It’s strange to acknowledge that half of my time as an undergraduate university student has come to a close. 

Hey wait what the f-

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Welcome back to the most anticipated blog post of th- oh wait, no? Oh okay, my imaginary editing team is telling me that apparently nobody was thinking about this except for me, and I’m only writing it because I get pa- oh never mind, I am doing this for free, I guess. Fair enough. At least I get to write as informally as I wan- wait this is still my university blog, so maybe not. Sorry kids, no brainrot today, I would like to be employed when I graduate…

Speaking of graduation… we’re halfway there!? Living on a prayer but I have no idea how we got here, I feel like no time has passed at all. Going back and reading A Recap of my First Semester in UCC is already making me feel nostalgic. And yet, I still feel like I have gotten a decade older since then. Alas, It has only been two years, so if you do the calculations (carry the 1, use De Moivre’s Theorem, etc), I am only around two years older. That’s just the kind of high-level mathematics you get here in the Digital Humanities.

We had a bunch of fun modules this time around. “Fun” meaning interesting, because God knows some of the course material this time around was EVIL. Not really, but I like being dramatic. Of course, my favourite module Data Analytics continued to be incredibly fun and engaging. I enjoyed making those graphs more than anything I did this year, it was challenging but so rewarding, and there was personal investment involved from being able to use the datasets we wanted to investigate.

Multimedia had some fun assignments, mainly because I didn’t really have to think about the difficulty of the tasks and was more interested in being as funny and creative as possible. This was mainly because image and video editing is something I already have over a decade of experience in from my non-existent YouTube channel which definitely does not exist…

Violence and War was… something. Having a 9am class that was just an hour on the theory and history of torture was definitely brain altering. Somehow, still more fun than a Web Systems class, though. Yeah, I said it, no propaganda on this blog, I did NOT enjoy that class. I liked making the chatbot though!

My first Tools and Methods II assignment had me studying galaxies and black holes, which was so cool. The second one could have been an assignment for Philosophy because playing that many Chess games could be considered torture. Both the galaxy assignment and the Chess one can be read by following the links.

I am hoping that I did well enough in everything. A 1.1 overall again would be nice, especially for attracting those lovely tech companies for placement next year… but let’s be real, Tim Cook is not reading this, unless…? Well, as long as it’s not Elon!

WARPCON XXXV (that says 35 for any non-Romans reading) was an amazing experience. WARPCON is an annual convention that takes place on campus and has fun TTRPG and board gaming events. I was the Merchandise Officer for this year, meaning I took care of all the con merch that was to be sold to attendees. Aside from one or two hiccups, I think I did alright? I had so much fun selling stuff on the weekend and talking to strangers; apparently I am good at making money.

Meeting No Rolls Barred (popular UK YouTubers) was also very cool, I’m just surprised they didn’t ask for an autograph…

I have been working at UCC Staff IT since October now, and I am quite the fan of the job. It’s nice to be able to work on campus. I can work an hour, go to class, then come back to work all in one day. Also, my co-workers are all lovely people, which helps!

No balls or big events this semester either, the Cultural Ball was cancelled (don’t think I got my money back for that but oh well!). It has been fairly quiet, and therefore peaceful, thankfully. A lot of nature walks and close-knit hangouts, which are my specialties.

Honestly, this semester feels so different from the last, it feels like two distinct lifetimes. More than that, I was a different person in January than I was in February than I was in March that- you get the idea. My hair is brown now, for God’s sake. But it’s still me, no matter what. Which is great! I like being me, wouldn’t change it for the world, to be honest. All things considered, it has been an amazing semester. Especially the fits. @murt_ahmed2k17 on insta for proof.

But listen, enough waffling about how great I am and how much of a good time I’ve had. Let’s get serious now…

You know the rules (“and so do I~”), 5 songs – no more, no less – describing or carrying the semester.

This playlist was the hardest to make so far. Many good candidates, but alas, the rules are there for the readers, so ye don’t have to listen to an hour long playlist! Regardless, some damn good music from this half of the year.

“My hopes are that I gain as much in terms of life experience and wisdom as I do for academia and intellectual development.”

Me, A Recap of my First Semester in UCC

Yeah not going to lie semester 1 Murtaza, we are “up rn”. I am still simultaneously the smartest and yet dumbest man you know. I am just richer now! It is hard to encapsulate this semester with just one quote, but here’s what I have:

There is good and bad in all things. We find what we expect to find. We see what we expect to see. I have learned that if I tilt my head just right and squint, the world outside is beautiful. The future is bright. There are good things to come.

– Hugh Howey, Dust

As always, free Palestine, free Sudan, and free Congo. The struggles that I had this year are nothing compared to our fellow humans across the globe. I hope the four of you who read this enjoyed it. To be honest, it’s a lot more casual than my previous recaps. I have decided to write how I want! This is my hand, my laptop, my blog, my social media. I can be as obnoxious and fascinating as I please. I might even share this on Instagram or LinkedIn, in which case, I have two replies: “yo”, and “Hi, nice to meet you. Please find my qualifications below.” The latter is for insta, obviously…

Until next time!