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.

Deloittering about the city.

So I took an action-packed journey out to the city last night to have dinner with a few Deloitte friends.

And it was action-packed. Some guy got sick on the train, so we had to stop for about fifteen minutes. Pretty full-on stuff. Had to call an ambulance for him. Felt pretty bad for him, then felt kind of guilty because I started being slightly concerned about being late, then finally settled for feeling bad about both. Making it doubly bad. Or bad squared.

Anyway, I hope he's alright.

Dinner was good. Wish there could've been a few more people there. Not for the sake of having more people, but just because there were people that I wanted to catch up with that weren't there.

Not that I didn't want to catch up with the people that were there. And great people they were. And probably still are. In fact, we had such a good time, that three hours flew by like...a spaceship. On high speed. Or something.

Getting a Charmander plushie (all the way from Japan!) from Phuong last night was pretty much the highlight of this midsem break. Either I don't have very exciting breaks, or Charmander's just that awesome that he has the ability to change my psyche. For the sake of my pride, we'll go with the latter. Cheers Phuong!

(I'm still pretty excited about it).

There's the little fella. Isn't he just adorbs?

In other news, I finished the Huanger Hunger Games trilogy last night. Took me about a week all up.

If you think that's an amazing feat, try it for yourself. Really not that hard, and I'm a fairly slow, albeit dedicated, reader. There's a lot of space in between sentences, the font's big, and there's a lot of action that frankly, doesn't make much sense even when I read it carefully, so I just skim over it.

If I were to plot the books on a chart, the resultant curve would be a negative linear line. For those that are not mathematically inclined (like me), that means that they got progressively worse.

The first one was good. I loved the first one.

The second one was like, wow, you just spent half the book touring the country, and the other half going through the Hunger Games again. Except this time, in less detail, because you've already done it once.

Third one was pretty excruciating. Katniss spends half the time either insane or wallowing in a very deep well of self-pity and pain. I actually derived very little enjoyment from reading it, because the whole thing is just too much death and destruction raining down on one poor soul. The ending is also pretty bad. She tries to tie it all off in one chapter, which, to me, seems too cursory and casual.

Looking forward to the next movie though. Should be better than the book anyhow.

Probably a good idea to go sleep now.

Word of the Day: Charmander

The thoughts of a veteran

First day back at uni. I think it's time for some observations from the perspective of a fifth-year veteran.

• Driving a hot car does not imbue one with a talent for parking. Especially if one is a red P-plater. 
• There are a lot of young people at uni. 
• Young people are really loud. 
• People drive to uni a lot slower in Week 1. 
• It is always rainy and windy in this place. Always. 
• People are studying already. Bizarre. 
• Books are really dense. 
• Monash is really ugly. 
• It's so much easier catching up with people at uni than during holidays. Counterintuitive. 
• Parking is hilariously full in Week 1. I enjoy watching it slowly taper off during the semester. 
• They say they're upgrading the facilities. All I can see is things being taken apart, and the amount of rubble and gravel increasing around campus.

Despite all my grumbles, this place makes me feel alive. So much to do, so much to see. So many friends in the one place. I'm glad that most of them are doing degrees that are as long, or longer, than my own. Can't imagine how lonely it'd be without them here.

In more important news, my Alice in Wonderland diary arrived today. Sissy? Yeah. Awesome? Hell yeah.

Now to put stuff in it.

Word of the Day: Veteran 

It's been a while

A little bit less than 10 years ago, I stood in my backyard, with a newspaper in my hands. I stared at the front page for probably a full three minutes before taking inside and showing my parents.

Looking back, I'm actually quite astounded at how I knew, or at least felt, that the bombing of the World Trade Centre, what was to become known as the September 11 attacks, was going to have a massive effect.

It has. In so many ways. Economically. Culturally. Politically. Spiritually, even.

I can't say I felt sad right then. That would be a lie. Probably because I'm not American, and those weren't my people. I do feel really sorry for those that died, as well as their families. Having said that, I also feel sorry for people that die in war, and their families.

I can only imagine what I would be like if something like that happened in Melbourne (touchwood that it never does). I would be angry. Even if nobody I knew was affected, I'd still be angry beyond belief.

That's what sucks about terrorist attacks. And, I guess, any kind of attack. I'd be angry because I, and 99.99% of the people in Australia, have no beef with any country, or any race. We're just trying to mind our own business, and do things. The same goes for the guys living in Iraq, or in Afghanistan. Most of them are just trying to take care of their families.

They want enough rice. They don’t want to be shot at. They want one day to be much the same as another. They don’t want our white skins around telling them what they want. 

- Graham Greene, The Quiet American

While the novel is about the American invasion of Vietnam, I find it interesting, and poignant, that the same could be said for the people on the other side of the proverbial fence. Except maybe substitute 'rice' with just 'food'.  

So, in summary, I think war just sucks. In so many ways. No matter which side you're on.

On a slight tangent, this also made me realise how much times have changed. I would've been in about Year 7 then, and I don't think I'd even contemplated the existence of online news. Probably not disimilar to most of the citizens of the world at the time. Now that's my primary source of news. Truly amazing, when you think about it. The leaps and bounds that we can make in 10 years. 

Rest in peace, victims of war. 

Word of the Day: September

Pottering about (oh snap)

So being the geniuses that you all undoubtedly are, I'm sure that you can tell from the title that I did, in fact, watch Harry Potter today.

Not just any Harry Potter. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, to be exact. Part 1, to improve on this exactness.

And no, I didn't see it by myself. I saw it with Banh and Orrin, if you must know. But those are extraneous details.

We walked into the cinema, and Banh chose the seats that were not our designated seats, and were very much not next to the girls that we were supposed to be next to (damn). Then, while we were watching the movie, I discovered that they were big fans of laughing, giggling and generally making a big fuss every time Harry took his shirt off (well played after all, Banh).

Anyway. The movie.

Probably the best one so far, even though it's not actually a completed movie. Actually, the sixth one probably just shades it, but there's still a Part 2 to come (lame). It's probably a decent movie because, like I've maintained for many years now, the seventh book was written like a movie script. A bad movie script. A pretty bad book (bad, as in I think it would be classified under bad writing if it weren't a Harry Potter book), but it always had the potential to be made into a decent movie. Acting's slightly meh, but it's always been like that. I think the thing that really does it is how well it's filmed. Very thoughtfully produced, I thought, and beautifully camera-ed (yeah, that's a word. Or, at least, it is now).

Also, ending (or according to Banh, "The Halftime Break") = lame. Don't say I didn't warn you.

It's kind of sad though. The movie, I mean. In the literal way. Harry Potter really was the phenomenon of our time. Masterfully written, appealing to all ages. It brought reading back to the masses, and, in the words of some critic or other "permeated the public consciousness" to a level seldom achieved by books. I'll probably write a bit more on it after Part 2. Actually, I'll definitely write more about it.

Here's the theme, which I love.

It suits the film very well.

Alright, that's all for now. I'm off to read the new Ranger's Apprentice book that I didn't know was out, even though it was out on the 1st. Well, I'll start reading it if and when Sarah decides she should go to bed because she has school (or something) tomorrow, and decides to give me the book.

Word of the Day: Potter

Negative parabola?

Ok, so some of my friends have either forgotten that I exist, are ignoring me, or just don't rank me high enough in the grand scheme of things to give me even a courtesy call.

But that's ok.

I've tried. Many times in some cases. Sometimes I find it hard to come to terms with the fact that effort doesn't always yield results. Actually, this occurs quite often. I have a bad habit, or a good habit in some circumstances, of believing that you can almost fix anything if you put enough effort/time/money into it.

But over time, I've sort of become more and more accepting of effort not equating to results. I've come to accept that you can't really do much more than try your hardest. In the case with relationships and friends, trying hard without seeming too pushy/annoying. Once you get to that annoying stage, where the other person has nothing but contempt for you, you should've stopped trying earlier, because that's the point where you've tried your hardest. It's like a negative parabola.

In other news, I worked for my dad again today. Man, his work has a lot of variety. The other day, it was putting cement sheeting on walls. Lots of the time it's tiling walls or floors. Today, we were jackhammering mud and concrete, and I was shoveling it out of there. I really empathise with the guys in that book I read in Year 8, Holes. It's about these guys who have to dig a five foot by five foot hole in the desert every day at this illegal camp called Camp Green Lake, ostensibly as punishment for their crimes. It's a great, great book, but I just felt first hand how tough it would be to dig a hole that big every day. In the desert. I mean, I was digging for like, 40 minutes, with mini-breaks, in Melbourne weather, and my fingers and knees were killing me by the end.

I also drove there and back. I'm starting to regain some of my skills in driving. Some. My close control has gotten a lot better already. Or maybe it's just my confidence.

Saturday night was a good one. Best work people reunion dinner ever. Basically it turned out being the people that I hang around with at uni, and happen to be some of my closest friends. Oh, and Kira. Looking forward to Banh's Australia Day shindig tomorrow. Should be a 'stoking' good one. Sorry, in-joke.

Word of the Day: Ditched