That’s right – it’s funny how you can find the most mundane (and trivial) things exciting when you have to study things like FBT and CGT. But unfortunately, if I keep up studying the way I currently am, I’m probably going to have to study every module twice just to pass.

You’d think that, 2 years out of uni I’d actually have learnt to appreciate that time is precious and that if you’re given a chance to do something, you really should just do it right the first time. But no – I really haven’t learnt this at all.

Managed to screw up my plugins, so not sure if the wp-cron is working anymore…

So testing out the blog-by-mail feature again just in case. How annoying.

I really should be studying right now - considering I’m sitting the supp exam for Tax on Monday. But somehow, you always find the most distracting things to do when you should be studying. So here I am like 6 months after my last post, playing around with my blog. I really actually should try to blog properly - but as if that’s going to happen any time soon. Here’s hoping anyways.

Hrm. What’s with these ‘tags’ in wp now? (Am I showing how behind the times I am?)

See more progress on: study for Deakin

Hum, September was a total wash for me. My parents went on a month’s holiday to tour the Silk Road in China. This meant every week was filled with some sort of party/event/lack-of-sleep activity. I hosted Band Comp ‘07, which was actually lots of fun. It’s amazing what we can achieve in just three days, and I’m sure if we (I) had more time, we could really achieve something great. To be honest though, I was pretty happy with the Animania performance. It took me a long time to wrap my head around some of parts, but I felt confident, and for possibly the first time in my life - I actually enjoyed performing. That was actually a pretty exhilarating experience.

I also hosted a LAN, which was pretty darn awesome. Not that we played as much as I would’ve liked - but it was fun to chill out, hang out and have some fun. I really don’t use my PS2 as much as I would like to (hum, recurring theme much?) and it’s kind of a waste of money if that’s the case huh?

Also had my first ‘away job’ in September. I had a client in Melbourne, so went down for the week to do our work. That was pretty fun! We stayed in these serviced apartments - I was quite surprised that they had one person living in this huuuuge apartment. I also managed to meet up with Frankie twice. I haven’t seen her since she moved there for work, and it was definitely great to catch up. It’s odd how much and how little people change over time. I rather like Melbourne, it’s quaint and ‘cultured’ and doesn’t seem to have the same rushed feeling that you sometimes get in Sydney.

Following that was what I like to call “Convention Season”. In span of a month, I went to like, three conventions? Animania, as usual, was lots of fun, ultra-tiring but ultimately rewarding. I decided to stay on one more year - it’d be nice to see how the new venue goes and next year is going to be huge, so I’m all for helping out. Also went to Supanova this year, because it’s the 30th anniversary of Star Wars. Unfortunately, there wasn’t really any Star Wars stuff - at least, no real commemorative collectables, so that was pretty disappointing. I did score a few things which made me happy, and have subsequently acquired a Force FX Lightsaber (Darth Vader’s, of course!). Still, I’m sure I shouldn’t have spent so much money :P Mike also talked me to into going to the Atomic Live convention, which is like a gaming/computer convention. It was actually rather disappointing, as they focused solely on PC games and computer hardware. And as much as gaming is huge for PCs, I think not having much on consoles really limited the show and what it could have been. Nevertheless, I scored a bunch of freebies (so awesome!) and that’s the point of these things isn’t it?

The Linkin Park concert was in October, and that was totally awesome. I’ll be posting photos up on my gallery sometime soon, although I’m thinking of making all the galleries private so I can post more personal pictures there. LP was definitely the best concert I’ve been to - they really connect with the crowd and seem to just love performing. It was quite amusing though, the Sydney crowd was really tame which was surprising given the videos I’ve seen of their shows overseas. I reckon everyone was too busy trying to video the show with their mobile phones to bother with moshing.

Other than that, I haven’t been up to much else. I can’t believe how quickly this year has gone by - it’s nearly the end of November already. I’ve been in my job for nearly a year now, though it feels like I just started yesterday. I’m looking to start CA next year, which will be a real test of discipline for me.  Currently it feels like a lot of people are re-assessing their jobs and their lives. Seems like they’re not happy with where they are and they’re looking for something different. From all the sutff I’ve read in the paper, this is indicative of our generation - we want everything but we expect a lot in return. If we’re not happy with our employer, we’ll walk. I wonder if our work force will become more and more mobile - more likely to switch in and out of jobs. Personally, I think I’d find it difficult to change jobs every 2 years - but by the same token, I don’t want to be doing the same thing for the rest of my life either. I just wonder how long is an appropriate time to stay.

“PM to Share Hurt“

Anyways, so this semester I’m studying Taxation and Commercial Law. Sounds like a great combination for being “bored to death”. I ordered my textbooks and they arrived a couple of days later. I’ve yet to get cracking into the study though. I really need to budget in time for this – it’s easy to say that I will study later, but it’s not like I’m going to suddenly have time. So yeah. really… I just need to find the discipline.

In addition, I’ve added this as a “goal” to my 43 things profile. We’ll see how this goes.

See more progress on: study for Deakin

In the beginning, I tried to warn you
You play with fire, its gonna burn you
And here we are now, in the same situation,
You never listen, I never listen
Now I am thinking of a way that I can make an escape
It’s got me caught up in a web and my hearts the prey
Do you really wanna throw your heart away, away, away?

Everybody’s hurt somebody before
Everybody’s been hurt by somebody before
You can change but you will always come back for more
Its a game and we are all just victims of love.
Don’t try to fight it, victims of love
You can’t decide it, victims of love, victims of love

Now you’ve back tracked
You’re running away cause it just happened again and you don’t want it to end
Trying your best to not let yourself go cold, so cold.
Now you think about the things you thought you wanted to say
But when you open up your mouth it don’t come out that way
Are you really gonna throw your heart away?

Everybody’s hurt somebody before
Everybody’s been hurt by somebody before
You can change but you will always come back for more
Its a game and we are all just victims of love.
Don’t try to fight it, victims of love
You can’t decide it, victims of love, victims of love
You never listen, I never listen
Now I am thinking of a way that I can make an escape
It’s got me caught up in a web and my hearts the prey
Do you really wanna throw your heart away, away, away?

Good Charlotte - Victims of Love

Overall, I was quite impressed.

Needless to say, HBP to me, was by far the worst book. Influenced greatly by my dislike of the R/Hr and H/G ships… I’m glad that the series has been redeemed by a very fitting ending. The book was fast-paced, I was literally clutching the pages in suspense quite a few times.

I was so impressed that JKR managed to tie up so many loose ends, touched upon every book so far and managed as well, to wrangle out some twists on things that we had previously read about. I’ll try to break up my thoughts into proper topics…

BEWARE: Spoilers contained inside!

Deaths
It was really surprising the number of people that died - in fact, I found that there wasn’t much mention of the Death Eater casualties, but perhaps there was just too much going on.

She killed off two characters in the first fight! Dammit. Hedwig, I didn’t feel too much for… although it was a blow. But DAYAM. Mad-Eye Moody. He was such a survivor… ):

I was relieved the Weasley’s didn’t lose any more family members than they did. I’m quite upset that it was Fred, but I kinda suspected one of the twins wouldn’t make it out alive. I thought George was done for at the beginning, so much so that Fred’s death took me completely by surprise.

I was crying when Dobby died though. I’m sure it’s how he would have wanted to go - protecting Harry Potter. I just didn’t want that for him. Remus and Tonks was a bit much. I couldn’t believe she offed BOTH of Teddy’s parents… Especially after the things that Harry said to him, I just felt they were hard done by. We didn’t even get to hear how they died. And Wormtail… I suppose he got what he came for. I think maybe too much was made of his life debt? It didn’t seem to play such a huge part as everyone though it would. But it did get him in the end!

Bellatrix got what was coming to her! And I’m glad for one, that it wasn’t Neville who did it. Sure, it would have been good to read, but I think he was better off showing his courage the way that he did. Plus, we wouldn’t have seen Mrs Weasley’s awesome line. I cannot wait to see that in the movie LOL :D

So, according to JKR, one of the characters got a reprieve at the end of the book. I was hoping one of the Malfoy’s would die - but the way they ended up… so pathetic and powerless that was unlikely to happen. That doesn’t leave too many others does it? Perhaps it was Hagrid? Or one of the other teachers?

Character Redemptions

Probably not really a redemption… but… I AM SO GLAD SNAPE WAS GOOD! It wasn’t looking like it for most of the book, and I was beginning to lose hope. But there it was! Right at the end, we got the explanation we’d been waiting 7 books for. The Snape/Lily storyline had been coming for a long time - I was glad however, that they had actually been friends before Hogwarts. And the part he had played in shaping Petunia. Perhaps if he hadn’t been as he was, she would have turned out much nicer. In any case, a lot of what was revealed wasn’t a great surprise as so much had been theorised by the fandom. JKR did a nice job with it though and I was quite satisfied after reading it.

I was also really glad that Percy realised the error of his ways. It’s a real testament to the Weasley’s as well that they could just wipe the slate clean and welcome him back with open arms. I think this was highlighted even more because he was next to Fred when he died, and his reaction showed more than anything else his love for his family.

Kreacher’s tale. This one really did make me shudder. Recounting his tale with the locket, was completely horrible. I’m glad in many ways, that Hermione had the last laugh regarding elf-rights. The number of time she has championed this cause and been laughed at, not just by other students but even by Harry and Ron. It was nice to know she had been wrong all along. And at the very end, when Kreacher leads the charge of house-elfs with their knifes and pans…. that was a nice touch. I was glad to be wrong about him :D

Horcruxes

I found the whole “Harry is a horcrux” thing to be quite disappointing. Maybe because it had seemed so obvious and I’d hoped JKR hadn’t gone down that path. Nevertheless, the whole Harry dying thing was done quite well. I have a question regarding the small, tortured child that Harry sees on the floor after he dies. Dumbledore continually says that nothing can be done for it. But Harry never asks who or what it is. I assume it’s the part of Tom Riddle’s soul that was in Harry?

Deathly Hallows

Wasn’t too sure what to make of this storyline. Interesting concept… and I suppose it provided Harry with a choice. A test of his character, as most archetypal hero stories do. I was surprised to find out that Harry had the invisibility cloak all along. That did not click at all for me. But Dumbledore having the Elder Wand I had guessed. Just not the part about Draco actually having ‘defeated’ him. I dunno, I found the whole Horcrux storyline to be much interesting than the Hallows. Although Dumbledore’s confession about his interest in them, and Harry being the true master was a nice touch.

Shipping

Ok, so everyone here knows that I ship H/Hr as my OTP and D/Hr as my GP. So how do I feel now that I’ve finished reading DH?
As an avid Pumpkin Pie-er, I think JKR wrote DH well enough that I can “accept” that ending she chose. After all, she is the author. I still do not believe that they make the best couple, and I still steadfastly refuse to believe that Harry and Hermione love each other in the “brother sister” sort of way. And I could’ve been fine with it all, if it weren’t for the Epilogue. I think as much as the Epilogue is “canon” I will disregard it for the sake of my sanity. I feel the same for H/G, although I found this was less well-written as R/Hr. I don’t consider Ginny to be the evil hag anymore, but I just can’t see her and Harry working.

I wonder what happened to Hagrid and Olympe?

Characters

We’ll start with my favourite character, Hermione. She proved herself to still be the “brightest witch of her age”. No doubt, the number of times she has gotten both Harry and Ron out of sticky situations.. they owe her their lives a few times over. I felt however, that her character had been weakened quite a bit. She was so emotional and distraught so many times. I don’t know - I guess I always felt her to be stronger than that. Perhaps because she’s a girl and she was on the frontlines with Harry, risking so much, it made her rather fragile. I was a bit uh… shocked however, at how quickly they skimmed over her recovery from the Cruciatus curse. Basically “are you ok?” “Yes” “Cool, let’s keep going then”. Considering that his best friend just got tortured, I couldn’t really believe that Harry would take it so lightly.

Dumbledore… I was quite surprised at some of the revelations about his character here. His want of power and a new ‘wizarding order’ or whatever. Sure he was young and certainly he saw that he was wrong later on, but I think he suffered greatly for it. It doesn’t seem like Dumbledore had any children, and neither did Aberforth. I’m guessing that “Dumbledore” is a wizarding name that will die out? I’m glad that Harry got to have one last chat to him, and as much as Dumbly didn’t really answer too much (yet again), we got the answers we were looking for.

Not too much else to say. That’s sort of everything in my mind as well. Oh. Except one thing… did anybody else find the final “showdown” to be somewhat… anti-climactic? I had to re-read the sentence to make that Voldy had actually died. o_O

Well, that’s it from me for now. Give it a couple of days for me to really think everything through. I may post again.

I think I’ve just reached that time of the year again, where I question what the point of life is. And I still don’t know what that point is. Sure, I can be content in my job, with my friends, family… all that. I just am not sure if I’m missing something bigger. Is there more to life than what I’m doing now? Will this feeling ever change? I suppose not, and even if I went looking for more, I doubt that I would find it. I doubt that I would find an answer to the ‘meaning’ of life. Something to make me feel more satisfied. I wonder sometimes at whether my job is rewarding - not in monetary terms, but in a ‘contributing to society’ sort of way. I suppose it does. Much of the work we do provides assurance to the investors of the companies we audit. Which is an important function for the market and whatever, but I’m not entirely sure that this actually gives *me* job satisfaction. I dunno. I’ve been questioning it a lot lately, which is strange, because mostly I’ve tended to think of a job as a means to an end, and if I wasn’t particularly happy with my job I wasn’t too worried as I’ve always considered other things to be more important. Like friends, family. Maybe I was wrong about that - and maybe I want more from my job. Perhaps I just haven’t been there long enough to see the real ‘big picture’ just yet.

I think I’ve also come to realise that my priorities have been a bit off since I started working full-time. I knew that this job would be hard, I knew that it would demand a lot of my time and I knew that I would have to put a lot of energy into it if I wanted to succeed. I just didn’t think it would be this much. And maybe I didn’t think it would take this much of me. I’m not sure that I’m happy with the way it’s eaten my life. I don’t get to see my friends or my family as much as I would like to. Half the time, I don’t even know what’s going on with my best friend… that’s not the sort of friendship that I want. I come home feeling drained and don’t want to do anything more than sit in front of my computer and zone out. I don’t have the time or energy to pursue the things that I find interesting or want to learn more about. I have no hobbies and no time for band. I’m liking less and less that this is the case because I do not want to be defined by my job. I don’t believe that you should be define by your job, I don’t believe that it should be the only thing in your life. And I suppose I’m the only one that can control that. I guess I just haven’t been. So it’s time for me to re-organise my priorities, to determine what is important to me and what I should put more time towards. It’s time to learn to say no, and it’s time to say I need to be me.