London 2012 Closing Ceremony.

Or as I like to call it, the Greatest Gig That Ever Was, And Ever Will Be.

Yeah, almost as catchy as the Olympic Anthem.

As I was saying, best gig ever.

At which other gig would you get most-of-Oasis, most-of-Queen, The Spice Girls, Taio Cruz, Jessie J, The Who, David Bowie, George Michael, Take That, One Direction, Beatles songs, Russell Brand singing a Beatles song, and more besides?

None other, that's right.

I don't even like half those guys that I just listed, but other people might. And thus, it adds to a cumulative awesome. If you know what I mean.

And yes, they only had three-quarters of Oasis. They were only missing THEIR BEST QUARTER. And yes, Liam's voice is incredibly nasally now. But whatever. They sang Wonderwall, and if I'm not very much mistaken, it got the biggest cheer/singalong of the night bar Spice Girls. Or at least, the biggest singalong. Such a stadium song.

Obviously, the spectacle wasn't as OMG amazeballs at the Opening Ceremony, but whatever. I'm in it for the music, man.

Seriously. I actually watched 0 minutes of sporting activities.

But Opening and Closing Ceremonies, I'm there. Especially if they're British.

Brazil 2016 should also be a riot. I don't know what it is about samba music, but it makes me want to move.

So goodbye London. I liked you. You have a certain charm about you that I can't quite attribute to one particular feature about you. I'm gonna be deep and say it's your soul and personality that I'm attracted to.

Back to news from Andrewland.

As usual, nothing overly exciting to report. Just finished off my major essay for the Holocaust unit that I went to Europe for. Yes, there was work involved for that.

Also, I'm kind of starting to make a mini-breakthrough with my thesis. Don't tell anyone, but I think how breakthroughy I get with my thesis, and work in general, may be positively correlated with me actually working on it/talking to people that know more stuff about it about it (yeah, repeated words no typo!)

PS. What's with people calling it the 'Closing Ceremonies'? I noticed it with the Opening Ceremony as well. They were trending on Twitter and all as well. It drives me mad. It's almost as annoying as 'Daylight savings'. Urgh.

There are many things that I would like to say to you, but I don't know how.

Word of the Day: Andrewland

It was a jolly good show, wot.

The Opening Ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games was fairly amazing.

Yes, I realise it was almost a week ago. What of it?

It was just an epic bombardment of English cultcha. Which I love.

English music, English people, English history, English literature, English language, James Bond and David Beckham (yeah, that's right, separate category for them). Love it all. And most of it was there. Except for the medievalness and stuff.

The pyrotechnics were also pretty amazing. The Olympic Rings dripping gold, the genius of the cauldron lighting, the fireworks spray. The lighting of the cauldron was a bit anti-climatic, however. I kind of didn't realise it was happening until the cauldron caught on fire.

Dripping fiah.

The only part that was really bad was the absence of any reference to Oasis. Like, what. At least they atoned by putting Paul McCartney and Arctic Monkeys in.

I also did really like the literary references though. Dickens, J. M. Barry, J. K. Rowling.

Conclusion: did not feel like a drag, creative, fresh, and full of stuff that I love. Good stuff.

So what of the Olympics themselves?

I'm kind of in the non-caring boat, uncaring away. I've taken a morbid curiosity in the controversies - you know, the alleged drug taking by Chinese swimmer, badminton game throwing - but apart from that, not much interest.

The whole Chinese swimmer thing is a farce. I think she's taken drug tests, etc. There's no need for all this slander and accusation. The Americans and the British should never have started it, the Chinese should never have responded in the way that they did.

The badminton involves the Chinese as well. This time, deservedly so. If you're going to throw the game, at least make it subtle. The manner in which they did it just smacks of sheer arrogance.

Not only do they want to throw the game, but they want to throw it in such a way that everybody knows that they're not trying. So they want the practical advantages of throwing a game, without losing any face. That's not the way it works. People pay and give up time to watch these games.

It's also arrogant because of the fact that they assume that both Chinese teams are a shoe-in for the final.

In sum, it's disrespectful to everyone. The paying public, the game, the Olympic spirit (not that I'm a big believer in that anyway).

So what am I actually going to watch? Maybe the football final. Not predictable at all, me.

Word of the Day: Jolly.

Surprise Song Sunday: Don't Look Back In Anger - Oasis.

To make up for the lack of Oasis at the Opening Ceremony. 60 years of English music history, and no Oasis. I ask you.

Word of the Day: English

These could be the best days of our liiiiives.

The more astute of you would have realised that I have been back home for a while now. Up until now, I haven't really found the effort to write about it. But here I am, backstory and all explaining why I've taken so long to do what I'm about to do.

Right into it then.

Hong Kong was fun. Saw some relos, which is always a good experience, given that I see them about once every half a century. Or something. I also bought far, far more than I should have, mostly because stuff is so cheap there, but also mostly because stuff is a lot more cooler over there.

By stuff, I mean clothes and stuff. Hey, I never claimed to be a wordsmith.

The trip as a whole was absolutely amazing. Yes, there were difficult moments. Yes, it was a long time to be away from home. Yes, it did cost me a fair bit. But you know, it was all in the name of learning and having fun. And all of the experiences I had, all the stuff I learnt, all the places I visited, all the sights I saw, all the fantastic people I met, all the tan I got, made all the minute difficulties worth it.

I am, however, glad to be home. There's nothing quite like going overseas to strange countries (I'm looking at you, Poland and Lithuania) to make you realise how great Australia really is. I also got a bit sick of living in hotel rooms, not driving myself around, and just generally being semi-beholden to what fate/mischance had in store for me.

I also missed people back home. Friends, family, etc.

And Melbourne water. That stuff is heavenly. They should export that stuff. Especially to Poland, where the water is acidic and filled with mercury. Or something.

Coming back home, however, means dealing with all the homie stuff. You know, assessments, thesis, losing my tan, readjusting to actually having to do work, remembering to not start speaking Polish to people (I'm pretty much fluent in Polish now, it's kind of like my mother tongue, except my mother isn't from Poland), readjusting to the fact that people aren't surprised at the fact that I speak English, and reverting back to not enunciating clearly when speaking with strangers. Not all of that is necessarily bad, but I'll let you sort out which is which.

Thesis is killing me a little bit. I'm still trying to figure out which direction I'm going to take it in. Urgh.

And because I didn't get enough of England (or lack of sleepness) on my trip, I'm going to do a pre-dawn wake-up to watch the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games, which, for my friends who dwell under rocks, is in England this time around. I'll see you online tomorrow morning then.

Word of the Day: Back

The Holidays that Never Were

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

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

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

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

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

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

Word of the day: Olympics

Deja Vu

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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