Nevertheless, the last weekend was pretty packed. I went to Jamberoo with EY social club, my friend’s 30th and then the next day went go-karting. Here’s a photo from the race track, pity we didn’t take any of us driving, or in the karting gear, but no photo will translate the adrenaline rush that you get from zipping around the race track. We had two 15 min sessions. The first one I was really tame – didn’t want to push the cart too hard and was a bit wary of spinning out of control or something. Plus, I was wearing my rings and they were digging into me when I was gripping the steering wheel so after a while my hands got really tired. I had to stop holding the “wheel” part and use the inside spoke thing instead. Second time round, I just gunned it. I figured, the boys were driving like hooligans and they didn’t seem to have any problems so I may as well give it a go. And boy, was it fun!!! It’s quite expensive ($85 for 30 mins) but definitely worth the experience.

And here’s a photo from the night of my friends’ joint birthday thing… where it decided to pour down with rain while we were at karaoke and flood the foyer!

I hope to write more soon, but been sick and want to sleep early(ish)!

Last Saturday was the Big day Out! It’s been 3 years since I last went to the Big Day Out. Last time was fun, but not overly amazing. However, this year’s lineup was so good, I couldn’t pass up the chance to see those bands live. And I’m really glad I did! We planned out our day from 11:30am to 11:30 pm so it was pretty hectic, but we managed to fit it all in and them some. It was incredibly hot (I swear it was 40 deg C) and I don’t think I’ve never drank so much water in my life!

In order, we saw the following:

• Sugar Army
• Silent Disco (not a band)
• Kasabian
• Passion Pit
• The Decemberists
• Dizzee Rascal
• dj Sam La More
• Calvin Harris
• Muse
• Groove Armada

So the silent disco isn’t a band, it’s where you put on headphones that tune into different channels and they have several DJs who play on those channels. The music is only played through the headphones, so when you walk in you see hundreds of people wearing them, shouting out these songs. But seeing as they may be listening to different songs, it really just sounds like a rabble of people shouting. Very amusing!

Kasabian were surprisingly good, although the crowd became increasingly rough. This was also during the middle of the day when it was hottest. Kudos to the BDO organisers for making sure that we were well watered (both cups and spray!) A girl right behind me actually fainted from the heat, which was pretty scary. But as we were right at the front, they got her out quickly and easily which was a relief.

Couldn’t see Passion Pit as we got there a little late, but we did hear them, and managed to get a good view of The Decemberists on the stage next door. Both were really good and I really enjoyed seeing the lesser known bands. Possibly the most surprising act of the day for me was Dizzee Rascal. I cannot believe there were so many people who turned out to see him! Considering I hadn’t heard of him (although I had heard some of his songs without knowing it), I was quite impressed although I think it would’ve been good if he had played later in the day. I like to think of his music as “techno rap” and it’s very suited to clubbing, so it’s kind of weird to dance to during the day.

Muse, on the other hand, were totally awesome. I really liked ‘Absolution’ and ‘Showbiz’, but I didn’t really listen to them properly again until ‘The Resistance’ came out. I’ve become quite obsessed with them in the past few months, listening to their albums over and over. My fave album is definitely ‘Blackholes and Revelations’, but I’m developing a soft spot for “The Resistance” and all its unusual songs. So yeah, Muse are great performers – they’re real showmen, and compared to other acts just had this real “pro” vibe to them. Unfortunately, we didn’t get into the front moshpit in the “D” section, but we did get right up the front of the fence, in front of the screen. So we could see Muse in the distance as well as the screen really well. I do this thing when I go to concerts where I have one song that I’m dying to hear, and if the band plays it then I can go home happy. For Muse, I had five songs: Uprising, Supermassive Blackhole, Plug In Baby, Undisclosed Desires & Knights of Cydonia. They played all five and ended on my fave – Knights of Cydonia. I don’t think I could have asked for any more than that! I was so pumped afterwards, it was totally crazy. Also, kudos to them for performing with Nick Chester (?), lead singer of Jet, and doing a cover of AC/DC’s “Back In Black”!!

On a completely different note, the weekend before this, I went to the finals of the Medibank International tennis tournament. Got to see Serena Williams vs. Elena Dementieva, followed by Marcus Baghdatis vs. Richard Gasquet. I’ve never been to a live tennis match before, and the mens was definitely much more exciting than the womens – the sheer power that they can serve the ball and the way they cover the court is just amazing. We were in the second row from the front and even managed to get on tv (albeit very briefly!) during the women’s match! I think what impressed me the most though, was that during the mens match, I did actually turn my head left and right to follow the ball LOL. It was quite amusing watching the people on the other side of the court doing the same – it just made it feel just that little bit more real.

Fiji sunset

This is probably my favourite photo from the trip. I took this on our second night in Fiji, whilst we were having dinner.

Overall, I had a great time in Fiji. It was a really different sort of holiday for me as I’m used to being on the go, having places to be and sights to see. This was like, you get to the resort and there’s nothing to do. Well, not nothing – there’s obviously activities and such, but no one’s forcing you and it’s not like you have to do anything. This would have been fine, except I’m the sort of person that can’t sit still for 5 mins and when there’s no TV or internet it can prove to be really trying. I spent most nights reading (I finished “Neuromancer” by William Gibson and “Gene of Isis” by Traci Harding) and we also borrowed Scrabble one night although my brain was too mushed to be any good. I’m glad I brought my eee pc as “Man vs. Wild” provided some much needed entertainment. It’s currently my favourite show and I keep raving about it.

Anyways, the days were usually spent swimming, snorkelling or kayakking. I’d never been snorkelling before so that was a great experience for me. I love not having to come up for air and we saw lots of fish, sea cucumbers and even a blue starfish! I would love to go snorkelling again as I have my own gear now and it’s pretty easy. I also enjoyed kayakking although it nearly killed my arms. My friend accidentally let my kayak drift out to the middle of the cove (!!!) while I was grabbing an oar so we paddled her kayak out to mine, and then I had to paddle against the current to get back to shore. That’s right… against the current, and the current was damn strong! My arms ached so much the next day, but I went kayakking again anyways. Might as well make the most of it right?

I am glad I only went for five days though. I think any longer and I would’ve just gone stir crazy. I’m not sure if I’d go back for another holiday. I can see the appeal of just lazing about in your bure or going to the beach for days, but I like seeing sights and learning about cultures and stuff. All I learnt in Fiji is “Fiji time!” and “Bula!” LOL. Nah, I think it’s that, after five days, no matter how great the beach is I do want to do something else.

Wrap me in a bolt of lightning
Send me on my way still smiling
Maybe that’s the way I should go,
Straight into the mouth of the unknown
I left the spare key on the table
Never really thought I’d be able to say
I merely visit on the weekends
I lost my whole life and a dear friend

I’ve said it so many times
I would change my ways
No, nevermind
God knows I’ve tried

Call me a sinner, call me a saint
Tell me it’s over I’ll still love you the same
Call me your favorite, call me the worst
Tell me it’s over I don’t want you to hurt
It’s all that I can say. So, I’ll be on my way

I finally put it all together,
But nothing really lasts forever
I had to make a choice that was not mine,
I had to say goodbye for the last time
I kept my whole life in suitcase,
Never really stayed in one place
Maybe that’s the way it should be,
You know I live my life like a gypsy

I’ve said it so many times
I would change my ways
No, nevermind
God knows I’ve tried

Call me a sinner, call me a saint
Tell me it’s over I’ll still love you the same
Call me your favorite, call me the worst
Tell me it’s over I don’t want you to hurt
It’s all that I can say. So, I’ll be on my way

I’ll always keep you inside, you healed my
Heart and my life… And you know I try.

Call me a sinner, call me a saint
Tell me it’s over I’ll still love you the same
Call me your favorite, call me the worst
Tell me it’s over I don’t want you to hurt
It’s all that I can say. So, I’ll be on my way
So, I’ll be on my way
So, I’ll be on my way

Shinedown – Call Me

The start of a new year is always great for re-assessing your life and deciding on some changes. Why we can’t do this continuously throughout the year is beyond me, but humans are funny creatures and I am no different. Regardless, I’ve spent the last few weeks thinking over how I’d like things to be and what I’d like my life to be like. So this year, I’m making a more concerted effort to come up with some decent resolutions and work harder at achieving them. I’ve tried to come up with one resolution for each ‘area’ of my life – work, relationships (not necessarily romantic ones), personal growth and health. Hopefully this is a balanced enough approach to see me through the year. So here they are:

• achieve some semblance of work/life balance
• meet new people (in general)
• lose weight (encapsulating exercise more, eat healthier, drink less)

They seem general enough, but they address most of what was causing me unhappiness in 2009. They’re also the areas that I’ve gotten most comments on from my close friends. From these few resolutions I’ve come up with a few goals – more tangible things that I can achieve and measure against at the end of the year. And the goals are as follows:

• Read 12 books (that’s one a month – should be a breeze, but I have to factor in busy season, Europe, life)
• Join a string ensemble/quartet/music group – hopefully this will force me to practise violin more (thanks to Manda for this)
• Blog more – already trying to do this one, but hopefully I can keep it to once a week minimum
• Take up a recreational sport – either swimming, tennis or indoor rock-climbing (or a bit of all three!)

I think all this will be enough to keep me very busy this year!

Despite finding that the year has passed me by, it’s been very long and quite eventful. On the sum of it, 2009 was not a good year. A lot of depressing things happened, and I think I finally awoke to the fact that work has fully consumed me. I’ve been officially on holidays since the 14th Dec, but I spent that first week doing work things from home. I think it worried me that towards the end of the year, I couldn’t actually force myself to do anymore work. Like I actually dreaded going to work, sitting in front of my laptop and couldn’t summon any enthusiasm to complete my tasks. I was spent.

These few weeks off have a been a godsend. I’ve always complained bitterly that the company forces us to take leave over Christmas. Mainly because this uses up my annual leave and I spend so much of it on study already, there’s not a lot left over for actual holidays. However, having these few weeks off has made me realise the wisdom of forcing people to take time off work. I’ve been able to completely forget about work and go out, meet up with friends, go to the beach, see movies, rest and relax. I didn’t realise just how much I needed this time off.

I was going to write about my new year’s resolutions, but doesn’t look I will have time to do so before heading to Fiji. I’ll just have to it when I get back.

So… I apologise to anyone who commented in the last year… and finds their comment gone. It was just a moment of stupidity.

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?)