Audience of One

D is for Distractable

As an example of how true this is, I began writing this entry ten minutes ago and have only just started writing. I decided on a whim to talk to someone on MSN Messenger. One of the reasons Audience of One wasn’t released back in 2004 is because I used to get bored coding and go browse Wikipedia or a forum. The main reason I found the time to install Linux is because I got distracted from revising. I’ve been meaning to write an email all day but I keep on getting distracted. Even this entry is a distraction. In fact, even that email is a distraction. I should really be doing some schoolwork.

Schoolwork is so time-consuming. I say that, in reality I don’t let it consume time and complain that it’s so time-consuming because I always feel like I should be doing it rather than what I’m doing at the moment. I was writing a music essay the other week and started talking to Nick about George Bush. I wrote the essay in ten minutes and still got nine out of twenty. Imagine what would happen if I’d spent twenty minutes on it, the time it’s expected to take in an exam.

Ah, yes, exams. I’m supposed to be revising for them, aren’t I? That’s the annoying thing about A levels. Further down the school I could get away without revising. In fact, the only French test I got less than 100% on aged 12 was the one I revised for. I got lower grades in the subjects I revised the most for at GCSE. At A level though, I actually have to revise, and it’s really frustrating because I’ve never learnt how. Even at AS I didn’t have to revise that much. I revised about two hours for music – about as much as I’d done for the GCSE. True, the exam is only a third of the course, but that still isn’t much revision.

That’s one of the reasons I love the music A level – there’s quite a lot of coursework but it’s not too much of a challenge getting it done. I’ve had two compositions to do this year, which have only been a problem because I can’t work on them at home. Then there’s performance which has been easy, as jazz improvisation can get quite good marks. It’ll be less the case at university though – there’ll be a lot more essays to do then, and much longer exams. That’s the one thing I’m not looking forward to about university – that and the endemic drinking culture. What is it about alcohol that is so appealing?

In conclusion… what was I talking about again?

Matthew @ 13:39, April 2, 2005 to ABC | Comments (3)