New Year's Eve 2010

My, how time flies. It's that time of year again. And I'm at home again, because I don't particularly fancy being crammed up against a million people in humid, oppressive 40-degree heat in the middle of a thunderstorm in the city.

I was going to do a comprehensive run-down of the year, but I can't be bothered. I'm going to do some weak attempt at a best/worst thing instead, with arbitrary categories.

FUNNEST MOMENT(S) OF THE YEAR: A toss-up between chilling and shooting the breeze with friends at uni and other places, and the roadtrip we had midyear. I think the friends thing wins slightly, mostly because I loved, and still do love, the vast majority of the people that I hung with during the year, and, percentage-wise, I love less of the people that were on the roadtrip. Also, the friends thing is more consistent. It's like a controlled drip-feed of happiness. The roadtrip was like a massive shot in the arm of happiness all at once.

MOST CRINGE-WORTHY MOMENT: There are lots. Especially for me personally. But a public one that struck a chord with me was Australia getting schooled by Germany at the World Cup. I have never, ever seen Australia playing that badly. It wasn't so much the lack of technical quality that made it bad, it was the lack of fight.

HAPPIEST MOMENT: Finding out that I'd passed EVERYTHING this semester. Yes, very nerdy, but after what I've sort of been through this year, I've found that being academically strong is more important to me than ever. I think it's mostly to do with the fact that how good I am academically is more or less under my control, while other things, like how people treat me, or the weather, or what soup we're having for dinner, is mostly out of my hands. Mostly. Sometimes I get to name the soup that we're having for dinner, and every so often my request is granted. But yeah, shout out to my family and Eugene for helping me through that horror period of the year.

Also, I fully expected to fail Financial Accounting. Again. So you can imagine how over the moon I was about it.

MOST DEPRESSING MOMENT: Again, there are numerous. I think I would just like to thank my friends for being there during the most trying times this year. Special mention to Banh, Meng, and sometimes Orrin. However, you've all been a massive help just being there. Just seeing a friendly face is a fantastic happiness drug.

MOST ANNOYING MOMENT(S): Being attacked by a Fandroid for getting and iPhone. And that other time I got attacked by a Fandroid via a forwarded SMS from another Fandroid. And that time I got gangbashed by Fandroids. How they can harbour such unrelenting, mindless hatred towards a harmless inanimate object that most neutral observers either like or are neutral towards is beyond me. According to these guys (yes, they're all guys. Kind of tells you a bit about Fandroids), Google invented the wheel, and other stuff that has subsequently changed the course of human history, and will continue to do so. All of it. In every single way possible. And that all other phones, and their owners, should be destroyed because of the sheer stupidity that they embody for giving their money to a company in exchange for a phone that works. Because Google isn't also a massively rich company that doesn't give their phones away.

Anyway. Lesson learnt. Don't mention the word 'phone' or 'Apple' around someone that even remotely looks like a Fandroid. Even if it's in the context of "My dad runs an apple farm, and I had to phone his seed supplier for him yesterday." You know, because when you're speaking, you can't tell whether it's a capital A or a lowercase a. Just don't do it to be safe. Unless you enjoy being ripped into randomly and viciously by people who were formerly minding their own business. Then by all means, go and find these people and mention the words 'phone' and 'apple' near them. And afterwards, check yourself into one of those places that will cure the disease that you have which makes you want to inflict pain on yourself. Whatever they're called.

A close second would have to be some of my friends sticking up for a scum of a person and saying how much of a "great guy" he was, even though he took about 2 months and numerous reminders to pay me my money back. Not to mention he never brought it up, effectively pretending that the matter did not exist. The excuse that the message "wasn't seen" doesn't cut it, because a decent human being would promptly search out their debtor and pay them back.

SONG/ALBUM OF THE YEAR: This is difficult. I get really, really confused between which music is this year, and which is not. However, the album that was truly fantastic was My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye. Truly powerful and catchy album. The others from artists that I like were mostly slight disappointments. I have no idea about song of the year. Not really that muchly into songs by themselves as such. Impact-wise, definitely OMG by Usher. Quality-wise, no.

BIGGEST (PLEASANT) SURPRISE OF THE YEAR: Being able to get along with most people during the year comes close, but it would probably have to be getting a car. Completely caught me by surprise, in a very good way. I would've said passing everything in second semester, but that's already been done.

BIGGEST (UNPLEASANT) SURPRISE OF THE YEAR: Not much unpleasantness comes as a surprise, which is a good thing most of the time. Anything that I mention will probably sound petty and whingy, so I'll stay away from it.

LESSON OF THE YEAR: Do not rely on the goodwill of others, especially in the case of people you do not know. Things that you take for granted, as being part and parcel of being a decent human being, are often not taken for granted at all by others. Only treat well people who have treated you nicely. Hopefully I can stick to it.

I would also like to thank my family, for just being there in general. It's tough imagining going to uni without my friends there, but to not have the support of my family would be unimaginable. Thank-you.

As for my friends, I have grown a lot closer to the good ones, and further away from the not-so-good ones, which is probably as it should be. While I have made less friends this year than in previous years, the ones I made this year seem to be of a higher quality. That's probably not all that hard, mostly because I made about two. Too much comfort zone, and not enough proactiveness. Thanks for putting up with me, and being there in the good times and the bad.

In summary, the year wasn't a bad one at all. I've heard lots of people complaining about it. Apart from failing Accounting first semester, and getting into grief with crazy girls, it's not been bad. There's been a lot of good times, more so than the bad, even though I complain a lot.

May your new year be filled with happiness, joy and laughter. While I hope that you have no unhappy moments, I will endeavour to be there for you whenever you do have those moments. I will also try to be there in your happy moments too. Have a safe and prosperous new year. Hope to see more of y'all next year.

I will try to heed the message of this song. Obscure though it may be.



Word of the Day: Year

Merry Christmas 2010

While this Christmas has been relatively uneventful compared to the last few, I reckon it's actually been good that we've been able to just enjoy some family time together. Would've been a lot better had Sarah not been in France, but that's just how the cookie crumbles sometimes.

I'm fairly disappointed that Kris Kringle didn't go ahead this year, but again, in many ways, it's not such a bad thing. Although I do like exchanging presents, but there's no real point to it if nobody's up for it.

I was tossing up whether to go to Boxing Day 'sales' tomorrow or not. I'm now leaning heavily towards the 'not', mainly because I don't really have all that much to buy, or all that much money to spend. And really, the 'sales' that most stores offer are either on one or two dodgy items, or they're sales you can find at any time of the year. Also, too many people. I have a mild phobia of crowds. A mild, mild phobia. And it's not irrational. I think it's an extremely rational fear.

Plus, it's either sales or working for dad tomorrow. I think I know where my loyalties lie. And possibly, if we smash out enough work tomorrow, I might be able to catch the Arsenal game on Tuesday. Not that that has anything to do with me wanting to work tomorrow or anything.

Anyway, Merry Christmas to you all. Hope you all had a fantastic day today, full of laughter, quality time with friends and family, and, most importantly of all, love.

Word of the Day: Phobia

If only life could just be one big dinner with friends

So, like, I've been partaking in a spot of Facebook stalking.

There's this friend of a friend. Through Facebook stalking, I have found out the following: She likes football. She likes about 90% of the music that I like. She speaks English. She lives in Melbourne. She's apparently married to somebody.

Seems like the perfect girl (except for that last part).

Problems:

1. She doesn't know who I am.
2. She probably wouldn't like me even if she did.
3. I don't know anything else about her. You know, stuff that could potentially make me not like her.

So, all in all, a pretty pointless ramble.

On to a ramble with a bit of focus now.

A couple of night's ago, I was at dinner with a bunch of friends, and I realised, as we were shooting the breeze at Pancake Parlour after dinner, how much I love...hanging with them (don't want to make it sound too soppy. Otherwise they'll start thinking that I love them. Or something.. Sitting around with a great bunch of friends, doing nothing in particular, talking about everything but nothing at the same time. I hope we can do it more often, and perhaps even after I graduate from uni. It keeps me going.

So let's just stay in the moment, smoke some weed, drink some wine
Reminisce, talk some shit, forever young is in your mind

May the best of your todays, be the the worst of your tomorrows.

Currently listening to: Young Forever by Jay-Z
Word of the Day: Stalking

I am great at metaphors, like Alexander the Great is great at being great.

I just realised that my 400th post passed without any real fanfare. This will be my 403rd post.

I guess it's suffice to say that this blog has been a great companion. It's kind of like a pet dog (minus the fur factor). I can talk to it, and it's non-judgemental. Well, mostly. But it's great.

You have no idea, if you don't do as I do, what a relief it is, to be able to sit here, at the end of a really, really terrible day, full of misery and frustration, and just be able to vent here. I think that's what it's mostly been over the last 100 or so posts. There have been ups, but I think most of it has been quite gloomy.

Here's to the next 100 being much brighter and cheerier.

On that note, a quote from Davy (which he probably stole off somebody):

If nothing's going right, turn left.

Fantastic stuff.

As sort-of promised in yesterday's post, here's another fantastic song, for all of you who love Coldplay, which I'm sure is most of you.



I'm not sure if I've posted this one, or remarked on it, but it's another truly amazing song off their first album. So dreamy, nostalgic, depressing and uplifting at the same time. Another special song, to remind you of those special times.

What do I see when I listen to it?

Well, the weather, in my mind's eye, is not unlike today. Frigid. Unseasonably frigid. I was wearing my leather jacket today, and it didn't feel hot at all. Outrageous. There are other elements to this picture, apart from the weather.

A curtain of rain, falling outside my living room window. Me, on a beanbag, by the fireplace, feet propped up on the dog, possibly with a warm drink in my hand, staring out said window. Thinking about everything, and nothing in particular.

I promise you this,
I'll always looks out
for you

Currently listening to: Sparks by Coldplay
Word of the Day: Said

Violent Hill

Absolutely ridiculous. It's mid-December, in Melbourne, and my feet are cold, and I'm sniffling. And I'm wearing a hoodie already. I was actually shivering before when I was taking the dog out to pee. This weather is not only unseasonable, it's highly unreasonable.

I had something interesting that I was going to blog about, but I've forgotten most of it. So I guess it'll just have to be this video for today.



The ending. A truly beautiful moment in music.

For some reason, I got all into Coldplay again yesterday. Just started humming it for no apparent reason.

Just for the record, I like their first album the best. The end of this song kind of reminds me of those good days.

I just had a brilliant thought as I was about to hit the post button. A more appropriate Coldplay song to be listening to right now would be 'Shiver'. Oh (cold)snap. I'll stop making lame frigid-temperature-related puns now, even though they're really cool. Oh dear.

Maybe more Coldplay to follow tomorrow. Or, *shock horror*, something that actually makes sense. Like that thing I was supposed to be blogging about in the first place.

Currently listening to: Violet Hill by Coldplay
Word of the Day: Shiver

Definitely Maybe

What a fantastic song. A true gem off his newest album.

And this one:



In both songs, I wish Nicki Minaj were not on them. Cringe-factor-wise, she's right up there with Pitbull in 'DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love' by Usher. I have no idea why people love her, but there you go. Another example of people having varied tastes.

Also, Rihanna's normally annoying voice works when it's featured in songs. Bizarre.

A smashing album, in case I haven't mentioned that already. Fantastically produced, and it kind of strikes me as '808s and Heartbreak' crossed with his old stuff. An excellent blend.

I also had a semi-epiphany today. I need more female friends. See, female friends are really, really good for conversing with. As in, when you need to talk about more complex things in life, often female friends are better suited to it. It's just that most of mine treat me like rubbish. So, here's the theory. Say, if the odds are for every ten girls that I befriend (I use the part-word 'friend' loosely here), 0.5 of them converse with me without me initiating the conversation, then eventually one of them is bound to turn out alright. Thus, the less I 'befriend', the less chance I have that one of them will actually talk to me regularly. Conversely, the opposite is also true (duh).

This kind of rule can be applied to almost all facets of life involving chance and probability.

The worst thing about all of that is, I think somebody's already gotten there before me. I think they called it the law of probability, or something.

I cannot believe that you just spent time reading that.

Word of the Day: Monster

No worries bro

As is often the case, I turn to football to take my mind off things.

Things that include, but are not limited to, why I sometimes feel so, so alone, even though there are people all around me, and hating myself for being too proud to do anything about it. See, I'm sick of me always asking people to go and do things. It'd be great, just for once, for people to ask me. In a weird, perverse way, it's like I desperately want their company, and they don't really give a stuff about whether I exist or not. So I guess I'm just going to just do stuff around the house, and maybe go somewhere by myself, at least until someone gives me a call. Or something.

See? This is what happens when you don't have work/uni to distract you.

Anyway. I was talking about football. Big game tomorrow, and at an awesome time of 7 a.m.

No, seriously. It is a good time. You have no idea if you're not a football fan. If you're lucky, games are at about 12 at night. More often than not, they're between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. In summary, 7 in the morning is a good time.

Back to the original point. Big, big game tomorrow. I feel like I'm signing up for self-torture by planning to watch it, but I can't help it. I have to watch it, on the off-chance that Arsenal do get a draw, or - this is outlandish, I know - a win at Old Trafford. Go Gooners!

Word of the Day: Perverse

Disney rhymes with fizz knee. Bizarre.

Watching Disney songs being performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra last night made me realise how much I love old Disney films.

They have this magical ability to transport you to faraway places and times, and make you feel as though you're actually there. Similar, in a way, to Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and Ranger's Apprentice. The world's that they create, even in their book form, are astoundingly immersive and real.

Also, the humour. Most of the sophisticated humour is beyond the target audience of Disney flims (hence the use of sophisticated as the adjective here). Well, I know I didn't get/wouldn't have gotten 90% of the humour found in Disney films at the age of 6 or 7. And it's great. It's actually genuinely funny most of the time.

One of my biggest regrets (for want of a better word) is not being able to see (or, at least, not remembering having seen) any of these old Disney films in cinemas. You know, like Lion King, Aladdin, etc.

I also realised that my favourite one is The Lion King. The score and the songs match the film and its setting like tailor-made suits fit...the person that they were intended for. Yeah. Good analogy. But truly, it's great. The music with a Western twist, mainly through the lyrics. Actually, now that I think about it, the only part of the music that's really non-African is the lyrics. Oh, and Can You Feel the Love Tonight. Very well done.

They just don't make them like that anymore. No more singing, minimal emphasis on music. Good stuff - music, films, games, art, people - don't happen as frequently as they used to, probably because most of it's been done before. It's just harder to come up with something original now.

Here. Reminisce. A toast to the good old days.



Word of the Day: Disney

Full size awesomeness.

Macbooks are awesome.

Provided you have money. They're a bit of a luxury good for me at the moment. I'm typing from my dad's new Macbook Air, and it's a dream machine. Small, compact, yet it feels solid. It's a beautiful machine, screen-wise and build-wise.

After using this, and my iPhone, I've come to realise that processor power blah blah blah means diddly squat. It's all about how the operating system utilised. Hence, this computer whizzes along. Start up time is like, ten seconds. No joke.

Battery life is excellent. But you probably know that already, since it's a Macbook.

It doesn't seem like an 11 inch notebook. Like, I've just forgotten how small it really is. Not only the screen size, but the keyboard as well. It's full size, which I've never seen on a netbook. The best I've seen on one of those toys is 90% full size. An annoying thing is the missing delete key, which makes the keyboard exactly the same as the wireless one that comes with the iMac.

Also, the fun factor. Two finger swipe, three finger swipe, etc. It's awesome fun.

Again, they've lived up to the mantra of people wanting to use their computers, not hating them.

Anyway, I'm supposed to be running down the battery on this thing for my dad, which is proving extremely difficult to do. It's twitched one per cent since about 15 minutes ago.

I was thinking of getting one, but a) they're a tad expensive for me, and b) I just ordered a new battery for my laptop. Oh, did I mention that I'm only considering getting one because the battery on Bumblebee died? Sad, but true.

Word of the Day: Mantra

Sad music is played when one is lonely

So I haven't done anything with my home dawgs since like...Sunday, and it seems like it's been ages already. The feeling of awesomeness that I had a few days ago feels like it's starting to dissolve a bit. I have stuff that I'm supposed to be doing, but I'd rather be hanging with my buddies.

I was just saying to a friend the other day (it might have been yesterday. As you probably might have noticed by now, when I say the other, it's because I don't actually remember the day precisely.), I wish I had a girlfriend that I could just sit around talking with for hours about nothing and everything. That'd be really, really cool. Also, unless I am very much mistaken, that's what a lot of people are looking for. Unless they're not of the talkative persuasion. Or they're girls.

Back to room cleaning. I feel like a bit of a house elf. Except it's my own room I'm cleaning. And I'm a teensy bit bigger than your average house elf.

Currently listening to: Forever and Always - Taylor Swift

Word of the Day: Elf

Teardrops on My Qatar

For some reason, Qatar has always sounded like 'guitar' to me. I'm sure it's not just me. It's just no-one else is brave enough to admit to thinking such stupid thoughts.

So yeah. About that Qatar.

Ridiculous. I wouldn't have been that peeved if some other more worthy nation got it. USA or something. Even Japan or Korea.

Apart from revenue and more convenient broadcasting times, I fail to see how Qatar has any advantage over Australia whatsoever. This is assuming that they will actually be able to successfully host the World Cup at all.

Which brings me to my next point. All the other nations, or at least the ones that I'm aware of, have hosted major sporting events. They already have facilities. They also don't have scorching heat, or lack of people and space. For revenue and broadcasting times to have an iota of relevance, the World Cup actually needs to function as an event.

To be honest, this whole voting process stinks. Who are these people, and who are they to decide where it's going to go? The votes are made blatantly without the interests of football as a whole. Even Australia, a nation who commentators have said are unable to be as dirty as other nations, bought pearl necklaces and other such things for officials' partners.

You've got a guy like Beckenbauer who, while he is a great guy, I believe is not exactly qualified to vote on things like these. It's not just him, but he's the most prominent voting member, apart from Sepp "female football players should wear more revealing kits" Blatter.

The problem is the whole process is open to corruption. You've got essentially random voting delegates, who are clearly not voting for the best interests of football, and a nation with almost limitless amounts of money and no defining advantage over the other nations, winning the right to host a World Cup. A little bit suspect, if you ask me.

Also, in English, the word 'Qatar' actually shouldn't exist. Lack of a 'u' and all that. I think that's reason enough to give it to someone else. It's still not too late.

More footballing stuff, to cap off what has been an unbelievable few days. To recap, I passed all my exams, went to the U2/Jay-Z gig, and my grandfather brought me back a brand new Arsenal jersey from Hong Kong. Arsenal being top of the league just seals it. What an amazing turnaround. Who would've predicted it, when we were millions of points behind Chelsea at one stage? Marvelous stuff, football. And Nasri is truly amazing. He reminds me of a ballet dancer. Except more masculine. Watch him here:

I love how he's making a habit of scoring goals from ridiculous angles. Or trying to score from ridiculous angles. I think it was against Sp*rs, where he tried it, but it got cleared off the line. But yes. He's becoming great.

The only downer is a slightly scratched my car yesterday while parking to have lunch with Victor and Meng in Glen Waverley. I still have no idea how it happened. I thought there was acres of space between the pole and my car, but apparently there wasn't, and I heard a sickening 'scraaaaaaaape'. But otherwise, the past few days have been some of the happiest few days in a row I have ever had. Thank-you to all who have been there, not only during these past few days, but the days before that, and before them as well, when I was struggling big time. Cheers.

Word of the Day: Qatar

I'm so happy to see U2 man!

I wish I'd seen someone at the concert last night that I hadn't see for a long time just so I could say that to them. Actually, I could've even said it to Orrin. But it's a moot point. I don't think I'd thought of it at the time.

That major disappointment aside, it was a fantastic gig. Two world-class acts, for fifty bucks. Value for money right there.

What gig, you may be asking? The U2 gig of course. The one opened the gates at 5:30, but didn't start until 7:30.

Jay-Z was the opening act. Jay-Z as the opening act I think speaks volumes by itself. Here's a clip:

In case my appreciation for Jay-Z has not been sufficiently communicated, I'll say it now: I have great appreciation for Jay-Z. He is amazing as a live performer as well. I reckon some of his songs sound better live.

Thankfully, no-one called him Jay Zed.

He rapped for about an hour, and the U2 decide to appear at 9:00.

U2 songs definitely, definitely sound better live. Much, much better. A lot of their songs, I listened to before going to the gig, and they sounded quite ordinary. But when it's all amped up, and loud, they're amazing. Also, the mass singing thing made me miss mass singing in high school, funnily enough. They were also amazing. I have a newfound appreciation for musicians. Or at least, this type of musician. Not only do they

have amazing musical ability, and write awesome songs, but they are able to take it up to the next level when performing. And to keep that energy up for however many concerts they do...spectacular.

All in all, a great way to celebrate passing exams. Australia not getting the World Cup marred an otherwise near-flawless day. I mean, I even bought a new pair of shoes. Here's another clip, by the way:

And a photo:

A story about this photo. Yes, I take photography far too seriously. But still, it irked me.

Anyway, the story. This awesome photo was the only good photo I took with the reject camera. What I did was, I put it on flash, which automatically reduces the exposure, because it tricks the camera into thinking there's now enough light, as opposed to before, where it thinks there is not enough light. Anyway, on the camera, it didn't look like it made that much difference, so I stopped doing it. And on the computer, it turned out to be one of the best photos I've ever taken. I really hate regretting things.

More about the World Cup bid fail tomorrow.

Word of the Day: Flawless.

Like a G6

I'm so stoked right now. It has been an amazing day. Australia winning the World Cup bid tonight/tomorrow morning would just absolutely make it.

I'm so stoked that I'm hoping this isn't a dream. We'll list things according to importance.

First up, I passed everything. I'm so unbelievably happy, mostly due to the fact that I thought I failed Accounting again for sure. But anyway, I passed, and I think I'm back on track. And I didn't have to disappoint my parents yet again. A big shout out to Eugene, who was there for me when the going got tough, more than happy to help me even though he must've been snowed under in study himself. A friend in need is a friend indeed. And Andrew does not forgot acts of kindness directed to him. He also speaks about himself in third person frequently.

Second. I had lunch with Irene, who I haven't seen in absolutely AGES. well, for like, a month. Which is a long time. Oh, and two friends-of a friend-of a friend Parisians were at the lunch too. Good times all around.

Best part was the train trip back. I miss train trips with friends. That was the best part of my day back in high school. Train trips after school with friends.

Anyway, we get off the train, head towards my car, and it starts absolutely bucketing down. This, while fun for a while, became not very fun quite quickly.

A quick recap of the weather. Rainy in the morning, eased up when I left the house, was scorchingly sunny when we got to the city and had lunch, became cloudy on the way back home, and started bucketing down while we were walking to the car. Which is where my story was.

I was absolutely drenched. I think the last time I was that drenched from rain was about two years ago, walking home from the tram stop for 20 minutes. I looked like I had swum to my car in my clothes. Irene, having good fortune as always, had to foresight to be wearing a big jacket.. The rain made her hair look amazing, whereas it made me look like a floundering...something. And she had the nerve to complain that she was soaked.

Anyway, the rain went nuts on the way to her house. Thankfully, it eased up when we got there, so I didn't have to take up space in her house and cause a disturbance sheltering from the rain. Would've been an interesting experience though. I've never been in there before.

I got home, dried myself off, and the sun came out about an hour later.

Third thing, Sarah finally called home from Paris. I got frowned upon (verbally) by the French dude on the other end of the line earlier in the day when I tried my French on him, so much so he decided to speak English to me, just so that I'd know that he'd identified me as phony phoreigner. Well done, Frenchman. But yeah, kind of thankful that I didn't have to go through that who rigmarole again.

And hopefully, a fourth thing, in a few hours, Australia getting the World Cup. That would be awesome on so many levels. As if give it to Qatar. Surely it's time Australia got a lucky break. And Arsenal won twice this week. Surely that's a sign of double the level of good luck.

Oh, and U2/Jay-Z concert tomorrow. Life is so good right now.

A song to sort of capture my mood at the moment (I've used Supersonic by Oasis too many times).

Word of the Day: Stoke