I intentionally wrote it out to be an illegible mess.
You wanted me to write you letters, but I'd rather lose your address
and forget that we'd ever met and what did or did not occur.
Sitting in the station, its all a blur
of dance hall hips, pretentious quips,
a boxer's bob and weave.

I never thought...

... that I'd be called a party animal. By my friends that is. The ones I knew from school, the high school in Auckland where I was already pretty social. Yeah, I found it remarkably odd. I thought all of us, as a group were pretty social and party-going. I guess I was wrong. I don't really know my group after all, huh?

I spent pretty much the night at Shadz (Shadows, the student bar) tonight. Met up with like all the first year engineering students whom I kinda knew prior, but hey, now I know all of em! I think. I've kinda forgotten their names. Also met some random chicks from uhhh.... crap. I forgot who they were and where they were from. Only that one of them was kinda nice.

I got ditched by my group pretty early in the night, so I, yeah, pretty much just socialised with the first year engineering guys, and the others from Biomedical Sciences (pre-meds and all). Including Gayle, whom I met through Malcolm. Never knew she'd be such a social party-goer too. She really suprised me there. I danced with everyone tonight it seems. That was fun.

Fun, fun, fun. And EngSci's dinner is later tonight too! YEAH!!! And we be going to town again! That's twice in a row! I love it when there's a break. Thank god for the midsemester break.

Alright, gym tomorrow before pre-pre-drinks at Tessa's, so I better sleep now and get enough rest for gym and the long night ahead. Ciao peeps.

P/S: I just decided to re-read it (on a whim, like 2 minutes after) and I realise I sound pretty drunk and rant-y. Well, too bad, I am still tipsy, you know, the one where you were drunk, but are sobering up pretty rapidly? Yeah, that one.

Eddie's at the Mexican Cafe

Yeah, hardly an original post title, but I haven't the time to inspire myself creatively and think of a more original awe-inspiring post title for myself. Blame it on assignments and stress.

Eddie's birthday was this Friday, but for some magically odd reason he decided to have it tonight. So I had to ditch the Wine & Cheese Careers Evening (WINE AND CHEESE!!! NOOOOO!!!) to go to the Mexican Cafe. Which was alright, since I'm now as bloated as a mother in her third trimester of pregnancy. You get the idea. And the Margaritas were awesome too.

For starters, most of the people there were Eddie and Faith's (Eddie's longtime girlfriend of uhm, maybe a year or two? I lost track) work mates from Village Skycity (the movies). I was definitely suprised to find that I knew like... at least 3 people there. First off, Chris Holdaway, my mate from school who I kept bumping into this semester. He kept scaring the shit outta me 'cos I never expected to see him. Turns out he works there too. Then there's Emily (Biomedical Engineer in second year with me). Turns out her boyfriend works there too. Then there's Alban, whom I know through Lucy, who was Alastair's girlfriend. Turns out he used to work there. Small world huh?

I even met a fellow Malaysian, who was from Kuching even. If anyone knows/knew a girl who went to both St. Theresa's and St. Mary's and who hangs out with Lodgians from time to time from the class of '89 (she left before she finished though, Form 2 maybe?) and knows Andrew Bong (oops, who doesn't?) called Serena Pang, also cousins with a Noel Pang? That's her. And she knows some of my second year mates from Lynfield College to boot. Wow. Very small world.

Dinner was awesome. I was kinda full before the mains even came, which was uhm... weird, considering me. Maybe it was just tonight or something. But boy, when those mains came, I was like soooo full once I was halfway done. Managed to stuff it down, but wow. Full full full. I stood up at some point and my belly hurt. Hurt from fullness. And all for $30 too. Not bad huh, considering the cake, appetisers and mains.

I forgot what I had, well I can't remember its name. All I know is its Mexican styled meat (like beef or chicken) wrapped in like a tortilla skin, and then deep fried, served with a side of Mexican rice, salad and beans. Pretty good, but I don't remember what it's called anymore. So so bloated though, I'll have to work doubly hard at gym tomorrow to make up for that. And now for sleep...

Time and time again

Well, this is sort of a double entendre for me, even though in truth it isn't. Yeah, my thinking logic is a little wild, but hey, what gives? I kinda get this feeling that I'm running out of time, but I don't know what I'm meant to be doing. Okay, not exactly that way either, but its just an odd feeling. If someone has an alternate explanation for what I'm going through, I'd thoroughly welcome it.

Also, I'm always feeling bored these days. Call it a sense of repetition or deja vu or whatever it is, but I feel like I'm doing the same things all the time, even if I've never done it before, or if its something relatively new.

Hm, maybe I'm just sick of winter, and the rain in snow-proof Auckland. When will summer come and let me spend my days in idyllic bliss and warmth?

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

Rule No. 108

Rule number 108: The road to hell is not paved with good intentions. The road to hell is paved with smooth-jazz CDs, herbal teas, John Tesh specials, and low-fat cheese.

I found this off a book from Esquire Magazines, The Rules.

Rough Sums

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

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

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

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

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

Sick

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

Steins Galore!

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

The Dark Knight

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

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

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

Issues of Citizenship

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

Hm. What to do, what to do.

Commerce Stein

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

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

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

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

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

First Day Back

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

Although here's a few things from today:

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

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

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

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

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

Ah well, I should sleep I guess.

End of Hols

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

I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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