Rough Sums

I was doing some basic calculations the other day... And I have a new target GPA: 8.25 /9.00.

Its not impossible, but my current GPA's sitting on 7.45. So I have to get quite a lot of A+'s to drive it up. 5 more semesters too, or 20 more subjects.

I find that I like this quote a lot. It comes from Match Point (2005):

The man who said "I'd rather be lucky than good" saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It's scary to think so much is out of one's control. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net and for a split second it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck it goes forward and you win. Or maybe it doesn't and you lose.

Not suprised to find that a lot of my friends from high school don't like it. But then again, I've never really expected them to like anything which wasn't really action-related, and the title also brings to mind a cheesy movie with Wimbledon themes.

Sick

I'm ill, if you didn't gather from the post title. *Hack* *Wheeze* *Hack*. That sorta sick. Going to bed after dinner. Thank God its my off day tomorrow.

Steins Galore!

BSA (Biology Student Asc) Re-Orientation party a.k.a. Stein this Thursday, and our very own Engineering Stein 3 next Thursday! Sweet. No clashes between two, so I don't have to pick. Beijing Olympics theme for the Engineering one though... What to wear... Biking lycra perhaps?

The Dark Knight

That.. was awesome. I loved that movie. And the Lamborghini. Oh my god. Supremely divine. I want. I want I want I want.

Hell, to be in the R&D for that movie would be awesome too. Or to be well, an industrial billionaire like Bruce Wayne. *jealous*

P/S: On a side note, I've just realised that I.. uh... know Richie's PIN number... And he knows both my PINs to my credit card and my bank account. Damn. Good thing he doesn't remember numbers well anyway. Considering his inability to remember birthdays. Haha.

Issues of Citizenship

I've been thinking more and more recently of giving up my Malaysian citizenship in favour of a New Zealand one. Well, why now? Because:
a) Its more useful for me if I intend to travel to the States/UK for postgrad studies.
b) I need time to "acclimatise" myself to NZ
c) I'm really starting to question the necessity of being a Malaysian. Or in other words, I've grown disenchanted with Malaysia.

Hm. What to do, what to do.

Commerce Stein

Pretty fun stein tonight. And all I needed was a white t-shirt ($6 from the warehouse) and $5 for the entrance fee (paid for by my fourth year engineering mate, awesome!!!)

I'm uhh... pretty wasted right now. So typing this will take ages. And hungry, so I'm cooking noodles at the same time.

Met like everyone there. All the commerce people, and all the engineering people I know and love. Hung out at Shadz beforehand too, so that was awesome.

And yeah, fun thing about this Stein is your white t-shirt gets scribbled on in highlighter, so mine got scribbled all over now. I even have crap written on my forehead, I think. And pink highlighter ink in my hair. I apparently look very very very Asian (in a bleached way). Hahaha.

Alright, gotta wake up in 6 hours, have a long day ahead. And Shadz with Tiki (awesome NZ guitarist) tomorrow too! YEAH!!!

First Day Back

And I'm exhausted. Didn't get enough sleep, and I went to gym to boot, just because I couldn't wake up. Haha, good excuse huh?

Although here's a few things from today:

• I hate the COMPSYS 202 (Object Oriented Programming) lecturer. Well, the woman anyway. She treats us like children. "What are the 4 P's of Programming?" Gah, if I cared, would I be in COMPSYS 202 and not COMPSCI 101: How To Type on the Keyboard?
• My BIOMENG 241 (Bioinstrumentation) lecturer mumbles. Far too much. He talks really soft to boot, too. If I can hear him I'd be amazed.
• Having only oats and 2 protein shakes from 7 AM till 2 PM (with a gym session in between) really does a number of your stomach. I was sooo hungry that it hurt. Like real bad. It hurt like I've never hurt before. My poor stomach wasn't made for this kind of abuse. =(
• I learnt to do deadlifts properly!!! Hurrah!
• Pre-med students are terrible. Well, insane. I went to collect my course guide for MEDSCI 142 (unfortunately a pre-med paper), and the queue was insanely long. Crazy pre-meds should be less eager.
  
• I have 3 lectures today. 2 in the same room, but in between both, I have to run almost 500 metres down the road to get to my other one. And back up again. This sucks.
• Chris is really good at scaring me when I'm running around.
• ECON 151G, some general elective, is really really really dull according to both Richie and Chris. Fun! Glad I didn't do it.
  

Interestingly, I also have discovered that Lionel amazingly knows Transatlanticism by Death Cab For Cutie. Well, I just never expected anyone to know anything from them, thats all. Apart from me, Richie, or JP. Well, that and that he's a good resource for chillout music. We even had a 10 minute session on messenger exchanging bands and stuff. Awesome!

Chris is also good for indie. No suprise there though.

I have these artists to check out. Well, I intend to check them out anyway:

• Sufjan Stevens
• The New Pornographers
• Modest Mouse
• Of Montreal
• Arcade Fire
• The Postal Service
• The Decemberists
• Pinback
• Imogen Heap NOT!!!! Sorry Lionel =P I don't mind her sometimes, but that much of her would be bad.

Ah well, I should sleep I guess.

End of Hols

Yeah, tonight is the last night before I go back to classes. Sigh, soooo not looking forward to it, but ah well. Hard luck, toughen up mate, that sorta shit. And to top it off, its raining like a bitch too. Gotta love the weather round this time of the year ah? I need a mackintosh. Seriously. Maybe I'll go to St Lukes and get me one.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

P/S: I just realised it... again, and rather belatedly. I forgot to get myself a new pencil case. ARGH!

I want a new cellphone, I've decided. But I don't know what to get. The iPhone isn't a worthwhile investment in NZ, the main problem being Vodafone offering it at a less-than-useful plan cost. Compared to Optus across the divide, their plans make for rather unsavoury meals.

So, I'm left here sitting and pondering about what mobile I should get. Obviously something nice to look at, something that plays music well would be good too (lessens the iPod + phone load), and a camera's nice. Or maybe I can wait longer and just get myself some clothes. At least they don't come with subscription fees and telco monopolies.

But yeah, seriously. I'm clueless about the cellphone thing. Anybody?

Edit: Just randomly, but, man, wooden hangers are hard to find. Especially cedar ones.
Edit 2: Oh, found them on trademe. I suppose this has its uses sometimes over ebay.

Yay, JP also has similar music tastes to me! Well, he listens to Death Cab for Cutie too, and he recommended other artists whom I know. And here I was thinking no one listened to that sort of music either.

Mm, actually, his facebook profile says much. He's got quite a few artists that I planned to check out from the OC Mix. Yeah, I know it sounds silly, but the OC Mix is suprisingly good. With the exception of some artists that I don't fancy as much, like Imogen Heap. Ah well.

Haha, I decided on a whim to see what the temperature at Kuching was... 25 degrees! My god, its a sweltering hothouse there ain't it? Well, maybe I say that because its only 8 degrees here...

Its good that I'm not sleepy today. It'll be a great day for an outing too. Nice and sunny. So long as it stays this way, that is.

I'm sleepy... And tired. But mainly sleepy. Came back from town at about 3am this morning... Should really have drunk insane amounts of water. Ah well, back to resting some more...

Almost a stalker...

Why, yes... I've just realised after a brief conversation with Richie that I'm almost a stalker...

richard says:
easier to get it sorted out with all the stuff here
richard says:
its ----------------------- (Address goes here)
Damian says:
you're -------------- (Address goes here) ah?
Damian says:
lol
richard says:
yea :S, howd you know that lol
[Me explaining how I can remember his address]
richard says:
ah fair enough
richard says:
sweet as
Damian says:
haha, I bet you're thinking I'm a stalker now =\
richard says:
nah, all good ah
richard says:
dont really care
Damian says:
lol sweet then. would hate for people to think I'm a stalker because I have a penchant for remembering birthdays, cellphone numbers, emails and addresses
richard says:
lol
richard says:
well they are the characteristics of a stalker :P
richard says:
but hey
richard says:
....
Damian says:
damn
Damian says:
I didn't notice that before
Damian says:
should pick up more traits
Damian says:
although I suppose with a little practice I could be a good stalker
richard says:
lol
richard says:
I wouldn't practice though ah, its not that cool
Damian says:
no, neither. I was just postulating
richard says:
yeeeaaas.

Hm, didn't notice that before... Darn. Better pick up more non-stalkerish traits...

crashing through the parlor doors, what was your first reaction?
screaming, drunk, disorderly; I'll tell you mine:
you were the one, but I can't spit it out when the date's been set.

Nice lyrics ah?

I'm on a roll...

A+ for BIOSCI 107. Woot! 2 more to go, although 1 of them I have little hopes for...

P/S: Uhh, yeah, just read in the news... There's a rabbit killer loose in some part of Germany. Haha

Edit: All of them are now out... I got A for Computation, and B+ for management. Bummer... B+ for management... Ah well. My total GPA is now 7.75, 0.25 short of an A... Damn.

A for math... A for math

I got A for Math, alright. Fucking A!

Well, I was hoping for an A+, but A is good too =) Oh yeah, I got an A. Alright...

iphone in NZ

Not really cheap, from the looks of it. Or maybe I'm used to comparing plans to those in the UK, Canada, and the US... But even so, I'm certain that the Aussie plans are more affordable as well. Hmm, I might think a little before buying the iphone.

$80 a month gives you: 120 anytime minutes, 250 MB of data, and 600 texts. You still have to pay $549 for the 8GB model and $699 for the 16GB model.

$130 a month gives you: 250 anytime minutes, 500 MB of data, and 600 texts. You still have to pay $449 for the 8GB model and $599 for the 16GB model.

$250 a month (which is just insane) gives you: 600 anytime minutes, 1 GB of data, and 600 texts. You still have to pay $199 for the 8GB and $349 for the 16GB.

Goddamn, but those plans cost quite a lot. At this rate I might not even get one, and just settle for a nice Nokia N95, or maybe one of the new mobile phones due to hit the market sometime. Sigh. If only I was living somewhere else.

NZ Telcos annoy me

About time that they released word on their upcoming iPhone release. Well, Vodafone that is. But, guess what? They're not releasing their plans till... tomorrow at 10am. Gah.

I can only add at this stage that I hope they emulate the plans Australia, or other overseas countries (like the States, or perhaps the UK?) have. Vodafone NZ is ridiculously overpriced.

P/S: I still haven't got my results yet!!! Now I'm impatient and panicky...

Cold, cold night.

Okay, fine, its not like bloody cold like some countries can be, but its relatively cold for Auckland. Considering that its like 7 degrees, and wind chill makes it feel like 3 degrees out...

Yesterday was quite an amusing day. For truckers, at least. They were protesting against some sort of increase in the road user charges that came into effect regarding diesel users. Yeah, so they all decided to crowd the CBD by coming in through all the entry points from the highway. And apparently, they got stuck in their own jam. Most of them didn't even reach the CBD, haha. And they managed to delay everyone's work schedule too, since it was on at like 8 or so. People had to go in late, go in earlier (like very early), or not go at all. Fun times indeed.

I hear there was sleet in Auckland. Haven't seen any proof of it so far though. Apparently the whole of New Zealand's going through this cold phase (yes I know there is one called winter, I meant a colder than usual winter phase). Ah well, I guess it makes up for the really mild winter last year, the one which was over before it started, haha.

Edit: Actually, its freezing out there. I'm absolutely certain the wind chill would make it feel like 0 degrees in this weather.