Assignments, Ben Lee, and… A Strange Pattern?

I figure it’s about time for an update, although I’m not entirely sure what to update on, and what to leave out. There is actually a particularly significant thing that has happened in the last few days which I shall leave out, but besides that, I guess all will be bared! Not that there’s really anything to bare…

Pretty much I’m bogged down with my programming assignment, which is due tomorrow. I’m certainly making a fair bit of progress, and doing rather well, if I don’t say so myself, however it’s getting pretty annoying, and there’s been a couple of times where I’ve really wanted to kill Robert and/or Java. Oh well, regardless of how late I’m up tonight finishing it, it’ll all be over tomorrow.

Socially, things have been going rather well! In that I have actually been having a social life. A good one. Tuesday night Steve, Silke and I went to see Ben Lee. It was amazing! I had a really fantastic time. The Metro is my new favourite venue, it was totally cool. Nice and laid back and stuff. It was a long night, but the two other artists playing (Wons Phreely and Lisa Mitchell) were both awesome, so it was really worth it. Money very well spent

Thursday night I was a little bored, so Lizzie and I went to the movies to see Death at a Funeral. It was a pretty cool movie. Strange, but funny. And, according to Lizzie, extremely predictable. I also had lunch and stuff with Lizzie yesterday, which was very good fun.

Notice a pattern here? Neither do I… *cough*

I’m also getting really annoyed at the election. I hate everyone involved, I’ve decided.

Um, I better continue with my programming assignment. Until next time!

No Better

You know what? While we’re on the subject of politics, fuck Rudd too. I’m voting Greens.

+100 For Channel Nine

Fuck Political Censorship. Yay for free speech!

And the usually-awesome ABC didn’t do a bloody thing against it…

ResBall 07!

Okay, so it was a whole like three days ago, but I figured I’d write something about ResBall, even if it’s just linking to photos on Facebook. It was a pretty awesome night out; I had a heck of a lot of fun, and met some nice new people (although admittedly I don’t really remember any of their names…). It was strange, though, as for the first hour or so I just felt like leaving, but I got chatting to people, and obviously it went pretty uphill from there. Good job Silke and the rest of the RNs for organising it!

In between then and now… I’ve just been doing a fair bit of study and housework and whatnot (exciting eh?), and have also been spending a fair bit of time with Jack, Rob and Lizzie, which has been awesome fun. Even after a number of games, I still kinda suck at 500 (card game), although my unconventional methods have actually served me well on a couple of occasions, because people think I’m in a totally different situation than I actually am. In reality, I just have no idea what I should be doing, so I guess and hope everything goes alright.

The Drones and Snowman

Got back from the Annandale not long back – went to see The Drones and Snowman. I had a really awesome time – both bands were different to what I expected, especially Snowman, but I thoroughly enjoyed the lot. Jack and Rob didn’t really like Snowman, and actually left halfway through and popped over to Maccas, and missed out on the best bits! They both enjoyed The Drones though. Afterwards, Steve, Jack and I walked home (it wasn’t far), and on the way played an extended game of footbottle. ‘Twas very fun indeed! Except we almost hit a lot of things, including cars, and almost fell into the pond in Victoria Park. S’all good though .

Earlier in the day I went to work. I arrived later than usual (like, an hour and a half later than usual, because I slept in. This was because of my late night at uni, followed by a few hours of not being able to sleep, and dancing to Belle and Sebastian due to the aforementioned not being able to sleep. Work was pretty lax, as we haven’t got a heap on at the moment because most of the developers are in Europe, so I got a fair bit of my networking assignment done (and then Hans finished it off and submitted it tonight!), and we even played a few games of soccer on the Xbox!

So yeah, networking case study is OVER! That’s a big lot of stress gone, thank God. Now, onto the other three! I really need to do some work with programming, so I guess I’ll do that next, provided I can bear to look at Robert’s code.

In other news, Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) was released tonight. I shall have to upgrade very soon! Although I’m admittedly a bit nervous, due to some nasty experiences with the beta. Hopefully everything’s been ironed out.
Night!

Up Late At Uni

I got home from uni at a quarter to one tonight… How awesome! Me and my Networking group were up doing our case study, which is slightly crap. I was really stressed at first – after work I wanted to go to Allans to get a new violin string, but by the time I found it, it was closed (even though my phone said it still should be open). Not cool. Then I had to rush home to get the case study because I forgot to attach it to an email, and then rush to uni to meet assignment group. Without having any dinner in between.

So yeah, the first couple of hours were just stress-stress-stress. Then I decided to grab something to eat, hoping for a walk by myself. No such luck. Not only did other people walk with me, but other people screwed with my head (unintentionally) when trying to order meals from Maccas (bad, I know…). Somebody even wanted me to decide for them what to order, and then asked for green tea when I refused. I went back with nothing. Their problem.

So, that did not reduce my stress. So after a little while I snuck away, sat on the couches and listened to some Belle and Sebastian up loud. What better cure for stress? There is none! I felt a lot better, just sitting, relaxing and breathing for a few minutes, and the rest of the night was a breeze. I even ended up having fun! Although it helped talking to people on MSN.

Speaking of Belle and Sebastian, I’m A Cuckoo seems to have some sort of super-magic effect on me. I was dancing and singing (well, mouthing the words) all the way home from uni. Yes, that’s *actual* dancing, like spinning around and stuff. Lol. Weird, eh. But very very cool.

So now I guess I should go to bed… Work tomorrow. And more assignment, if I can fit it in. And getting violin strings. And then The Drones and Snowman! Should be super fun. I’m sure it will be smashing!

Night

Election 2007 – Tax Cuts

As you probably all know, the 2007 federal election was called on Sunday, and is to be held on the 24th of November. The Coalition (i.e. Howard et al.) have just promised massive tax cuts worth $34billion over the next three years. People will be saying “yay money”. However… My opinion? BAD!!

Tax cuts mean less funding for important things – education, health, etc. Think of what $34billion could be used in our hospitals, or universities, or high school. Even some overseas aid! Instead, the money will be given back (well, not taken from in the first place) the people who really don’t need it all that much. I mean, sure, it would ease a lot fo burden for a lot of people, especially those with large mortgages and stuff, but then, maybe they shouldn’t have such large mortgages in the first place. It’ll be them who will complain about the rising costs of health and education that stem from the tax cuts.

The only positive (in my opinion) is the tax-free threshold, which will be raised from $11000 to $14000 and eventually $20000. This would help the people who need it most – low income earners (including students! *cough*).

In summary: taxes are there for a reason, and we should be using them for that exact reason! Duh…

Here’s hoping Rudd doesn’t announce a similar thing; at least then we’d have a 50/50 chance of them not happening.

Jack’s 18th Birthday Partay

Yesterday I headed up to Newcastle for my flatmate Jack’s 18th birthday party. It was at Grace’s (his girlfriend), who apparently super organised and whatnot, so the party went off wonderfully. I got to meet lots of super cool people, and improve my talking-to-people-I-don’t-know skills, because most of the people I obviously did not know. Did I mention they were all super nice? Well they are. Most of them, anyway.

I actually drank alcohol, which was interesting… It was slightly enforced upon me by Jack, although I didn’t mind. I actually rather enjoyed it! We had cocktails, so I had three or four ‘Fruit Tingles’ over the course of the evening. I don’t think anybody except Renee actually got drunk, so it was cool – unlike parties back home where half the people just get completely ’smashed’ and it’s not cool at all. Everyone was just a nice kind of happy.

The people I got to know best were Lizzy, Lloyd and Lucy (wow, the three ‘L’s, just noticed that!), because I (along with Rob) slept in the same room as them. I slept with Rob, which was surprisingly uneventful. Lol. The three ‘L’s are all very nice, and I’m glad I got to know them! Lizzy, Lucy and I were up until 7am chatting, so there wasn’t much sleep happening obviously… Lloyd was awake most of the time, and Rob just slept through the whole thing – no idea how.

Um yeah, I’m not entirely sure what else to write… Caught the train back home with Rob, Jack and Lizzie, played some ‘500′ on the train. Home, and straight on the Internet! Surprise, surprise…

Anyways, the point is I had a wonderful wonderful time, and I will force Jack to invite me to his next party. Lol. A bientot, mes amis!

Webcomic Resurgence?

Hardly, but still… I got bored in CBP the other day, and drew a bit of a comic in my book. Today, I decided to draw it up on the computer and post it here, just for a bit of fun. It’s a situation I seem to find myself in a fair bit, and it gets really really annoying. Pretty much all of it except the last panel has happened on numerous occasions. Check it out! Sorry you can’t just view it here – it’s a tad big.

Drones, Anyone?

This evening, Nick convinced me I should go to see The Drones next week (he’s seeing them back in Ballarat soon). I considered going by myself, just for a change (meet people?), but figured I might as well invite others – it would be selfish not to, I assume. I really should just guess who’s coming and buy tickets accordingly, as it’s pretty much always the same. The only reply I have is from Steve; the others ignored me. Not that I have a problem going with just Steve, by all means, but it could be considered a waste of text messages. Still, I’m secretly hoping that one day I’ll get a flurry of responses all saying “yes, I’d love to go with you!”.

Speaking of which, for anybody that’s interested in going, the gig site is here. It’s at the Annandale Hotel next Thursday night (the 18th) at 8pm. It’s The Drones and Snowman, both of whom sound interesting, although I must admit I have no idea what either sound like. Nick said they were good live, though, so I guess that’s good enough for the moment . Cost is $23.