Dominic's Diary

Not much to report this weekend - things are still pretty busy at school, with interviews and musicals! Those maths exams in January (Pure 3, Mech 3, Stats 3 and Pure 4) are creeping up uncomfortably quickly. Apart from that, time to start on a Franck violin sonata, and a Bach Partita. Life's wonderful.

Had an interview at Sussex yesterday - pretty cool place, but I reckon I'm headed for Oxford.

Another concert over on Tuesday (a nice bit of barbershop singing from the A-level music students) and I've been organising the production of a CD of the concert on the 12th. With any luck it should be ready in about two weeks max.

Other interesting things this week? Well rehearsals for the school production of Guys and Dolls have reached a frenzy. In fact the band (of which I am a member) has only played through about half of the music! The production is on
the 2nd to the 4th of December. Tickets available via Highgate School.

I have downloaded the lastest version of Opera, version 3.5, which supports Cascading Style Sheets and Java. I shall definitely be registering it. It costs only $18 for students, a 50% discount on the full price. Well worth considering. (This is not, as you might think, a contradiction of the 'Any Browser' policy displayed below - I'm just making a recommendation, and I shall strive to keep my site friendly for all browsers)

The exams went relatively well last week, but it really is impossible to tell whether you are answering the questions in the right way, according to the mark scheme. Section B of the Cosmology was more like Foundation Physics! We've now started our next module, electronics, which is a lot more fun than Cosmology - just a load of fun messing around with oscilloscopes, amplifiers and logic gates. I also entered the UK Senior Mathematical challenge

I've been trying out the Opera web browser today. Although it is a bit unreliable it is extremely fast when it does work. If you've got a slow computer like mine be sure to try it out, it'll speed up your browsing no end. Apart from messing around on the computer and revising I've been deciding what to do next on the violin. For my major performing at A level I have to learn 30 mins of Grade 8+ material for a recital and examination. That isn't including other performances during the two years which are also being assessed! It's certainly not a time to stop playing, even though I've just finished a piece.

More revision, and a lovely Further Physics exam (tomorrow afternoon) awaits me. Time to go.

I've finished applying my new style to the pages on this site, but I have a niggling feeling that I really ought to be using Cascading Style Sheets. At the moment I can't seem to get stuck into them. Does anyone know of a good introduction?

I've actually done some physics revision today, it's just that I can't remember doing it. I'll have to get around to making the chocolate chip cookies from the recipe in the revision notes. Hmm.

Some people really annoy me. You know who you are.

The Mendelssohn, I am pleased to report, went very well indeed. In fact at the time I thought it was absolutely stunning, though that opinion changed slightly when I listened to the recording today (Friday). Only slightly, mind you.

Apart from me there were some excellent performances, most notably a jazz trio consisting of George Fogel, David O'Brien, and Alex Norman. The concerto will probably appear on my realaudio page (as I said before) - so might the jazz trio, depending on whether they want it to be there.

The recording that was made used used a binaural sound technique which is a brilliant way of capturing true 3d sound with 2 channels of sound. Visit The Binaural Source for more information.

I am just uploading the Picos Report to the Physics web site. I recommend that you take a look.

Well, the Mendelssohn's a tough one, but I think I'm getting close to where I want to be. If I can keep my nerves out of the equation on the night, I should produce a good performance. I'm hoping that the orchestra, which is low on players because of Channing's desertion at the end of last term, will be passable. Then again, it means that there will be more professionals in the orchestra!

I probably won't write here again before next weekend (I don't have access to my computer during the week anyway) so that's all for now - I have to go and sing a Remembrance service at school now.

The last weekend before my performance of the 1st movement of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto at Highgate School on Thursday. When it's all over I will put a Realaudio file of the performance on the site. That is, when I have a moment between revising for Physics modules (Cosmology and Further) and preparing for Interviews, having applied to Oxford, Imperial, Durham, Nottingham and Sussex to read Physics.

I have just finished redesigning the house style for this web site, which you are now looking at. When I have time I shall put it into operation in the other pages of the site. All comments welcome. Also I am now doing some additions to the Highgate School Physics Department web site, which is leading the way as far as the school's web presence is concerned. Again, suggestions for improving and expanding that site are welcome.