Positive Thinking Day/Programmer's Day
2005-09-13 @ 11:07 p.m.

I think the essays I wrote today were the best Economics essays I've written under examination conditions. Not to say that they were good, but just not as bad as usual. MSN Messenger is refusing to let me sign in! How annoying. Had good intentions to start studying for International History and English 'S', but my plan fell through when I went to sleep in the afternoon. Didn't do much good though, as I woke up feeling more tired than before. Flirted with the idea of studying a Berryman poem for 'S' Paper, since I bet you Mr Purvis has never heard of him before and I'm more likely to get away with saying weird stuff. Actually thought one of the poems could be analysed together with Hardy's He Resolves To Say No More, but we'll see how I feel about that in a saner mood. Ishiguro's The Unconsoled has a strange opening chapter, which features an impossibly long conversation taking place during a ride in a lift. I remember reading a comment on this narrative technique somewhere, from the same place that had an essay on Dan's 'S' Paper text in fact. Okay, have just found it again. Yes, it seems that The Unconsoled has an even more unreliable narrator than Ishiguro's previous three novels, which should make for an interesting way to while away the hours between bouts of (futilely) intense studying for Mr Kwok's half of the subject. I want to buy Coelho's The Alchemist. Will probably start from there and move through the rest of his writing. MSN Messenger still not working! I give up.