Week 48- How many Leos does it take to change a lightbulb?

I was on my own for coaching on Monday morning, 11th June. We worked on passing square and straight and frees inside the 25. One of the senior players was very frustrating to deal with as he wasn’t taking things seriously but we got over it. I went to study with Harry in the physics building for a couple of hours before doing a food shop and then returning to study until late with Harry. I tried to print off some sheets for Marlene but made a mess of it the first-time round. Harry and I walked home in the rain.

Most of the week was spent studying for exams. On Tuesday the main excitements of the day were watching the window cleaners and walking around Albert park with Harry at lunch. I joined Harry for dinner too where we had gravy, mash potato, eggs and allegedly peas (Though they did not want to be cooked at all and remained very hard after hours of boiling) and also ice cream for dessert. After eating we enjoyed a game of Rumikub which I was told should be pronounced ‘lumikuub’. With Marlene gone to Great Barrier Island and Ulysse still on the South Island I was free to work from home on Wednesday morning. I had more needling done at the physio and went for my final vegan lunch which included a rather interesting ginger and apple cake. In the evening my team at St. Peter’s had their first Super City game against Kristin College which we won 2-1. I was absolutely delighted with how the game went and to get the win was a big success. This was my last time coaching the team and as a token of their gratitude I was presented with a school scarf and tie. I stopped by Harry’s on my way home, but he was not there. At home, I discovered that I was down to my final 8 potatoes from my original 15kg bag.

Early on Thursday morning I looked at some Iceland plans and then met Harry at the end of my road to go to our usual spot. In the afternoon I ran a joint training session with the u15 and the Senior Hockey teams so that the Senior team could practice some of their pressing. Back in the study room, Harry and I stayed studying until 23:00 but on our way home Harry promised me a joke to cheer me up ahead of my two exams the following day!

Friday was one of the toughest exam days I have experienced with two three-hour exams to contend with. My first exam was Mechanics of Solids and it went pretty well, especially considering they made a change to one of the questions with about 20min left to go! While I crammed the very last pieces of information into my head for my second exam, Harry sent me on his joke which goes as follows:

How many Leos does it take to change a light bulb?

2! One to go to the shop and come back saying that light bulbs are too expensive and the second to find a way to solder enough potatoes together to generate light!

My second exam was materials and it was much harder. The fact that I was only able to attend 50% of the lectures due to timetable clashes made it all the more difficult. The way the exams work in Auckland is that you have 10 minutes at the start of the exam to read the paper and you’re not allowed to write anything. At the start of my materials exam I was reading the paper with my pen in my mouth. Suddenly, from behind me, a hand comes and physically takes the pen out of my mouth. For some reason the invigilator thought that I might have been writing with my pen in my mouth and also that it was more appropriate to grab it from me rather than simply ask that I put it down. After the exam was finished I went home and sat on the sofa for 45 minutes doing absolutely nothing as I tried to recover. I rang home and made dinner before getting a very early night.

Considering the mental effort that Friday demanded I think I can be forgiven for the slower start to Saturday. When I did get going I went down to the physics department again and ran up 7 flights of stairs only to discover that the door was locked. Normally I had Harry with me to open it with his pass. I knocked on the door and thankfully one of the Geophysics students let me in. I had a stir-fry for lunch with Harry and we sat out on his porch to eat it and discussed how we felt the year away had been and how we had progressed as people. The two of us worked through the afternoon though I did go home to help Marlene eat the pumpkin she had cooked. In the evening I streamed Ireland beating Australia in the physics PhD room but with the late nature of the match we managed to get ourselves locked in the building and had to call security to come and let us out.

There was glorious winter sun on Sunday morning, so I sat outside reading my notes and deciding upon the difference between solids and liquids (from a mechanics point of view). Harry and I then spent the afternoon in a lecture theatre doing problems on the whiteboards there. I do love working through problems on whiteboards. Marlene and I went for dinner at an underground Japanese restaurant, aptly named ‘The Cave’ before getting dessert at a rather decadent spot on Aotea Square.