Joy

What an explosive three weeks it has been. Huge. Absolutely epic. Let me take you back to the start of this horror three week period.

I had a three thousand word essay due, a macro mid-sem test, and an International Studies presentation to set up, and prepare for my clarinet exam. All in the one week. So basically, I stayed up until 1 o'clock every night from Sunday through to Tuesday night piecing together what should have been a very straightforward essay for biz law. The reason why it was unneccesarily complicated was because my partner was supposed to have written half. It turns out that not only did she not contribute any opinions, she also was unable to do her half because she had a mid-sem test, which the rest of us do not have. And the strange thing is, I still cannot figure out what she's busy doing, since Victor has informed me that she doesn't do her Accounting homework either. The macro mid-sem went surprisingly well, given that I hardly did any study. I ended up getting 28/40, which I thought was alright, because it makes up 20%, so it's really 14/20. That sounds much better. International studies presentation preparation was just that, except lacking the preparation. I thought I was bad, because I'd only done the speech and not the powerpoint slides like we had agreed on. End result was I was ahead of the whole group because I had done my speech, and they hadn't done anything. Not surprisingly, I completely screwed up my clarinet exam on Saturday, seeing as I hadn't practiced for pretty much the whole week, and owing to the fact that I'm a dud.

Week 2 was a blast. Tuesday was my International Studies presentation. I think I might have dragged the whole team down, because I take my speeches too casually. However, I think I may have dominated the individual mark, because I answered about 95% of the questions directed at us with my trademark witty/cutting/sarcastic/not funny humour, mixed in with some real information and puffery. And one of my group members, Steph, informed me that someone gave me a 10 out of 10 for individual effort, so I hope that's the average mark they all give me. Which brings me to one of the good points of group assignments: making new friends, like aforementioned group member. In that same tute, I also got my last essay back with an A written on the back. Naturally, I was stoked. Until I read the name up the top of the marking sheet. It said Joanna. I almost died of disappointment, because I knew my name wasn't Joanna. I informed my tutor, who told me that I got 'approximately' the same mark as Joanna. Whoever she is. Later, she emailed me (the tutor, that is) and told me I got B++. Which is not the same as A, whatever she might say. B++, in case you're wondering, because I have no idea why they use A's and B's, is 75 - 79.

After those two action-packed weeks, I thought I was going to get some respite. But, as with most bad things in life, work never ends. I now have two assignments due next week. And to compound my misery, I found out that next week is in fact not the last week of term, and that everyone had been misleading me when they told me we had two weeks of break. The week after the essays, I have another macro test. The joys that life brings.

Word of the day: Disappoinment

The Holidays that Never Were

It's not like I never had a holiday. Quite the opposite. It's just that I seemed to have omitted them in my posting, and now my life is out of chronological order. I'm sure you'll get over it. I'm sure I will. Eventually.

I think I forgot about them because they weren't really that eventful. It doesn't mean they were boring. Just not very exciting. Basically went out with various people doing various things. All very fun and amusing. But there was always something I felt that was missing. Element of my existence, even amongst all that happiness of catching up with old buds.

On this theme of reunions, I saw Si-Yuan at the bus stoppo today. It's weird. I go to uni with these guys, but I hardly ever see them. Maybe I just don't make the effort.

Closing Ceremony last night. I think I started falling asleep halfway through. Really, it wasn't that exciting. I was slightly awake when Leona Lewis came out, then fell asleep halfway through the song. Very good games. Not from the point of view of an Australian, but a neutral spectator.

I read in the paper today that they spent billions of dollars on the Games. Or a billion. I can't remember. Exorbitant, that's all I remember. I still maintain that could have spent at least half of that on something more tangible.

I have so much stuff to get through this week, I don't even know why I'm blogging. It seemed like a good thing to do at the time. Like that TKD guy said before kicking the ref.

Word of the day: Olympics

Deja Vu

A new semester, but, in a sense, more or less like the one before. The more astute of you will pick up on the delay between the start of semester and this post, but in case you haven't, there it is: this post is late. Again. Which fits in nicely with this repetition theme I have going on here. Repetition theme.

Anyway, about Batman first. So yeah. I saw Batman with the Victor on...some Friday, can't remember which. I was really hyped up for it, because other people were. So anyway, we went in and came back out. To be honest, it didn't really live up to my (ridiculously high) expectations. I really expected to be fully blown out of the water. But I guess the premise already determined that Batman couldn't be better than The Godfather. It's a sequel for one. And it's constrained by the fact that it has to be about this guy, with certain characteristics and features. And then there's the fact that it's based on a comic book. Don't get me wrong, though. It was a great movie. Just not the best of all time, in my opinion. Hell, stuff the my opinion. Everything here is my opinion. Obviously not yours. Anyway, Heath Ledger was awesome, because I surmise that he's already half-gone by that stage in his life. Worth going to.

Then there was this business of the Olympic Games. I watched the Opening Ceremony at 8:08pm, on the 08/08/2008. It was amazing. The Australian team uniform was a huge letdown. Huge. So ugly. Like some cheap tracksuit 10 years out of style. And even they don't have pants that are the same colour as the jacket. Even amongst all the fanfare and hoo-hah, you can't help but wonder what all that money could've done for education and the medical system. Such is the conundrum of China.

Some highlights (or otherwise) so far:
- Phelps winning his eighth. However, I still believe that that does not make him the greatest Olympian of all time, due to the comparative ease with which multiple medals can be obtained in swimming. In swimming, if you can last the distance, all you basically have to do is change your stroke for different events. However, in something like 100 metre sprint, you can't also go for the 1500m as well. It doesn't work like that. An even more extreme example is sports like football or basketball, where there is only the possibility of getting one per Olympics. So no, he's not the greatest. It's just that other athletes are limited by practical complications.
- Usain Bolt winning 100m sprint. Even though I didn't watch it, I heard all about it and the exquisite ease with which he won gold.
- Nadal. Pure perfection and power. Awesome display in destroying Gonza. He's improved out of sight since the Australian Open.
- Lowlight was Grant Hackett. I watched the live as well.
- On the subject of lowlights, Olyroos. Enough said.
- Phelps and his iPod was another lowlight.
- Lowlight no. 4: Asafa who?

At this very moment, I'm watching Argentina vs Brazil. They have Messi. Game over. Unless Brazil put Pato on.

I love the smell of the new football season. New players, new teams, new spirit. And Arsenal have three points from their first game, with Nasri scoring the first goal of the season on four minutes. Good team, that Arsenal.

So back to this semester of uni. I thank the friends that still remain by my side, because a lot have not. You know who you are. I can't really blame them. I mean, it's me. I think it's something inherently "me" that turns people off me. I just get these looks from certain camps, and friends are hard to make. People just aren't interested in talking to me. Maybe I should improve me as a person. Or get plastic surgery. Or something of the sort. Whatever. At least I've met a few new people, who still do not seem interested in sustaining a conversation with me, bar a couple. Maybe my humour's to dry. That could be it. Maybe I should smile to take the bite off my humour. Maybe I should stop speculating about what's wrong with me, because I'll probably never find out.

Assignments coming on thick and fast now, mid-sem test soon, stressed-out people. Deja Vu. Again.

Euro 08 Final

And the winner is Spain!

Not that it was entirely unexpected. It leaves me with a disappointed feeling that if I had bet on Spain, I would've won money. But I also know that if I had actually bet on them, they would've lost, so it's all the same in the end.

Enough about my luck (or lack thereof). On about the final.

It was a good final, but I was expecting a scoreline in the vicinity of 3-2 in Spain's favour. Turns out the Germans struggle to get a flowing attacking move together at all, and a moment of pace and brilliance from Torres (the boy has exquisite touch) was enough to separate the two teams with a 1-0 scoreline. Here's the goal:



I was pretty happy about Fabregas getting a run, but not happy about him getting subbed off on 60 minutes. But coaches make strange decisions that us mere mortals cannot comprehend.

Word of the day: Spain

Post-exams...again

It's a sobering thought, but this "post-exam period" will be the first of many. In many ways, these exams actually matter more than the one's during high school, save the VCE ones.

I could leave it at that, and say that I've updated due to popular demand, but I'm a nice guy, so I'll write some more.

During this after-exam period, I have been gravitating between sitting around at home playing brainless games (The Sims Unleashed, hell yeah) and going out and spending too much money.

Just on that money business, I visited Crown Casino last Friday for a quick liaison with Lady Luck. This was my first time, as you can tell by my making it a blog post. As you (hopefully) know, Lady Luck is unbeatable at casinos, especially on pokies. I really didn't want to, but I blew a massive fifteen bucks on pokies. My original plan was to spend $50 in $10 increments on blackjack, but the lowest bid was 50. So I played pokies. Even though I knew I had no chance of winning. After blowing all of 15 bucks, the 15 dollar blackjack tables opened. I'm a dapper hand at blackjack, so I though I'd take the dealer on. I laid down 15 bucks. I think I got like a 17 or something. The dealer went bust. Then mum was like "Let's scram!" The dealer pretty much cracked up. I was gonna go another one, purely because luck was with me, but mum said just keep the luck and you'll be fine.

Euro 08. It's been pretty bad for my fantasy team so far. I doubt it'll get much better. Big names underperforming, idiot managers screwing around, and random teams winning. It hasn't been pretty. I'm supporting Spain, by the way, and have done for the whole tournament. In between raging about why the Spanish coach isn't playing Fabregas and wondering why on Earth Italy can't defend and why the hell Cronaldo and Torres don't score, I managed to watch one game. The Netherlands vs France. Although it wasn't really a game to remember (unlike Arsenal vs Liverpool, second leg of Champions League), I witnessed the perfection of Dutchness. They're a great team. It's a shame they got knocked out. I would have loved to watch Spain vs Holland for the finals.

In other football news, it turns out that the Arsenal jersey IS the one that it was rumoured to be. Now I'll have to get it. Stupid Nike. I figured out why they don't care about what they release. Because they know idiots like me will get it regardless.

I'm looking for a new job, by the way. This one's giving me the irrates. A lot of work for very little return. Give us a heads up if you've got anything to recommend. No-one seems to want to hire my services, and I understand that. It's me.

Word of the day: Hola

Champions League Final 2008

It was a dark and stormy night.

At least it was in Moscow, where the 2008 Champions League Final was to be played.

Well it wasn't that dark and stormy, but it did start raining in the middle of the match.

And what a match it was. The best player from each of the sides (Man Utd and Chelsea) scored to effectively cancel each other out. Header from Cronaldo, then a way-too-easy goal for Lampard.

In all fairness, Chelsea should have won it, even though I hate them. They were the better team. But football doesn't work that way. If you win, you win.

The reason I say Chelsea should have won was because, out of nowhere, Drogba pulls off a rocket from 20 metres out and hits the post. Then Lampard does pretty much the same thing in extra time.

Drogba got sent off for slapping Vidic. That was pretty anti-climatic. Then penalties.

There must be a better way to decide who wins a tied game. Surely. I can't think of a better way, but someone, somewhere in the world should be able to. Something that tests skill, teamwork, creativity, endurance and heart, rather than a spin of the wheel of luck.

What happened during the penalty shootout was both ironic and unfair. Cronaldo, 42 goals for the season, almost never misses a penalty, decides to unleash the tool within on the third Man Utd penalty. He tries to fake the keeper, who, after watching him jig around for about five minutes, knows he's going to go right, because he can't possibly hit it left. So he saves. And Cronaldo falls to the ground, crying. Then on the fifth Chelsea penalty, el Capitano dos Chelsea, John Terry, takes the penalty for the win. Except he slips. And the ball goes out off the right post. John Terry, who tries his heart out every game for Chelsea, misses the penalty that would have given Chelsea they're first ever Champions League trophy.


Sorry, this is a bit of a delayed post. I kind of forgot about it, then remembered about it today. I'm sure you've all been hanging out for it. Enjoy.

Stuff

Yeah, stuff happens at uni. Uni's like a catalyst for random happenings. Take, for instance, the following incident.

So me and Chen were on the bus, enjoying ourselves, having a good time. Or, a good a time as you can have taking a bus to uni. So yeah, we were happy. Or at least I was. Then we got to uni, and got off the bus. What happened next was weird. This then-unknown girl got off the bus as well and asked us for our numbers. Chen and I, being the obliging fellows that we are, said yes. Upon reflection, we're too nice to people. So after grabbing our numbers, she asks us for our names. Andrew x 2. That'd be alright. Except now that she's armed with our numbers, we get a call on our phones at about 11 the next week. So I ignored it (as you do). And all was well.

Then last week, somebody with the initials JC who does law-commerce and shall remain unnamed, stole my phone and messaged her. And now all hell will break loose because of that one message. Just because of that one message, I'm forever in fear of her (name's Jing, by the way) finding me. Sleepless nights from fear of my phone going off. I hope your conscience eats at you, JC.

In other news, I've supposedly seen the new Arsenal Jersey. It's supposed to look like this:


I don't like it. I like the old one more. I don't know who the hell designs these things or if they have a brain. I hope it's fake.