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.

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!

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!

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!

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...

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.

End of Daze

It certainly has been a very long time since I posted last. Truthfully though, I've been rather busy with the projects, assignments and tests that have suddenly cropped up of late. It's all over now though, and I've got to study for my first exam this Thursday. Darn.

Yesterday was a pretty fun day, apart from the test of course. After that was such a great time. We went to Shadz, then left since it got packed. Then hung around and watched the indoor soccer. (Me and the EngSci crew, that is). Then off to the EngSci/BME BBQ, which was great as well. 

The barbeque ended at about 7, when we decided to go to a nearby pub where Stein 2 was held. Coincidentally, we met up with the mechanical engineering crew, so that was pretty fun too.

I think I spent about at least 2 hours dancing nonstop. My calf muscles hurt. Like, actually hurt.

Some pretty hot chick was dancing with me for quite some time. Pretty fun too, since she seemed interested, and came up to me asking for my name and whatnot. Problematically, I was very much in the happy drunk zone at the time, and it never occured to me to ask for her number =( until about an hour after she left. Hehe, ah well. There's always more fish in the sea. Hm, she was older too. I'm thinking mid 20's. Sigh, gotta study now. Exam is far too soon, and I'm feeling far too underprepared.

Ughhh.....

Wow, today was... a long day. I suppose I should start from yesterday though. Last night was Stein 4. Awesome, but I may have had too much to drink. I ended up chucking my guts badly at the end, but  with the exception of that last unpleasantness, the night was awesome. I must thank Tim for saving me at the end and making sure I got to the cab. Thanks Tim. You are a great guy.

I didn't chuck anymore that night though, thank goodness for that. But morning came, and with it the inevitable hangover. Let's just say it didn't end till 1pm. I had to flag all my lectures.

But anyway, went for dinner and Malcolm and Gayle tonight. That was pretty fun. We decided that we'd do ice-cream next time as well. And oh, I saw someone on the way to the bus stop who was wearing EXACTLY the same jacket I was wearing. It was sooo amusing too, since we noticed at the same time. Random, I know.

Gotta get some sleep. Need some rest

Update

I figured I hadn't made a post in quite some time, so I might as well touch base.

I've finally done away with the Instrumentation and Mechanics assignment, although I finished the Mechanics one with only 15 minutes to go before it was due. Whew! Dodged the bullet there. Now all I have to worry about is the programming assignment, which is more like an assignment in theory than anything else. And additionally, which makes it more boring and annoying.

I got myself a summer internship with the university just this morning. I'm extremely stoked about that, and it was extremely fortuituous as well considering that I was just talking to one of my lecturers when he mentioned one of the projects his Masters student was doing. Well, anyway, I've signed myself on that project after he offered it to me, so it's all sweet.

I'm not exactly sure how much scope is being covered, but from what I understand, the project is to develop a working device to deliver controlled physical strains to a thin sheet of a living bone cell culture, thus allowing people with interests in that field to understand how bone remodels itself to varying strains. I personally think it's great. I would have offered to help the Masters student, Casey, with it in my spare time, but unfortunately I still have all this crap loaded on me, and I wouldn't want to commit to helping so early especially with exams coming up. Wouldn't want to leave him all high and dry, you know.

That said, I should probably get to finishing off my programming assignment so I can go to the Stein with a free mind. Peace out.

P/S: Having withdrawal symptoms for martinis. Help!

The rest of my test results are out... 79% for Programming, 85% for Mechanics. I guess it's not too bad now, is it?

Stein #4 is not this Thursday, but next Thursday! Yeah! Now I know I have something to look forward to next week when I'm drowning in my MedSci labs and my other miscellaneous labs.

The Cycle Begins Anew

Yes it does. Monday bloody Monday. A few new breaks to the cycle though...

I skipped MEDSCI lectures today and went to gym instead. Hurrah! That was fun, although I am one lecture short in knowledge of the lungs. Or something. Meh.

I hear there will be a Stein this Thursday. KEEN! So keen to go. Omg omg omg omg I need a break already.

I had to waste money calling this guy's cellphone because he's the Sales Manager for this online company I'm buying a new phone off, and they didn't send me ANY updates whatsoever. That really pisses me off. I mean, seriously, I'm pretty used to buying stuff online now, and I get a response pretty much instantly when they ship my orders over, or if they're out of stock like those fools were. Jeez. I mean, gosh, its not hard to check and tell me if my order is going to be backordered is it? And go ahead and waste a week of my time being slow about it, and only inform me when I check with you, especially when you require my feedback. Gah.

Going for steak this Friday! YAY! And I got 85.7% for MEDSCI! YAY! I'm quite happy.

P/S: I just noticed a slightly excessive use of capitalisation. Oh well. I guess I can live with it.

DIE MOUSEY DIE

Really, I do hate my research project. I have to (me and 4 others actually) research the feasibility of creating an ECG device to be implanted in a mouse and write a report. Sounds simple, fun, and easy, I know. Then you get into it, with little background in electronics, and you realise that some things cannot be done that easily. You hit a giant brick wall which requires you to spend hours and hours of fruitless research because the easiest solution is not viable: Steal another company's working ECG device and backengineer it. Damn.

it's been hectic

I've just finished my last test for quite a while. I've had two, in case you were wondering. MEDSCI 142 (Organ Systems), worth 28% and COMPSYS 202 (Object Oriented Programming), worth 15%. 

I haven't had much time to rest or do anything since the end of the holidays till now. So I mark my moment of freedom with a blog post. 

Summer studentship applications have just begun to open up over here for BME/EngSci. I intend to submit my application once I talk to a few staff members about the viability of a project in tissue engineering. I reckon it'd be great to do a project in that anyway, seeing as that's the field I'm most interested in at the moment. There might be other fields, but I'm not too aware of them. Considering that our lecturers here focus on modelling, instrumentation, and to some extent, neo-metallic materials (or other materials for use in prostheses), I don't really know what else is done in BME.

Pretty tired to be honest. It's been a very long day.

I hate retards

Really, I do. Why does the Engineering Faculty see fit to let idiots in? WHY? 

I was marking the first year projects for programming, and its HORRIBLE. I can forgive bad commenting, but nonsensical code? Attempts at humour? NO! OH GOD, for the last time, references to the Matrix are not even funny any more.

And don't any of them ever learn that continuously plugging numbers back at the user would only frustrate them? No one really wants to know what they typed into the keyboard when it's still plain visible. And no one wants to see what variables the program is working with either, unless they asked for it! IDIOTS!

The worst one by far was this random chick's one who somehow managed to screw up her output file, and it kept spitting out 2MB files at me, which seemed to grow at a double rate every time I ran it. Seriously. It was at 16MB before I decided I couldn't make head or tail of what she did. At least it's over. I don't even want to think about it anymore.

YEAH!

FIELD TRIP 2 IS GONNA HAPPEN!!! 

Haha, for the masses who wouldn't know what I'm talking about, Field Trip 2 is the (un)official continuation of Field Trip 1 for ENGSCI/BME (Engineering Science & Biomedical Engineering). Like the first field trip, it will involve all of ENGSCI/BME from Year 2, and probably (in itself being an absolute certainty) involve copious amounts of alcohol. Unlike the previous field trip, it will NOT involve visits to job sites, thus freeing up more time to play on the beach, and get drunk. 

The only sad thing this time round is the fact that we're not funded by the Department, since its unofficial and all. But hey, Field Trip 1 was awesome, and Field Trip 2 will be too. And it'll be a fitting end to the exams too. I'm stoked. =)

Time to start working hard again

Yup, it looks like my cruise-y days are ending once more with the handing out of Project 1 for Object Oriented Programming and a project-like "lab" for BioInstrumentation. Which really has nothing to do with BioInstrumentation. Well, I guess the theory behind it is, but practically, if you could come up with a link between being able to sort blue and white marbles using an inductor, a LDR and an LED into separately coloured piles, be my guess. And oh yes, the inductor has a pin that allows you to push the marbles around.

Does sound kinda fun though, since Instrumentation has been boring as hell these few days. Although I don't like the sound of LabView as much, but oh well, I'll live.

Still a little sick, but hey, should be fine by the end of this week I hope. Nose still runny as hell, which has got to the most annoying thing, apart from the coughing. Well, I'm off.

Sick... again

Yeah, I had a relapse. Going to the Stein yesterday may not have been the best idea since I'm now sick as a dog. On the other hand, that stein was totally fun. I met up with a whole group of first years, as well as second years. Somehow, unsurprisingly, Jack and his mates were there too (I kinda expected it though, seeing as they were at the commerce stein too).

I went as a drug tester to the Olympic-themed stein. Well, I was feeling lazy and unoriginal, so I just chucked on my lab coat (I had finished my lab just a few hours ago, so I kept it on pretty much), and changed into track pants. Amazingly, some people managed to guess what I was, although most couldn't. I got random things too, like Drug Doper from this first year dude, who referred to me as that when I bumped into him today. I think he's called Matt. Meh, never good with names.

And there were random chicks who kept giving me hugs and kisses. Claiming that I knew them forever. I was like "Yeah, sure" at that point, since I had no idea who the fuck they were. Besides, who's going turn down attention? Hehe. I can't remember their names anyway. I swear every time I turned around there would be some other chick I never met before (although I made that mistake to Ange and Sara, whoops). At some point I stole this chick's wig which was some sort of bright ginger coloured DragonBall-Z like thing (she was meant to be the flame, torch, whatever). Uhm, like the Super Saiyan. I put it on and did some cheap poses. It was pretty amusing.

Not to mention the cheap beer does wonders, $1 Tui's sure make a light dent on your wallet. At some point in the night I stopped buying drinks 'cause I kept getting some from mates who would buy stashes of 5 or so beers and give them away. (Who's gonna hold on to 5 beers anyway? 2 at most I reckon). There were lots of chicks dressed at tennis players too. Not that I'm complaining, some of them were pretty hot in white, and those short skirts... Wow.

On other news, the last few days have been real dull anyway. I studied the human brain and got to play with an actual one too (although plasticized). It was kinda icky and weird. I stopped thinking of it as a real brain at some point. Plus, I was feeling sick on the day, so I got impatient with the TA's and was contemplating throwing the brain at them to get them to hurry up. Hehe, you know me.

I sometimes feel like I'm becoming more distanced from my peerage (former) from high school. You know, the ones in my year, before I left school a year early. I saw them only for like 10 minutes every single time, before I would bugger off and socialise with my other mates. Then again, I suppose I've always been a bit of a drifter in that sense, but ahh, you know, just that feeling that I'm not as close to them as I used to be. Then there's the fact that few of them drink, or that most are unwilling to go to Steins and student-related functions. (Not that I'm saying that you have to drink copious amounts, its a social thing anyway).

I've also noticed that Biomedical Engineering & Engineering Science (since we're pretty small, 25 in BME and 50 in ES; and we share quite a few classes in common sometimes) are starting to separate into two distinct cliques: The drinkers (primarily composed of whites, maybe with the exception of two Asians, me and I think JP, maybe one or two other Asians), and the non-drinkers (primarily composed of Asians, with the exception of a few whites). Then again, you could kind of tell that the clique was settling nicely into place anyway, from the onset of the EngSci/BME fieldtrip; when the drinkers partied and went to town and the non-drinkers just played cards.

Haha, I better get to bed. This cold/flu/whatever is really doing a number on me. I'm like really tired, my voice sounds funny, and I'm coughing heaps. Yay for sickness. Anyway, cya for now.

P/S: Jack pointed out this amusing video that Paris Hilton uploaded in retaliation to being mocked by McCain in his ad against Obama. Its pure gold. You just HAVE to watch it.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/64ad536a6d

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.

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?