Introspection

Before I had noticed, Christmas is already come and gone. The end of the year is fast approaching, and like most people, I turn my thoughts inward in reflection of the year that was.

I always have been, and always will be surprised at how quickly this year passed. You'd think I'd learn to make every moment count, but I still feel like I've wasted time.

This year also marks the end of the fourth years' degrees (with the exceptions of the ones embarking on a post-grad). Some of these fourth years I have come to know well, and they will be sorely missed by me. It's sometimes comforting to go to a fourth year and just start bitching about some project or assignment you hate. Like an elder brother or sister in the adoptive family of Engineering Science really.

If I haven't mentioned it before, Richie, the one hell of a clever bastard that he is, managed to land himself the Rhodes scholarship. Free ride to Oxford for him. Which well, means he will be leaving Auckland as well.

Everyone I've gotten attached to is going away. 'Tis a most sad year.

But hey, not everyone's gone yet. I still have the 3rd years, soon-to-be 4th years.

So, I'm going up north to Otamure Bay (further north from Whangarei) for a few days with Timmy, Simon and Matt Butcher and some of his pals. Beats spending the New Years' in Auckland though. Unless there's a house party someone's throwing, it really isn't fun. I also refuse to do what Danny is and go to the casino. Ridiculous concept if you ask me. I'd rather go for antipasti and tapas. Yep, both of them one after the other.

Did I mention that I've gained a little more mass than the last time? Unfortunately not all of it is muscle, due to my occasional slip-ups with food and training. I'm finally 71 kilos though, and bodyweight-wise, I wouldn't think I would want to gain much more. No more than 5 anyway. Like I worry about my weight anyway. I'm far more worried about lowering my body fat percentage. That reminds me: I should check mine again sometime soon.

Well, gosh, I've certainly rambled on long enough. Maybe I'll update sometime soon.

Now there's no leaving New York...

So Far Around The Bend by The National is still stuck in my head after all these months. It's seriously an awesome song.

Take a bath and get high through an apple

Wanted to cry but you can't when you're laughing

Nobody knows where you are living

Nobody knows where you are

You're so far around the bend

You're so far around the bend

Somehow, I feel somewhat comforted by this.

Ange's Christmas party was yesterday. It was pretty fun, I had a lovely bottle of wine, and made a Niçoise salad. That went well I think, considering that there was none left after. Iain was really tipsy when I got there, which was hilarious. Except for him continuously telling me not to hit on some dude. Yeah... the curious antics from Iain I have to put up with.

Fun times regardless, I'm looking forward to something as exciting for next time, whenever that'll be. I guess I'll head off to bed now. Another day's over already, gosh it's going by quickly isn't it?

Adrift

Much like a hollow log I'm afraid this time. It's not that I'm bored, either. I just can't help but feel my days just stretching out before me, but at the same time I'm rushing towards the horizon. I'm being rather vague and nonsensical again aren't I?

It's like I'm living my days one at a time, but I know time is running out. Problem is, I don't know what's going to happen. I feel like a rat on a sinking ship that found a vast, vast hoard of food. More than I could consume in my lifetime, but the ship do be sinking.

I've probably got to just socialise and get out in the sun more. Make a panna cotta while I'm at it. Yum. Now I'm hungry, at 11.54 PM. Lovely.

I think I'll start touching up on my calligraphy skills (or lack thereof) and buy some lovely Christmas cards. I am feeling very much in the season, and the lack of snow and abundance of sunshine definitely puts things in an unusual-but-welcome perspective. It's wonderful.

Gosh, I'm rather bipolar these days too. I blame gym tiredness. Anyway, off I go. It's time for bed, and I for one am welcoming this.

If you read this Amy...

I was wondering, since I happened across a post of mine from before, and the comments that were in. Did you ever go drinking with them pommies? And you're finished aren't you?

That ends my aside. I've completed 1 week at the gym! My programme goes on for another 5 weeks before a reassessment. If I have mentioned that before, I apologise but I am rather excited about the prospect of gym.

The holidays are slow. I got all my results back though, finally... And I must say I passed this semester with flying colours (ish). 1 A-, 1 A, 2 A+'s, and an A for MEDSCI of all things. The subject that I thought I'd fail. Wow. Not questioning that. Not at all.

I talked to a researcher, one of the (many?) associate professors at the university. This time, as usual, I was fishing for a potential supervisor and a fourth year project that aligned with my interests. It seems I may have finally hit the jackpot, he seems to have a wealth of experiments that align quite closely to the things I am most interested in. I mean, it's not perfect but no one tends to have the exact same field of interest as you, so I'm pretty happy with today.

Jason, or Drake as I've come to call him (including nicknames such as Drak'ems and Drakey) so totally needs to have a birthday party. Me, Ange and Timmy want one. We demand our party. PARTY.... PARTY.... at Drake's house! Haha, but yeah.

I forgot to talk to Richie about catching up with him today. Oops, there's always next week I guess. Did I mention he's the Rhode Scholar for NZ this year? Insane aye? Well, not too suprising with his grasp on issues, intellect and the perfect grade score couldn't hurt either... I'm a little jealous, but really proud too. Dunno whether I should feel proud considering I've only known him for 2 or so years, but I do anyway. Put it down to my fondness for the lad. May the sun always smile on his path.

I'm back!

To those who still follow this blog,

Or if you don't follow it, this blog exists as a memory dump for me too, so it's all good if I go crazy and talk to myself, right?

I've been totally busy over the last few weeks, first with exams, then with the post-exam craziness. Went to the Law Stein, got remarkably drunk (was drinking for 12 hours straight), and had a remarkable hangover. We went down to Thames and climbed the Pinnacles, which was a tramping kinda thing up a mountain (small mount): stayed the night and had a quiet sit and talk with whisky and friends. Then the night we got back, we went for Laserstrike. That was insane. My legs were sore for 2 days after all that.

And I started going to the gym again last Monday. Feels pretty good, knowing that I'm hitting myself again. Now I guess I have to alter my diet slightly for the reduced alcohol and junk food consumption (I am filled with such sorrow at the loss of the former). Should be good though, I look forward to re-accessing myself in 6 weeks.

I'm a little sleepy right now to be honest... I've got to get some sleep, so maybe I'll update soon, hopefully not in another month like before.

Whew

It's certainly been a hectic 2 weeks or so. Getting caught up with lab reports, project work and assignments ain't fun, that's what I can tell you. I'm sure you already know this anyway.

My penultimate year at university is finished (with the exception of exams), and gosh, was it fast. Someone mentioned that they felt like they were losing track of the future. I feel the same too. Even more frightening is the knowledge that some people I know and could always rely on to distract me from the many stresses in university are going.

The Part IV dinner, birthday parties, and the inevitable day of drinking, it's all become a ritual now. I certainly enjoy these little events, and now I lack something to do in the summertime this year. I may graduate late but I don't know, it's become less of an issue for me now.

Did I ever mention this blog called "The Sartorialist"? If I have, I apologise for repeating myself. It's a pretty awesome blog, plus I always find the way people dress themselves inspiring. Not all of them suit my taste (read: the dudes with odd hair and really long t-shirts). Something about that just rubs me the wrong way, but hey. To each their own.

I suppose I should stop procrastinating and study for real. My first exam is next Thursday, which isn't too far away now. I should probably give Richie a ring and have a mean catch-up with him. It's definitely been too long. Well, that's my update for now; and I think it'll be getting a little more sporadic since I'm getting a little busier.

P/S: I injured my rotator cuff muscle (right arm) at the gym, and now it's impeding my upper body workout. My physiotherapist told me to stop doing all upper body workout (at which I gave him this incredulous look). We eventually decided to compromise and go only for machine workouts with very minimal movement, which really sucks. There goes my gains. Ah well. C'est la vie.

It's going, just going.

I realise I've neglected this little blog here for some time, but I've been just a little too busy for my liking. Add to that the stupid lab reports and the upcoming project that's due (!!!) and you've got one very busy person on your hands.

In fact, the only reason I'm finding the time to write now is because I missed the bus, plus I'm a little hungover from the Stein last night. Only problem now is that my cough has returned with a vengeance. A horrible vengeance too, might I add. I'm hacking and coughing and nothing's coming up, which kinda sucks because all over-the-counter cough medicines have no proven effect to help these kinda coughs. Go look it up if you don't believe me. Wet coughs are less of a problem, but these dry coughs aren't going anywhere soon. Gah.

That aside, I've only got a few weeks more till the exams. It doesn't feel like it was that long ago when I was sitting for 4 exams. This kinda sucks. I'm so behind in everything too...

I should get going. I'll write again.

AUES Ball 09

That was one hell of an epic ball. I truly loved every moment of it, well at least every moment I could remember. The memories get really incoherent at some point. I vaguely remember the photos, but man I was drunk. Meh, so was everyone else around me anyway.

The theme was "Land of the Rising Sun", which would obviously explain why Iain had the uhm, thing on. I can't remember what it's called, you know the stuff you wear to 'matsuri' during the summertime. Here's a picture for effect:

There were quite a lot of pictures taken that night, over 190 or so. I'm just going to add a few to this blog, but the rest are up on Facebook if you're curious. The following photos are not arranged in chronological order.

Me, Timmy and Simon. I like this picture quite a lot, although there were like 3 other photos that looked like this because the camera didn't like us. It's most obviously my profile picture as well.

Here's me and a glass of wine. I forget to mention that I switched to red wine at some point, and it got spilled over my shirt. Which is now proving really difficult to remove. Grr... I need to find some stain remover.

I just realised Iain reminds me a little of the dude from Empire of the Sun. You know, the one that did "Walking on a Dream". Kinda random, but yeah.

Me and Timmy.

I don't even remember this one.

And then it was over far too quickly. But me and Mel are going to the Med Ball this coming weekend! The party lives on!

Obviously I was hungover the next day. Everyone knows how the rest of that goes. I took a mega cat-nap from 4 till 7 as well. Pretty mean, since I'm feeling better now. Well, one more week before the mid-semester break! YEAH!

Stuff is like, exploding.

Literally. I mean, I've had pretty much no rest in between the mountain-load of assignments, lab reports, project and just trying to fit only 3 days of gym. I get so tired so quickly too, I've actually taken to having 20 minute long naps on the bus, which I'd prefer not to do.

The ball's tomorrow night!! I'm excited, because it's a destress opportunity. Who wouldn't be? Plus, I'm also going to the Med Ball next week as Malcolm's man date. Fun fun times indeed. I can't wait for that one too, since I expect there will be some interesting people to meet there too. By interesting I, of course, mean hot.

I had a discussion with Richie a few days back, and we inferred that I'm becoming quite... I suppose arrogant would be a way to put it, except that I'm not arrogant. I just behave like I lack a lot of humility due to an overblown ego. Heh. Something like that. I still know my limits, but at the moment I don't think I can be bothered taking people seriously, so... I mean hey, I'm going clinically insane at this rate, at least it's not being expressed in horrible ways. Right?

There's so many 21sts this year it's not even funny. I'm going to run severely short on cash really quickly. Plus, with so many 21sts clashing on the same night, I'm being made to pick and choose, because there's just no way I can manage going to multiple. I feel it would be a little rude to show up and leave before speeches.

Whatever, yeah? I've got to get going. Gym, then bloody university work. Woohoo!

P/S: I have no idea if Lionel reads this, but your post with the piano video for luring girls into your trap was funny. Good luck with that yeah? =P

Awesomeness

I just realised this blog has been dying on me, just a little. Thought I'd take some time off my assignments and dwell on the past few weeks. It's just been a whirlwind and all, really. I mean, the holidays, the Stein, Marcel's 21st... Assignments... And I get my project tomorrow too. It's gonna be sooooooooo busy.

The Stein was pretty meh really, it was rather tame for some reason I couldn't quite put my finger on. Place was awesome, but I think people having pint glasses made it a bit more of a civilised affair (which ain't fun for a Stein), and there was something odd about the dance floors. Just kinda strange. I mean, me not drinking much that night (just 4 pints or so) might have helped, but I dunno. Strangely disappointing, and I wasn't the only one who thought so. On the other hand, I saw heaps of my former classmates from high school. Kinda surreal really.

Marcel's 21st went kinda funnily. I started out deciding I'd actually not drink, which made sense since it was BYO. Then an hour in, I decided that everyone around me was drinking and I wanted one. So across the road I went to a liquor store and bought a bottle of wine. Just one bottle too (I'm proud of myself). Which I then finished. Oh, not that quickly, mind you. I'm not an alcoholic after all =P Maybe like... an hour? I reckon that was fairly slow. There was this really drunk guy who was dancing and stuff, and he knew the whole YMCA dance. Kinda amusing. A huge amount of the songs there were like blasts from the past. Nice in a way too.

But yeah, the next thing coming up is the ball, although that isn't for two weeks. Kinda looking forward to it because it would be a bit of a breather from all this work. I really want to scream, and the semester is already 1/4 of the way in. Argh!

I haven't caught up with Richie in a while... Maybe I should...

Speaking of which, I finally started going back to the gym again (during the holidays)... And I gained a little more weight (which I'm attributing to my legs, I think). I now weigh 69 kg's. Not sure that it's a significant gain for my goals, but it's progress. Although my back (cursed weakness) is getting in the way of me doing heavier deadlifts. I keep failing miserably because it becomes tough to keep it straight. Ah well, I have a while if I keep going at it. I think I should reach my body weight, upper-body wise in the next 8 weeks or so.

Another thing I can hardly understand is why people think I'm out there to get all big and stuff. I'm not, really. My body type isn't really suited for this, I'm more of the lean sort. It's easier for me to get stronger than it is for me to get bigger. Provided I do this properly, size should come as a side effect anyway, and I'm not too fussed about it, so long as I don't get ridiculous. I should really watch my technique with the exercises though, I can see myself slipping with some of them (wrists not perfect, back not straight) occasionally. Not that it's too severe, since I stop myself, but it's an annoying impedance.

I really should be getting ready for bed. Then, a whole day of work tomorrow for me. There is no rest for the wicked.

A Quick Update

I realise I haven't actually written here for a while, but I have been pretty busy with attempting to readjust to the university schedule, which includes the pain of having to adhere to a different sleeping plan.

The semester is going quite well actually, with the exception of getting shafted with an assignment pretty much in the first week (which I still am slowly working through), and another assignment this week (which I've thankfully finished). Just managed to get a bit of breather for the moment, so I thought I'd write here.

As I expected, some classes that I'm required to take will always be dull and uninteresting. I recently discovered via a psychology article that we apparently are capable of convincing ourselves that something inherently boring can be thought of as interesting. I'm going to go with that and say that I will eventually find within myself some appreciation for the boring boring classes.

We had a PhD student from MIT coming over to give a mini-seminar on his work. It was pretty much his take on creating a bio-inspired mechanical device. In other words, he wants to create a robotic bird with a motor system that has similar output statistics as bird muscle. He seems pretty confident about it, so I'll take his word for it. I find his talk of arrays of permanent magnets (all highly technical for just a simple bloke like me) too confusing.

As an aside, the 3rd Stein of the year is on tomorrow! I'm pretty keen, although a little apprehensive (and unsure) on what to do for the theme: Man vs Wild. I mean, yeah it's easy... but I'm reluctant to be left cold (due to the fact that it's still pretty darn chilly at night here), plus.... I lack "wild" clothing, or any safari clothing... I'm simply not sure dropping more than $50 on a whole set of clothes I will NEVER wear again would work. Meh, I'll think of something... Maybe... Or I could just find some leaves and make a hat =P. The cheap and uninspired way.

I'm thinking I'm probably making a foolish, foolish mistake not going to the gym today... I was technically feeling a little under the weather, but... hm. I can't help but feel a little guilty. Ah well. I'll be going regularly (bar sickness) pretty much come Saturday, so I guess it's not too much to worry bout.

Alright, break's over. Back to work, and then sleep. Later!

So...

Yes, I know that getting upset and mad at one result was a little silly, but I don't make any apologies. It was something I needed to let out of my system lest it fester. At any rate, it was frustrating to the utmost, particularly when it seemed to be telling me I didn't study enough when I actually did study a fair amount for it.

A period of rest does do wonders at dissipating my bitter resentment however. And besides, I have gym today with my trainer. There's much fun to be had all around. Joyous indeed.

I only have exactly one week of holidays left. It kinda sucks, I have so many things left to do: which mainly revolve around catching up with more of my mates, but still. Too little time! Plus, I still haven't had the time to go and see Bruno. Although I'm not quite sure if I want to. Ah well, I'll talk to Richie and see if he's keen. Anyway, I want closure from my results, so I'm going to request to have a copy of my exam scripts. See ya!

Ragequit

Fucking rage. I got my MEDSCI 205 mark back just today... WTF with a C+?! I sure as hell didn't see that one coming. The minimum mark I expected for myself was a B. I'm gonna get to the bottom of this. If they say I fucked up my essays and gave me sufficient reason, fine. Otherwise, they better have a fucking good reason, because I sure as hell am NOT a happy chappy.

So, I know I haven't been writing in a while, but I've been busy. Honest!

I've got two of my exam results back today... Let's just say Math sucked. I kinda predicted it, and I mean I kinda knew deep down before I took it that it might be a little risky taking the 4th year paper ahead of myself. Then exams came round and I was hard pressed to complete studying for it. I got a B- in the end. Yeah, I'm pretty gutted. Looking on the bright side though, at least it wasn't a C or something worse. Although, still pretty gutting.

Bio was a bit of a better situation, I got A; but not the A+ I was hoping for. Ah well. A's good enough I guess, considering that all the other biomedical engineers only had 4 days (like me) to study for it, I think I did pretty well. Still waiting on the other two subjects though.

Went to the gym for the first time in yonks on Monday, and again on Wednesday, because I'm such a sucker for pain and punishment. Monday was... fun... Let's just say that my trainer made me throw up water. At least it was 90 minutes after my meal, so most of that was gone. I'm still feeling the effects of Monday today... My chest and lats are sore as anything. Can't stretch my right side fully without feeling twinges in my chest. Ouch.

I kinda got bored yesterday, so I picked up a calligraphy pen and started practising. I'm getting better, but I'm still having trouble forming certain strokes. I think I have a natural tendency to curve the pen when drawing straight lines (with little hooks or sweeps at the end), so it distorts it. Not too bad though, just not too great either. Ah well.

Bought a Bill Granger cookbook. Not because I know who he is, but the cookbook did seem interesting, so I bought it. I suppose I'll try some of the recipes out and let you know if I find something nice, eh?

Alright, enough lazing around. I'm going to try see if this chest of mine is injured or just sore.

FREEDOM!

I've finally finished my exams. They went alright, I guess. Math was probably the worst one though, since I had the least time to prepare. I think I went alright for Bio and Physiology, I made up crap when I couldn't think of stuff, but it wasn't too bad so I think I'll get away with an B+ or A- for Physiology. Continuum went really well. Better than I expected. Although Math... let's just say it was akin to getting caught with pants down. Out of the 6 questions given (of which you have to choose 5), I could only do 4. To make matters worse, I can't be certain that I was absolutely correct for those questions. I got the nagging feeling that I introduced horrible horrible errors. I'd be lucky to get away with a B+ for that one I think. Disappointing, but 'tis the sad reality of it all.

But as with all post exam events, I went drinking. At Ange's with the rest of them. And goddamn, I got really drunk. I was there from 7 to 11-ish, and by 9 I was through about 2 bottles of wine already. Go figure, I woke up at 5am drunk. I suppose the benefit of that was just that I managed to get some painkillers, sugar, salt, minerals and heaps of water into my system before I woke up at 8:30. That actually alleviated the symptoms of my hangover, to the extent that I was feeling kinda good, although tired and slightly jetlagged by the time we met up at 11 to see Transformers 2. Fun times, that movie.

*SPOILERS FOLLOW* - not that it matters

It was a terrible movie to watch, but CG effects were like OMG. I particularly laughed at various cliches scattered through the film. And I especially laughed at Shia LaBeouf dying and going to heaven where God are the Primes.

Anyway, I'm glad I got the drinking bit out of my system. I had been wanting to get really drunk for some time now. Stress relief and all. Although I might have drunk a little too much, but meh. I'll live. And now time to enjoy the holidays!

I st-st-stuttered when...

Yes, it's not something I'm particularly happy with but I have "See You Again" stuck in my head. Yes, it's that Miley Cyrus song. Oh my god. Make it stop! Ever since someone played it at Kane's wine and cheese, I've been hearing it when I stop thinking for a while. ARGH!

That aside, studying's going horribly. I'm sick of learning stuff from Physiology. Also commented to a lecturer (with the ability to add input in Biomedical Engineering staff meetings) that it seemed slightly like a irrelevant subject, and he didn't quite agree but he did mention that the issue had been raised among a staff meeting. Hmm.

I should stop procrastinating again. But yes, it's stuck in my head!

"The last time we hang out, I will redeem myself
My heart won't rest till then..."

ARGH!

Just a little something

I've managed to procrastinate some more. This one is slightly productive though... I finally figured out image masks on Photoshop. Hehe, I know it's not hard, but I just never got around to it. So here's one of my attempts:

Pretty huh?

Study Break.

It's begun. My first exam starts in 2 weeks, giving me ample time to prepare. Unfortunately, I would need to prepare for all 4 of them, so it's not really that advantageous either. Last day of semester was as usual, fun. I bumped into Richie randomly again, and we had our mini-catchups. Then there was the EngSci barbecue! Hurrah! You know that free beer and sausages are always great.

On another note entirely, I somewhat filled that gap in my memory from last Friday. Suffice to say, I don't want to bring it up. It's rather embarassing, but I'm sure it's happened to some of us before too. =X

My camera still hasn't come in yet. WTF! I'm annoyed as hell, especially since I told them that I wanted it by Friday. It's now Saturday. Seriously, its like they're just out to get me and ruin some of my plans. It'd be great to have photographic evidence of mayhem courtesy of Iain Dunning. After all, it is his 21st tonight. Gah. Whatever. Idiots all.

I think I'll be a little productive today and get some work done. Later!

P/S: I found a recipe by Nigella Lawson which takes 24 hours to cook. Something like a slow roast pork shoulder. Sounds amazing though, and I'll have to say, I'm sorely tempted to try it out. Except that it serves 12, and there's no way I would be able to eat that. Well, even my family would be hard pressed. I suppose I could try it and serve it for lunch and dinner, yeah? If someone else is keen to try it out, lemme know how that goes!

Bad Idea

I'm not quite sure what possessed me to drink that much, but yeah, last night was not the smartest move I made. At least I got home alright, but I have no idea what happened towards the end of that night. Plus, I know I managed to rack up expenses of $200. Oh no. Only $30 of it went to food as well, so wtf?

Was at Shadz for quite a long time, 3-7ish, and had quite a few long island teas to begin with. That slowly progressed with me going to dinner at The Java Room. Nice food by the way, but I do believe I was drunk at dinner as well. Then we went to Deschlers' and then finally to the Flight Lounge. Hell, I don't even know why/when I left, but my fractured memories seem to be telling me that I just left like that and climbed into a cab. Not even sure if I said goodbye to the people I was with either. Weird. 

Yeah, plus I really don't remember how the cab got me home. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep. Whatever. Yeah, spent most of today just sleeping. Sleeping and sleeping. Damn.

It's sunny again?

Seriously, this Auckland winter is confusing me now. Instead of it being cold, cold and even more cold, today is actually hot enough for me to walk around in shorts and just a t-shirt. Well, it's 8 degrees outside, but the sun is more than hot enough. Bizzarre.

Kat's 20th was yesterday at Chapel. It was what I expected it to be, so I must say I'm rather pleased although, come to think of it, I didn't have any cake. That was odd. I didn't think I'd forget to eat cake. Then again...

Friday finished for me at 3 in the afternoon, since I decided to skip some lectures and go to Shadows with Timmy, Anthony, Iain, Ange, and uhh. I forgot who else. All I remember was having a real damn good time there until like 6:30 when I decided I had to leave and get over to Ponsonby. I somehow managed to secure a ride there with Willow which saved me the trouble of like getting the bus there, since I was not really going to be good with directions about then. I even managed to tackle James (there are seriously too many of them) as he walked past me then. 

It should be rather obvious that I just kept myself pretty alcohol-fueled throughout the night. I recall a Manhattan and several martinis. I even extolled the virtues of a martini to this dude, uhmm.... I think he was Nick at the party. At any rate, I vaguely remember these names anyway. A Chloe somewhere, some Megan, uhm... damn. I forgot. Maybe some Bridget somewhere, but seriously.

At some point later, Alastair somehow sampled a hug from Rupert. Then I wanted one too, so I sampled one too, much to Nora's amusement. And I can conclude that he is a very good hugger. Better than Alastair in fact. Nora seemed to say something then about Rupert getting more hugs from guys than the opposite sex. Haha.

I got pretty tired soon though. It must be age catching up with me finally =( Went for drinks at Cartel with Jack, Kirsty, Rupert and Nora, and I had another martini. Needless to say, this sparked yet another conversation about martinis. Nora's a bartender, so I suppose that'd make sense. I normally do have my martinis with more vermouth than what people expect, like about a bottle-capful of vermouth or so. It becomes a whole lot more drinkable though. Also, adding much more vermouth turns the whole thing very very drinkable, although it becomes really hard to taste the gin then, so... Yeah, Nora and Rupert were both rather suprised at how easy it was to drink this, and the gin was superb too. I've never had a Martin Millers before, but now I'm a fan. It goes there along with Tanqueray No. 10,  and South.

Anyway, should get on to all that assignments. Until then!

Impending Storm

The exams are coming, and I am sure as hell not ready. Oh yeah, the bake-off between EngSci and BME (for the 3rd years) was last Friday. Obviously, EngSci won. Ah well.

But yeah, I'm just not ready for these exams. I look back on what I've "learnt" throughout the semester, and my brain gets mindfucked. Honestly. I don't even know what I learnt. Cool huh? Still gotta finish my lab report too, plus those idiotic assignments that just got piled on me last week. Not too bad though, when I think about it.

Iain's 21st is coming up real soon, and Timmy's been recruiting people to chip in so we can get Iain a nice gold ring with an EngSci crest on it. I suspect this will be happening to all EngSci's in our year eventually. Maybe. Kinda cool though.

I'm finally not sick, after those two weeks of being sick intermittently due to the fucking weather. I swear, that had got to be the most annoying thing: everytime the weather got warmer/colder (which was, incidentally, a lot) too rapidly, I got sick. I even had to stop going to the gym. And now I've completely broken out of that rhythm, so I need to get back in... Sigh. But the exams are coming up, and I'm reluctant to start even though I want to and should. I'm kinda hopeless like this, huh?

You know that feeling when you kinda get over someone, but then it feels like it's starting all over again with that said person? I'm getting that feeling, and it's... not fun. Bugger it all. I'm going to bed. Plus, Kat's birthday dinner this Friday... Gonna get drunk and go clubbing! Yeah! Fun times to be had, once I finish all my workload for this week, of course. Night!

I Baked a Cake...

...but my mother dropped it before it was finished. There goes the cake, I guess. Damn. I don't even know if it worked or not. Ah well, it was a lemon lime sugar cake, so could've been good.

Went over to Timmy's yesterday, since he and Anthony were baking their cake for the bake-off. Some very alcoholic variant of a Mississippi mudcake. They added too much baking powder to the mix though, so it ended up too dry. Plus, Timmy got too impatient and cut it prematurely before it had finished cooling, so it split into many larger pieces. Well. Sorta. It was really funny to see anyway. And when he finished slathering on the cream, the cake kinda slid on the cream and out, making it look like a landslide. And oh god, the icing was so alcoholic. You could practically taste the rum in it. They even planned to coat it in Bacardi 151 so they could set it on fire. With the alcohol present in the icing, the cake might have been on fire for quite a long time.

We grabbed dinner (pizza) from Domino's. Anyway, over there, this guy came in with his 5-year-old son (looked about). The kid was soooo adorable! Like, the kind you'd just spoil because he was so cute! Awww. I know I'm gushing, but he was such an adorable kid. You just wait till you see a kid like him, then you'll know what I mean.

A little gutted about the "cake", but ah well. Making shortbread cookies tomorrow, so that should be harder for her to screw up. Hopefully. My fingers smell like citrus, but I don't have any cake to show for it =(

Kegs '09

Boy am I tired. Went to Kegs today (you know, Kegs in the Park). It's that Engineering event where they get kegs and kegs and kegs of Tui beer, and the whole bloody thing starts at 10:00 AM. Yes, we drink at 10. It's awesome. T-shirt this year was great as well. It's a bit of a cheeky take on WALL-E on two fronts. The first front is more innocent, TU-E (you know, same pronunciation is Tui!). The second is slightly more subtle. Upon initial observation, it seems that WALL-E is happy plainly because he's having beer. Look closer, and you'll find that Eva is in a compromising position (about crotch level). I'll leave you to draw your conclusions. Maybe I'll post a picture up if and when I get my camera back.

So yeah, I managed to avoid getting tigered. Tiger-ing is essentially simple: there are two plastic toy tigers somewhere in someone's hands, like tag. If you get tigered, you get treated to the song that goes:

"Hail to brother/sister (insert name), brother/sister (insert name), brother/sister (insert name)

Hail to brother/sister (insert name) who's with us today

We love him/her, we hate him/her, we love to masturbate him/her

Hail to brother/sister (insert name) who's with us today

So drink motherfucker, drink motherfucker, drink motherfucker, drink motherfucker, drink (repeat last line until vessel is downed)"

Essentially, you have to down your vessel at the appropriate time. Obviously. Screw up, and you'll get treated to chants of "Finish it", and if you spill or give up, you get a "You fucked up!" chant.

I didn't think at my current disposition towards beer today that I could handle being tigered, so I stayed far far away from it.

Some people thought it would be funny to egg us and toss cold water on us. That all missed me, but some others weren't so lucky. Egg stinks. Apparently it was some Civil engineers from 3rd year, because they were jealous since they had a test that day. Don't see the point in being petty though. Meh.

Pub crawl began at noon. Let's omit most details since they're roughly the same. One bit that stood out though was me having lunch at one of the pubs (lamb shanks). Annoyingly though, this random dude whom none of us knew came up and suddenly started digging his fingers through my mash potatoes. I mean, what the fuck?! My mates were picking at my food, but they are MY mates, and I know them. I don't even know who that fucking dude is! So yeah, I naturally lost my appetite, and also got a trifle pissed at him. Some Commerce dude who decided to tag along to Kegs though. Meh. Idiot. Apparently he was being real creepy as well to Ange, like hitting on her and stuff. Last I looked, he was randomly touching girls as he walked by. And also being a general douche to people he didn't know. Like once when I was dancing along with Timmy, he kinda came up behind me and just started humping. Or something. Purely creepy. I shudder to think of it.

Anyway, it was a great time I had, although I started to get real tired around 5. We ended at roughly 6 (not that it was technically over), and me, Timmy and Damjan went for pizza at this pretty cool place nearby. Will I do this again? Of course! Even considering that I don't like beer too much, sure! I downed my fair share, not as much as some I could see, but hey, I had a 1L vessel, so buzz off. I filled it up quite a few times too.

I really need to have a sleep now. SOOOOOO tired. Night.

P/S: Met Rachel (I think) again, the chick who like took my camera during Round the Bays and started taking pictures with it. You know, if you look at facebook and start seeing all these close up shots of people playing rugby (I think league, doubt it was touch), that was her. Her picture's somewhere there too. Yep. And yeah. Anyway, nights!

Stein #2: Slumber Party

Last night, I went to Stein 2. I'm sure this comes as no great shock to anyone. I had to buy a friggin' dressing gown because Ange threatened to disown me if I didn't show up in theme. Yeah, I sleep commando so I don't have any nightwear =(

So anyway, I went nightwear shopping in the Warehouse with Chris. Chris wanted to like wear girl's nightwear, plainly because he thought it'd be funny. And truth be told, it was funny as hell. He got a white dressing gown with pink hearts, and this pair of pink pyjama's meant for 14 year old girls. And to top it off, pink furry boot-slippers with those furry balls on the end. Epic. Seriously.

We even had pre-drinks at Ange's flat, mainly because they jacked the price of Tui's at the Stein from $1 a can to $2. I know, OMG, shock horror. Well, in all honesty, pre-drinks meant I could buy better beer at the same price. Kieran eventually came along just as we formed a walking bus to the Stein, and he wore an uhm... outfit which I would say was interesting. It was some weird French maid thing with huge fake boobs at the front. One of the funniest sights I had ever seen though, so yeah.

The Carlton, which was the venue this time, wasn't too bad at all. They had two levels, and so different music on either level, and the music this time wasn't as bad as Stein 1. They played Killing in The Name Of!!! And "I'm On a Boat!" Ahh, what fun times. Not saying they didn't have the more conventional dance-ish music either, but the music was a definite improvement (as in it was more like the usual Steins). 

You know what else made this one rather sweet? More 3rd year BME's!! We had Chris, Nick, Scott, Ming, Tessa and me (I know it's grammatically incorrect, shhh)! That's far more than we had last year (me and Tessa) for them biomedical engineers. I expect there were some 2nd years too, but we hardly know them, so...

And damn, was I dangerously drunk at the start of the night. I somehow managed to dodge a bullet there, given how many beers and Quick Fucks I was having. I managed to slow down just in time though, so it was all good =)

I danced and danced and danced. And talked and talked and talked. And sang and yelled. So of course I had fun! On hindsight, I also noticed at Ange's flat, I was almost the token Asian. Well, token male Asian anyway. The Civil's had their token Asian who was female. 

Started drinking Red Bull Vodka's towards the end of the night. It was kinda amusing, because I remember becoming immensely giggly when I was having 'em. Like I was channeling Ange or something. Oh dear god. You see, Timmy came up to me and pretty much stole my drink. He even tried to finish drinking it before I grabbed it back. Then started giggling. He bought me another one though, which was pretty sweet. He claims he's too generous with me or something. I just think I deserve 'em anyway =)

Anyway, pretty sleepy now. Skipped like 3/4's of my classes today. Oh yeah! Today was Drake Day. One of our classmates, Jason (last name Drake) dresses constantly in tan/black pants, white t-shirt, and black hoodie and shoes. So me and Iain organised a Drake Day where we do an "Interpretive Drake" of sorts. Did I also mention Drake has very weird wavy hair? It forms crests and according to Iain, is impossible to recreate. He did try today, afterall. 11 of us turned up in our Drake gear today. It was another epic day. We might do it again next year, on the first Friday of May. Timmy seemed to be the closest in a realistic emulation of Drake. Ange told me when I saw her today: "Timmy looks soooooo (yup, emphasis on so included) much like Drake!"

So yeah, where was I? Oh yeah, sleepy. And I have to finish my MEDSCI lab report =(

Sleep first though. I think. Night!

The Revue: Part 2

Alright, I forgot to write this yesterday, but there isn't much left to say.

So, while there were high moments in the revue, there were quite a few low points. Unfortunately, we somehow acquired a lot of dancers, and to accomodate them, guess what? We had lots of dances. 

Not that dances are a bad thing, but I felt like it was kinda discontinuous with the whole concept of the revue's theme this year. Plus, they had dances to Beyonce's Halo (which I thoroughly despise, because I never liked the song anyway), and the dancers weren't good, choreography wasn't superb, and mainly choreography wasn't superb. And the dancers weren't good. Have I made my point clear? I thought so. Repeated use of the strobe light isn't a good thing, especially when it was already present in the previous dance, especially when it feels like it was deliberately there to cover up the lack of skill by the dancers. Ok, I'm probably being mean. They weren't all that bad. Mainly repetitive. I also blame the choreographer for lack of originality.

There were still high points in the dances though. One was a Bollywood dance, which wasn't choreographed by aforementioned choreographer. It was probably of the best dance routines for the revue too, which just goes to suggest something... Yes... Another brilliant idea was male ballet dancers in those ballet tutu's. Yup, MALE engineers in ballet tutu's. Now that was absolutely comical. I laughed heaps for that one.

So, after the whole revue thing was over, we went over to the Muddy Farmer (some Irish pub) for the afterparty. Personally, I didn't think it was a great party, but hey, it was good to chill, drink and chat. Just not, you know, the typical party thing people expect. I got real sleepy at 2 am, but I stayed to well, make sure Iain was fine, just in case. He was drinking heaps that night anyway, and me none since I had that horrible sore throat. Timmy stayed too, which was kinda nice.

We ended up only leaving the pub at like 4 in the morning. I think. Didn't look at the time by then, and we went to McDonald's, because it's like the only place open then. Remembering my previous (2) experiences there this year (and only 2 out of the previous 3 years too... wow), I decided that my earlier resolve to avoid McDonald's was well justified. So, I just sat there whilst the others decided to get something. Eventually at 5, we all kinda left. Damn, I was sleepy.

Did I enjoy myself? Of course. Like I said, $12 well spent. I wasn't a big fan of the venue, but I guess it made it cheaper. I might even involve myself next year, since I actually have time for it then. Didn't even have any time for rest around revue sign-ups and practice this year, so I suppose it was a good thing I didn't sign up. 

Stein on Thursday, and Kegs next Wednesday. Fun, fun, fun. If only this bothersome cough would go away before Thursday...

The Revue (Part 1)

Alright, I decided to split this post in two mainly because I'm sleepy. I only got back this morning at 5-ish, and I woke up at about 9... So... I might head back to sleep pretty soon.

Revue was great fun. I definitely didn't regret it, although I thought some bits could have been revised better, obviously. In case you aren't aware of what the revue is, the Engineering Revue is essentially an engineering-associated performance. It contains skits (and also attempts at comedic mockery of stereotypes within university), and includes healthy bashing of medical and law students. It's only fair since they started it first too.

But yes, the revue this time is (loosely) based on a contest held to find the best engineer within the faculty. The show is also intertwined with random song and dance routines and skits made to seem like ad's. In all honesty, it felt like watching tv sometimes.

They were definitely memorable moments in the revue. The re-created songs were good, like the rendition of Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours". That was rewritten to add the engineering twist, like lines like... "But I won't integrate no more, no more... It's getting late, I'm bored". It was particularly good because the singer was actually not half bad himself, and the modified lyrics didn't cramp the flow of the song at all. Other notable songs included the modification of MetroStation's "Shake That" to a rather crass song about a doctor taking advantage of a patient called "Take That". You know, that song suprisingly didn't need much modification, considering that the lyrics were dirty enough on their own. 

Skits were good too, on the whole. Some require you to know a little bit about places within the university, such as Munchy Mart, the little grocery (?) store within the campus which has an annoying Indian guy who points out the next opening in the cashiers as if you were blind, and also causing more trouble and hold up with the queue than anything else. Also, the dig on the AUTU (Auckland University of Technology University). I shit you not, that's what they're called. It used to be called AUT, but then they tacked on another U to make it sound better. The digs obviously include them adding more and more U's. Like UATUATUUUUUUU. And also other digs such as the fact that they fail as a university. Hehe.

Anyway, that's all I'll say for now. I'm like, super sleepy already. Night

SOOOO Excited...

Yeah! Tests are overrrr, assignments are (for now) overrrr... And the revue is this Saturday! (So is the after party) And, and, and, Stein next Thursday, so the drinking begins just in time! And Kegs the week after, so even more drinking. This is looking good for the moment...

P/S: I know I sound like a raging alcoholic right now, but I do need some release after that goddamned awful stressful "holiday" (from hell) and the tests and assignments this week. In fact, I demand it!

P/P/S: (Like 3 hours later or so...) I just found out where all these restaurants and bars in Auckland source their glassware, barware, kitchenware, knives, etc etc etc from! Yay for me! And it's cheap too! I should buy some cocktail glasses, a bar spoon, a Boston shaker, a muddler, and a hawthorn strainer! Mmm, martini...

New Zealand and the Drinking Culture

After the reply Amy left me on her blog, I thought I'll address this as well as make an update on the proceedings in my life. 

Yes, Amy, I am drinking a lot. There isn't anything else to do in New Zealand though. Seriously. When you go out to town, you drink. When you are free in University, you go to Shadows, the student pub (in Auckland anyway). When you go camping, you drink. I can't explain it too well, but New Zealand has a long established culture of drinking. This is exacerbated when you're: A) a university student; B) an Engineering student (although I'm sure this will provoke comments/blog posts from others telling me that it's not the case). In any case, I will limit these claims to only New Zealand. 

But all that drinking aside, yes I did go out drinking last night. As well as clubbing, but I was drinking first. I went to Deschlers, the rock bar which has become my usual hangout of late. I just like sitting there and having a few quiet (as in I don't speak, because it's actually really loud with all the rock music) drinks. Plus, they make awesome drinks, in particular the gin martini I so favour. 

I then met up with Willow and her crew, that being Daniel, her boyfriend (obviously), some of her friends, Paul, Ashein, Keri and Kim (they hang out in a group called the Tea Party, don't ask me why), and some of her other friends whose names I cannot remember. Yes, I'm bad with names. Yes, I'm worse after a few drinks. Irrelevant, though. 

So anyway, we all make it into the Flight Lounge, despite the huge faux pas on Ashein's part (by wearing running sneakers). Yes, we all got in because of the huge buffer of girls, and also because there were not many people there yet. Then I accidentally spilt some guy's drink. That didn't really matter, since I bought him another. But then it turns out he had the same PIN as I did, so he bought me a drink. Cool huh? I like these little random things.

I'll probably mention this now, but I personally don't know how to dance (as in I can't shuffle, etc). You know, I can move and whatever, so it depends on what people perceive as dance. But yes, I can't/don't dance. Anyway. Despite this, or perhaps because of this, when I do "dance", I'm not discriminatory of any particular way of dancing. Often I enjoy reciprocating my dance partner's moves back on themselves. And I get very dirty when dancing.

So. Yes, I dirty danced with some of Willow's friends, because she didn't want to dirty dance (neither did Tea Party group). I think I got summarily judged by the Tea Party group of friends after that, but meh. Screw them. I was already on my alcoholic high besides. 

Another thing about me is when I dance, I dance with anyone. Anyone. So long as they aren't creepy. So this random dude (I don't know what is it with random dudes dancing with me, eg: Luke at Arnold's party) comes up and starts dancing with me. So I dance with him for a bit too. It might have gotten a little dirty. I think. It's kinda hazy anyway. But I got judged again by "Tea Party" group.  Bugger. Oh no, my world's going to implode *rolls eyes*.

Sorry, I don't think I ever really explained my irritation with that group. Simply put, they're rather judgemental, and as gossipy as the rumour mills from high school. As well as conservative. You can draw your own conclusions.

Night kinda ended sometime at 3am I think. I get this feeling that the Lady Gaga song, "Just Dance" is starting to embody me quite well. Particularly the bits about dancing, having a bit too much, and forgetting the name of the club. Hehe. Quite an early night too, and I have no hangover! Yay! The damage wasn't too bad either... Spent about $100 in drinks just on myself, which I reckon was alright. But I'm quite tired... And I haven't finished studying for those tests yet. 

My holidays aside from that were horrible. Boring, dreary and dull. I had 4 assignments to complete, and 2 tests to study for (both of which I haven't actually finished studying for). I still have one more assignment to complete too (by Thursday). Should be good though. So what's everyone's plans for the weekend? I'm just going to study =\

And back to hitting the books. Ciao.

When Holidays are not quite... Holidays

So yeah, this was long overdue for an update. Sadly, there's not much going in this life of mine. I'd normally have been busy to the days going out with mates, chillin', drinking, you know the drill, if it weren't for the huge overload of assignments and neccessary test preparations that got dropped onto my lap. 4 assignments (1 of which is a lab report, I guess), and 2 tests to prepare for, all of which collide on the first week back!!! My holidays as we know it, over!

Sigh.

Not to say that I haven't got anything planned per se. I'm going out for dinner a few more times throughout the hols, but I don't think I've got any big night outs planned. Not quite sure what to do with the Easter holidays either. I suppose it depends on whether I finish enough work such that I feel entitled to a little break, I suppose.

Alright, off to gym, then back to work. This isn't any fun at all.

Just hanging on...

It's been a busy week. Especially the weekend, with it being Tessa's birthday, and her party the subsequent night. But hey, I survived, even if I was rather hungover on Sunday. Timmy and I polished off roughly about 750ml of scotch as well as the remaining two-thirds of the cask wine (from Tessa's birthday dinner) we bought. Let's just say, in my case, cask wine and whisky don't mix well. 

I met his bartender at Deschler's who's like, in a band and stuff. I think it's called Suicide Boulevard. He played me a song from them, and I thought it was pretty cool. Didn't manage to google anything up about it though, since I found another band by the same name in the States. I reckon they probably formed recently at any rate. But if I do find 'em, I'll try put up one of their songs. Kinda like 80's rock anthems and stuff.

And oh yeah, David (that's the band bartender guy) made me a drink that he called an Axl Rose. I know, very rockish. But of all things, it was a pretty fruity drink. Quite delicious in all honesty but I think I prefer my martini, made with Tanqueray No. 10. 

My camera's been acting up suddenly. It refuses to turn on properly. I might have to get it sent back in, kinda a shame as well considering how recently I got it. Guts...

I should get some more sleep. Soooo sleepy, slept in like 2 lectures already.

P/S: I really really like Breakeven by The Script. Lovely song.

Safe Trip Home

I've been listening to Dido's latest album recently. Yes, it's call Safe Trip Home... and I like it. The songs seem to have gotten more mature this time, and it's still as mellow as ever. A bit more of a sad touch though.

Timmy's party today/tonight! Yay! I've gotta go now, but I'll be taking pics (I think).

Round the Bays Pt. 2

Alright, I uploaded them all to Facebook. Goddamn Blogger doesn't have a multiple upload tool like Facebook. Gah. Just check 'em out on my page if you want. Links below:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=95748&id=741713295&ref=nf

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=95750&id=741713295&ref=nf

Round the Bays (Pt 1)

This is Part 1 because I left my camera (as well as my other shirt) with Iain, so I wouldn't be uploading 'em photos till tomorrow or something.

Round the Bays was pretty awesome. We congregated in front of Showgirls (yes, that strip club) and distributed the T-shirts and stuff. I might even take a picture of it, I thought it was pretty awesome. Then we got out the mobile Tui couch. It's a pretty poor contraption really, but it steers and brakes, so all good.

Unfortunately, we got delayed from starting because of some random thing, and this was bad, since I started to feel the call of nature. Of course, I held that in, and kept drinking the beers which are omnipresent at all Engineering-related events. 

Eventually, the whole thing started, and yes, John Key (our new Prime Minister, that's who he is) blew the starting horn. And when we went past him, did we do anything? Of course! We sang him one of those drinking songs. Specially for him. We even sang the Engineering drinking song as well. Two songs for him! He should feel proud. The guy just smiled and waved though. I wonder what he thought about the whole thing.

A short amount of time and a short distance later, I decided I couldn't ignore the call of nature and so I ran to a petrol station with Antony's brother. He looks just like Antony, by the way. Unfortunately it was closed, so I was forced to relieve myself in the bushes. But then again, I wasn't the only one. There was a whole line of us too. Those port-a-loos had way too much of a huge queue.

I think a few people (parents) might have been a little scandalised, but they probably should be somewhat used to it now. We did keep our language to a rough minimum, of course, the occasional "motherfucker" and "masturbate" which are present in the drinking songs couldn't be suppressed, but hey, all good. They were probably more scandalised at our running, drinking, pushing the beer trolley, and yelling "Get out of the way! Trolley coming through!" Hehe.

The commentator even made a point to mention us as we crossed the finish line eventually, probably an hour and a half or so. He said something along the lines of us being the noisiest and probably most inebriated. Technically, there was this other group of people, rather old, pushing a trolley with beer too. Pretty cool. We even shared a drinking stop with 'em.

As usual, at the end we had a barbeque, and the traditional rugby league game with Med. As usual, they crushed us, but then again, they have the token Pacific Islanders on their team anyway. Did I mention that some of them are rather vicious? The Med players I mean.

Well, that's it for now. Pics next time, I promise.

I'm awake, I'm awake. And you know what? It's time for Round the Bays!!! I think I'm more or less alright to go now. Stupid cold has finally seen the light of day. Or is starting to see it anyway.

ARGH! SICK!!!

I'm like feeling the beginnings of a cold. It's annoying. I don't want to be sick. Goddamn Richie. I blame him for passing on his cold to me. Just like I blame him for the cold last year. And the year before that. I always seem to catch it from him every year. Damn.

Oh well. And it's also the day before the Stein. A bad time to be sick indeed. I s'ppose I'll just dose myself with some nasal decongestants and go, then use the weekend to recuperate. Should be fine, hopefully. Oh wait. Round the Bays this Sunday... Oh god... 

I'll figure something out I guess.

Talked to Sam earlier today, and Arnold's party came up. Seems that Luke wasn't Becky's boyfriend. You know, Luke, the guy who asked me if I ever slow danced with another guy. Dude I ended up slow dancing with. Which completely throws some of my assumptions out of the window. Now I wanna know. Damnit. God damn my need to know everything sometimes. And now it's killing me. 

Oh, you don't know what I want to know? I want to know why he asked me that. If I ever slow danced with another guy. ARGH!!!! I'm frustrated.

Arnold's 20th... and subsequent hangover

Well, that was only to be expected I guess. I mean, year after year, in the beginning of March, there's always been this, and so it happens again. As usual, much alcohol was to be had. I didn't take pictures, well because pictures of drunk people aren't fun, and I don't trust me with the cam.

There's not much at all to the night if you neglect the drinking parts. I couldn't hold my alcohol once I got passed a funnel sometime in the night, probably 1am I think. That was a bad idea, especially considering how much I had prior, and especially when beer has always been the thing that always pushes me over. Spirits, no problem, but beer drives me over the edge quickly.

Oh, but hey, there was one random bit. Met this dude Luke, obviously a friend of Arnold's. Anyway, we were sorta talking for awhile, then sometime later (after some drifting here and there for me), we were dancing in the lounge with tons of other people, and his girlfriend was somewhere there too. So like, he suddenly turns to me and asks: "Have you ever slow danced with another guy before?" To cut the long story short, yes, I did slow dance with Luke with him leading, and his girlfriend was watching. I don't think it was a bad thing though, she didn't seem to mind too much =P

But yeah, just thought I'd share. Now I have a hangover to get rid of. And recovery to begin with, if I'm to get in shape for Stein 1 this Thursday.

An Epiphany

Perhaps I drink because I enjoy it. Perhaps I enjoy it because I like it. Perhaps, too, in a very odd sense, I enjoy it as well because it makes me numb. Impervious to hurt. Impervious to sorrow. For that moment, you're invincible. Everything in itself is laughable, everything is not tangible. Being numb is good isn't it?

The night before

This is a bit of a twofold post, and the title should indicate as much. I went to Iain's house party last night, and tonight is well, the night before I begin classes again. Bummer =(

Iain's house party was pleasant. I got to meet a good amount of our friends before classes began again, which is kinda good too. It also doubled as a great way to end the holidays I guess. We had a barbecue and played Buzz for quite a bit. You know, that sorta stuff you'd do when you don't really want to have a night of mayhem drinking. 

Gotta sleep early tonight and get ready for the early morning gym session, as well as the horrendous lectures that proceed. Oh joy...

Oh yeah, I got myself a new tie today! It was on sale at Farry's ($99) down from $159, so I reckon that's a pretty good deal. I'm also considering these really cool pair of cufflinks from Paul Smith going for $109, but I think I'll hold off spending for a bit. Also, I should be getting my camera tomorrow sometime! Only problem is that I probably wouldn't be around to sign for it, so it might be a while before I collect and use it, especially since I don't really use it during the semester.

Started listening to The Postal Service again. I love Such Great Heights and Nothing Better. Can't explain it, but those two songs are just awesome to my ears. Go give 'em a try if you want, you never know with these things aye? Well, I'm gonna hit the sack. Over and out.

Paid! And now the countdown begins..

I recently decided to check my bank balance, and just realised I've been the paid the remainder of the sum I was promised for when I did the studentship. This technically ends the work agreement I have. 

And what am I going to do with it? Well, firstly, I need to pay off my credit card bills. Then to get more supplements for gym, then to renew my gym membership. All that's a grand already, almost. Then I'm thinking I could get a new camera, since I kinda hate the one I have. Then a new pair of glasses, although I'm not quite sure how much that'll cost.

Anyone know how much a pair of Oliver Peoples frames would cost? Anyway, I estimate another grand for that (with lens and consultations), just in case. That means all in all, I've already spent two and a half grand. God... $2500. Well, mabe it's not going to cost me $1000, but if it does cost more...

And after all that, if I have any cash leftover... I could: a) buy textbooks; or b) buy an iPod touch.

Hmm... We'll see after I get the above items sorted, aye?

Starlight Symphony

Originally, I was going to go with Mihailo and Tim and meet them at the Domain, where the Symphony was held. Of course, they were going to be very late (as usual), so I wandered around for a bit (it didn't start just yet), and ran into Laura, Allen, and Rebecca. Of course, I hung out with them instead. Why not?

The Starlight Symphony was enjoyable, to say the least. Classical music and a choir aren't bad things after all. I'll say that the better part was the second half though, with Pomp and Circumstance (which I like very much); and the orchestra (after the choir's introduction) playing Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture complete with cannon and fireworks, and a laser light show. Brilliant. Fireworks were bloody awesome. Only one minor gripe was that I thought (along with some others) that the cannons didn't fire in sync with the piece the first time round. The other times were good though, and the awesomeness of the fireworks made me forget about it. Yay for fireworks!

And once again, I forgot to take pictures. I got so enraptured I forgot. Clever me huh? =|

Bow Ties?

Well Lionel, glad to hear you can tie a bow tie. Join the ranks of people who can tie one (I honestly don't know who else can actually do one apart from us so far though). But if you can't do it (and it was a bit of trouble to learn)... don't despair!  Here's a little picture guide for all you people who still can't tie one:

Hehe. That's my random bit for the day. Ciao!

Colour My World

I was browsing through a while ago when I came across this. I thought it was a rather touching piece. But anyway, go play it. It's not so much a game, more like just one of those "journeys". Rather artistic I must say.

Plus, it moved me. And that's not the easiest thing to do. Here.

A midsummer's night

It's been getting unbearably hot these days. And yes, I know Australia is being hit by a heat wave with temperatures soaring to 40's even... but it's just so hot here too! 

The main problem I reckon is with the humidity. I'm sitting here at home, and I'm already sweating tons. Like buckets and buckets. Yuck!

Managed to do strain-field characterisation of my device today, which was good. Now all I have to do is process the data, and with enough luck, it'll be all sweet. Otherwise, I might have to re-design some aspects of it. Rather, someone else would have to, since I'm no longer working in 1.5 weeks...

In other news, I'm soooo broke!!! Can't wait till I get paid. Hehe.

Oh God no...

I've got presentations this week!!! Not to mention my work report is due next week as well!

Plus, I'm like completely unprepared for either. Oh well. Guts for me I guess.

The PHD students' conference papers were due in today, so I helped (and like everyone other person they could recruit) to proof-read it as well. Didn't get much work done though.

Andreas (uhm, the German dude at work) came in today too, back from his trip to Rarotonga. He was kind enough to bring a bottle of bourbon whiskey to work, which we promptly cracked open and dispensed with. Yeah, we're quite slack about these things. Plus, he was leaving the country anyway!

The lights in my home are fucked up. Half of the existing lights have now blown, including the one in my room, so now I'm sitting here in the dark (with a bedside lamp) typing away. Woohoo, fun =\

The weekend was great, I had fun, but now it's back to work... Everyone else had a good weekend?

The 2nd Long Weekend

Yes, it's only been about 2 weeks, and the second long weekend is here! I finish work in 2 weeks as well, so I'm feeling sorta nervous about all this.

Anyway, I'm at a bit of a loss for what to do tomorrow. It's kinda weird...

But, BALANCE on Saturday!!! Should be fun =)

Wine for all! Rejoice!

I found a great site that sells wine by the dozen. And it's pretty cheap by the dozen too... You get wine for about $10-14 a bottle, and for pretty good wines too, considering they'd normally retail for about $15-25, and award winning ones at that. 

I'm so stoked. =D

The Long Weekend

Went away to Oakura for the long weekend (it was Auckland Anniversary). It appears that I have been there before, the last time with Chris Holdaway and others, but this time I went up to Mark's bach with him, his parents, Mihailo, Nick and Anthony (one of Nick's and Mark's friends). Pretty fun time there. I spent most of the time sunbathing, and not swimming, since none of them fancied a dip in the sea, and I can't stay in there for a long period of time by myself without anything to do (I get really really cold that way).

We did go kayaking though, which was quite fun, although I went in a double kayak with Nick, and he kept rocking the boat, which kinda sucked for me since I was in the front.

I evidently discovered that Nick does drink quite a fair bit, which was pretty fun, since there was a somewhat decent amount of beer there, so I played a game of Over the Bridge with Nick, substituting mouthfuls of beer for shots (didn't have any alcohol for shots, and I would have died with shots). Let's just say I got to 19 mouthfuls and decided that if it went any further, I would clean out the whole fridge. Which we did anyway, since I've been going at the beers, and we didn't buy any more. So we ran out, inconveniently. Oh well.

Don't feel like working =( But I've got to...

Manhattan

Not that I've been there, but I've just recently tried it again, and I absolutely love it. Went to the Mexican Cafe for dinner with the rest of the summer studentship groupie, and had a couple of Margarita's, a Tequila Sunrise, and some Brazilian drink. Then went to Deschler's, and met Lucas again, and had a Martini (which I can never resist), and tried what he said was one of his favourite drinks, a Manhattan.

Truth be told, I quite like it. Not as much as a martini, but it's pretty nice in it's own right. It's a rather mellow and sweet drink. Suprisingly easy to drink for 2 standard drinks. 

Might catch up with Lucas over coffee next time. Who knows. It'll be nice if he wants to, I'll get a bartending friend out of it. =)

Sleep...

Well, apart from the fact that I need sleep, I just discovered today that I'm to be scheduled sometime when the project ends to do a presentation (a part of the studentship) for the principal researchers of the Bioengineering Institute. So here's the problem: I don't actually feel like I've done enough for a presentation. God, I'm screwed.

Pretty tired today. It sorta carries over from my fatigued state yesterday, since I only caught about 5 or so hours of sleep. I went out on Saturday night drinking, then popped by Space for their launch event till 4 in the morning, dancing to dubstep. I also met up with Jack and his friends, but I suppose that is hardly suprising, considering that it was that sort of event.

I spent the early part of Saturday night at Deschlers having a quiet drink or two. Got talking to one of the bartenders there, Lucas, and he made me a daiquiri of his concoction and some strange, but interesting take on a martini. Well, that started when I asked him to make me a drink based on his first impression of me, since I was bored, and as much as I love martinis, you really don't want to be drinking too many of those. 

Let's just say that he made the martini and added lemon juice, jasmine syrup and vanilla liqeuer to the mix. It would have been alright if he added slightly less lemon juice, since the lemon overwhelmed the rest of the drink. Oh well. It was amusing nontheless, and I had fun.

Work's slow, and there're high school kids (in their 7th form this year) being given a talk about what Engineering Science and Biomedical Engineering is all about. Well, there's more to that too, since they're on campus for about two weeks on a Science-related programme. It apparently shows you all the degrees and work-related things you can do. Pretty interesting, except that it costs at least a grand for those two weeks. $1000!!! Well, in all honesty, it costs $2000 but they are somewhat sponsored by the Science Rotary thingy (or at least most of them are). That's still a lot to pay though... I can think of better things to do with $1000 in the summer time...

Anyway, I think I'm going to have an early night, pretty sleepy anyway. Til then.

When time slows down...

In the bad sense too. You know, that feeling you get when you've been away from some typical activity for so long that when you finally get back to it, everything seems so weird, and time passes so slowly because you need to readjust? Yeah, that's how I'm feeling at the moment.

I've been most unproductive at work over the past two days that I've been there. It's rather irksome, but at least I got some stuff done. I get the feeling that I have to redesign my prototype, which is annoying, since I'm getting to the stage where I kinda forgot what I designed over the past few days, so making minor adjustments to the device will require yet another learning curve for me. Gah.

Don't exactly know why, but I'm feeling rather bored these days. Looks like it's time to find something to occupy me once more. Oh well.

Extending a Holiday

I'm going up to Whangaporoa with Allan, Laura, Arnold, and Danny tomorrow. Yep, I start work on the 5th, but I'm just going to push starting work back for a few more days and take a break. I feel like it's something I really need anyway: A few days away at the beach and just nothing but people and the calm calm ocean and glorious, hot sun. So yeah, I think I'll start work on the 7th or 8th. It should be just great.

Rather sleepy today actually, so I might just catnap for a bit and then get an early night. Gym session tomorrow and then I'm off! Well, until then.

Uhm. So, what now?

Heh, I know I said I wouldn't make any resolutions, but I kind of got forced into making one, so here's my one and only resolution for this year:

Carry on drinking.

Yeah, I know it was cheating, but I don't do resolutions. I make enough during the course of the year that I don't feel like I should be bound to only making serious resolutions during the turn of the year.

Sleepy, but I need to be out, so 'ere I leave you with an excerpt from "The New Year" by Death Cab For Cutie:

So this is the new year.

And i don't feel any different.

The clanking of crystal

Explosions off in the distance.

So this is the new year

And I have no resolutions

For self assigned penance

For problems with easy solutions

Ciao for now.