It's me, Kinkerz!

[Kinkerz]

My referee wants me to waste a paragraph of my PS on my school subjects, and what I've gained from them. Well if I was being honest, then my answer would be very little! I've learnt that I despise Chemistry, that Psychology is very boring, that Physics is interesting but difficult and that Biology has some very interesting areas, particularly when it's physiology and to do with the human body, however lot's of it is dull ecology and food chains. So overall, I don't like my school subjects and want to study Medicine! I really don't want to talk about school in my statement, as I'm not too keen on school! I must resist...

He wants to send off my UCAS form on Monday, so he's writing my referee statement over the weekend. Boy it better be a good 'un!

Have to say, it all feels very, very real now! All this talk about sending my application off is a little bit on the scary side!

Not quite as upto my neck in coursework any more as I got a large portion done last night. I'd like to say that I'm about half way through. I have a Chemistry test tomorrow and I need to do some further preparation. Wish me luck and I shall tell you how I did when I get my result.

[Kinkerz]

Okay. My Chemistry teacher failed to turn up to the lesson today, so staying up until 1:30am re-writing notes on Carbonyls, Carboxylic acids, Esters, Isomerisn and Acylation for the test was fairly pointless. I was the only person in the class that was disappointed that the teacher was absent! I'd rather have done the test today when all the information is fresh in my mind, than have to revise it all again next Thursday. Plus I have a Physical Chemistry test on Tuesday, which includes Equilibria, Rates, Kinetics and pH calculations. So I have two Chemistry tests that I need to get A grades on, in two days next week! Shocker!

This business with my referee hasn't dissolved yet either. It has infact escalated. He took me to a computer room today and edited bits of my PS. Luckily I have lots of saved copies of my original copy. As you may have gathered from the previous statement, I don't like what he's put in or edited. I've sent them both to a medic on this forum (Fried_Rice if you're wondering) to see which she prefers and feels would give me a better chance of getting an interview. So I shall inform you of the response I get from her and ultimately, my decision on which statement to send off.

[Kinkerz]

I'm more anxious about which statement to go with than ever! Fried Rice, or Emilia as I now know her seemed to be leaning towards the statement that my referee contributed towards. It definately flows better, but I'm not sure about the content being better. Also, I feel I could take a grilling on my own PS as I know why I've written each sentence, but with the one my referee contributed to, I'm not quite as sure I could. But what's the point in being able to take a grilling if you never get to interview! Argh. Such a tough decision.
My mum, dad and sister all prefer the original, but they aren't exactly qualified admission tutors and Emilia is a fourth year Medical student, so she is much more licensed to comment. I have to decide by Monday so I have another day.

In a while, I'm going to break the underage drinking law and attend my friends party! Speaking of which, Kopparnberg mixed fruit cider is the nicest alcoholic drink ever, closely followed by Budweiser. Although these are my own opinions, many of my friends and I'm sure many of you lot will disagree.

Peace out! x

[Kinkerz]

Last night was great, this morning really wasn't. Woke up with a shocker of a headache, but once a few glasses of water and a bowl of rice crispies went down, things improved.

Just watching Hitch at the moment (love the film) then I'll bed down as I have a fairly early start in the morgen - 7:45am - because I need to add the finishing touches of my Biology coursework and I want to be in all day incase my referee wishes to speak to me.

On the personal statement front, I think I'm going to go with my own. My reasons are:

• It feels more personal and less generic
• I could take a grilling on it as I know the backstory behind each line better
• I would regret it badly if I got four rejections with the other

Not going to be pleasant informing my referee though, and I'm not really sure how to go about it. I guess I'll just have to be honest and give him my (good?) reasons. Man, I love confrontation...

[Kinkerz]

My referee statement is complete, and it is all very positive. My personal statement is also complete. My UCAS form is 90% complete, I just need to clarify a few bits with the education section.
This means that my UCAS form shall be sent off at the latest next Wednesday, at the earliest next Friday. It depends on whether my head teacher gets of his arse! I know I said it was going to be Monday/Wednesday this week, but my Biology teacher hadn't written her report for me, so my referee was held back...

The Physical Chemistry test went swimmingly and I got a healthy 84%, which I was more than happy with considering they were actual past paper questions (and not especially easy ones at that!). I have the Organic one tomorrow, which I should do better in because I'm better at it. I shall inform you how I do, as it will be marked in the last hour of the lesson by my teacher, while we do a practical apparently...

We've been playing scabby queen at school over the past few months, and I've had my fair share of scabbing - both being the scabber and scabbee! But today I drew scabby queen which meant I had to take 52 leatherings! Well I never. My left hand is officially dead! Every knuckle is skinless and there is some pretty significant bruising all around the knuckles. I hope it heals quickly.

Anyway, I have to take my dog for a walk in the rain, which will not be fun...

Take care peeps.

[Kinkerz]

Nailed the Organic Chemistry test with a nice round 95%. Finally, I've got my head properly round a section of Chemistry! I lost my marks when drawing out an anhydride and a rock hard isomerism question that nobody in the class got any marks on! Admittedly nobody else got over 75%, but still...

However, the practical that we did while the teacher marked our papers was not just any old practical. No no. It was a mock! A mock for the practical section of our coursework. I hate Chemistry coursework, it always seems so much more stressful than the others... So after the high of nailing the exam, it went straight back down to a low again as we're planning our experiment next week.

We're reacting phenylamine with ethanoic anhydride to form N-phenylethanamide and ethanoic acid. Then we have to separate the N-phenylethanamide from the mixture and test how pure the crystals are. So if anyone has any advice and/or has done this type of acylation for coursework, that would be super!

On a much brighter note, my exam results of 84% and 95% in the sub tests means I am averaging 89.5% in CHM4! Yes! Maybe this exam can make up for a dodgy piece of coursework. I just need to maintain this work effort through the rest of the syllabus, which is much harder than it sounds.
Biology theory seems to be going well. We had a lesson on Photosynthesis and the light dependant reactions on Monday and I picked it up really well. So Biology is looking like my best chance of an A out of all my subjects, although I hope for an A in Chemistry and a B in Psychology.

Hand is still very sore, and it did not help my practical skills today.

Anyway, I shall be off mon amis!

[Kinkerz]

It has not been a good day! I got under three hours sleep last night and was awoken at around 5:15am to find that the boiler was leaking and has caused all the ceiling and walls to get wet and the paint in the kitchen is all ruinned. So, there is no hot water and the kitchen needs a real re-vamp. The plumber came, took a look, fiddled around with a screwdriver and a piece of string (yes, string). Anyway, he tied the leak so we can now turn the water back on, however the boiler is broken so there will be no hot water! A gas engineer or something along those lines is coming tomorrow to take a look... God I hope he can do something quick time! Today was the first day I've ever been to school without a shower in the morgen. I unwind and wake up in the shower so I felt overly tired in Chemistry this morining.

Anyway, not a good day and most likely, not a good week. Urgh, cold showers...

[Kinkerz]

I have a whole new appreciation for gas men, and I'm not talking about anaesthatists (although I do have alot of repsect for them, they are the real deal!). The gas man has fixed the boiler today, which means that I don't have to go to my grandma's for a shower and wash my hair under the cold tap of the bath in the morning ever again (well, until the boiler breaks again obviously...). The relief is sublime!
The last two days without hot water have really opened my eyes to how much we, in the economically developed West rely on gas and electricity. It's phenomenal really. Infact, I think it's kind of pathetic how us Westernised humans can't even cope without hot water for ~48 hours (of course I'm generalising myself to the rest of the West here ), when people in countries/continents like Africa don't even have access to cold water! Now I think about it, it's genuinely shocking and I shall go to bed in disgrace... In a while.

Chemistry coursework begins tomorrow afternoon. We're supposed to be writing our plans (for an experiment we've never actually done or learned about. God I hate going to a shit school), although with the unpredictable teacher appearance/absence malarky, one has to be sceptical! Anyway, wish me luck. I shall be needing it.

[Kinkerz]

Biology teacher sprung a Biology test on us today to see how much we'd taken in. It was on inheritance, meiosis, variation, etc. She marked it in the second half of the lesson while we were making posters (yes. A2 students making posters) on meiosis for the wall of the classroom. I got an A. Woohoo! I'm very chuffed with that because I didn't know it was coming and therefore did no proper preparation for it and still managed an A. Admittedly I scraped it by 1%, but even so.
It seems getting these damn AABc grades might actually be possible! Just got to maintain this motivation and work ethic.

I am readdicted to them extra strong trebor mints. It's not good. My tongue hurts and I still can't stop. The only way I can manage to stop eating them is when my supply runs out! After this next packet I shall not buy any more... until Monday.

Oh, we didn't do our Chemistry plan on Thursday as we, as a class, protested. She might as well have asked us to drive to Edinburgh with no road signs or sat nav. Madness. Anyway, she gave us some sheets with information about the experiment and we did a "mock" of the practical that lesson. So we have to memorise our plans for Thursday and reproduce them under exam conditions. Not good.

My dad gets to choose a new company car, which is mildly exciting as he's got a larger fund this time. Off to the BMW and Audi garages tomorrow lunch time to take a look around with him. He wants a BMW blah di blah, whereas I want him to get an Audi A4 - I've explained that the Audi is a superior vehicle, it's just that this time he's got some real company money to play with, so secretly wants to choose a nice badge. We'll see tomorrow.

Still haven't sent off my UCAS form. I'm going to stop mentioning when it should be sent off now, because it never seems to go on the day I say it will. I spoke to the receptionist that deals with the UCAS forms today and she said that she'll make enquiries to why is hasn't been sent off, and told me to come find her on Monday. The deadline is this coming Wednesday, it's cutting it fine!

Anywho, back to remaking notes on photosynthesis, yes, on a Friday night. Commitment to Medicine, yeah it's a ball ache.

[Kinkerz]

It's my thousandth post! I feel it should reside in my blog for the rest of time.