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?

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.

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!

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!

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.

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 =(

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

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.