Amara Emerson

It's the 14th of August and this morning I went with friends to college to pick up our final A Level results. After two years I got:

• Computing - A
• Mathematics - A
• Physics - A

and also an A in General Studies as well.

Very pleased since I got into Manchester University to study computer science for a masters degree. Off for celebrations tonight. :)

Yesterday I had my last day of college before we broke up for study leave. I only have 7 exams, one of which is a resit for a module that I have an A in, and the other is an optional exam that I got put in for that won't affect my A Levels at all.

Tonight's also the night of the leaver's ball at the Reebok stadium, will now have to get ready. Bye!

We had a lot of snow last year at an unexpected time, around the March period. I went out with two friends to enjoy it while it lasted. In England we get cold, wet weather yet hardly ever get the "good stuff". Well it's now the second year in a row we've got snow in the spring period and it's pretty much awesome.

Climate change? Who cares what's causing it, it's a break from the norm. The south of England has apparently been getting a lot of snow, and just watching a football match earlier it was snowing heavily down in Middlesbrough.

Up north it's been more scarce, though in Newcastle there's apparently been a heavily snow fall, but the north west has been largely left out. Just about an hour ago though we started having snow here as well, but the temperature seems a bit too warm for the snow to stick around.

Hopefully we get a foot worth of snow overnight, here's hoping.

Edit: turns out the snow was just a one night thing in some places. Utterly disappointing.

It's been pretty hectic over the last month, as I've been visiting universities and trying to make my mind up on where I want to spend the next 3/4/5 years.

I got interviews at York, Manchester and Durham for Computer Science and slight variations. I also got a straight offer from Leicester, but I wasn't planning on going there anyway. Warwick was another choice, but since they wanted a copy of my passport and I couldn't be bothered sending them, and also going down there I just cancelled my Warwick application via UCAS.

The first interview was with York, and it went pretty well. The campus is nice, a little remote since it's in York but still has good student services, and sports facilities were decent too. The department itself was pretty comprehensive and there's a strong focus on research there.

Here I have a few links to some people who have contributed to the IT community. You may find their services useful.

Matthew Brunt - Web and graphic designer guy. He's currently at De Montfort University studying internet computing and is skilled at creating absurdly good, clean graphic designs. I have used a few of his works in the past, and would recommend him to anyone.

Anti-Trend - Linux system administrator and overall knowledgeable guy. An ex-Windows NT admin, he switched to Linux some years ago and has much experience with all things IT/Linux.

Here at amara-emerson.com all the staff would like to wish you a happy Christmas and a happy New Year!