Almost floating.

After passing FIN, I feel like a massive weight has been lifted off my shoulders. There's no nagging feeling of anxiety in the back of my mind, no planning of doomsday hypotheticals, less random nights of sleeplessness, reduced bouts of random melancholy, and confidence slightly boosted. 

Yes, it was that serious. I was almost certain I failed. Always seems stupid once you've passed. 

To celebrate, I chanced upon a bar called 1806 - recommended by Liz. Evelyn was nice enough to join me for a celebratory drink. Highly recommend the 'Blue Blazer' cocktail. It looked freaking amazing. Just this blue comet falling out of the sky, trailing a blaze of fire behind it. Alien in its beauty, slightly terrifying to behold, and majestic in its countenance. 

No, I don't know what it tastes like. I'm sure it's good though. According to the bartender, it tastes 'nice'. 

Case closed. 

Afterwards, the grads and I attended my birthday dinner thing. Good times. 

And now I'm back into studying for Tax. 

Sighface. 

Word of the Day: Countenance 

Misfortunate.

A litany of misfortune yesterday (which I actually found quite funny):

1. My FIN test decided to call it halfway through yesterday. This unfortunate incident actually carried over to today, as I had to call the CA people and start doing it from where it left off.

2. My lunch came out last out of five people.

3. It was also very small.

4. It also didn't really taste that good.

5. I missed golf because nobody picked up their phone.

6. I paid $9 for parking, when Safeway had it for free.

7. There was no football on. Not sure if that's a Sunday thing or a Saturday thing. Whatever. Point being, it wasn't on.

On a happier note, most of that trail of destruction was counterbalanced by being in good company for the better part of the day, and, in the case of point 1, having awesome people help me through it.

Yep. Cool.

Word of the Day: Litany

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  

  

Venetian decadence + Rome-ing

So yeah, Milan, didn’t manage to do a whole lot there. Basically saw the Duomo, got lost on the way back, found my way back to the hotel eventually, then left the next morning for Venice.

Venice was quite nice. The architecture, the wateriness, and music, and all that was lovely.

The prices of things, however, were definitely not nice. Certainly not for the faint-hearted/poor. Patrick  shouted me, to repay my shouting of the Bordeaux dinner, what is, if not the most expensive coffee in the world, the most expensive coffee I've ever had. 5,80 euro (they use commas instead of decimal points over there, dontcha know - culcha) for the live music charge (there was live music played - it worked out to be about a euro a song), plus about 9 euro for the coffee itself. It did, however, come with complimentary chips and water. And they did play 'La Vie En Rose'. You know, that song by Rachael Leachar (lololol I just mocked mX readers). Yippee. Cheers Paddy.

Also, everything there seemed really manufactured. Even the skies the next morning when we were leaving looked manufactured, and they were to a certain extent. They had those planes spraying white lines in the perfectly clear blue skies.

Everything seemed to exist purely to suck money away from tourists. There were very few, if any, organic sort of businesses that exist to serve the needs of everyday citizens. This may be because there are very few ordinary everyday citizens. I don’t think I saw any locals apart from those sucking money from tourists. A very nice place on the surface, but quite cynical underneath I think.

So as I write this up, I’m sitting in the hotel lobby of my hotel in Rome. A very nice hotel, but a relative age away from anything worthwhile.

I don’t want to sound like I’m Rome-bashing, but there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot here, despite its size. It’s much the same as everywhere else, except less good. The tourist attractions (Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps) were nice, but the city itself, by and large, is not very beautiful. It’s a bit run-down and old, crowded and busy (especially the trains. Can you believe they have two train lines to service the entire city? Bizarre).

The highlight for me was probably Vatican City. A very nice place, and it had a great ambience to it.

The weather was also really hot. It’s only 30-odd degrees, but it’s sweltering from about 9am in the morning, right through to God knows when at night. I think it seems hotter because during the Melbourne summer, it usually only starts to really heat up at around midday, rather than pre-breakfast.

So now I am a nice shade of brown, and I travel to Florence in the few hours. Kind of wish I’d made the train earlier.

Word of the Day: Organic

Last day on the Gold Coast

And we just discovered five dollar breakfasts right below where we were staying.

We're eating them right now. Missed opportunities never tasted this good. Or this economical.

Word of the Day: Breakfast

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

My mind is numb

Oh my word.

This lecture is so stupifying on so many levels. I can't understand what he's saying, and, I believe that, even if I could, I still wouldn't understand it.

Uni in general has been quite underwhelming so far. Not as fun as it used to be. Maybe it's a result of the novelty wearing off, maybe it's the fact that I am overloaded (quite literally).

There have been some good bits, but it's kind of like the ratio between pork floss and bun in a pork floss bun from Breadtop, with the good bits being the pork floss. Yes. Now you have an accurate picture of what it's like. In your head at least. I can't really find a real accurate picture on the Internet.

I was actually reminiscing with James on Saturday about first year accounting, when we had classes together. And with everybody else. Everything seemed so good then. And it was.

Ah, I'm not even 21, and I'm reminiscing about old times.

I think this has been posted already. But it can never be posted enough.

Also, job interview tomorrow. Not feeling as syoopersonic as a week ago, but not feeling too bad either. A good place to be. Anyway, wish me luck!

Word of the Day: Breadtop

Another thought

A thought just occurred to me. This seems to be happening a lot. Spontaneity for the win.

Unless I'm mistaken, this concerns all of us. We, as humans, are preoccupied with the reason behind something. Always. Someone's late. Someone's broken a promise. A coconut falls from a palm tree and hits someone on the foot.

Knowing the reasons behind these things doesn't change the fact that they did happen.

However, something else just occurred to me. I mean, literally just now. We want to know these things because we want accountability. We want to be able to be angry, or at least rectify the problem. We want to make things better, or, at the polar opposite, cut it off completely.

What a stupid thought.

Banh's Australia Day shindig was quite awesome yesterday. The food was very nice, and the company, as always, was excellent. Well, most of the company consisted of my friends, so that's understandable really.

Anyway, the food was quite creative more than anything. Seared lamb gyoza, salmon rice paper rolls, puff pastry with hoisin sauce, and black forest trifle for dessert. I have a feeling that I've left something out, but that'll do for now. Sounds delicious enough as it is.

I also watched most of the Nadal loss there. Most saddening.

These things are awesome. The shindig, I mean. Not the Nadal losing. Takes my mind off things. Not that it's on a lot of things. Just a few things which I get overly stressed by.

Word of the Day: Australia Day

Une nuit de poker

Who would've thought that the French also call it poker. Gambling is universal, it seems.

Um. Bonjour.

So last night was poker night with the lads plus Kylie. Females reprezent. Despite my fears that not enough people would come, seven people seemed just the right amount. Any more and I would've just been making Martinis and apple ciders all night long.

So like, I expected James to be a massive poker shark and kill us all, along with his cousin, who're always like "Pokerpokerpoker, nownownow." It turns out that Kyle T is some hardcore gambler who eats people like James for breakfast.

One of the stupidest/funniest moments of the night, nay ever, was Banh's cooking misadventure.

Banh: "Hey, Andrew's mum, uhhh, why is your oven so, like, not hot?"
My mother: "Uhh, it's kinda, like, not on."
Me: "You couldn't have asked me, could you? You just had to wait until mother came home."

The tarts themselves were quite...interesting. Artfully done. See, they couldn't be eaten normally. You had to kind of...drink them. Yeah. Get your head around that. Tarts that need to be drunk. Didn't taste half bad. But apparently they weren't supposed to turn out that runny. Who would've thought it.

Yeah, I have issues with my poker playing. It keep getting into the last two people, then bam! It all goes downhill. It may have something to do with my opponent always having a mountain of chips, and me having diddly squat.

All in all, a fairly good do I thought. Next up, Wii night.

Word of the Day: Poker

Lip sinking

What's the big deal about Britney Spears lip synching? Like, hello, she's been doing it ever since her first album. She's never been a very good singer, so what's new? It's almost like going to a Michael Jackson concert and making a big deal out of him dancing and singing live and not lip synching. I won't say who cares, because obviously people do, but I just think it's been completely blown out of proportion, and the reaction has been way, way, way above anything that I'd have expected. It's like the people that paid for the tickets expected her to not lip synch. When I put it like that, how weird does it sound?

Last night, I went to the first of many social events lined up for me these holidays. Banh had his 20th, and it was Friday the 13th. Nothing bad happened, unless you count Victor burning the food a bit. Good food and cool people all around. Sounds like a party I went to once. Oh, and good music, once I changed it to Ursher.

The food was very good. Vast improvement from when I first ate it. Not that it was bad in the first place. Which makes the improvement all the more surprising. Yes.

Yes. I'm suddenly feeling all pops, to use Yvonne terminology. Which is a very, very foreign feeling. Apart from that, things are starting to look on the up, except for being jobless. I shouldn't have said that. Every time I do, my world falls to pieces around me. But I can't help it.

Word of the Day: Britney

Andrew thinks...again

Yes, it's such a rare occurrence that it deserves a mention. There is a reason for this. I'm in my management tute. And we are talking about essay writing. Which means time for thinking.

There's this girl that keeps eying me off in my tute. Either she finds me weird or...she finds me strange. Maybe even both. At the same time. She also has a very...interesting dress sense. Yeah. They don't call me King of Understatement (c) for no reason.

So owing to the fact that I started this post in my tute and I'm finishing it now, I'm going to talk about the dinner that I had with Kelvin and James. Apart from being a very good catch-up session, I also saw the funniest thing that I've seen in a while. There was sign outside La Porchetta that said "$12 buffet". That's not funny in itself. The funny thing was that it was in Chinese. No English. Just Chinese. I think they are very good at targeting a specific market segment. Needless to say, we went in, because Kelvin can read Chinese.

So all up, it was 15 bucks each, and all you could eat off the pasta and pizza menu, and unlimited soft drink. Yay. Should do it again sometime.

Now. On to the promised thinking part. Really, I had a thought. I've just forgotten it now. So you'll have to be content with a second-rate musing.

On the bus to Box Hill (shudder), I saw a gangsterrrr Melbourne High guy with spiky hair. Well, I think that's the only type of MHS guy you get nowadays. And he looked really gangsterrrr. And then, when he sat down, he busted out a book. Like, a full-on epic novel. In English, not Japanese manga, which I thought it was originally. And I just thought it strange that no matter how hardcore MHS guys look, deep down, they're always ner...I mean... academically-inclined. Bizarre.

Word of the Day: Gangsterrrrr