushing myself to where I can. I would fail my life if I get too discouraged.
5. Be Compentent. Ignorance brings nothing but disaster. I need to keep myself a competent men and an easy-goer. Don't get too much rage out of yourself.
6. Be patient. I am an impatient man and I need to tune my patience up to a level where I won't get fussed with small things.
7. Be creative. 2009 lacked creativity from me so it ended up being a dull year. Think more and use the brain more.
8.Be self-caring. Keeping myself healthy is a quintesstenial path on the roadway to success. Keeping myself healthy can help a lot in different areas. More vegies, less meat and more excerise would do it.
9.Be more careful. Talk slower and think before doing anything.
That's about it I think. Time to stick to it and see what will happen.
When one think of November, it pretty much comes to one word, exam. Everyone hates it but the fact is one still gotta do it to pass the year.
I've done quite a bit of studying in my main subjects( Maths, Physics) where as I am not going to revise the other three(English Comedy and Satire, Humanities Core, History) since there are utterly useless for an Engineer-type student.
I think I will be doing quite well in Maths and Physics, more than average in English and just a pass on Humanities Core and History since I have no desire to study those two.
.
Exam Timetable for me:
Monday (23rd November): History(Period 1&2, clashes with Humanities)
Tuesday(24th November):Comedy and Satire(Period 3&4)
Wednesday(25th November):Physics(Period 5&6)
Thursday(26th November):Maths(Period 1&2)
Friday(27th November):Humanities(Period 5&6, supposed to be Monday 1&2)
God damn clashes, that also mean Friday is not off for me :(
