Suprise Song Sunday: Where Are You Now? - Mumford & Sons

Where are you now?

Do you ever think of me

In the quiet, in the crowd.

Beautiful song. 

Work starts tomorrow. I think it just suddenly dawned on me today that I won't be having a weekday off for a while. And with that thought, I've started resenting shops and stuff that don't open on weekends. Or at least Saturdays. I can't actually think of any that don't open on either Saturday or Sunday off the top of my head, but when I do, I will resent them hard.

As far as pre-work-beginning weekends go, this one hasn't been bad at all. Or even a pre-work week.

On Monday, had lunch with Irene. Just like old times. We even visited uni for O-Week, to add in a bit of gut-wrenching nostalgia. 

On Tuesday, I got the more or less all-clear from the physio. So now my building of the muscle mass in the left leg is mostly up to me. 

Couple of days of not doing a great deal, then had pho dinner with honours friends. Good times, as always.  

Yesterday, played a bit of badminton with some mates, had a visit from an unexpected visitor at said game of badminton, played a bit of impromptu/unprecedented squash with said unexpected visitor, and had dessert with some mates.  

Today, went to eat pho lunch with family, then went to Vic Market. Finally got myself a double-sided sheep mug there, and got the craziest wooden turtle ever. I'd take you a photo, but it's too late. Got work tomorrow. I know, ironic. We ended by visiting Shoppingtown to pick Michelle up, and I stared at some awesome shoes in Aquila. Dinner was a delicious lamb fillet dinner cooked by my mother. Almost completely irrelevant, but whatever.  

All in all, pretty successful. Caught almost everyone that I wanted to catch before I started work. Hopefully I won't get busy too soon, and still be able to maintain a semblance of a social life. 

Time to become a productive member of the household, and the community. Yeah. Not pretentious or anything. 

Word of the Day: Resenting  

  

People make mistake

Of course, people make mistake.

It's just not often that people make three mistakes of epic proportions, one after the other. 

First mistake

On Sunday, I told Banh that we'd be in the city by quarter to 1, when in fact, I meant quarter to 2. To make matters worse, he even confirmed it with me, and asked me why it was so early. And I thought nothing of it. Felt pretty bad afterwards. 

Second mistake

Drove to Irene's house today, thinking that Zara, her, and I were going for coffee at 2. Waited for half an hour, called and texted several times. Zara finally put me out of my misery by telling me that we had actually scheduled it for tomorrow. Went home and banged my head against the wall for a bit. 

I guess it was karma for my first mistake. 

Third mistake

The typo at the start and in the title. Gotcha! (Not giving Meng a wake-up call didn't count. He's 22. He can't seriously expect me to give him a wake up call at 12 noon. Most people grow out of that by the time they start primary school.)


I blame all of these things on the fact that it's holidays. And everybody knows that during holidays, you lose all sense of time and day. Yeah. That must be it. 

*******

Anyway, on to some decidedly error-free stuff.

Kylie's party on Sunday was quite fun. Even if you take away everything else, it was on a boat. I mean, how many twenty-firsts have you had on a boat?

Time to relive a classic

My only disappointment was the fact that she didn't think to invite T-Pain. Don't know how that slipped her mind.

Also, going to Gold Coast in February with my homedawgs. Yeeeeeeeeaaaahh!

Word of the Day: Mistake

I can shuffle cards pretty well...

Irene's 21st on Friday night really compounded my hatred for this 'song':



I already had pre-conceived hatred towards it, mostly because it's stupid, inane, repetitive, ear-hurting, and stupid.

Friday night took it to a whole new level, because it was only then that I grasped the full import of the song's power.

It makes it mandatory for everyone to shuffle. Everyone. At the same time.

Of course, poor little me can't shuffle. Well, I can't do many things. Including dancing. Except maybe a moonwalk, and Usher twirling. And then, only in socks.

So yeah, I can't shuffle.

And, of couse, I just happen to be friends with super talented people like Zara, who, of course, can shuffle, and everything else, and whatnot. While I flail around like some kind of Official-Pokemon-League-cap-wearing fish on dry land. Ironically, kind of like a certain type of Pokemon.

Me: I flail at dancing. And many other things besides.

Yeah. 

Good times though. Oddly enough, one of the better twenty-firsts that I've been to, despite the fact that I pretty much didn't know anybody that I talked to there apart from Zara (and sort of John Razos, who came dressed as a 90s auditor. Good old John Razos). It may have been the 90s-style costumes, it may have been the company (such that it was), or the ambience of the place. The hallowed complex where I also had my 21st, albeit in the inferior room. Or maybe it's because one high-quality companion is equivalent to many mediocre ones. 

Also, Pikachu plushie is a good wingman. Or, at least, conversation starter. 

"So, I heard you like the Pokemons?"

"Evidently."

"How good was [insert appropriate colour of choice] version? Ah, those were the days. Wait, I still play."

Alright, that'll do. Off to learn how to shuffle. 

Word of the Day: Shuffle 

Last day of Undergrad (hopefully) Part III - The end of the trilogy - Momentous moments

So, the final part of this poorly-constructed and ill-thought-out saga.

Momentous moments at uni.

To be honest, most of the momentous stuff that happened at uni probably shouldn't be canvassed again, as they've probably been discussed to death already.

Here's a few to sate your appetite (in roughly chronological order).

Getting lost on the first day of uni and running into a fellow lostie. That person would later become known to me as 'Stef Lim'. She was officially the first person that I talked to at uni that I didn't know previously. Important for several reasons. Firstly, it made me realise that these mythical 'girls' that people kept talking about weren't all that scary.

I kid. I live in a house full of girls. But I guess it did show me that people in general weren't really all that scary.

Secondly, it showed me how big the uni was.

Gigantic. Enormous. To this day, I've probably only traversed about a third of the place. I thought Melbourne High was big. This was next-level big.

Becoming friends with Irene. She was pretty much the first friend that I made in Arts. Actually, close to the first friend I made at uni. I had a relative heap of friends brought over from high school in Commerce, and a few in Arts, but none in French. She was the first, and pretty much only, until I became friends with Zara. Kinda sad, now that I think about it. This was a year since I'd started uni. In between, I made friends with a couple of Arts kids.

Ambassador Camp. This was off the hook. Firstly (not necessarily most importantly), I busted my knee. It's still giving me problems. More so recently, but you don't want to hear about that.

More importantly, I met, and became friends with, many fantastic individuals, many of whom I count among my closest friends. I think it was here that I sourced most of my uni friends that I actually talk to.

Also during this time, James Cheng and Meng had to put up with me being a cripple. They helped me get places, and were just generally there. I don't really know where I'm going by bringing this up, but as I don't think I've mentioned it anywhere else, I'd just like to say that I was very touched by their help, and I appreciated it greatly, even though it didn't seem like a big deal. But let me tell you, it's a big deal when someone helps carry your luggage for you when you're struggling on one leg, like some kind of...one legged man.

Getting my car. Man, was that liberating. Still is. Cannot believe that I put up with catching the bus for two years. I felt like I had finally properly become a uni student.

Failing a unit. It sucked, mostly because I had to do it again, and overload the next semester, and went through the next exam period thinking I'd failed it again.

Passing said unit. Was pretty elated. Celebrated by going to a pre-booked U2 gig.

Passing the next semester's units in relative flying colours. Yeah!

I'm sorry if I've left any momentous people/events out. I kind of wrote this up in about 20 minutes. Forgive me. I'm sure I have left something/s out, but it can't really be helped, unless you want to remind me. Please do.

All in all, I find it interesting how, like high school, it's not the academic stuff you remember so much, but the other stuff that goes on. All the fun times, the bad times, the sad times, the good times. And the friends that you make and break going through all that.

To close this saga, I'd just like to say that it's been good. Apart from the unpleasant exams business, uni's been pretty fun and enriching. It's had it's bad moments, but I think they were more to do with life, and less to do with uni.

Anyway, I'll probably be back for more next year. So it's not really goodbye. But I just felt like getting something down for now.

So, next up, Occupy Melbourne. I'll talk about the Melbourne High School Asian Invasion a bit after that, because the former is of more pressing concern.

Until next time.

Word of the Day: Momentous  

I wonder if lemons conduct electricity

When life gives me lemons...I play semi-nonsensical Oasis songs.

Today wasn't actually all that bad. Actually, it would've been positively good but for a few things that kind of tainted its goodness. That's the nature of things I guess. Only takes a little bit of badness to do a lot of damage to the goodness. 

Lots of people today just seemed to be in Annoy Andrew mode. Some people couldn't help it, I guess. You could say it's their default setting. In chronological order:

1. The student group politics/propaganda/whatever they are. Technically not just today, but whatever. They are absolutely the worst. Everywhere I go, I just get mobbed. Finally voted for them today. Irene had a genuinely brilliant idea to go vote and get 'I voted' stickers. It gave me an unprecedented amount of immunity. Some idiots still pestered me, but I showed them a thing or two. These guys are intrinsically annoying as anything.
2. The guys in my International Studies tute that kept saying nukular. As in nuclear. It was so bad, it even sort of infected my tutor. For these people, default setting. 
3. I think that's about it really.

And I realise how complainy my posts have been lately, so just to show you I'm not such a complainy person, good things did happen today. 

1. Irene bought me a mocha for about the 535083920th time. Made me unreasonably happy. I gotta get her a coffee or something one of these days. 
2. Got ambushed by James Cheng. Was pretty funny. Mainly because it was the worst ambush ever.
3. Sort-of-accidentally ran into Banh at the Campus Centre flogging tickets and got free Skittles. Most of the joy was from accidentally-sort-of running into him, but Skittles are good too. 

That's about it really. So most of the badness was really all in one of the annoying events. The other two were quite trivial, and one of them was actually semi-amusing. I'll let you sort out which. Until next time, go find your very own electric girlfriend. 

Word of the Day: Badness 

It will go down in the pages of history

So it's been a pretty big weekend. Maybe not so big as to ensure it's own place in history, but big enough.

What's more surprising is the fact that it happened during the semester. And I'm also sort of on top of uni work.

Actually, it's not even really worth writing about. Well, it is to me. But you, dear reader, probably couldn't care less. But since everything I write here is about me anyway, and you (presumably) read it anyway, I'm going to go ahead and write it.

First half of Friday
Had a job interview, went ok, probably won't get to the next round due a combination of mediocre performance and not very many available spots. Blah, blah, blah, boring stuff, you're approaching Care Factor 0, moving on.

Called up JB Hi-Fi. They didn't have the deluxe edition of Watch the Throne in stock yet. Boo-hoo, go have a cry, who buys CDs anyway, move on.

Second half of Friday
This was where the real fun began.

So I got Zara on the way to Safeway on the way to Irene's trivia night gig. We basically bought everything that could be bought at Safeway, and went to Clayton Hall, and managed to not get mugged. Was probably due to our red attire. Red is the colour of winners. Or something like that.

Needless to say, fun(ny) times ensued. Basically had high hopes of a win, and came closer to losing than winning again. On a less heartbreaking note, I won a raffle prize (!). I was pretty stoked. It's always nice to win something. So for the second successive year, I went home from trivia night with a Maxwell Williams Breast Cancer mug. So manly.


For some reason, upon reflecting on the night's frivolities, a similar image came up in my mind.

Fun times, and all that. A lot more fun than I've probably conveyed above. Excitement doesn't come across too well when typed. Should do it again some time soon.

Saturday
Did Auditing work. Did Corp Fi work. Downloaded Chrome 14. Felt like a bit of a Fandroid.

Sunday
Felt upset that Arsenal didn't win. Cursed Joey Barton. Consoled myself that the Arsenal are still unbeaten for the season. Read Auditing book. Will read Corp Fi book.

...

Ok, so basically, my big weekend was trivia night. And it wasn't strictly a weekend. I'm sorry if I've deceived you. If you feel aggrieved and misled, well...deal with it. Anyway, I'm liking this balancing of work, uni, and fun times. It's a new sensation for me. One that I quite enjoy. I'm pretty much going out every week, unlike the back in the olden days (I know, what a loser right?). I think it may be a combination of me actually doing work, actually reading the relevant readings before lectures, and having two days off uni.

That's another thing. There's seems to be a massive emphasis on reading before lectures this semester. I swear they never used to tell us to do that. Now EVERY SINGLE LECTURER is encouraging us to do it. I blame it on the erasure of Week 13.

Busy period coming up in a few weeks, so I should probably lay some proverbial groundwork, and cut back on the fun times. Maybe just a little bit though.

Word of the Day: Erasure

Many happy meetings

When I got home, I realised today was a good day, despite me still being a dud in many aspects of life.

I realised that the reason for it being good was that I ran into about a million and one people that I actually liked today. For the first time in a while, I ran into people that I actually wanted to talk to, and not people that I would rather avoid at all costs.

Upon arriving at uni, I ran into Irene on my way to class. After that, I went to aforementioned class, and felt like a dud all over again.

Then, on my way to my next class, while waiting for Yun, I ran into everyone's favourite white man, Orrin. Or, at least, my favourite white man. We had a good old chat about nothing in particular, and went our separate ways.

After our next lecture, I ran into none other than Ken, he of Vietnamese origin. We had a good old moan about uni, and away he went.

Then I ran into Davy. Funnily enough, Yun and I were discussing him about two minutes before, and how she couldn't get through to his mobile.

Then, I ran into Elene and Irene (again!).

Good times all around.

Now the bad.

I think I have a slight cold. Worst time to get it. And to make it worse (not that they're related or anything. At least, I don't think they are), I split off a bit of my fingernail from my finger when I was all gung-ho and opening a cardboard wrapping this morning. So now it hurts like hell when I try to type, so I'm typing like a guy who only has the use of nine fingers. Timing could've been worse. That's not to say I wanted it to happen, but it's not the worst time for it to happen. Should be healed by tomorrow, so don't worry too much. I know you're worried.

So, Osama bin Laden. My views. Yay.

Personally, I don't really feel anything massive at the news. I mean, I've always subscribed to the view that one man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter. American troops kill people, he kills people.

I know, I know, people are going to say, 'You'd feel differently if he'd attacked someone close to you.' And yeah, I know I would. But I'd also contend that you'd feel pretty bad too if an American soldier attacked someone close to you.

I understand why people would be happy that he's dead. Especially people that have been affected. I'm not demeaning the suffering that they've gone through by any means. But I think it's also good to remember that in the process of invading other nations, the USA has also killed a lot of fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and friends. Many of them just as innocent as those that suffered in the terrorist attacks perpetrated by bin Laden.

I don't admire the man, but I do respect the fact that he turned away from a life of exorbitantly comfortable living, for an ideology. For something that he believed in. While I know that the vast majority of what he did was utterly reprehensible, I respect that one part of his character. Let me make it clear that I don't love the guy, or what he did, but I just think that the act of ditching billions of dollars for ideology is quite a feat.

Just so that I don't get abused, verbally or otherwise, let me make it quite clear once again: I have no love for the guy. I'm just not in the "Woooo, yeah, he's dead" camp.

Anyway, that's all. I don't think it changes much in the grand scheme of things, but it's good in the sense that it provides some sense of closure for the victims of his attacks.

Back to uni stuff discussion. It's still pretty hectic, and looks like being so for the foreseeable future.

Oh, and I'm getting panic attacks from doing uni work. And my finger hurts from all that typing.

Word of the Day: Osama

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

The Irene-y of the situation did not escape me

Irene's 20th last Friday, just for a change of scenery after this massive spate of Twenty-Firsts.

It was quite amusing. She told me to sit next to her, presumably because I didn't know many people there. Then she ended up walking for 99% of the night anyway. It was actually pretty ironically funny. Ironic in a good way.

But it worked out well. Like, not that it was good that she wasn't there most of the time, but I got to talk to people sitting opposite me. Not that I wouldn't have if she'd been there.

The words "digging," "myself" and "hole" come to mind here. For some inexplicable reason.

But yeah, I got to talk to the guy opposite me, and his girlfriend, and we got along fairly well. Jake, his name was. As in, Animorphs. I didn't get his girlfriend's name, but one can't have everything in life. It's a shame I didn't get seated next to that Judy girl. She was quite a looker. But, being the non-shallow person that I am, I do not regret this, because I do not know what she is like as a person. Although it would've been nice to have had the opportunity to find out.

Anyway, I love these situations. It's like a challenge, that I fully intend to meet head-on. See, even when I did get to talk to them, it was always a bit weird, because there were times when they were talking to each other and...let's just say I don't think they wanted to be interrupted. So MTV on the screen behind their heads came to my rescue many times. And my phone. Man, I love my phone. It actually gives me a valid reason for looking at it now.

This situation wasn't my own doing. All the people that I actually knew AND talked to didn't turn up on the night, leaving me isolated and bereft of meaningful and intelligent company.

Just kidding. I just felt like writing a hardcore sentence with big words. But you guys did ditch me a little bit.

But yes, I think I actually excelled at said challenge. And now, like some kind of thrill-seeking addict, I want more. More parties with strangers that I've never talked to before in my life. More MTV. More Glen Waverley food.

I think I'll stop now. Not because I want to, but because I think I'm going to fall asleep at my keyboard in about 5 seconds if I don't. And then, next morning, my parents will be all like "What the hell are you doing there [on your very messy workstation]?" Except in Cantonese. To which I will have no reply. Because I don't know the Cantonese word for blogging, but also because even if I did, it's still not a very good excuse.

So I'm going to go now.

Word of the Day: MTV

Negatron

It's only Tuesday night, and I feel as though it's been a really, really long week already.

I think that happy feeling I had a while ago has long since evaporated. I've been mad at people left, right and centre, for various reasons, most of them being rational.

My attitude right about now is a massive load of whatever. If friends don't want to treat me as any more than a second-rate friend, that's cool. I've got enough of them to be going on with anyway.

As proof of how bad it's been, friends have also had bad things happen to them this past week. Irene got a bad allergic reaction AND had her car hit, Banh got himself food poisoned, and Zara broke her toe. Oh, and mum's quite sick too. It's all been rather depressive and gloomy. I mean, there hasn't been proper sunlight for ages. It's all just rain and cloud, and more rain and cloud, with a bit of wind now and then to keep things fresh.

Despite all these negative vibes, there was a bit of respite this afternoon. In the library, while fruitlessly searching for books, I ran into John and Tamara. Good people, both of them. Then I ran into Meng, before Orrin finally got there for our hastily-scheduled meeting. That was good. Got some of the weight off my chest. Amazing how cathartic talking to someone is. It feels like a burden that's been halved. Or something. Although I had to suffer through Meng and Orrin geeking out about their Android megaphones and whatnot.

Hopefully all the negativity has now been spent, and a brighter next few days awaits. Here's to a happy last-few-days-before-not-very-mid-sem-break.

Word of the Day: Vibes

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

Nelly I, love you

I was listening to this today.

Also, I have a dilemma. Well, not really. It's more of a problem. There is no dilemma, because there is only one solution.

See, I want to go see Tomorrow When The War Began with Irene and Elene on Wednesday. Problem is, the one they're seeing is at 3:30 p.m., and I'm supposed to be at James' 21st at around six.

Which would be fine, except I'm supposed to turn up in a suit. So I guess I could turn up to the film in a suit. Which is just a little bit dumb. In my defence, it's a pretty nice suit.

Anyway, I'll just see if we can see an earlier one. If not, guess it'll have to be another time.

Enjoy the music.

Word of the Day: Nellyville

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

Many happy meetings.

Ok, feeling much better today. Much of what was troubling me has been resolved, or, in most cases, at least partially.

Last night, I had a chat with Linda over MSN, which I haven't done properly for a while.

This morning, had a fairly good hangout session with Irene, just shooting the breeze, which I haven't done for a long while.

Sunshine. I have not felt the comforting blanket of warmth it seems to produce since what seems like forever. If tomorrow is anything like today (weather-wise), I might just go to uni in a shirt.

And maybe some pants. Just maybe.

More specifically, jeans.

Amazing how most of my life revolves around shooting the breeze. Yet I'm not really one to make ridiculously long phonecalls, except to a few people. And that makes it all the more amazing that these breeze-shooting sessions make me very happy and content.

I was in such a good mood, I even managed to beast the International Studies presentation that our group was supposed to give with minimum fuss. Seriously. I'm so proud of how I did. I embellished it, made it funny, and improvised. All while I was reading off notes with incomplete sentences and points that didn't make sense. And I managed to make it sound like I knew what I was talking about. Amazing.

And on that note, I'd like to make a remark upon my group members. Three girls, three people doing Arts/Law, three Macbooks. Looks like my theory about the positive correlation between the amount of law students in the room and the amount of Macbooks in the room is holding true so far.

The sad thing is, the presentation/debate wasn't marked. And there aren't even any participation marks to be gained out of it.

A good day. Just in the nick of time too.

Word of the Day: Meetings

Huggles

So first day back at uni after the break, and boy am I over it already. This due, that due, test next week, test this week, test in a month. Only eight more weeks left Andrew. Breathe easy.

And as if to reflect what kind of day it's going to be for me, the weather at uni is overcast, gloomy, windy, and steadily getting worse.

Feeling quite down in the dumps right now. Just wagged a lecture that could potentially be useful, and for a reason which I convinced myself was plausible - that is, I needed to finish my accounting assignment. Which I could've done some other time. I think the real reason was so that I could find certain people during this illegal break.

Which brings my to the next point about why I'm feeling a bit blue. I get worried when people don't pick up their phones. I know it's unreasonable, in that they've probably left it at home or something, but still. I just get worried that (a) something's happened to them, and (b) I've somehow upset them and they're not picking up because of that.

The third thing that's getting me all down is that I'm all alone at uni. And I don't operate very well when I'm alone at uni.

There was a brief spark of brightness in all this gloom, however. Imesha bailed me out of my Accounting nightmare in a quick 40 minute debrief. Thank-you again. And I complained to Irene about our workload for a bit, which was therapeutic. After that, I ran into Meng. And after that, I ran into Tim and Felita, two people that I haven't seen for absolutely ages. Hugs all around. Love hugs. Gave me a boost. For about five minutes.

Actually, I think the picking up the phone thing aside and the current loneliness, it's been an alright day so far. If only that phone would get picked up.

Word of the Day: Telephone

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

More like Taylor Lag

Weird. 'You Belong With Me' makes me really sad. There are a few Taylor Swift songs that make me sad actually. I think she's got the whole yearning thing down pat really well. However, once you start looking at some of the lyrical depth, it really makes you cringe. But props to her for being a musical prodigy.



I think like, two of her songs touch something in me because a) the person who's singing could be me, except more masculine and b) I wish someone felt the way that the person singing the song feels about the guy she's singing about. Yes, I know how weird that whole statement was. That's just the way it is. I'm not even sure if what I'm saying is accurate. I'm a sucker for sweet romance, which is exactly what those two songs are. I know it hardly ever happens, but I have been described as a hopeless romantic before, and I believe that's a big problem of mine. I also noticed in that song how much make-up can change a girl. The Evil One and the Good One are both the same person, in case you didn't notice. But the way they're made up makes them completely different. The next one is also one which I was hung up on for quite a while. Not so applicable now, but could be relevant in the future. Hopefully not, but very well could be. I try and keep my teardrops to a minimum, if I can help it.




"I laugh cos it's just so funny." As I said, lyrical dexterity sometimes drops off the pace somewhat, but I cut her a lot of slack, because she's like, 12. Or 19. I don't really know which one. I just know she's quite young. Respect.

On to life now! Contrary to popular belief, I do know that I have been neglecting the boyz. I'm sorry guys. It's just really hard to find time for y'all at uni, and my phone bill is also getting run up again this month. I have really bad breaks, and I don't want to ditch Irene in between our classes, because apart from her being my friend, she also never ditches me. I'm trying to get you guys in, but I hope you understand. I mean, if she wasn't my friend, then no worries. But she's a good friend, and you don't ditch good friends. Which is ironic, seeing as I'm doing this to you guys. But it's less direct. And I am trying to make amends. Having said that, I'm quite content with life right now. Apart from not seeing some people as much as I would like, and seeing one particular person far too often than I would like, it's not been a bad start to uni.

Word of the Day: Swift