The rule of thumb on my wordpress is that the less I write, the finer I am. I know! Dumb! But right now I am really fine, really fine, believe me. But it’s been too long, nearly three months, since my last post, and something doesn’t feel right. So let me tell you what I’ve been up to.
In April I submitted my last two pieces of written assignment. On May 7-8 I had my final, FINAL exam at university. At least in my undergraduate degree. It was the 24-hour ‘take home exam’ in Geography, Science, Civil Society (it’s the name of the subject). Since the morning of May 8th, I’ve been a free person. The first two weeks I was totally high on my freedom. Now the high’s subsided, but it still feels pretty good not to have anything hovering over me. I can now officially say that I’ve done my undergraduate degree, and though I won’t receive my final mark for another month (more or less – I do believe the board gathers around early July?), there’s nothing else I need to do and so I am done with my degree. I’ll soon be able to say that I’ve graduated from university, and really, this is all I ever really wanted in my life!
There’s another kind of high I’ve been getting for the last few (several?) weeks. As you might (or might not) know, my dissertation – which I submitted on April 1st, and about a week ago I got a mark for at the astounding 72% (which, to be fair, I’m very pleased with as many times I felt my dissertation wasn’t gonna get a first) – focused on issues of representation of human-environment relationships in the computer game The Sims 4. Oh, writing this dissertation was an adventure, and I doubt it would’ve been possible had I not moved home in November. With my PC at hand, I could really do the kind of research the topic required, which is playing the game itself and documenting its many outcomes and procedural layers.
But as much as I disliked playing The Sims 4 as recently as summer last year, over time I really took a liking to this game. I assign this to the fact that after you get a couple of expansion packs, the game actually becomes interesting and absorbing. You can tell a multitude of stories with the multitude of options you add (purchase). And you really get attached to the characters you create. I don’t see much difference between book or movie characters that you fall in love with and characters you play with in your game. It’s the same kind of bond – these characters might be fictional, but the emotional bonds you have with them are real, and become stronger the more you exist with them in the world of fictional events created in the medium. But in the game, they are dependent on you and you become dependent on them.
As much as I like building my own stories in The Sims, I am really in my spirit whenever the keyboard or pen is mine and I can write them down. So it was great to take to the keyboard today and provide you with this short update that by no means sums up everything I’ve been up to over the last three months. Let’s just say I spent some of May plotting and writing some sort of report that I wrote for the greater good, but it’s still waiting for its publication and having any sort of impact. Aside from that I’m negotiating between taking a brain break after 4 years of university and putting everything I’ve learned and trained in to use in my countless side projects. I suppose we’re always negotiating between something and so this is my negotiation for the time being.
Aight, I’ve got to wrap this up here because I have to go to class – oh yes! I enrolled in a driver’s license course and started it on Monday, two days ago. Today’s my third day of theory class. It’s incredibly dull, a guy talking about cars and lanes and speeding and overtaking and six hours of sitting on my butt until it’s numb. But I’m taking it because it’ll be useful in the long run. I’ve been planning to get my driver’s license for years and this might be my one shot, so yeah, I’ve gotta go.
Hope you’re doing well & cya next time
kotersey 