SolarDragon

Journal Entry No: 34 *Life After University* //Sunday 3rd of February 2013//08:02(UKT)//

Well it's been a while,

I've now graduated from Uni (that would be college for the Americans in the audience…) and I'm now the proud owner of a Masters in Robotics Engineering degree. I was planning on a Ph.D as soon as I graduated, but that has been delayed because my funding got withdrawn…
Problem? Well yeah, it was a dam right inconvenience but fret not, I got a backup plan… I could have just sat around with a thumb up my arse waiting for more funding to turn up or look for a different position but I need money to rebuild my finances (education ain't cheap when you're the one paying for it). On top of that, anyone undergoing or having completed a Ph.D will tell you that industrial experience goes a long way these days, even if you're going for academia…

So I sold my soul to the oil industry…

Ok ok ok! Not really… Think of it as a loan… I got hired as a field engineer (I love that title) by a giant oil service company. They offer me a sweet deal… I surrender my life to them for three years (or so); get sent to the arse end of the North Sea, working on oil rigs and they will teach me all there is to know in the industry… Also If I do well, they will pay for my Ph.D… The pay is pretty dam sweet, especially for a fresh graduate and the industrial experience, which normally get paid scraps…

So what do I do? Basically I get sent to offshore installations in the North Sea and run specially designed equipment down the oil wells and perform various maintenance tasks. I also undertake testing and design of some of the gear which the company provides.

Basically I'm the oil industry's version of Isaac Clark from Dead Space (if you ever have played it).

I've also had to relocate: I'm now living in Aberdeenshire (that's in Scotland). So far I'm really enjoying it (when I'm not somewhere in the North Sea, freezing to death on an offshore installation during the early hours of the morning…).

So yeah, that the plan so far. I still hang on DA every day, although I'll admit; I don't comment and post as I much as I use to but now that things are getting easier for me, I hope to become a bit more active again.

Hope you're all still doing ok…

Well, that's it for now.

Cheers.



:thumb314423008:

Journal Entry No: 33 *Still Alive* //Monday 08th of August 2011//02:27(UKT)//

Wow, It's been over a year since I last updated, but hell, I've been buisy!

So 3 rd year of uni went realy well, and life is good so far. This summer I've been hired by my department as a researcher. I'm looking into Terahertz spectroscopy for the analysis of medival paint pigments! This means that I get to play with powerful laser AND medieval artifacts such as scrolls and anything which contains pigments. I'm looking forwards to the start of my masters year and I will also be taking a more active role in the international student society, so I'm gonna be busy! On top of that I got to look into funding for a PhD, yay... :rolleyes:

That being said I'm still hanging out on DA and it's great to see it's still awesome as always! Hope everyone is doing alright!

I'm going to try and comment more often and get back to being more active on DA... Despite being on most days, I feel that I've neglected it a bit.

I will hopefully update later, but until then...





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Journal Entry No: 32 *Avatar - in 3D* //Thursday 17th of December 2009//00:38(UKT)//

Yesterday I went to see avatar. Ever since I heard of it I’ve wanted to go and see it and I impatiently waited for it to come out. Today was the day and I saw it in 3D. Now, I know there has been some controversy and a lot of people and reviews have been telling me that the story is bad and that it’s a generally overhyped blockbuster.

Well today I’m glad to have listen to my instincts and chosen to DISREGARD ALL THAT HAS BEEN SAID because I thought it was F***ING EPIC!

No seriously! It was amazing. The graphics where just simply breath taking, the character design was excellent and the attention to detail when It came to modeling the décor was simply unmatched by anything I’ve ever seen. I feel that a lot of work went into creating that film and I strongly recommend that you go and see it at the theatre.

Ok to be fair, the story wasn’t on par with the graphic quality but hey nothing’s perfect and over complicated plots wouldn’t really fit the movie anyway. After all it has Mecha, Flying Gunships, awesome Aliens, a beautiful yet dangerous world AND Sigourney Weaver…

What else can a sci-fi loving geek like me could ever ask for?

I watched all 2 ½ hours of it and it didn’t disappoint me one second so I thought I’d share my own review to encourage you guys out there to go and see it.
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Apart from that I’m ok; second year of university is pretty tough but I think I got over the hump as this term is supposed to be one of the hardest…
But it’s the holiday now and it’s time for me to play catch up and get a few things sorted to start a fresh for 2010!

Well, I’d like to take this occasion to wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

See ya.



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Journal Entry No: 30 *A Tougher Game* //Sunday 15th of February 2009//03:48(UKT)//

Yeah... It's been a while since I've updated... ¬_¬U

First of all, I’d like to thank you all for helping me break the 10,000 views threshold  That’s awesome!

I promise to post something official to celebrate when I have some free time...

Moving right along;

Well, a lot has happened recently. I’ve moved out of London and I now live in Reading.
I’m in the middle of my first year in Cybernetics and Artificial Intelligence Engineering Degree at the University Of Reading. It’s really fascinating but very time consuming…

Sadly I’ve been neglecting Deviantart (and pretty much everything else, including my health) in order to concentrate on my work… Ironically the first year doesn’t count toward the degree but I want to be promoted on the full Masters course, so I need to work hard in order to prove myself to the senior researchers. This means that I rarely go out (no change there) because I don’t normally leave the labs / library until midnight (that's also often the case for weekends) and I’m constantly too tired to do anything else…
On the other hand I’ve made some good friends there and the campus has a very stimulating atmosphere… Perfect for a lab rat like me…

As far as the work goes, so far so good. I seem to be on track with the requirements but I must admit the stress level is very high as most of the students have way more experience in mathematics / computing compared to me and I often feel like I’m running behind in order to catch up.  (Then again, that’s nothing new either...)  I guess, I never realised how much mathematics was involved in Cybernetics and Robotics; you’ve got to see it to believe it! In the space of three months, I’ve gone from mathematically retarded to engineering math super geek… (Engineering degree, what did I expect?! lol ). My first set of exams start in may… Since I’ve been revising from day 1, I should be fine.

Apart from my working university life, I've nothing else to say, apart from that I miss my old friends from college, attending my Friday evening lectures at University College London and going to the Hampstead Heath observatory while hanging out with the people I know there…

Man... I really need to get my ass down there pronto… I have to admit I’ve done a really bad job at keeping in contact with my old friends, but I’ve just been so busy! Those of you who have met me in real life will know how much of workaholic I am…



Meh, that’s just the way I am, can’t be helped.

Well, that’s the jist of it… Not much to report apart from that…

I’ll try my best to be more active, but I don’t want to make any empty promises…

I hope your all okay on your side.

Keep safe guys and girls.

Till next time…



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Journal Entry No: 29 *Judgment Day's Victory!* //Thursday 14th of August 2008//19:09(FRT)//

SCORE!

The hammer has fallen and I have triumphed!

I passed my A levels and I learned that as for today I’m a new student of the University of Reading!

This has being my dream ever since I was 8 years old! I’m going to study Cybernetics and Artificial Intelligence, which will hopefully lead me to a longer course in Robotics! I’m really looking forwards to my time there... I can’t thank enough all the people that have supported me during this time, both financially and mentally… It makes all the difference when people are ready to sacrifice some of their precious time so to help you reach the stars… A dept I hope one day to repay. University isn’t going to be easy, far from it but I know I’ll enjoy myself there!

In other news my summer holiday’s been rather busy, I’ve been on a course to learn new skills I never thought I’d develop: Children’s Animation! Basically learning how to distract children and do activities with them when you’re on holiday camps and stuff! Then I put those brand new skills to the test with a 4 day camping trip with the children from my parent’s village the local parish had organised! Kept me busy, lol! faint:

Otherwise I’ve been relaxing and planning my return to England… I also had the pleasure of discovering V6 which hit me without warning like a wet fish in my face accompanied by a nicely executed kick in the balls when I saw the new message system… Nah I’m being too mean, I got use to it rather quickly… Also the Olympic games are really awesome! The opening ceremony was the best thing I’ve seen this year so far! Chinese really know how to make a show! I real pleasure for the eyes!

I’ve also taken this opportunity to play with my Wacom tablet! I’ve updated two new pictures but so far only 2 people have bothered to leave me a comment! :doh2: Common guys! A little encouragement wouldn’t be a miss! Pretty please…?

Anyway, that’s the updates so far…

Oh, and good luck to all you guys which are still fighting the university application process and/or the A level results stress. I hope every body did well!

Next time I’ll update it will be from Reading!

Till then!



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I'm still running my Blue Submarine No6 club! So feel free to join!



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