MATLAB project for Software Computation due in 2.5 weeks. PHIL 105 test in 10 days. OASIS test for ELECTENG 101 this Friday. All hail the end of my free time. All hail the end of my social life. I hate MATLAB. And back to practice OASIS problems. I don't hate you as much OASIS.

Random side-note: Yesterday, two chicks from Engineering were walking behind me, and they told me that I smelt nice. Yes. Apparently I did. Lol.

lost moments

One must wonder how the quickly time can pass. In a blink of the eye, the years pass, and events come to be. People, too, come and go, and sometimes in our rapid motion, we do not even pause to acknowledge them. We just step forward, and it all becomes a blur.

But yet, when we look back on these moments, only then do we realise the magic contained. If only we could pull ourselves back, so we could better appreciate the lost time. But time, that inexorable pull, draws us on, and we can do nothing but gaze upon lost opportunities.

But even through the regret, one must also realise that these moments are precious. Precious enough that someday we will look back and smile. Be it that those may have been times of great tension, strife, or laughter, like the axiom "a rose is a rose is a rose", we then only see how, happy or otherwise, it was a memory nevertheless, and such memories form a part of us.

As some say, however, to see the rainbow you must first have the rain. So endure we shall, and endure we must. Let us strengthen our resolve then, that we do not put to waste such treasured moments, that we do not let opportunities pass us by. Someday we will see the rainbow just over the horizon, and it shall become another memory in our hearts.


Haec Olim Meminisse Iuvabit
-"Perhaps, we'll look back at this and smile", Virgil-

Inland Empire

I'm pretty sure most people would never have heard of this movie, much less seen it. Its David Lynch's latest movie, and its seriously, to put it, some fucking weird shit. No kidding. Its like 3 hours of completely confusing stuff. I mean, I like Arthouse type movies and all, but this, is all just too much. Too many details, too many messages, and I particularly didn't understand the point. I think I stopped caring what it was about at some point, since it threw me offtrack every time I thought it started to make sense.

But hey, all good. I guess I need to expose myself to all this once in a while, and well, it was expected, considering it was a film by David Lynch after all.

Story...

I've just came across this short story, its a fantasy story. I must say, its one of the best stories I've actually read. So good that I'd actually recommend you read it. It comes from Karina Summer-Smith, and I found it from the SFWA Net Ring (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America). The story's called "An End to All Things" and the direct link to it is here.

Now, I have no idea if I'm breaking copyright laws, so if I am, just tell me, and I'll remove the link.

It has just come to my attention that I neglected to actually post up what happened at Shadows (you know, the pub where all the students hang out). Ah well, I'll try and see if I have enough time for today to post it. Actually, scratch that. I can't even remember much of it anyway, my memory's pretty hazy about it. I do know I got home in one piece, with two free T-shirts. Both of them re-orientation shirts, and one of which reads: "Someone once said that getting a degree is like brewing a great beer. We aren't sure why, but it seemed to make sense at the time." Got to get a shower and get things sorted, such as buying drinks and food to bring to a cocktail party tonight -_-".

But well, yeah. I must say I'm fully enjoying my first week, although I'm really tired. Only woke up at 1 today, for a grand total of.... 12 hours of sleep for the night. Yeah, thats like 2-3 times more than my usual during the week. I would have slept earlier but I was trying to get my tasks for next week's labs done in advance. And not to forget, I need to do the problem sheets for my other subjects. And some study has to be done. Wow, it feels crammed.

I'm pretty sure I'll be getting my MATLAB project (urghh, I hate MATLAB) sometime next week, or maybe the week after. At least I'm pretty sure it'll be easy, since I've already done MM2, and what's a first year MATLAB project in the face of a second year MATLAB project? Oh crap, I don't have my Philosophy course notes or workbook. Crap, how am I going to study for it? I'm already 2 lectures behind ><

It's going to be Richard's birthday next Wednesday. Heh, I wonder if I should get him something...

Ah crap, wasted enough time dallying already. I promise I'll blog about something more relevant when I have the time to actually post. Ciao.

Ughhhhh... I don't feel so good right now...

My head hurts. Not so much like New Year's, but I think I really flew off the handle, oops. Wrong cliche/idiom/whatever-the-hell-it-is. Uhm, yeah. I can't exactly remember how much I drank, but I estimate 3 or 4 jugs of beer and 3 Smirnoff blacks, for a total of at least 14 standard drinks last night. Ouch.

Well, I've got two free T-shirts for it. Oh god. And I'm woozy. Ah, the joys of re-orientation week in Shadows. The live band wasn't actually bad, but I think the opening band was better. Purely because I didn't like metal which degenerated completely to screaming. Maybe I'll post about it later. Got a really long day ahead of me, and I start in 1 hour's time. Gonna grab the Panadol and go.

Alright, before you start calling me a nerd. I found this extremely painful and cringe-inducing, but hey. It had its moments, especially when you understand most of these mathematical terms. Oh dear, what have I become. Its the story of "Pretty Little Polly Nomial and Curly Pi", which can be found here.

Prepare to start cringing you lot.

1st day back...

Alright, fine fine fine fine. I'm going to update the blog. Good call Lionel. I bet you're so happy now. Well, I guess its been awhile since I've last blogged.

I love going back to university and all, except for one little problem. Stupid lectures at 8am in the MORNING. YES, MORNING. (Which, really, is a damn shame.) I have to wake up at 6am in the morning just so I can take a long hot shower, because its so damn cold, and have enough time to fumble around in the dark, since its only 6AM IN THE MORNING; as well as eat some semblance of breakfast.

But, hey, I got there on time. And to start my day; was the most interesting discovery I made upon reaching my locker. MY LOCKER WAS BLOODY BROKEN INTO. Well, my padlock got completely twisted out of shape, like somebody attempted to wrench it or something (I'm guessing some pliers did the job), and someone even kindly dumped it inside my locker. And why my locker? WHY?! Its not like I have jewelry or limited edition textbooks which are worth $1000. Hell, I don't even have textbooks, since I'm too much of a cheapskate to buy them. (Don't need them anyway). Ah well, I'll just have to replace the lock I guess. This time with a really really THICK one. And here I thought everyone at Engineering was more than rich enough to afford their own lockers/books/pencils/formula book/paper.

Aside from that, lectures were actually fun, I daresay. Of course, ENGGEN 131 was a bore since they were going over multiplications in MATLAB. Which, in my humble opinion, is rather obvious. Like 5*3 is obviously 5 multiplied 3.

Oh my god, I'm thinking of actually switching my General Education (GE) paper to SPORTSCI 101: Myths & Fitness. Its so, uhm, interestingly educational? And they have heaps of lecturers, all of whom have multiple postgrads. I'm so impressed, I'm actually gushing. But I think I'll stick around and see what PHIL 105 is like... If its easy, then I'll stay. After all, free A+'s beat interesting, right?

CHEMMAT 121 was such a laugh. Our lecturer chose to take a sword (yes, a real one) as "a typical engineering specimen" for her illustrations of stress, strain and elasticity. Like: "Now, you wouldn't want this engineering specimen to bend too much when you attempt to stab someone with it" and so forth. She even brought two squash racquet's, one bent out of shape, the other snapped completely. She claimed it was due to her having issues of unhappiness with the said items during related games of squash. Oh god, she's got a good sense of humour, as well as a good sense of sarcasm, for an engineer. And our engineering lecturers are known to be lame and dull, so I think I'm in for some fun this semester.

I know this will sound really really sad, but I waited for Shadows to open at midday for 40 minutes. Yes, 40 minutes. Well, it wasn't my fault, really... There was nothing better to do for 3 hours, and Jamie suggested that we get a jug of beer (which turned out to be 3)... But hey, it was all good. I got into the ENGGEN 131 lab slightly tipsy. And I even managed to complete my lab work within half an hour!!! YAY!

Um, I think that's it for now... I'm like really tired, and grumpy because all I have tomorrow is a lecture, which wastes an hour or more of my life getting up and going to the lecture. Did I mention that I was bored? Oh... speaking of bored...

LIONEL UPDATE YOUR BLOG. DO IT, DO IT, DO IT.
FLAME HARRY POTTER SOME MORE!!!
JOIN THE FOOD FIGHT ON FACEBOOK!!!
START A WATER FIGHT! HELLS YEAH, WATER FIGHT!
200 POINTS FOR GETTING THE GUY IN THE SUIT!

Alright, ciao.

Yeah, 'twas a good day yesterday. I would normally have forgotten that my birthday was yesterday, but I got around to organising (albeit a little last minute) stuff to do with my friends, so it was, all in all, a fun day. I'm happy to spend my time with friends.

Lasertag at Ponsonby was good fun. I still suck heaps at it, but I'm getting better, I think. Or perhaps I'd like to think that, hehe. I definitely know that I did way worse the first time round... And I didn't even know half of the people I was playing with. Among the 15 of us (including myself), I only knew Mihailo, JiWin, Daniel, Chris, Allan, Carol, Laura, and Lily. Alright, fine. That's quite a few, considering its more than half of the 14. And I suppose I kinda knew Chen, since well, Carol got me and him talking to get this thing sorted. All good though, I basically ended up shooting anything that moved, even when it was my own team mate =P My bad...

Uhm, yeah. Dinner was a fun fun affair too. Gengy's is so totally worth it for like $21.95. Its all you can eat, and they cook it in front of you, Mongolian BBQ style. You even pick the seasoning, sauces and ingredients, etc. Fun, fun, fun. I definitely want to do that again. And oh, the dessert was pancakes with ice cream. Who could pass up on either pan cakes or ice cream? Gosh, and the sauces were fun to experiment with.

Strangely enough, I think Allan must have picked up something from Richard, even though I'm sure Allan's never seen Richard interact with me much. He decided to be rather mean (yes I hate you Allan =P) and called me a girl. I think it had something to do with him making a comparison between me and Laura and saying that she should shop more, etc. Considering that I do shop a lot... well, I guess it didn't help my case. Also, I guess the fact that I was the only guy who decided to wear a scarf, and well... Laura was wearing a scarf too... You get the point. And the jokes kept on rolling. Poor me, and it was my birthday even.

Oh well, I actually didn't mind. Its good to have a laugh at your own expense. And I did walk into some of the jokes. Silly me. Hehe.

I swear I must have gotten worse at bowling though. I remember playing 2 or so years ago, and I'm pretty certain I was NOT this horrible. I was awful. I got the ball into the gutter on so many occasions it became well, embarrassing. And to think the last time, I was actually not that bad, and could score well into the triple digit region by the end of every game. Ah well, I guess I've definitely showed them up when they say: "You can't completely forget how to play a game once you've learnt it". So there. I've not only forgotten it, but I've completely gone beyond forgetting to being utterly useless. They should let me play with the gutter-guards and that kiddish ramp. Hehe =P

Semester 1 Results Are OUT!!!

Yup! After a incessantly long and mundane period of time, I'm proud to say that I've finally got the results for my exam out. Well, I've been getting the results all through the week, but the last one came out today. I ended up getting an overall GPA of 6.75 (out of a maximum of 9), which is in between a B+ (6) and A- (7).

And the lowdown of the subjects:
ENGGEN 121: Mechanics A-
ENGSCI 211: Mathematical Modelling 2 A
ENGGEN 140: Biology & Chemistry A
ENGGEN 115: Design B-

Alright, I admit, I did screw up Design quite badly... at least 3 grades below my 2nd worst subject. But hey, at least I passed it within the B grade. A shame about BIOCHEM and MM2 though... I definitely know I could have gotten A+'s for both of them. And if I got one grade higher in any one subject, namely that bloody A+ for BIOCHEM... I would have gotten an overall GPA of 7... sigh.

Overall, I'd say I'm kinda happy with how things are going so far. Considering that I was too slack at the start, I think I managed to bounce back and pull through sufficiently well. All that remains is to tackle the second semester with the utmost of my ability, which should pretty much get me A-/A's, I should think. Oh wait, maybe not for ENGGEN 131: Software Computation.

The other thing that's got me confused is the ranking criteria for specialisation selection for Part II (second year). They say that they consider Part I academic results; but since I'm doing 9 subjects this year, 2 of which are from Part II itself, what then? Do they disregard them completely? I certainly hope not, since my MM2 results are partially holding up my GPA. Wouldn't want to fall behind.

Sadly though, I wouldn't be able to get anything more than an A- for my GPA for this year. Even if I get straight A+'s for next semester, my overall GPA would still be 7.8-ish... which is just a little shy of the 8 mark. Ah well.

Now I must say I'm quite impatient for the holidays to be over. I'm already bored enough with my holidays as it is. Perhaps I'll go get the course books next week and do a preemptive review of the subjects. Wow, I sound like a nerd already ><

I'd like to know... Why am I always the middle-man when it comes to some sort of issue with people liking others? No names here, it should be fairly obvious who you are if perchance, you stumble on my blog. But you know, you falling for her ain't helping matters.

Yes, I'm ranting. Yes, I shouldn't be, but why did you have to fall for her? You already knew she isn't going to be interested. I already hinted several times nicely. I said she's a heartbreaker in that she would not like you that way. After all, I know her well enough to say that. But you just had to didn't you?

Sigh, I guess I really can't blame you. You didn't really choose to be this way. But you're going to suffer a lot unless you get over her. And you're making it really difficult for her as well as yourself.

I shouldn't criticise you, especially when I'm in the same situation as you. Not the same person, and not exactly the same situation, but yeah well. Silly, ain't it?

Transformers: A Must-Watch

Yes. I never ever thought I'd be saying this, but Transformers is honestly AWESOME! Yeah, like the kind that makes you want to watch it again, and again. Come to think of it, I can't explain why, words fail me at this point. But its just great. Seriously. Do yourself a favour, and watch it now. DO IT.

You know, I was reading this magazine article, and I came across a mention of some crazy guy in the States who claims to be the Antichrist. So much so that he encourages his followers to tattoo "666" or their forearms. I wouldn't dismiss this straight up, though. He apparently is quite influential, although cult analysts are unsure how much of a "fad" he is at the moment. But most cults are dangerous anyway. It just pains me to see people do things like this.

I mean, I'm not the most fervent Christian, heck, I might as well be considered fully nominal religiously, but its a silly thing to do. Ah well, maybe something will happen to him along the way and it'll just be another stone tossed in the river.