wafblog v3.0

Whoops. I had a draft sitting in WordPress since Thursday that I’d forgotten about. I’ve published it ‘as is’ cos I don’t even remember what else I was going to say. Plus, lots of other things have happened since then.

I graduated on Friday :D I shall be posting photos up soon. Turned out to be a rather hectic day – mainly because I slept in a bit (yeay!) and then mum made us late. But, I still made it to uni in time to get my gown, take a few photos and make it into the hall with time to spare. So that was pretty good. I also didn’t fall down the stairs after collecting my degree, which was a relief. It rained a little bit before the ceremony so we were quite worried that we wouldn’t be able to take any good photos, but afterwards the sun was out in full force. Quite lucky I must say. Also glad the ceremony only went for an hour so didn’t have to try to stay awake. The quote the guy used at the end was pretty amusing too – “Remember to always be yourself, after all, everyone else is taken”.

Manda, Mike and I headed off to the Arthouse to meet up with M1ke who also graduated on Friday in an earlier session. He was only here for a few days and I wanted to meet up with him before he went back to Japan forever. Didn’t end up staying there for long and not that many people turned up, but it was nice anyways. I’d organised dinner with my uni group and this had caused major heartache just planning it. I don’t really wish to rant about it again as I’ve ranted about it more than once now to several people and it’s out of my system. I am still a little disappointed but it’s ok, I’ve learnt my lesson. I enjoyed the meal at Macchiato and it was great to catch up with everyone. It’s difficult to organise those sorts of group outings now as everyone’s working and very busy in general so definitely nice that they made effort to come. After dinner, a couple of us went up to Danny and Cherryl’s office. Played foosball for a bit (lots of fun, but I’m so crap) and then ended up going to Pancakes with the others. I doubt I’ll be going back to Pancakes for a while. I should also note that of late, I’ve found service in the restaurants to be absolutely appalling. In Tony Romas they totally jipped us, in Macchiato it was just slow (and wrong) and in Pancakes it was also slow. For restaurants that are generally considered to be good this was rather frustrating.

Met up with Manda and M1ke for Thai on Saturday. I survived, so I’m happy. Of course, eating fried rice every time I go to a Thai restaurant could become boring very quickly. Plus, to me anyways, Thai food seems like Chinese food with chili and more oil. Neither of which I actually like. Didn’t do much else until the arvo, when Manda finished class. We decided we’d ‘wing it’ for once, and not plan out our entire day. So we made little paper thingies to choose our activities for us. This turned out to be ‘Zoo/Manly’ and then dinner at Kansai (all you can eat sushi for $25!). All you can eat sushi was awesome :D Although the sake was not so awesome and I am now all sushi’d out LOL. We ate quick enough to have time for a ferry trip to Manly and back, which was heaps nice. I think growing up in Sydney, or even Australia for that matter, you’re surrounded by water and beaches so there’s a great appreciation for those sorts of activities. I haven’t been on the harbour since the Anime Christmas Cruise about a year ago…

Not much has happened in the last few days. I’ve been really really tired though, not getting enough sleep due to my own fault mainly. It’s been really hot the last few days, which hasn’t helped. I couldn’t sleep on Monday night because it was so hot so I got out of bed and turned on the evaporative cooler. This was all well and good, except that I haven’t used it since last summer. So when I put on the oscillator there was this annoying *squeeeak* *squeeeak*. Bit hard to sleep to. Put on timer for 2 hours and all was good. Fell asleep only to wake up two hours later when the thing turned itself off -_- I seem to have used the squeak out of though, so that’s a plus :D

There were some major electricity issues in Sydney yesterday, although the most I was affected was when the lights flickered in the office and then the air-con shut down. It came back on about 2 minutes later though, so that was alright. The lights were flickering a bit the station and you weren’t able to use the escalators but that wasn’t a big deal. By the time I got home the southerly had hit so it cooled right down.

So I heard this on the radio in the car this morning, and it seemed like a pretty good song. I think I remember the incident that caused this song (or at least the “shut up and sing” part) and if I recall correctly there’s also a movie about it.

Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I’m not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I’m still waiting

I’m through with doubt
There’s nothing left for me to figure out
I’ve paid a price
And I’ll keep paying

I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go round and round and round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

I know you said
Can’t you just get over it
It turned my whole world around
And I kind of like it

I made my bed and I sleep like a baby
With no regrets and I don’t mind sayin’
It’s a sad sad story when a mother will teach her
Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they’d write me a letter
Sayin’ that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over

I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go round and round and round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I’m not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I’m still waiting
Dixie Chicks – Not Ready To Make Nice

 

Su’s back from Singapore, but only for a week. It was her birthday yesterday so we met up and did a few things. I’m amazed at how much we managed to fit into the day. I woke up at (what felt like) the crack of dawn to be at the Archery Range in Olympic Park by 9:15am. I haven’t done archery since I was in year 4 at camp. Needless to say, just getting the arrow to hit the target was considered a triumph. There’s so much to remember when preparing for your shot. You have to turn your elbow out, drop your shoulder, only use three fingers to pull the string back, close your right eye (if you’re left-handed) and then look through the sight guide to aim. After my first shot I remembered the turn my elbow out every time as I’m now sporting a very colourful bruise from the whiplash the string gave me. I forgot however to use only three fingers, and one of the instructors came up to me and was like “are you an accountant?” LOL. That was kind of creepy. But rather funny as well. The only other thing I kept forgetting was to close my right eye instead of my left. I missed quite a few shots because of that. One of the instructors seemed quite amused, because I’d line up my shot, and remember everything but still miss and then he’d be like “wrong eye”. LOL. Whoops. Oh wells. My dreams of being a modern day Robin Hood are now completely dashed.

After our huge lunch, four of us went bowling at Enfield. I’m really crap at bowling, although I enjoy it immensely. There’s something to be said for rolling a heavy ball down a lane to knock out a bunch of pins. It’s oddly therapeutic. I still can’t bowl correctly, and my arm hurts like hell today… but I’d go more often if I could actually afford it. Some of the animations on the screen were rather amusing as well. The best one was when you got a strike, and then they’d show the pins as dinosaurs and the bowling ball would come and squash them flat and green blood would gush out of the pin. Hum. I really wonder what that says about me. But it was very funny anyways.

I suppose it wouldn’t have been a proper day out without some LANning. As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t find LANning as entertaining as I used to. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m sick of playing WC3, and I was never really into FPS. This time was pretty good as we played Need For Speed: Most Wanted. The main drawcard to playing the NFS games is that you can ‘drive’ cars that you would never normally drive in a manner that you would never normally do. There’s also the rockin’ soundtrack and the thrill of destroying the surrounding scenery. The NFS games have certainly become more pretty since the last time I played (NFS:UG) but I found it very hard to control the cars using a keyboard. It was however, quite fun to do donuts in the corner and run through the toll booths without affecting the speed my car was going at. I think this is more a reflection of the fact that I’ve been playing Burnout Legends of late but I now have the urge to install NFS:UG/UG2 and take them for a spin using the gamepad. I doubt I’ll actually have time for it though. Actually, they’re both also available for the GBA… now that’s something to think about. Will have to check that out this arvo at EB.

Nobody could decide where to go for dinner, so we ended up at Tony Roma’s. I was really disappointed with it. Last time I went was for Frankie’s 21st, and I remember it being a great place with good service and good food. This time, the service was appalling (thank-you FOB waiters) although the food was ok. I don’t think I’ll be going back there ever again as the price didn’t really justify the food we got either.

All in all, it was a fun (but expensive) day and it was good to see Su again. I’m glad we managed to fit in so many activities and everyone enjoyed themselves. I’m kind of waiting for a nice lazy weekend at home, but that won’t be happening till after New Year’s I don’t think.

The weather’s been crazy lately. I think Mother Nature is being extremely moody or something. It was quite hot the other week, and now it’s like, sunny then raining then sunny all in one day. Today it’s like gale-forced winds with heavy rain. And up in the mountains it’s snowing and then bushfires. Crazy. We’ve been told to expect more of this sort of weather though – thanks the all that climate change and what not. And of course, this means insurance premiums will go up to cover the increased risk of flood/fire/hail/drought.

Liddle Fact #60: Dim lights reduce your appetite.

Not sure about that one – sounds like a fun experiment though. I wonder why that is. Is it because you can’t see your food? But I remember Manda showing me this restaurant where you eat entirely in the dark (which wasn’t appealing to me) so I wonder if they have smaller servings there :P

Met up with Manda yesterday, checked out EB to see what games they have for the PSP. Already planning my next purchase LOL. Apparently I’m not allowed to go into JB Hi-Fi for the next month. Also went to the Arthouse for drinks, which was fun cos we haven’t done that in a while. Trying to organise which day we can meet up each week was kind of hard. I can’t believe how much I’ve got on in the next 6-8 weeks, and with all the other stuff that I want to do plus all the stuff that she’s got booked in… will have to make sure I find the time. Also have to make time for phone call to Su at least once a week. This is a little harder considering the time difference is now 3 hours, but again, I want to make the time. I’m all happy to play things by ear but I suppose it’s easier if you have a regular schedule so you know to plan around things. *pokes people living in other time-zones*

Other than that, not much to talk about. OH. I played violin the other night. I should be proud. Except for the terrible ‘noise’ I was making. Definitely cannot be called music yet. If I’m a good girl I’ll play again tomorrow night. I am however, pretty impressed with the fact that once I get started I can still remember most of the song that I’m playing. Some of the fingerings and movements I’ve forgotten, but the actual melody I can still remember. Considering I haven’t played some of these songs for like five years… I guess there are some things that you just don’t forget.

I recently acquired a copy of the game “Chessmaster 10th Edition”, which I’ve installed on my computer and have given a test run. It seems like a decent enough game, and I’m hoping it will improve my chess skills. I learnt how to play chess in Year 6, and played on a semi-regular basis for that year. Since then, I’ve only played occasional friendly matches, usually online. I’ve found that I’m not particularly good at chess. This is probably due to my sole tactic of “eat as many pieces as you can before yours all die”. It’s not really a tactic so much as poor playing technique. That thing the experts always talk about where you have to envision the game several steps ahead – I can’t do that. I don’t know why. I can see where the threats to my pieces are, and sometimes I can see what the best move for the opponent will be, but I’m not one to actually be able to see a strategy and go for it (or block it, if it’s my opponent’s). Suffice to say, Mike kicked my arse when we played on Saturday. This was ok, because Manda and Travis came over soon after and Travis kicked my arse playing Mario Kart on the Cube. Maybe I should stick to single-player games on my PSP.

I’ve been using an electric toothbrush at night for the past week or so, on advice from my dentist. It’s been a bit of an adjustment. It sure does clean your teeth better than a regular toothbrush, but the whole “makes your head slightly dizzy from the buzzing” and now the “my tongue feels funny” is a bit off-putting. Plus, there’s no actual brushing involved now. You switch it on, you put it on your tooth/gum and you hold it -_- then you move on to the next tooth. I’ll probably keep using it as my dentist has sufficiently scared me into believing that I must look after my gums or all my teeth will fall out in the next 30 years. Joy.

Manda got this 2 for 1 deal for tickets to see a “Russian Fire and Fury” concert at the Sydney Opera House on Thursday night. Unfortunately she can’t go so I’m dragging Mike along (His comment was “It won’t be like Macbeth, right?” LOL). I’m really looking forward to it, as the opening piece is “Night on Bald Mountain” by Mussorgsky (sp?). Not sure which version they will play, as there’s quite a few in existence - but it probably won’t be the one made famous in Disney’s Fantasia. However, I think the ticket price alone is worth seeing this piece played in real life. The other pieces include two by Shostakovich and one by Rimsky-Korsakov. I remember playing a piece by Rimsky-Korsakov once, it was extremely hard. Too many double-stops and lots of string crossing, but so distinctly Russian. All in all, I’m quite excited about it, as I haven’t been to the Opera House for a few years now.