Diary of a Who Addict - Two Exams, One Haircut and the Return of the TV

FINALLY. After weeks and weeks of studying, I can finally relax - for a little while, at least - and get back to being a lazy sod. Had two more exams, one after the other: one on taxation, the other on financial performance. Naturally, it was the former that I was having the most difficult with, so much so that even trying to solely focus on that since the beginning of January, it was only the last two weeks before the exam that it really started to sink in, and even then, it was hard to take everything about it into account. I went from studying one hour a day to six hours, every day during the week before the exam. That usually never happens, but I really needed to make an effort with this one. By the day of the exam, it was the most confident I'd ever felt about it. That's not saying much, but I'd already accepted that, if I've failed it, I at least knew I had tried my best when it came to the studying. 

Did I do my best with the other exam? Honestly no, which is why I'm more worried about failing it, despite being a lot more comfortable with the material: formulas, statistical indicators, all the kind of things that came naturally to me back in top set high school maths class. Partly because I need to pass both and taxation was the one that I felt needed the extra effort for, but also because my familiarity with so much of the material of financial performance made it near-impossible for me to separate what I already knew with what I really needed to know. After doing a mock test though, it definitely helped identify the key areas I needed to study. After spending some more time studying, touching up on a couple of formulas and areas I hadn't been confidant on before like discount factoring and volume and capacity forumlas, I finally had the financial performance test today. I think I did pretty darn good on most of the formula stuff, it was just two MASSIVE questions that involved writing and interpreting about a few variances that I was least confidant about. I may write a lot, but I cannot write fast. I did the best that I can, but I was typing away at those questions right up until the clock ran out. Still, although I didn't study for it as hard as I did personal tax, thinking about it, I'm pretty confidant. The two writing questions were a small part compared to the numerical stuff, so I'm hoping I did well on most of that.

But even if I failed both, I can always retake the tests when it comes along. I'll be studying a bit of personal tax each week to keep it fresh in my head for the next 6 weeks (yes people, it takes 6 whole weeks for these exams to be marked), but overall, I'm pretty glad that most of the pressure is off, at least. Yes, there's still plenty more work to do, including a 4000 word report that I'll need to work on, but for the moment, I can finally sit down, relax, and put on some tv. Hell, I can finally finish my re-watch of the Lord of the Rings later on, which will be great to do. I've already finished season 12 of classic Who, which I'll get to in a moment. 

Now one more thing I've gotta mention that I also did today: HAIRCUT! Finally, after a few weeks of bushy mane that was starting to grow, I've finally gone back to a much shorter haired look with just a little bit of curly hair on top.

I like this look, I really do, and the fact that the 8th Doctor has recently been given that look is, I can assure you, entirely non-coincidental.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, I finally finished off season 12 of classic Who. What are my thoughts on it? Overall, I really enjoyed it, especially the middle 3 stories and the crew of this season. It's much better than seasons 10 and 11, at least. The first story was clearly made by the old production team and lacked a lot of the freshness that the three stories afterwards had, and the final story was a little cheesy and campy in parts, but overall it was a pretty good season.

Some quick ratings for the season:

Robot: Tom Baker's first story is, in my opinion, far from his best, as overall it's pretty cliched and, being the last story made by the departing production team, definitely lacking in originality in some places. But it's worth watching for seeing Tom Baker's first full appearance as the Doctor at least, especially the joy of seeing the Doctor being excited about a brand new body. 5/10

The Ark in Space: Holy shit, this is more like it: dark corridors, scary body horror, and a much more serious Doctor, this really kicks off the era of the new production team of Philip Hinchcliffe and Robert Holmes with a bang. 9/10

The Sontaran Experiment: very short, but overall, pretty sweet. I really enjoy how it still manages to squeeze in some moments of genuinely dark horror, as some of the "experiments" the Sontaran Styre performs on his human subjects are pure torture, such as leaving a man chained up and dying of dehydration after several days. Basic, but another good Sontaran story, I thought. 7/10

Genesis of the Daleks: I've said a lot about this story already in my previous entry, so all I'll say is this: this is one of my favourite Doctor Who stories of all time, easily in my top ten. If you get the chance, check it out. It's not perfect, but it is fantastic stuff. 10/10

Revenge of the Cybermen: honestly, this story feels like a step-down in not one but two ways, both as a story following on from the gritty darkness of Genesis and as a Cyberman story (the first since The Invasion, nearly six seasons before). The Cybermen lack any threat in this story (a real shocker, considering Cybermen co-creator Gerry Davis co-wrote it), and in both story and look, it seems cheaper than the stories surrounding it. Still, that's not to say it's not enjoyable as slightly campy, cheesy fun, at least. But it's definitely not one of the best we've seen this season. 6/10

Right, I'll probably start season 13 next week, if I can locate Terror of the Zygons online (which, shockingly enough, is one of the only stories of the entire Holmes/Hinchcliffe era that I haven't watched). For the moment, I need to catch up on all the Big Finish audio I've yet to listen to, including the second story of the team-up of the Sixth Doctor and Jago & Litefoot (who, as I've mentioned before, are two of my favourite characters ever). Before I head off, I will show you one last thing: the t-shirt that arrived in the post the other day:

Pulp Fiction/Doctor Who t-shirt! The moment I saw this, I could only think of one thing:

Sorry guys, couldn't resist! Anyway, that's my blogging done for the week. Laters, everyone!