The Fluff is Still Floating

In keeping with my habit of posting on the eve of exam periods, here's my latest rant just days before my sixth set of university exams.

It's very hard to believe that I've now been in Canberra for three years. As much of a cliche as it sounds, it feels like just yesterday that I got here. Not much about me personally has changed, while at the same time, a lot has changed. For instance, I've had two girlfriends in that time. Minor stat maybe, but I learned a lot. For another thing, I got addicted to coffee and health cereal. Now I can't start a day properly without caffeine.

So, about the exams. I've got four in seven days:
Thursday 1 November - Corporate Valuation
Saturday 3 November - European Business
Monday 5 November - International Financial Management
Thursday 8 November - Credibility Theory
So that's Finance, followed by International Business, Finance again, and ending with Statistics. I've got mixed thoughts about my last exam being the toughest. Most obviously, it gives me the most time to study. Also obviously, it gives me the most time to freak out about it.

But most unnaturally, I actually began studying for these exams more than a week before the first one. This is a marked departure from past form, and a welcome one. It's about time I started learning from past mistakes.

There's an interesting theory floating (pun intended - you'll see why in a minute) around ANU about second semester exam study. Exams always begin around early November, but a couple of weeks before, the trees start giving off fluff. Don't ask me for what type of tree it is, all I can say is the stuff coming off it is best described as 'fluff'. Anyway, the theory is: if you start exam revision when the fluff starts floating down, you're doing well. If you start exam revision when the fluff stops (which is about two weeks after it starts), you're screwed. So I'm going to take this theory as a good indication that I'm on-time with my study, since the fluff is currently still falling.

I'm looking forward to returning to Perth for the holidays. On the cards are a trip to Singapore, a part-time job, and a new iPod. I've had a Mini for 3 years and the battery's been worn down from 8 hours to 5, so I'd say it's about time.

Seems like a lot of things are "about time" in this post. I've come to realise that's what life is like in this time-poor society: we get so caught up in the present that realisations about where we are, and where we should be going, come so suddenly and take us by surprise so much that we're knocked off our feet every time. Wonder what's doing this to us. The evils of capitalism? Reality television? Lindsay Lohan's latest rehab gig? (And yes, that was a dig at our obsession with celebrity life, which I myself am not immune to.)

But before we get too judgemental about how vaucous our lives have become, let's not ignore how the world has changed for the better. Two quotes about 'peace' have always stuck with me:
1. "Peace" is just a silent period where the world stands around reloading.
2. For a world never at peace, it's never been more in demand.
I've heard about a movement known as the 'Micah Challenge' whose mission is to reduce poverty by half - and yes, that's world poverty - by the year 2015. They started in 2000, and at this halfway point, they're about 40% of the way toward reaching their goal. It's good to know such belief in the human spirit is still possible.

But you have to wonder about all the 'fluff' that we in Western, first-world countries get overwhelmed with. Are we losing track in the fundamentals of humanity? Do we even know what those fundamentals are anymore?