Le Horse

Apologies for last night. Andrew was in quite a bad mood. Bad mood real life Andrew = bad mood blogging Andrew. Yes, I do occasionally feel emotion. There's your revelation for the day.

Today, my mother won 500-odd dollars on the Cup. She boxed three correct horses and put 10 buck on them. For those of you that don't understand horsing parlance (don't worry, I only re-learned it today), it's like a trifecta, but the horsies can come in any order. If that's still confusing, you should probably stick with your chosen profession, and not take up horse-race-betting as a career any time soon, and just be happy in the knowledge that my mother won bucketloads (relatively).

She's quite lucky on Cup Day. She never gambles apart from then. She won 90 bucks at the slot machines last Cup Day, and she only put in about 10 bucks as well.

As for me, I won approximately 10 bucks or something. As in, I put in 45, and got back about 10 dollars. And that was already well done by me. Stupid So You Think decided to be a dud, so I only won minimal amounts. My mother couldn't even be bothered counting. She just threw me fifty. Cheers.

I knew I should've put money on the French horse.

I'll leave you with the song that I'm currently listening to. A Hawaiian masterpiece.

Oh, and this one. Sort of French-ish, which kind of relates to the horse. His name is Americain, by the way.

Very soothing music all around.

Word of the Day: Boxed

Guys 3:0 Man City

There is something incredibly beautiful about girls wearing football (soccer) jerseys.

I can't place what it is. I mean, if you go by fashion conventions, it's a big no-no. They have no shape. Also, it's menswear.

And yet, it looks incredibly good on most girls.

I mention this because the Arsenal jerseys were out in force today. And I saw a girl wearing one in the Matheson Library. Apart from Arsenal recording a thumping victory this morning, this also made me wish that I had worn my Arsenal top.

It was a good win. To get a win at Man City, with all the money they've poured in, minus our two first-choice centre-backs, and best striker, is no mean feat. Haven't been this happy about the team in a while. Also, Fabregas is back (!). But w

hat was most pleasing was the performance of Fabianski. No screw-ups, and some decent saves. Hopefully he continues like this.

It's a shame I couldn't replicate this form in my French oral, despite having a cram session with Zara in the morning.

For some peculiar reason, I speak better when I don't read. So when I was reading, my pronunciation was way off. But here's the paradox. When I was answering questions, and not reading off the sheet of p

aper, I kept getting things wrong. But my pronunciation was spot on. Might have to look into that.

I winded down with Zara walking back to the Matheson. She stuck around til I finished my oral, which was very nice of her.

So after walking back to where we began, we said our goodbyes, and I faced up to reality. I plugged in Bumblebee (my laptop, duh), and set to work smashing out the rest of my essay.

This was high-pressure stuff, because (a) I w

as indecisive about whether to add more stuff in, and (b) I wanted to get it done before lunchtime.

Turns out that I co

uldn't be stuffed adding in more stuff, so it ended up about 300 words under, and I used one less source than the minimum. In hindsight, I should've put more effort into a 60% essay. I just realised it was that much. But it should be a pass anyway. Hopefully I'll get a Credit or higher overall. It was a dodgy essay task anyway.

I also finished way past lunchtime. 2 o' clock, to be precise. Which just proves the theory that when you're working hard, especially on adrenaline, hunger subsides. So I popped into Maccas afterwards, sped home, and just lay on my bed for an hour.

That's right. Lay. I wasn't sleeping. I wasn't even napping. I was just laying. Cool is me.

I think the double-adrenaline-rush-peaks drained me quite a bit.

I was originally thinking of leaving you with a picture of pretty girl in a pretty Arsenal top, but probably not appropriate. So instead, you can have this.

Word of the Day: Paradox

J'ai besoin de headphones de Roc Nation

The night before my French oral, and I'm trying to get into battle mode.

It's not really working. I've got that unwarranted confidence in my own abilities coming back now.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I speak French. How hard can it be?"

It'll be hard. As soon as I start thinking that, I know I'm in strife.

Anyway, next object of desire:

Basically, headphones endorsed by Jay-Z. More info here.

Roc Nation Aviators by Skullcandy. And aren't they just gorgeous. They look like the pair of aviators that I want next (gold frame, brown lense), and the touch of leather just makes it. Volume control, and in-built mic. The only foreseeable barrier is cost, which I am having trouble obtaining. But just wow.

Update: Apparently not leather, and $150 USD. Hmm. Not bad. Especially with the dollar as strong as it is now. Problem is, can I get them imported for that price?

Questions unanswered. Until next time.

Word of the Day: Desire

I can't lie

Despite my gloating, I am still a massive social failure.

End of French tute, Zara was there, probably should've spoken to her for a bit. Because, you know, that's what decent people do. Instead, I walk off after saying hi. I have no idea why. Maybe because, deep down (or not so deep down, as the case may be), I am still a shy person. Practice makes perfect, and all that. I will atone for this foolishness.

Moving on. What's really irking me right now is people that aren't paying me money that they owe me. It's not that it's a truly massive sum, but it is rightfully mine, and I feel as though those people are being rude, more than anything. I don't think I'm stingy with money by any stretch of the imagination. But normal human behaviour would dictate that, after someone's already bought the 21st present, and you voluntarily said that you would chip in money, without the prompting of said person, that you would pay up rather soonish, because this person has already forked out money and has gone to the trouble of physically looking for a present and buying it.

That'd be normal, right (well, for me anyway)?

Apparently not. Two of the people that have yet to pay me haven't responded to three of my Facebook messages. I know they go on there, through various channels.

What's more, one of them told the birthday boy, Kanji, what we (and I use that term in the loosest sense possible) were getting him for his birthday, before he'd actually opened it. How someone can be so presumptuous is beyond me.

These two are Meng's friends. So lesson learnt. If I haven't spoken to them personally, or Meng gives me the money beforehand, I'm not doing anything in the future. Meng has already paid for one of them, because apparently they have financial difficulties. I have a few issue with believing that:

1. They go to other parties, where they actually turn up. Well-dressed, too, I might add. Now, if that's poverty, I wouldn't mind being in poverty myself.

2. I never asked them to chip in. Ever. Even if I did, they didn't have to say yes. But that's a null point. I didn't ask them, and one of them I didn't know wanted to chip in until Meng told me when I got to the party.

Which brings me to another point. A lot of this mess is actually Meng's fault. If he were better organised, and actually thought about these things beforehand, none of this would've happened.

But as I said, lesson learnt. Apparently he's going to ask one of them for the money, presumably soonish, so that I don't have to. Nobody wants me to do that, because it'll just end up being me verbally bashing him, and perhaps even physically.

He better not reply with "It's just $25." And nobody else better say that to me. Because they will cop it big time.

I got asked by Meng whether a friendship was worth $25. I told him that I no longer consider such a person my friend, because friends don't do this, and that he should also ask him the same question. I'm sick of people making it out like I'm in the wrong for asking people for money when they owe me.

To summarise, there's not many things I dislike more than borrowing money off people, but having to ask people to pay me back is worse.

On a happier note, it is almost the end of Monday. Well, that's not really happy. But I'm trying to end these things on a positive note. So I'll leave you with this video, which reminds me of summer.

I can't lie, you're on my mind, stuck inside my head.

Sigh.

Word of the Day: Jerks

Belle, je t'aime ton wave

Something that I forgot to mention, for some bizarre reason.

On Friday, the attractive girl in my French workshop (hereon after known as HFG, for obvious/practical reasons. Even though she's not French. But she is a girl. And hot. So shut up.) waved goodbye to me. Or, at least, I think it was me. It was a hot wave. Like, seriously. I don't know why, but it was just ridiculously...something. Like something out of a movie. Made my heart melt. Now I feel like I should study harder for French. I would also like to learn how to say 'wave' in French. As in, verb form. Not noun. Yes, I could search for it, but that would involve a modicum of effort, which I do not possess currently. For some reason, this song comes to mind right now.

A mad song from a mad album. Get on it

Currently, I have a splitting headache. Watching Bear Grylls struggling in the Foreign French Legion hasn't helped. French overload. Maybe that's it. Might sleep soon. Hopefully have some sweet dreams *cough* French girl *cough*.

Word of the Day: Wave

Tied up

Oh, the dilemmas in my life.

Black or blue tie tomorrow night? Black makes me look a lot more dangerous, edgy and sophisticated at the same time, while baby blue conveys an air of partyness and fun. Hard to choose, hard to choose. Might go with the black, because I haven't done it in a while, and it contrasts better with the white jacket. I wish I was one of those people that could wear whatever and look good. Might shock everybody and alternate between the two at the same party. That would be absolutely crazy.

All this at the end of a very, very long week. Today just seemed interminable. Like, for example, I was having fun in the last class of today, but it just seemed to go on and on. Every time I'd check my watch, it seemed that only one minute had gone by since the last time.

Anyway, it's study break now. Time to cram, cram, cram. Right after the hecticness of tomorrow.

Word of the Day: Interminable

Overly-hyped French test number 2

Wooo. I'm on that semi-high you get when you finish a test, and it's a lot easier than you expected it to be.

That's right, French test again. What a doozy. The oral actually went quite well, I thought. It flowed, had structure, used a bit of complex grammar, and was relevant to the topic.

The test was full of grammar exercises. Grammar which I'd been cramming at 1 o'clock this morning. For some reason, I find French quite crammable, despite the fact that it really shouldn't be.

All in all, I think I may have passed. Which is a fairly good result at this stage.

And with that, I leave you with this awesome new song.

Actually, a few comments about the song before I go. It reminds me of 'You Belong With Me'. Oddly, and heart-wrenchingly, sad. For some reason, it kind of sounds like a song of yearning, instead of song of love. Odd. It might just be me. Let me know if you feel like it sounds a bit yearningful too, so that I know I'm not that odd.

Her voice has also gotten a lot more powerful. It's developing into something quite amazing. Much like...yeah. I don't know. Good song though. Enjoy.

Word of the Day: Grammar

Yesterday, when the war didn't began...I'm so funny

So yeah, I was going to talk about my stress, but it's self-inflicted, so I won't. I'll talk about yesterday instead.

Yesterday was a doozy. Managed to watch a movie, finish an assignment, study for a tad, and go to a 21st. Felt almost on top of the world. Almost.

It began like this. I met up with Irene at Glen Waverley Library to do our French culture quiz thing. We got that done in about an hour and a bit, and that was with constant interruptions about my financial woes over the phone as well.

We then had lunch, and studied for a bit. Well, it was more of her teaching me French than actual studying.

Anyway, after that, I went home and got changed into my suit to go see Tomorrow When the War Began.

Just kidding! I actually had James' 21st straight after that. You knew I wouldn't go to the movies in a suit.

Or would I?!

Moving on. Irene kindly came and picked me up at my house (15 mins early too. Silly duffer. Got the time wrong.) We met up with her sister, Elene, and the sort-of surprise guest, her mother (cue How I Met Your Mother pun).

The movie was so-so. The acting was quite forced at times, but the plot was good. My particular gripe was about the Asian guy. Oh my word. Could not act for peanuts, and stereotyped to the max. I mean, the guy has ninja reflexes. Seriously.

So after that, we said our goodbyes, and I moseyed my way on down to James' 21st.

I seriously ate comparatively nothing. I really regret it now. I think it was because I was so intent on talking to people, and doing this and that. The food was quite nice, but for the price, there wasn't a whole lot of variety.

Speeches were good. I didn't end up saying half the things I wanted to, but I'm sure James knows that I value him greatly as a friend, and how great a guy he is. The speech was slightly funny, which is the important thing.

Good night overall. Plenty of friends to catch up with, and good environment. Happy future birthday James.

Rain is falling outside. I was going to use that to do something poetic, but I can't be stuffed. I'm going to go downstairs to get a drink and de-stress myself.

Word of the Day: De-stress

Syooopersonic

This video is so indescribably cool. It's just that. It's actually indescribable how cool it is.

Anyway, I am feeling quite close to supersonic. Yes, I know it won't last for very long, mostly owing to this backlog of work that I have, and something unforeseen will come and disrupt it. However, at this point in time, it's all pretty good.

I think it might just be Tuesdays. I always have a certain day that's really good every week. I think it's Tuesday this semester.

First lecture, it's a bludge. There's about 20 people there. So that's all good.

Next lecture, French culture. Hang with Irene and Zara (ha, I've stopped calling her Taylor Swift. Caught you by surprise, didn't I?). I usually walk to my next lecture with Irene after that, so we chat on the way.

In that lecture, I usually hang with the Kanji. Today, I hung with Eugene, who was making a guest appearance, and his girlfriend. That was also all good.

The tute after that is slightly meh. If I'm not being bombarded with the off-topic opinions of Left-Wing Dave, I'm stuck in a group where everybody's as clueless as me, and talk less than me. But yeah, it's manageable.

French culture tute after that tute. Again, hang with Zara and Irene. Then after that, I walk to my car with Zara.

Turns out she's actually quite conversational and funny. We ran into Kanji (not literally) and she asked me whether it was true that he was an alcoholic. I told her the story about how he and Rui thought they were dolphins after drinking one too many on the roadtrip. She laughed, showed me the dolphin ring she was wearing, and told me it was the funniest thing she'd heard all day. That made my day.

Also, my phone was going nuts yesterday. First, I get a call from Grant Thornton, which I missed because my phone was on vibrate. I called them back, left my number, and got them to call me back. About 15 minutes after that, I got a call telling me that my iPhone had finally come in. Later, at the worst possible time (while I'm applying my screen protector to my iPhone), GT calls me back to tell me to send my academic transcript to them again because it's too small. I'll be positive like Meng is, and pretend that it's because I'm in the interview pile that they want my transcript.

And, to cap it all off, Arsenal are on the verge of signing a defender. A completely un-Arsenal signing. He's tall, he's old-ish, and he's experienced. Cool name as well. Squillaci.

Mad fer it.

Word of the Day: Supersonic

They call me Holmes. Sherlock Holmes.

It is as I suspected. I did quite well on my French essay. So well, in fact, that I matched the mark that I got for the one I did for homework, AND Irene's mark. It's more Irene's mark that makes me think that it wasn't too shabby. If I even get close to what she gets, I'll know I'm doing alright.

What is quite frustrating though is that there was this massive potential to do so much better. Something that could have led me to getting higher than her for only the third time in my life. First time was listening, second time was culture. All I needed to do was to agree the stupid adjectives with the stupid nouns. Stupid French.

Anyway, I'm not competing against her or anything. I think it's just fun, and a little bit motivating, to have a benchmark. Human being, especially human beings like me, thrive on competition. Adds a certain thrill to doing something.

Must have been a day for miracles, because something else that was amazing happened. Imesha and I were last night talking about whether we would ever go out with fobs. And, like a premonition, this really nice-looking, confident girl in my Accounting tute presented this morning. However, she had the most bizarre accent I've heard for a while. It was like a mix between five different accents. No joke.

Also, that Jess girl in Cost Info. I hate it when people seem like they want to talk to you, but don't. Like, they keep looking at you, but they never talk, even when you try to. Go figure.

I have also spent the last week shouting at various people from Optus, both verbally and written-ly. I don't like the way they're being really dodgy about things. And I actually need a phone. Worst company ever. Or close to it.

Word of the Day: Miracles

Oh no! The milk has been spilt!!!

There are a few types of exams/tests.

There are those where you sit down, give it a flick through, and go: "Yep, it's just as hard as I expected. And I'm screwed because I haven't studied for it." Accounting last semester was like that. Thankfully, it doesn't happen very often.

Then there are those, where you sit down, give it a flick through, and go ""What the hell. Why have I never seen any of this before?". Thankfully, again, I have never come across one of these.

Alternatively, there are those where you go: "Wow. They made it sound a lot harder than it actually is," and you subsequently ace it. Stats exam would be a good example of this.

Even better than this, there are those which you know are going to be easy, and they turn out being easy, and then you ace them even harder.

Then there are those which you know are hard, but you don't find them all that difficult, because for whatever reason (studied hard, latent natural ability), you're good at that subject, and you subsequently ace it.

French test on Friday was a little bit like that. Well, not the oral bit. I don't think I'll ever be good at those under pressure unless I live in France for a few weeks or something. But the essay I found surprisingly good. Like, it probably won't be as good as Irene's, or even as good as I think it is, because I don't know how they're marking it, and I'm not that great, but I don't think it was a fail. This is probably mostly owing to the fact that learning languages is a cumulative process, and that it's all linked together, so you can't really do all that badly if your basics are alright. Which, I like to think, is kind of like me. I lament that I didn't start doing French in first year. I really do. It would've been awesome. Well, I would never have met Irene. And Taylor Swift. But ignoring that, it would've been a masterstroke.

I think "spilt milk" and "crying" would be appropriate words to use right about now. Not necessarily in that order. And perhaps a few other words thrown in would be useful too.

Word of the Day: Latent

On the improve

Hard to believe, but this day was even better than yesterday.

It was particularly hard to believe this morning. The rain was pouring down, and I'd had a good day yesterday.

However, it turned out to be fully maddogz.

So the first lecture was boring enough. During French culture, talked to Monique a bit. Next lecture, sat next to my homedawg, Kanji, who I haven't seen in quite some time. Boring lecture, but at least Kanji was there. Then, during my European studies tute, I won an EU keyring for what effectively amounted to being awesome.

See, my other group members were harping on about something crazy that I had no idea about, so I just assumed that they were operating on a higher plane than me. So they'd all thought they'd found the thing which the tutor was after, and I just kept it quietly to myself, because I thought I was wrong. Turns out I was right, and I won my first something for a very long time. Yes, it's a silly little keyring, but I like silly little things. Also, one of my group members asked my name while I was leaving, which made me feel pretty close to spectacular. That hasn't happened to me in a long, long, long time.

If that all seems a bit confusing, it's because it is.

Then, in French culture (again), I managed to talk properly to Taylor Swift. Finally. Much less awkward than I had anticipated, owing to the fact that she wanted to talk to me, and that she was quite a nice person. Oh, and Irene of course. I like to think it was mostly me. Jaykay. It probably wasn't.

Or was it?!

And just to top it all off, the sun came out at the end of it. And my iPod played only happy songs on the way home.

Word of the Day: Improve

Sohdoowhy

So, like, OMG. I found an English version of the ad. Not only that, it's extended for added awesomeness! Love it.

"Isillerating playcez. And other playcez. But ah pripare for itall."

I've got this nifty auto-replay extension for Chrome, which, as the name suggests, automatically replays videos on YouTube. Yes, I've got it on repeat.

The first week of uni has come to a farcical end. After waiting around for half an hour for our French tutor to turn up to our tute, we ended up trying to look for her, to no avail. So we went home. Two-and-a-bit hours after the tute was supposed to have started, she sends us e-mails, telling us that we were in the wrong room. Thanks.

Yeah, the week has been pretty...meh. Nothing much going on, owing mostly to the fact that I have pretty much zero breaks. There have been a few awkward situations involving a girl in my French classes that looks like Taylor Swift. Sort of. Well, not really. She just kind of gives off that vibe. I should probably ask what her name is. Not that I don't know it. But it just kind of alleviates awkwardness a little bit. Whatever.

Still waiting on the iPhone 4 pricing plans to come out. Hopefully not out of my tolerance threshold. Until next time.

Word of the Day: Places (playcez)

It's better than chocolate

Ah. Retail therapy. Nothing makes you happy/less mopey more quickly than retail therapy.

Yes, I bought my leather jacket. My wardrobe is close to complete.

Having my sister's French exchange student around - Marie is her name, saves me typing/copying and pasting 'my sister's French exchange student' - is also quite fun, as you're kind of always out and about. There's also a certain sense of satisfaction and zing that can be derived from seeing people find delight in things that we take for granted. Certainly takes the mind off things somewhat.

Maybe takes the mind off things a little too much. I also forgot to buy Lily's birthday present, despite my outing to Southbank today. And I had a whole plan hatched out about how to get it too. Sigh.

That was a little lie about retail therapy, by the way. There are many, many things that make/could make me much, much happier. With these things, there's no slight depression stage after the splurge involved. Depression brought on, after the purchase, by the realisation that you have to find a way to pay off this credit card debt.

Word of the Day: Southbank

Le Ville du Struggle

Urgh. I think I just got completely ripped into before by my French oral examiner.

I turned up late, because I thought I was scheduled to turn up at 2:15, not 1:45.

What was supposed to be a five minute talk ended up being like, a minute and a half.

My grammar flew out the window.

On the upside, my accent was relatively good. And I managed to pitch my voice into what I though was a manly French mumble.

Check this out. Pretty much sums up how beautiful the French language sounds, how wonderful their music is, and how atmospheric their country is.



I also managed to finish my triple essay take-home exam for International Studies.

I just dawned on me, like literally just then, that I have five assessments this week. Five. And I've just completed two. What a way to start the week eh? Funtimes.

Word of the Day: Oral

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

Knackered

I am quite knackered at the moment. Just thought I had to get it out there. All the work that I'm supposed to have done but haven't is starting to catch up with me now. Hopefully I have enough energy left to pull off another superhuman effort, and revise well for the French test on Monday, and blow this Company Law assignment right out of the water.

Head starting to throb slightly. Going to read a bit of Max Remy, then fall asleep with my face buried in the book.

Until next time.

Bazoing.

Zzzzzzzzz.

Word of the Day: Knackered

Quagmire

Life is a bit weird right about now. It just feels like I'm stuck in a quagmire, and it's really hard to get anywhere down any avenue right now.

I'm feeling quite down for various reasons. Firstly, I'm behind in almost everything, and my French has appeared to have regressed since last semester. Accounting is just messing with my mind right now.

Secondly, after speaking with Meng last night, I realised that we're both 20 and without girlfriends. It's almost sad beyond belief. Sad, as in both meanings of the term. We're trying to solve the puzzle, but it's like it's a cardboard jigsaw, and somebody spilt a lot of water all over it. The pieces don't fit together, and it's damn near impossible to find which pieces go where in the first place. Maybe we're just looking in the wrong place, or at the wrong jigsaw puzzle if you will. Whatever.

Even the KPMG interview, which I was looking forward to, I'm now feeling apprehensive about. Nobody else has really gotten back to me yet, so it seems as though everything hinges on this interview.

Missing out on Lady GaGa was also a big downer. I just want to hear her songs now, not in two or three years when they'll be all new and not good anymore. And her show most likely won't be as cheap, or good. The reason they're cheap is because her people are, for reasons unknown, underpricing tickets. Apparently. I want to see her live because she's one of those rare artists that actually perform. Also, she does awesome things to her songs live, like making them acoustic. There goes a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I do hate it a bit when I miss them. It was very nice for Linda to MMS me a 'teaser' of the show tonight, even though it mostly featured the very round head of a guy standing in front of the camera. Man, that guy's head was round. And shiny. I don't think I've ever received an MMS from a friend before. Thank-you, Linda. It's nice to know my friends remember me.

I like when people text me randomly about random things. I don't know why. It just makes me feel loved, I guess. And adds excitement to my day. The good type of excitement, which I crave.

Today was actually an alright day. Started off fairly averagely, then got better after another one of our French impromptu orals. Irene is brilliant at it. Ours was definitely the best this time, but mostly because of Irene. But she bounces her act off me. So it's really all me. She'd struggle if her partner was lightning quick like her. Who am I kidding? She's a natural at it. She pretends to cry, and she takes out a tissue. My reading is quite good, but my acting is mediocre, unless I am in a very comfortable situation. Which I was not. So my reading was quite good, but my acting was mediocre. The class loved it. Once again, I, or, in this case, we, created something that I didn't think was that funny, but everyone else did. Seems to happen a lot in our French workshop. Maybe because it consists of three guys and the rest girls. They dig my humour.

Anyway, she seemed to get happier after that, and easier to talk to. I went to find my homeboys and homegirls after that (homepeople? Will think about it some more), and she followed me. I then thought she would ditch me, but, not surprisingly, she didn't, as she does not find any social situation awkward, and handles them all with aplomb. She also never ditches me. Never. I respect, admire and appreciate that. The not ditching me part, and the handling of social situations. Especially considering how we have half our classes, and hence half our breaks, together. I just crawl out of social awkwardness. She then eventually did have to ditch me, to hang with another friend, the Matheson Computer.

So after that, I hung with Davy until our tute. A funny thing happened in the lecture after the tute. Davy was half-joking (I think). He had had an interview with Deloitte the day before, and he was all like, "Hey Andrew, let me sit on the outside in case I need to take a call." Two minutes later, call comes in from Deloitte, telling him he has an interview tomorrow. Or today, depending on how pedantic you are. Clearly he should say these things more often to me. Anyway, being the swell guy he is, he drove me home. In the process, we had a good ol' chat about everything, from future careers to missing Mai a lot. Thanks Davy, and gluck for tomorrow. Or today.

Banh gave me a fairly useless call, but it was still appreciated. I like hearing his voice in moderation. Thank-you also for remembering me.

And the random MMS at the end was just swell. Completed the day, really.

And now, after realising that it was actually a fairly good day, I don't feel so blue. Amazing how cathartic posting can be. I re-learned that word today. Cathartic. I re-learned it because I was fairly sure that this news website I was reading was using it in the wrong way.

Oh, also, on a finishing note, I sort of casually noticed three girls in the past week, but according to various sources, they've all been taken. They all have heart-melting smiles, which is kryptonite to me. It's the chink in my otherwise impenetrable armour (ha, I said chink). I promise to set my sights on girls that are very much less taken. Speaking of promises, I'm going to ease up a bit. Emo posts to funny posts ratio is going to decrease as of now.

Word of the Day: MMS

Insecurity guard

Ah, I knew this double-clash-whammy thing would always test my masculinity, make me question my own fortitude, push me to the limit, and all that jazz. But my, how even the lead up revealed so much about me. My insecurities and flaws were exposed in the most brutal fashion possible, just like a Liverpool defence at set pieces. But I also learnt about my strengths. I hope they're my strengths. Because if not, I'm more screwed up than I think I am.

First weakness: Girls. Well, I wouldn't be a very straight male if this didn't apply. So like, I was talking to my good friend David Lee, and a female friend of pretty everyone I know, who I'm not going to name because of that very reason, looked like she wanted to talk to me. See, it's that awkwardness again. That's another one of my weaknesses. She keeps like, walking in front of me and looking at me when she thinks I'm not looking at her. Cos you know, she got ditched by her friend.

This also links onto my insecurity. I'm actually still a really shy person. It's gotten a lot better, but you know. Yeah.

Anyway, I had a feeling that maybe I should've talked to her. But then I thought, nah, that'd be weird. I mean, it is me after all.

Anyway, the second weakness links back to this.

As most of you, and half the world know by now, because I've been griping about it for a while, I had a clash today, so I had a double exam, and a prisoner during the break. During the break, after the torrid time that was the French exam, I started thinking about this girl who shall remain unnamed. Because, you know, I'm instantly attracted to people that actually show an inclination of wanting to actually talk to me. Which exposed my lack of concentration. So I listened to music. Which made it worse. A downward spiral of pain and anguish then. And they suspected my iPod of being an iPhone to boot.

Third insecurity. I get scared when people stare at me. Like those damn invigilators. I'm walking back from the toilet, they stare at me. Two of them waylay me at different times. I don't know what they suspected me of, but the second one was just damn rude. At least one of them was nice. She made me coffee. Kudos to her.

Now, on to some positive stuff. I must admire our brain's capacity to cram stuff in. I pretty much memorised the whole management course in the three hour break, and spat it back out during the exam. Right after cramming French in the morning. Double crammage. Hope my technique doesn't backfire.

I thought I'd also take this opportunity to remark upon how unfair the exams today were. Surely I'm at a disadvantage. Having one exam after the other is bad enough. But not being able to leave in the break?

Now that I have free time on my hands, here's the plan:
1. Clean room
2. Work this damned right leg harder and get it working again
3. Find a summer job
4. Put my other plan into action. Don't worry, I know what I'm talking about, even if you don't.
5. Make some stuff. Star jars and all that.
6. Somehow learn guitar without a guitar.
7. Get the clarinet going again.
8. Organise my music collection.
9. Catch up with some of my homies.
10. Buy some gifts and miscellaneous items.

That's about it for the moment.

Hope everyone did well in their exams, and gluck for anyone still to do some.

Ah. Relaxation.

Word of the Day: Insecurity

Pure genius

I've found yet another way to procrastinate. See, instead of studying for a particular subject, you spend 15 minutes calculating hypothetically what you need in the exam for a HD.

The prognosis looks very threatening. I think I need between 76 and 84 on my Management exam to get a HD. Something like that.

French is even worse. I can't be screwed calculating, because I have assessments everywhere for French, but I have a feeling that even if I were to get 100% on the exam, I still wouldn't get a HD. I've done pretty badly this semester.

Yes. What a nerdy way to procrastinate. I wouldn't recommend it. But now that you've read this, and because I'm so inspirational, I know you'll go and do it. Right now.

Word of the Day: Procrastinating