Lollipop Lollipop
27 June 2012
Well, what do you know? I've only just gone and completed my bachelor's degree! It's been a four-year journey, full of ups and downs (arguably many more downs than ups, but such is life). I haven't strictly completed university yet as the graduation ceremony isn't until 12th July, but my grades have been confirmed. I finished my final year with a 65.8% average mark which earned me an upper second class degree. I was a little disappointed at not being able to get a first class degree, I'll have to admit, but an upper second is still perfectly acceptable. I was very surprised and pleased with the 75% I got for my final year dissertation. I really didn't have any confidence in being able to write a decent dissertation at the beginning of the year. As daunting as it was, looking back on it now I might even say that I 'enjoyed' writing it. I might even go as far as saying that I wouldn't mind writing another one, hahaha!
With university done and dusted, I've now got to start contacting people in Japan about the possibility of going back to study there. I would really like to return to Yamaguchi University and do a master's degree there (or even another bachelor's degree) but that all depends of whether I can get funding for it. I'm not very keen on the idea of going to Japan to teach English (as many of my classmates have gone on to do) but I would consider taking that route if it was the only option available. In any case, I'm determined to get back to Japan as soon as possible. One thing is for sure - I can't imagine being stuck in the UK for the rest of my life.
With all the free time that I have now I've been playing lots of games, watching lots of Japanese variety shows and dramas, and enjoying the Euro 2012 championships and Wimbledon. In terms of games I've been playing a lot of Battlefield 3 recently. It can be a very frustrating game at times but it's undoubtedly very addictive. I'm looking forward to the upcoming expansion pack that centres of armoured warfare. I'm very fond of driving tanks in the game and I would love to see a lot more large-scale tank battles in the new DLC. Another game that I've been playing is Lollipop Chainsaw. I'd been looking forward to playing this game since it was announced. I really enjoyed Grasshopper Manufacture's previous game, Shadows of the Damned, so I was very interested in seeing how this latest release would turn out.
If I'm brutally honest, I would have to say that I'm a little disappointed with this game. Certainly, I like the presentation and concept of it, but there are just too many little annoying elements to the game-play and the audio that detract from the enjoyment. The combat can be a little frustrating, especially on the harder difficulties and the camera can be really awkward to control at times. Moreover, the English dubbing for the game is bloody awful. Full of really (and I mean REALLY) annoying voices that make you want to rip off your ears. I've no idea why they decided not to include the Japanese audio on the disc. I've had a listen to it on YouTube and it's so much better than the English dubbing.
All in all, it's a fairly enjoyable hack-and-slash game but because of the numerous little niggles I would have to rate it much lower than Shadows of the Damned. Verdict - 7/10.Posted byHocchan at 11:28 am 0 comments
Labels: Daily Life, Games, University
So Near And Yet So Far
07 May 2012
I've been meaning to write an update for a little while now but I've been too busy stressing out over my Japanese portfolio to actually find the energy to do it. I swear, the Japanese module this year has been so much more stressful than all of the other modules combined; including the dissertation! I don't know what it is but I've seemingly lost all confidence in Japanese. I don't feel like I've progressed very much at all this year, even though we've been studying some fairly high level material.
I guess it just seems like there's not been any sort of structure to the teaching. Apart from the few weeks of keigo practice we had, the lessons seem to be jumping about from topic to topic without giving us enough time to soak it all in. Plus I'm in effect taking seven modules worth of classes this year so the workload has been higher than before, meaning that I can't put as much energy into Japanese as I did in the first or second year. I've had to prioritise my other subjects since they're worth more marks in the overall scheme of things.
There are only a few weeks left to go now before I finish my undergraduate degree, but it still feels like I've got a small mountain of obstacles in front of me. I just hope I can somehow make it to the finishing line. After that I'm going to have to work out what my aims are for the next few years. I know I definitely want to go back to Japan for the long-term, but I've not figured out exactly how I'm going to achieve that. That's something I'll have to seriously think about in the next couple of months.
Posted byHocchan at 3:04 pm 0 comments
Labels: Daily Life, University
Procrastination
08 April 2012
I should be writing my dissertation right about now but I really can't motivate myself to do so. I've managed to write about 50% of it in the last week but the most difficult part still needs to be written. It's a lot more difficult than simply writing one of the usual essays you get for module assignments. Not so much because it requires a lot more words (though having to write 7,000 words on anything is tedious enough) but because it relies on so much primary source research. I don't think I'm going to be able to get a very good mark for this dissertation but I should be able to get a decent enough end product before the deadline. I just need to stop procrastinating and actually do some work on it. Kind of hard though when my tooth has decided to give me crippling toothache again...
So what have I been doing in the time I should have been writing my dissertation? Why doing something productive like taking over Japan in Total War: Shogun 2 of course! This game really does warp the normal flow of time. It's very easy to get completely absorbed in the campaign mode and before you know it, the sun has both set and risen again and you realise that you've been playing it for 12 hours straight. Not since my days on Final Fantasy XI have I spent so much time on a game without realising it. I remember playing the first game years ago but it wasn't anywhere quite as addictive as this one. I would highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys strategy games.
Posted byHocchan at 1:13 pm 0 comments
Labels: University
