Reflections for a Saturday Night

I’ve been meaning to post something here for a while now, but I’m still not sure what it is that I want to post. Eh.

I got caught in the rain today. Well, not quite ‘caught’, as I just came out of the shopping centre and it happened to be raining, and then I walked into the rain, but… Still. It’s only two blocks home, so I didn’t get terribly wet. The thing was, though, that I rather enjoyed it. Being out in the rain makes me feel so… Alive. I guess I kind of needed it after these last couple of days. Since my panel on Thursday (success!), and going out Thursday night, I’ve just been sitting around, watching TV, and sleeping an awful lot. I guess it’s not so bad, though. I’ve got fun things to do tomorrow, and I’ll be back into some sort of routine Monday. I’m glad for the break, I guess.

Soon, I think, I want to go for a trip to the Blue Mountains. Even just catch the train for the day, I don’t mind, but it’d be nice to get away to the bush for a while. The thing is, though, that I don’t think I’ll get a chance before going back to Victoria for Meredith. This weekend looks like being taken up by a couple of concerts (Kanye!) and stuff. That said, I guess we’re going to be camping at Meredith, and possibly during our planned road trip afterwards (speaking of which, I’ve been meaning to ask other Victorians if they’d like to come along), so I should get to spend some quality time in the fresh air soon enough.

Thursday night I went out to World Bar with Lizzie and some of Lizzie’s friends. It was somebody’s birthday, and somehow or another I was encouraged to go along. World Bar is surprisingly good for a club (not that I have much to compare it to); it wasn’t too busy, because it was a Thursday, and the DJ had excellent taste in music. Vampire Weekend, anyone? I also got to try out a teapot (a sip of Rob’s last time doesn’t count, okay?) – Lizzie and I shared a Long Island Iced Tea. Not bad, although I don’t know that it compares with the rum and pineapple juice suggested by Andreas not long back (okay, so the LIIT wins…). We didn’t stay out too late, but somehow I managed to let myself sleep through a number of alarms, and completely missed the final ePortfolio trial meeting, which I was actually really looking forward to. I emailed a massive apology, and I’m going to write some stuff down for them instead of saying things in the meeting, but yeah. Shame.

Speaking of the ePortfolio trial, I think I mentioned that I was on a panel on Thursday. I got there pretty early, as advised, and we were supplied with free lunch, and got to sit in on the keynote, which was super interesting: some guy from the UK who was innovative about podcasts in universities and all that. It will be interesting to see what direction UTS takes in that respect. Actually, it was really interesting to see the debates going on within the staff community – there are a lot of ideas being floated around, and staff seem really enthusiastic about making things good for the students. I liked it. But yeah, I was on a panel! It was only a small lecture theatre (phew…), and we each (‘we’ being the three trial students who were invited along) spent about five minutes presenting what we’d done, and some thoughts on the usefulness of the ePortfolios. It went terrifically, except that during Charlie’s presentation, he said one of the ePortfolio’s names wrong – Learn2Desire instead of Desire2Learn – and Tara and I couldn’t stop giggling for quite some time. All in good fun, though! Actually, it was really interesting to get to know some of the other students better, too. We all ended up in the trial in dramatically different ways, and I guess it showed. Charlie was looking for a paralegal job with the careers service.

Did I mention I bought Rock Band not long back? I don’t know… Well, I am mentioning it now. It was an impulse buy, in a way, although I’d been considering it for quite some time. Lizzie and I (and sometimes Steve) have a band Large’s Ark (bonus points for guessing the reference), and I’m in another one with Steve and Tom called The Rock Knights (we were the Java Knights in Extreme Programming). I’m the drummer in both, it’s pretty awesome. Also, Tom and Steve got sick of only having one guitar between them, so they bought a Guitar Hero one. Thing is, it came with the game, so when we ace Rock Band, there’s always that! I’m pretty sure I like Rock Band better for the ‘World Tour’ mode, but I’m also kind of eager to play Band on the Run, Hollywood Nights, and others. Anyway, next ‘night’ could well be a combined Monopoly / Rock Band one, or something. I don’t know yet. Speaking of that, though, I really should organise something soon – there’s not long before I head back to Victoria. It might have to be next weekend, although not Saturday night, because I’ll be at Kanye West. How is everyone’s Friday looking?

It’s weird… Lately I’ve been getting this great desire to go to the States. I don’t really know why (although I have thoughts on the matter), but the feeling has been quite strong. I guess I’d try and save up and just go for it, but I’m already supposed to be doing that for Chile (unsuccessfully, mind you), which is in a year’s time. I’ll also probably be going overseas some time before then, assuming I’m going on the next annual conference with work, so I guess I should just be happy with that. Still… There’s something about the US… I don’t know. Odd. I’ve got a big road trip planned out on Google Maps and everything, although I doubt I’ll ever follow it. Maybe I’ll just move there and work for a few years after I’ve finished Uni. Well, that’s if I defy my Mum, and various other people, and actually finish my degree. Bets seem to be against it. Do people really think that of me? I guess I think that of me, a lot of the time, so maybe not all that surprising. But we’ll see what happens, I guess.

Which leads me on to other things. My life seems like so much of a routine at the moment. I guess it’s been a lot like that recently. In fact, it’s been a lot like that since forever. I mean, moving to Sydney certainly spiced things up, but I’m starting to get the feeling that I won’t be happy staying in the one place for too long, at least until I find something I really love doing, or a place I really love being. I guess Chile will settle that temptation for the time being, I just have to wait out the year, and try to get things happening along the way. This summer should be fun, especially heading down to Victoria (first ever music festival!).

As for right now… As much as I’m enjoying Oh, Inverted World, I feel like getting out and letting out some energy. Or getting some. I’m never quite sure, actually… Although exercising lets out energy literally (ie burns kilojoules, etc), I always feel more energised afterwards. So which is it, you scientists out there? Anyway, maybe some football, or something, if I can find somebody in a similar state of mind.

Adios, amigos! (Gosh, that was long…).

Hairtales (ABC TV, 20-11-08)

I watched a really intriguing documentary on the ABC tonight, called Hairtales, or something like that. It’s things like this that make me glad I finally got a TV tuner, and I plan to watch more good (and trashy) television in the future.

Hairtales was pretty much just a number of peoples’ hair-related stories, mashed up into an hour-long documentary. Sounds exciting, right? I was a rather skeptical at first, but it turned out to be really interesting, and as a result I now want to get the scissors out and chop at my hair. Seriously, it’s taking a lot of self-control not to.

The people interviewed (I say interviewed, although there was never any interviewer or voice-over present) all had different stories, and some were weirder than others. One was an embalmer, who loved when he got somebody with crazy hair, like beehives and stuff. Another young woman was quite annoying at first, because she kept complaining about people judging her for being semi-black and having an afro, but then we found out that her parents were both white and had straight hair, so I can kind of understand she’s coming from a hard place.

One woman ran a mobile hair salon for seventeen years, before she got caught up in a murder trial with one of her clients and quit. Another had random hair all the time and kept bits and pieces in bags and then sewed some of the bits together into a vest and a mask. She was funny, but kind of creepy. And lastly, there was a girl from Sydney Uni (she was sitting in the quad) who liked to use big words and sound good, but actually made some interesting observations.

I don’t know how that comes off as an explanation, but it was really fascinating. I highly recommend watching it if you can find it.

Music Moving to NJV

Okay, so you’ve probably noticed that I’ve stopped putting most of my music-related stuff here, and it’s because I got sick of double-posting with nickjamvendetta, so they’re only going there now. Assuming there’s some of you who don’t also read njv (you should!), I’ve added an RSS feed of the headings of the last 5 njv posts, so that you can see what’s going on there. Some of them will be by me, even!

P.S. You may also have noticed that, in a spate of boredom, I removed the Twitter feed (redundant) and changed the Wordpress theme (I like change). Hope you cope.

Post-Exam Celebratory Evening (with Beer!)

On the topic of finishing Uni, last night was excellent. After our Extreme Programming exam (which was pretty okay, really), and discovering that the Glasshouse was closed, we ended up at the Pumphouse in Darling Harbour, which Tom likes because of the beer. Disappointingly, they were out of soft drink, so I had to suffice with an apple juice, while the others drank beer and straight spirits. Steve even had a go at me for drinking less than him; I just said he was an alcoholic, after which he got worried and asked me if he actually was. Win. But Ansreas and I came up with a solution, and after much (friendly) debate with the bartender, we ended up with a couple of rum-and-pineapple-juices. Not bad, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Tastes exactly like normal pineapple juice.

Andreas had to leave after that, but Tom, Steve and I went to Wagamama’s for dinner. It’s our recent favourite, and did not disappoint. I ordered some edamame, and before I found it necessary to mention that you don’t eat the skin, both Tom and Steve had downed theirs. Apparently they aren’t horribly, although I can’t say I would like to try.

Following Waga’s, there was a surprise (to me, at least) visit to the Bavarian Bier Cafe, during which I decided to bite the bullet and get a beer. I got some German wheat beer with a bit of limonata in it, and, well, I’ll be darned if it wasn’t pretty excellent. So maybe this is the mark of a new beer-drinking era for me? I doubt it, considering I’d have to go to the Bavarian every time I wanted it, but it’s something, I guess.

Also, I accidentally tried to under-pay the girl at McDonald’s; when she asked for 25 cents, I just shrugged and said ‘no, sorry’. I thought she just wanted to make the change easier, but apparently I was that much short. I ended up handing over a twenty, even though I had plenty of change to spare. Sigh, now my wallet is heaps heavy.

Anyway, that’s probably enough rambling about one night, I just kinda feel like writing a lot at the moment. I miss writing sometimes (except not handwriting – the six pages of that last night was almost enough for my hand to die).

University 2008 is Finished!

Wow, I didn’t realise just how long it’s been since I’ve written anything here. A good two weeks! Two of the most hectic weeks in my life, even. There was a week there where I was at Uni until at least midnight almost every night. Not so fun, but worth it in the end, I reckon. This semester has been super busy, but it’s been one of the best, save the stupidity that was Software Development & Processes, a lame excuse for a subject. That said, both Mobile Networking and Extreme Programming were excellent: well-taught and useful.

An interesting thing happened with Mobile Networking, actually: about half the class failed. Now, before anybody gets upset, let me say one thing: this is a Good Thing. Too many subjects, when students do badly, scale the marks so that most students pass, regardless of whether they’ve learned anything or not. Not so Peter, who used exactly the same exam as he did a few years ago, and after seeing that the past students did fine with it, decided to let the students who did badly get exactly what they deserved. Might seem harsh, but although it was a rather full-on subject, requiring a lot of work, as long as you did that work, it wasn’t terribly difficult. I did all the work, and spent the entire day of the exam studying, and fairly easily passed, scoring a distinction in the subject overall. I wish more lecturers thought like Peter.

As for Extreme Programming, somehow we managed to come out of that with the possibility of receiving a rather large sum of money, due to the commercial appeal of the software we built, and the quality with which we made it. Andrew, our lecturer, suggested being paid in the ‘holiday’ currency, however sadly our customer did not have any contacts up in the Whitsundays to make this possible. So, we just get cash instead (I’m not complaining…). After brainstorming with him yesterday, we came up with a few ideas on how to continue the project, some of which are pretty awesome. So as long as there is financing available, we might just have ourselves another (exciting and interesting) part-time job over the summer!

I don’t know if I mentioned this earlier, but for International Studies, I found out that there might be the possibility for a couple of students to go to Buenos Aires, in Argentina, for their year overseas. I’m currently lined up to go to Chile (hopefully Valparaiso), but I was thinking that Buenos Aires would be pretty cool too. Has anybody been there? Any suggestions or recommendations?

So now that everything is over, I’ve found some nice time to finally relax, although for at least the rest of this year, I’ll be keeping pretty busy. Somehow I’ve found myself with three jobs, with another possible one on the way (the Whitsundays). That said, both of them will be finished by the end of the month, so I should have some nice time next year. Speaking of which, after going home for Meredith Music Festival, Christmas and New Years’, I was thinking I might take a long weekend to visit my sister in Airlie Beach. Maybe I’ll get the opportunity to try out our program?

So, here’s to holidays! (From Uni, anyway). Woo!