Again, it made sense at the time

So, last night, I had a weird dream.

I jetted off to Russia, for some arbitrary reason. I ended up being in one building for the whole trip, answering music trivia questions. The questions were in English. In fact, so was everything else. The only thing that indicated that it was Russia was that I could see snow outside, which doesn't happen very often in good old Melbourne.

So yeah, I arrived in the morning (having left Melbourne that same morning). After spending the aforementioned few hours there, I left that evening and arrived in the afternoon of the same day (told you it was weird).

At Melbourne Central.

There, I saw Dr Dre. And I was all like, "OMG, it's Dr Dre!!!"

And then James Cheng appeared. And so did Andrew Chen, who was working at the cafe, the wall of which Dre was leaning on.

There is no underlying meaning to this dream. Or, at least, that's what I tell myself. It just seems to be an amalgamation of a few, seemingly fleeting, irrelevant, trivial thoughts that I don't even remember thinking. All in all, a pretty good dream to have. A good way to keep me occupied during my sleep.

Word of the Day: Amalgamation

My Bieber Brings All the Chumps to the Yard

It has come to my attention that every post this week has been about irony. This was not my intention. It's just how things panned out. Completely unintentional. Or is it fate?

...

Anyway, moving on to other other-worldly forces. For want of a better word, it can be called uncanniness. The bitter side of me calls this force a conspiracy against Andrew.

Last semester, I had a clash between two exams. It's a nightmare. They basically lock you up for the whole day, and throw one of your clashed exams to the slot where it wasn't originally, and on the same day. Can't talk to anyone, leave the place or use my phone during the whole ordeal.

It's happened again. And this time it's even worse. I have one exam on the 10th, and two clash exams on the 11th. I challenge you to find a worser timetable anywhere.

I've spoken to everybody I know. Nobody has even heard of a clash exam, apart from my case. The typical response the first time around was "What do you then?".

It's all French's fault. Both times, it's been French that's clashed it all.

Looking on the bright side of life, there are two positives from this.
1. The two clashed exams I had last semester were the ones that I exceeded my own expectations in by some way. Then again, I had a week to study for both after my first exam. And to be fair, it was Management and French. Management I wasn't expecting a HD, but a D I thought was achievable, due to my rather surprisingly high marks in my second essay, which I cobbled together in two nights, and the fact that most of the questions were given to us beforehand. With French, the exam was a lot easier than expected. I don't think I'll get such luck this time around.
2. I get about 7 weeks of holidays. But I would much rather a week less holidays, and a more reasonable and fair exam timetable.

In other news, I have observed that Justin Bieber acts as a sort of magnet for cool people. In hopped Orrin into my car at the taxi loop, so I could legitimately get into carpool spots. Off I drove, when lo and behold, Imesha and Davy jaywalked in front of us. On the other side of the road, Chen, Lily and Sam Ho were all chilling. And all the while Bieber was playing in the car. Put two and two together for yourself.

Word of the Day: Timetabling

A beach of a promise

Not even a day after my resolution not to do stupid things that could jeopardise my safety, and there I was, a couple of hours ago, jeopardising my safety with not a care in the world.

We (being Chen, Kylie, Rui, Kanji, Simon, and Hayley + extras) went to Frankston beach around midday today. Which wasn't safety-endangering in and of itself. It was actually quite nice.

It was the part where Hayley + extras bailed, and after us leftovers had eaten dinner, where I felt that hanging around Frankston at night was maybe not such a good idea.

Ok, maybe I was exaggerating a bit. I mean, it's not like Frankston is New York in the 60s or anything. Or like Footscray at midnight. Or like the toilets at Melbourne Central. And on the upside, we had Cold Rock. First time for me. A tad overpriced, I thought, but worth it for novelty value.

So yeah, Simmo, Kanji and I trained it back to our respective homes, with me imparting my limited, albeit first-hand experience of Guangzhou upon Simmo, prepping him up for his trip there. Talk about safety-endangering.

Word of the Day: Safety

Christmas 2009

A very Merry Christmas to you all.

I just realised that this has been a very peculiar Christmas period. This Christmas, I've received the least amount of presents since I can remember. And yet, it's also been one of the best Christmas periods I can remember.

The lead-in has been quite awesome, bar a few pangs of loneliness. Kris Kringle on the 17th, and Chen's party last night were a great way to catch up with friends just before today, and were a near-perfect buildup. And for the first time ever, I think I may be properly infatuated. This feels like a culmination of a year, but I'll save that for a more appropriate time.

Today was wonderful as well. After having a lunch of stir-fried Nissin noodles, the Huang family went on a trip to the Melbourne Aquarium and had afternoon tea in the city, then dinner with grandparents as well.

What has become apparent this year, and sort of maybe signals my somewhat maturing, is that friends and family mean so much more to me than 'getting' anything in particular. In fact, I've found that I've derived more joy from giving things to people, and I think I always have. That's not to say that I'm not grateful for the presents that I get. I love the fact that people care enough about me to get something special for me (guitar, and funny little keyring thing, from parents and sister.) It's amazing when you get something that you want/need/like and didn't ask for. I'm a big fan of presents that don't really do anything, but remind me of the person that gave them to me. Wearable things of this ilk take some beating.

But yes. I think I like seeing the smile I elicit from someone when I give them something they like or appreciate.

Family and good friends make this a special time, though. I believe that gifts, and even the giving of gifts, adds gloss to this time. It's like the icing sugar on the funny ninja star windmill pastry things that my mother makes (incidentally, if you haven't had one, let me know, and I'll hook you up. According to those that have had one, or several, or millions, they're quite good, and I think I agree with them). Presents are not essential, but it does give an otherwise great day a certain zing.

Hope you've had as much fun, and experienced as much joy and happiness as I have today.

Word of the Day: Christmas 2009

Chad's Stone

Retail therapy is so detrimental in so many ways, yet it provides so much lift for a short amount of time.

I'm serious. It can make you forget almost all your problems.

It's not like I went of a psycho, compulsive, uncontrolled, extremely money-draining splurge on all things branded. I just bought an on-sale pair of jeans from Mossimo. I don't even remember the last time I bought something for myself. I'm fairly sure that most of my money is spent on other people.

It's not something I mind. It's weird. Like, I don't mind spending a lot of money on somebody if they mean something to me, but I'm very loathe to spend money on myself. I'm fine with buying expensive jewelery for others. I like seeing the smile on their face, amongst other things. But myself, I usually wait for the sales, or shop around a bit.

I'm also quite a snob. I don't like buying just anything. It has to be good. That, mixed with an almost unqualified refusal to pay for overpriced goods, is generally not a good mix.

But yes. I bought a pair of jeans. And now I am quite happy. Hopefully this will carry me until Chen's shindig, which will carry me til past Christmas. Goodo.

Word of the Day: Retail

Banh-becue

Yes, Banh had a barbecue on Tuesday.

Yes, I'm blogging about it now because my Internet was fdjsak;rnekvn capped.

So here I am. With uncapped Internet.

Anyway, the BBQ was good fun. It's great to relax after surviving 77% of a very difficult semester, and to catch up with friends who I haven't seen for ages upon ages.

The program was basically eating, mucking around with a ball, eating, drinking, and eating some more. Way better in real life than it sounds in words.

Oh, and acting like five-year-olds on the play equipment.

Then acting like 6-year-olds with the flying fox.

Then, for added entertainment, you get two soccer balls.

And you try to hit the moving target! The moving, human target!

The mud slippage was only funny because it didn't happen to me. Embarrassing for those that it happened to, because the wet mud on the back of one's jeans looked somewhat suss.

The park was also quite nice. Very nice actually. I've actually been there before. I didn't know until I saw Lily in that Koala bouncy thing. I remember how I used to love that thing. And you don't have to pay to use the barbecues, which I found amazingly generous.

Videos and photos will be uploaded soon i.e. when I can be stuffed.

Word of the Day: Barbecue

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.