I just have a really really really really good memory - I'll see something and boom, I remember it. I have other skills which contribute but that's the main one.

I've seen a few people whose intelligence even freaks me out, trust me, there's a whole new level out there.

I mean, I know I'm unusually smart, but I'm way too reliant on my memory. I'm not as good at thinking on my feet, coming up with a new, abstract way of approaching a problem as most others at my level, which can land me in hot water on early assignments. So I really should study...

When it comes to the freakish, freakish, indescribably freakish maths I do, you need the notes. Because there is just so much material, so many different critical theorems and results and what-have-you that you just can't remember it all. And if you miss just one little thing, well, you're in the toilet. I mean, I really should have studied for 2406. Because some of the questions just demand that you know precisely what you're doing.

Relaxed is the best way to work and study. First semester there was one exam where I didn't study at all - in fact I barely cared about the subject - and I went in in a completely relaxed frame of mind.

I never found out my exact mark, but it must have been something silly high, because I ended up getting, post-scaling, a considerably higher mark than was actually physically possible as a raw mark for me before the exam

Yeah, I don't have too much guilt. I have some, though.

Classssssssssss.

You have one up on me - you actually started studying. Let's see, for last semester... these are all second year maths/physics courses that I've accelerated by a year, being the crazy man I am. And I need HDs (80+) in the majority of them for my position in my degree program to be safe. So you'd think I'd be studying...

MATH2322 - I studied a fair bit because I missed quite a few lectures. But even then studying = reading and memorising the sections of the textbook I'd missed.

MATH2406 - Yeah, I didn't go to a single lecture this term, but I have the lecture notes, they're really good, and I can bring them into the exam! Who needs studying?

PHYS2016 - I can bring the text into the exam! Who needs studying?

PHYS2017 - Well, I should really study, but this is an abortion of a course, so nah...

Turned out OK too.

Ah, that's my kind of laziness. See, it's not really proper laziness if it goes to plan.

I shall let you know now that I barely studied for my HSC finals... that didn't work out too badly!

You can suspend it for a few minutes.

Go on.

I'm one of the most instinctive people you'll meet - but yeah I'm a bit boring/lazy (very lazy actually) superficially as well.

(See! I've managed to start a new topic about starting new topics)

The key is to not think. Just... let it happen.

Usually it starts by making an off-hand comment, and then we go through the implications of that comment, and it kind of branches off from there

I'm usually all kinds of awesome at sidetracking.

Me and one of my friends cover all kinds of weird topics during a single conversation. Once within the course of, I don't know, 20 minutes, we had managed to move from talking about physics coursework to analysing the American Civil War (which I know much less about than I should, but oh well)

Uh oh.

Ummm... shit, I'm way better at doing this on MSN.

...

...

...

...

No. No you aren't.

Hmmm.

I would put a concert in Adelaide at about $1000 at the absolute maximum, so if you save up just over $5000 you should still be able to afford a decent trip to England...

Oh no. This person I'm talking about (a snippet of a picture of whom is my avatar) is insane. Like, "what the fuck are you doing with your life?!" insane. Unless you've done gone absolutely bonkers due to an ex-boyfriend.

Well, how much money do you reckon you could save up by the relevant times?

I like your style. You're like a female, brunette version of me, it's kind of strange. You're not the only one running around, but at least you aren't stir-crazy. I think.

Hmmm... personally I'd save up for England. A band is two hours of bliss. A trip to England is two weeks (or so)

Good to hear.

See? It always finds a way.

Agreed so much on Belonging. So so much.

Still. It's interesting.

And I'm pretty sure that somehow you'll end up with internet one way or another. It finds a way.

I love doing that when I actually care about the topic at hand. Unfortunately the topics chosen in English rarely fall into that category...

Although I think there are a few pieces of mine littered all over the internet about various topics that I did enjoy writing.

Reads like an MSN convo in the frequency of the replies and the "fluidity" of the conversation.

And you know that won't work. If you have access to a computer, you will spend much time on the internet.

I have to note that this is starting to read oddly like an MSN conversation. I've spent too much time talking over the internet, I think...

...not that I'll change my habits.

I was decent at English. I think on my feet reasonably well so I can put thoughts in a structured order pretty nicely. It's just that sometimes I get so ticked off by the vagueness or general pointlessness of the question that I tend to not really try...

Maths at that level is just insane. Utterly unrecognizable from maths at a standard level, and literally requires you to be slightly mad to be able to come up with the crazy thought processes you need to get some of the problems out....

English though *shudders*. I think this is more than partly the Board of Studies' fault but my god English was dire.

Haha I feel so weird having got the marks I did compared to the work I put in beforehand.

Some sections? Which ones? Surely nothing can get more mind-bendingly extreme than the HSC Extension 2 Maths exam... that was insane. Remains the toughest exam I've done to this day...

Science is awesome.

How do you think you went? I had a decent idea of how I went in my finals, but they ended up being somewhat better than I'd expected.

Nah most of mine are in first person I think. It's hard to explain.

Considering the amount of music I listen to I've never ever ever ever had a dream with music in it. Odd.

And yeah that stuff interests me too. That's why I'm a scientist. Psychology is just one of the many side-things I find out about in my spare time though.

Murrays Bus, yes. Trains don't go to Canberra very often, and they're probably bloody expensive. $15 dollar tickets, can't go wrong.

Strange as in somewhat... I don't know how to describe it. They aren't surreal, they're very very realistic, to the point where I've had to remind myself forcefully that it was a dream and not real. I don't know, they generally seem to involve something unpleasant/unwanted/unexpected (in the wrong way) happening and then it goes from there in terms of dealing with it.

Good for mental toughness, as I get this extremely strange 3rd person view of how to deal with these situations. These dreams I remember, and I tend to analyse to see how "I" could have dealt with the "situation" better. I would make an alarmingly eager psychologist.

I tend not to get overly "happy" dreams as I'm a pisspoor sleeper hence I spend a lot of time in the dark lying awake, and that's when I tend to think/construct "day"dreams of a happy nature... but I find that whatever I'm thinking as I first lie down, I have to get rid of or I just won't sleep.

As said, I would make an alarmingly eager psychologist.

That was the shortest bus ride from Syd-Canberra I've ever had. Didn't expect to be back for another hour.

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I usually remember my dreams. I rarely have sad dreams but I sometimes have... strange dreams, which sort of freak me out for a while. Good mental stress-testing.

Right, I have a bus to catch, I shall talk to you in a couple of hours~~