Dunno.

I don't know if I've lost the plot or what, but I've caught myself angrily muttering 'Shut the hell up' to my computer screen over the last few days. Mostly in reaction to stuff that people post on Facebook.

Then again, it might just be an increasing quantity of 'shut the hell up' posts on Facebook.

Who knows.

Word of the Day: Plot

I'm exhausted.

It seems like however much I sleep, it's not enough.

I probably really need a holiday, and to get back in touch with the world outside of work. Work right now is this big leviathan that sort of blocks out everything else. Problem is, I pretty much have nobody to go with. I've thought about going it alone, but that has its own complications as well.

Sadface.

Word of the Day: Complications

Random funny things.

A few quirky/funny things I've noticed over the past little while:

1. When people leave comments on a photo album on Facebook, and the album gets updated semi-frequently. Funny for a number of reasons:
(a) The commenter usually thinks that their comment applies only to a single photo in the album. The comment therefore eventually becomes completely irrelevant as the album gets updated, sometimes leading to often hilarious disparities between the photos being posted and the original comment.
(b) The comment pops up every time the uploader uploads a photo to the album.

2. The temperature within a train carriage has a direct positive correlation with the amount of rain pouring down outside.

3. It's funny how 99% of the population assumes that accountants are good at tax. I mean, I can see why they would, but it's just funny, in the sense that it's completely alien to most of us. Like getting a baker to cook seafood.


Completely unrelated (because all that other stuff above was really related and intertwined), but this Coldplay song:



Word of the Day: Quirky

Happy one year.

365 days ago, I started full time work.

Nothing really prepares you for it. Even vac work, working full 8-hour days for four weeks, didn't really get me ready for it. It wasn't until I was well and truly stuck in that it sort of sunk in, that this full-time work thing was for, more or less, the next 40 years.

It seems stupid when I put it out there, but there it is. There's some kind of Chinese proverb/wise Mum saying that my mum often says, which goes something along the lines of:

"Everyone knows that a cut on the arm is painful. But you don't truly know what the pain feels like until you've been cut."

Given all of that, a year of 9-to-5, five week days would've been a bit of a shock to the system. Especially coming out of uni, where starting at 10 and finishing at 4 was considered a long day, and not having at least one day class-free was considered by many to be some kind of human rights infringement.

I won't bore you with all the details, but suffice to say it's been much more than 9-to-5, five week days. In more ways than one. The hours, the experiences.

And just when you think you've almost got a handle on the whole work-life thing, CA starts.

And now you have to re-adjust that equation to work-life-study. It ends up looking more like work-life-study.

I've learned an incredible amount, and I've been thrown in the deep end more times than I can count. The two probably go hand-in-hand a little bit. The number of times that I've done work, and seen somebody a couple of years more senior sign off on last year's equivalent is getting more and more frequent.

I'd like to think it's made me stronger. The truth is, I don't really know. Technically, professionally, and auditing-ly, most definitely yes. Physically and emotionally, I'm starting to feel a little bit drained. I think this is what burnout feels like.

Especially from the start of January, it's just been go-go-go. Not even client to client. More client (not really finished) to client (not really finished) to client. I'd rather be busy-ish than have absolutely nothing to do, for a variety of reasons. One, it means people are liking what you're doing. Two, doing nothing gets boring pretty quickly. Three, if you're not doing, you're not learning.

But I would've liked a couple of days of nothing somewhere along the line. Or even an easier client. Not even to do nothing, but just to do some admin stuff.

When you're on a bad run, nothing works. The client this week was supposed to be pretty good, and out in Dandenong. Just a one weeker, nothing major, and close to home.

Nek minit, client not ready until Thursday, working from the office. Looks like it's going to be a mad scramble to the end on Thursday and Friday.

I'm planning on booking a few weeks of leave for later in the year. No idea what I'm going to do with it yet, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

It could've been worse. I have friends in other industries that get worked much, much harder. Heck, I have friends at other clients that get worked much, much harder.

Still doesn't stop me from feeling slightly burned out though.

At least I've got two CA subjects in my pocket now. It feels like I'm limping through them, but if I can pull that off for the next three, I'd be over the moon. I'm calling it now, drinks on me.

A major plus is that I've met some fantastic people. Not only people from my level, but people from other levels as well. The great thing about rotating through a number of teams is the variety of people you get to meet, and if you don't like them, or if they don't like you, you're rid of them for a long time. And if you do happen to get along, there are ways of keeping in touch.

I've also worked on some pretty cool clients, and travelled to some pretty cool places. Well, cool places being Perth. Sydney not so much. Mainly because of the workload.

To bring it full-circle (for the first time in months uncounted, HR have managed to nail something, and probably by accident), I met the buddy that's been assigned to me today. Youthful vitality is refreshing. I'll try and keep it for a bit longer.

Word of the Day: Circle

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

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

Urgh

Urgh.

I'm in such an urgh type of mood right now.

It's when you want to study, and you know you really, really should, but just can't be bothered.

I really shouldn't be burnt out. Because being burnt out would mean I've actually done some work.

All this, after a (relatively) good day yesterday, when I found out that people do occasionally remember my existence, and when I caught up with a few friends I hadn't seen in a while. There was a slight blot, but that was more to do with what didn't happen than what actually happened. Stupid lectures. Always getting in the way of my social life.

Today, I also re-discovered this gem from A Keys. She's so cool. Like, gangsta cool.

I just realised (like, literally, just) that it has a little bit of relevance to me. Crazy.

Anyway, it's off her first album, 'Songs in A Minor.' Top album, that one. Just a really good record to chuck on and just chill to. Very groovy, laid-back and soulful. Not unlike me, in a way. In one very specific way. In one very, specific, hard-to-find way. Almost invisible, actually. So much so that I can't even find it all that often.



Word of the Day: Urgh

A bit of quoteage

Monday seriously cannot come quick enough.

I've been meaning to study, and work, and stuff, but it just hasn't been happening. Bad study habits, developed as a result for being a semi-genius in primary school and early secondary school. Or I like to think that. It's a better than just admitting that I just have issues getting started on work, and I procrastinate far too much. Like, I look for novel ways to procrastinate. Blogging, for instance. And that's unintentional procrastination. It begs the question: how often do I procrastinate intentionally.

But things should start getting good from Monday, starting with dinner at Linda Gao's, where I'll be acting as the resident taxi driver/chef/waiter. According to Meng, acting in the capacity of a taxi driver automatically makes my name Sanjay. Every time I hear that name, I think of the chubby Indian kid in the year below us at Melbourne High, who I saw at Sofia's once.

Anyway, an update on the Ultimate Man project. A description of the Ultimate Man project can be found here.

I'm making more money than I ever have. My friends are mostly cool with me. I'm getting along fine and dandy with my family. I've discarded people in my life who have been detrimental to me. I have a car. I'm tanker than I have been in living memory. I got into the interview stage of KPMG, who incidentally still haven't contacted me yet. So the only things that are missing from this picture, at this point in time, is a girl, and getting tanker. Weird how the first is probably the most important, and hardest to attain, section of the project, and the latter takes consistent, frequent dedication and time commitment. As someone once said:

Nothing worth having comes easy.

It's great. It's almost on par with this quote, which is also very relevant:

It's weird that whatever else is on your mind, whether it's the downfall of global economics or terrible environmental troubles, the thing that always gets you most is when you fancy someone.

Thank-you, Chris Martin. I love that quote. I think I actually came up with it before hearing about it, but he's more famous, so he gets it out there first. Damn thief.

So I'm still working on the project. Fun times in prospect.

Word of the Day: Project

Exstrospective

Today I'm going to take a break from the introspective stuff, even though there's a lot to talk about. I'm just sick of talking about it, and I'm sure you're sick of hearing about it.

Time to talk some physical changes.

So like, at the start of the holidays, I weighed 97 kilos, down three from my peak of 100 or so. Then, I slowly climbed back up.

For some strange reason or another, now I'm back down to 95. And I've gained muscle from working out a bit. So it's like a double win. Better keep it up.

I'm at a strange stage...um...physique-wise. I'm starting to see some muscle beneath all that flab. And I can even see some abs. So the answer, I guess, is to lose the flab. Biking, swimming, and all that jazz.

I thought swimming would help my knee. It hasn't. It's destroying it. It's worse than before now. It hurts going up stairs sometimes.

The good thing is, (I think) I don't actually look as fat as I am. I don't know if people are being nice or not, but when I ask them, people generally say around 80. And I can sort of tell by deduction that they don't really consider me fat, because they tell fat jokes around me. It's like how you don't tell Asian jokes around Asians, but if you don't consider them Asian, then it's alright. Or maybe I'm just pushing it a bit far. Story of my life.

Anyway, I shall continue along this path to becoming The Ultimate Man. So the physique part is coming along alright. The girlfriend part has stalled somewhat, for reasons unknown to me. Studies are sort of going alright, what with the crazy real estate thing. I told my family how much they mean to yesterday night. God, that took guts. After that, I don't think many other things will make me nervous, apart from telling a girl that I like her. That might come close.

That just highlights how much I hide in my shell emotionally. Also, it highlights how I have recently developed a tendency to be introspective.

But yes. Ultimate Man. I also have a car, albeit by the grace of my parents. I have also opened up a bit to my friends, and I think they know I care about them. Onwards, Andrew, onwards.

Word of the Day: Exstrospective

Wishful thinking episode 1, 076, 980

It was a glorious day. The sun, glittering through the leaves still wet with morning dew, made the air warm, but not scorching or humid. A slight cool breeze was slightly perfumed with the smell of newly-bloomed flowers, with a hint of the earthy smell of trees. The birds sang sweetly, and the bees were buzzing busily about their business. In other words, a day perfect for sitting under the sun on a patch of grass and reading, or listening to music, or just sitting and chilling. Perhaps with a drink in hand.

__________________________________________________

As you may or may not have guessed, the day described is today. And the day before. And the day before that.

It's a shame really, but one can't really study for exams in the garden. If only we didn't have exams.

And who needs them anyway? Useless things that they are. Alternatively, instead of moaning and complaining, I could construct a table outside and study there. Yes. Because I'm really good at constructing tables. Of the outside variety. In one day. Good idea again Andrew.

Word of the Day: Garden

Just in case there's ever a war in Australia

Over the last couple of days, due to increasing amounts of time being holed up in my room, I've come to the realisation that I could live in my room, without ever leaving it, for at least three days.

I have a laptop with Wi-Fi, so I can stay connected to the outside world. I have a mobile phone, so I can stay connected to the outside world in a less nerdy way. I have a charger for said mobile phone, so I don't run out of power when communicating with the outside world. There's a PSP AND a DS, both of which I can download games for from the Internet on my laptop. I can even watch TV on my laptop, like I was doing last night. I have massive speakers, which I can hook up to my laptop or iPod, and fulfill my music needs when I don't want to communicate with the outside world, or when I'm watching TV. On the floor, there are about five soccer balls, two decks of playing cards, a shelf of Lego, and stacks of novels. There is a clarinet and a guitar. Just so that I don't run out of steam on either of these, I have about six guitar picks and about a years supply of reeds.

I even have food in my room, although this is due to the fact that I use two bags for uni, so when I switch I forget to take them out, then I pack too many the next time I use it, so I take them out, etc. I think I may even have a bottle of water under the bed, although cardiac arrest could occur if I were to drink from it. I can even study in my room, as all my textbooks and whatnot are right here. As for bathroom needs...well, there's a big window there leading out to the garden...

All this is fine. I could hole myself up in my room for a week, nay a month. But the thing that I can't get in my room, one thing that I can't fulfill, which I have also discovered this week, is human company. I don't know why. I'm not even that social a person. But I guess I'm only not so social around people I don't know. But I like seeing people that I do know and like on a regular basis. A week is far too long a time without exterior contact, which is exactly what's going on. So in a way, I'm looking forward to the exam tomorrow, because then at least I'll be able to see my homies.

On to the game last night. Just in case you've been living under a rock, don't possess any form of technology, have an IQ of below 50, or you're an AFL fan (snap), the Socceroos played Japan last night for bragging rights, as both of them were already qualified for next year's World Cup.

I must say that Japan has a better second-string team than Australia does. And Australia does, at times, defend terribly.

But we have Cahill.

When Cahill plays, Cahill delivers. He is the Australian Steven Gerrard. Who else scores two for you when you're a goal down?

Another standout player, in my opinion, was Nick Carle. Give him a couple of years, and he could really be something. He's the player that Australia's been missing for a while now. Someone with a bit of class, trickiness and touch. Alternatively, they could just put Isaac in the team. The other teams would just forfeit out of fear, because they know that no matter what they do, they cannot stop the inexorable might of Isaac.

Word of the day: Bedroom

Woo! Hol...study break.

When we were young, a holiday was a holiday. No work. Just play. 

"Study breaks," as they call them now, are almost worse than proper uni. Millions of assignments to do and squillions of tests to revise for. 

They should at least make it two weeks. That would aneasthisize the pain a bit.

Word of the day: study break

Egged

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to a new blog layout. This Togepi layout marks the start of a new era in my blogging career. Not really, no. But I think it's pretty cool. Courtesy of my sister Sarah. I wouldn't have been able to do a new blog layout, and even if I could, I probably wouldn't be stuffed. But it doesn't matter what I think. Tell me what you think of it. That would be much appreciated.

So, "holidays" have been a week and a bit gone. Been studying hard (well, I think so) and generally haven't had much of a life. Talked to a few people on msn, but generally haven't had any human contact with friends as such. I'm gonna go insane soon if I don't. Which is quite a conundrum, seeing as I don't want school to start.

Actually I lie. Well, I don't. I saw friends at the VFL Grand Final gig that out (Tattam) Band did on the first Sunday of the "holidays." I count Yap and Jimmy. That is all. And maybe Simmo. The rest of the people there are pretty much tools.

Now, why am I so early, posting about random stuff? The Champions League match, of course. Man U vs Roma. What a rematch. We all know what happened last time they met. Well, some of us do. 7-1 or some such score line. But Man U don't look like they're going to repeat that with the current goalscoring form they're in. Looks like a bit of 1-0 to me. Lol, watching a replay of the caning now. Cronaldo on fire, as he was liable to be back then. And the match just started, and Louis Saha just headed thin air. And a good header it was. And Cronaldo has an awful haircut. It's almost worst than mine. Almost.

Arsenal top of the league. Study going mildly well. Football to watch. I'm almost a happy man. Except for the lack of human contact. And a decent pair of shorts. Well, anyway, I'll leave you all to watch the game. Or for those of you that don't, I leave you to do whatever you will. You just don't know what you're missing out on.