... or uni, uni, uni. Whichever you think is appropriate. Either way, I'm buggered as. A presentation for Psychopathology next week, along with the child behaviour coding Ri and I still have to do by next Friday and lots of note revision and catch up.
Today's Berna's actual birthday so Happy Birthday Berna! :)
I'm getting more and more frustrated with the constant references to supposed 'Lie Detectors' as reliable means for obtaining solid proof of deceit. Yes, there is a physiological and recordable response when people are lying, however, that is all the machine measures. It measures physiological response without taking into account why a response is being detected in that person. The responses aren't only accounted for by deceit. People often undergo at least some stress when being interrogated and this might lead to their pulses racing, or some other response being ilicited, after hearing a particular question.
What brought that on? Watching Maury before I left for uni today lol :P Unfortunately, I don't have the empirical research on me right now, but give me a bit and I'll get back to you.
Anyway, there were a couple things I wanted to put up so bear with me... one's pretty huge, but I love it!
Friday, August 29, 2003
Thursday, August 28, 2003
Ain't Mars pretty? *take 2*
First off:
Happy 17th Birthday Kristina!! Love ya heaps darl :)
What's the 'take 2' for, you ask? Well, despite the fact that we have only had our computer for a total of about 2 months, it has already decided to die on us. It won't switch on and as a matter of fact, time of death just happened to coincide with me being in the middle of attempting to update here.
Ain't life a bitch. Eh, I love it anyway ;)
So... that is my official excuse for a. not updating this sooner, and b. not checking emails which resulted in my inbox getting jammed. If anyone tried to send me anything and you had it sent back, give it a go now... if you still want to that is. I didn't have uni yesterday so I didn't have access to a computer, which I now have. That and a cable connection (woohoo!).
Tuesday night, I went out to look at the Red Planet which, according to news reports, is the closest to Earth it’s been in 57,000 years.
Damn, that’s a long time.
It wasn’t very hard to find it amongst the other stars (which, thankfully, we can see from where we live) and when I did it… well, it was impressive. I only wish I had a telescope so that I could actually see the pinkish-red glow with my own eyes instead of having to look at some photo or read some grossly inadequate description of it in the paper (btw, thank you Clarkey for being my informant on this ;)). Ah well…
I stayed out for a little while. I honestly couldn’t help myself. Call me a geek (I dare ya!) but this astro-stuff (yes, marvel at my level of sophistication!) tends to completely reel me in. I was just standing there, looking up… in my backyard… in the freezing cold… in my nightie and tsinellas (or slippers to those who don’t speak Tagalog. Don’t worry, I had to ask Gill for the correct spelling lol).
See, I told you. What a night not to be wearing warmer PJ’s.
That day ended quite nicely considering the rest of it was pretty odd, and downright painful at times. Considering it’s done now (or more correctly, for now at least), I don’t really want to go into it. But… ok, have you ever attempted to save your sanity by keeping your distance from someone and found that there appeared to be no means of escape? Not a great deal of fun, is it?
Ugh. Bastard.
Anyway, on to more pleasant things. Berna’s 21st on Sunday was a helluva lot of fun. It was yet another Memory Lane excursion for me considering she and I are ex-classmates, which meant that she invited a lot of people from the Class of 2000. I didn’t really know if I would say this, but it was actually really nice being able to see so many of us in the one place again. True, we may not all have been the best of friends but come on! It’s been three years and I’d like to think that we’d done some growing up since then, right? Right?
Berna and her older sister Marie (she was turning 24) had a shared party so the place was packed as. I knew some of the other guests only by name and/or face so it was nice finally getting to actually talk to them. They are a funny lot of people. I spent a lot of that day laughing (again!).
And again with the karaoke (Filos… we’re just incorrigible aren’t we?)! Unlike Reyna’s party, this time I was actually coerced into singing. We started out in groups (my group sang ‘Love Potion No. 9’ – thank you Sarah!) and then people went off it for a while… until later. When the crowd was thinning a little more, Berna, Marie, Joe (one of their brothers), Tess, AJ, my bro, and I went psycho with the mic! And there I was, supposedly nursing a sore throat and no voice. Ha!
They had one of those machines which scored each performer and, lo and behold, the highest scores all went to Berna and her siblings.
The rest of us suspect foul play.
Yesterday, I spent the most part of the day with Clarkey and that was pretty bloody interesting. I got home around 11.30, dead tired and about ready to drop.
Ended up going to sleep at around 3am.
I'll be honest and admit that I've not been all that well in the last week or so (particularly the last few days) and it's definitely had a pretty significant impact on my sleeping pattern (which was already beyond stuffed to begin with). I'm a generally upbeat sort of person. You know the type - the sickening kind you wanna beat up on sometimes, particularly if you're in a 'life's shit/screw the world' kinda mood. Well, bash me if you really want but I'm happy with it that way. Means I'm generally happy. Not that there's nothing going on that would bug me but it all seems handle-able.
Lately though, that's not been the case. I actually do know why. I've known the whole time, and I'm actually in the process of fixing it, but it took this morning's train ride into uni to sort of turn things back to where I wanted them and although I've not hit sickening just yet, I'm back on track. I used to complain so much about having to sit or stand on the train for an hour (which I know is nothing compared to what's endured by some of the Gosford/Blue Mountains located students at my uni) when none of my friends were on my line, until I realised how great an opportunity it was for you to just sit and think for a while.
Alone time is nice. Add the constantly changing scenery and it's nicer - that is, unless you suffer from motion sickness.
Whether or not any of anyone actually gives a stuff about this, I just wanted to put it down. I'm just hoping you don't mind my lack of detail.
And I hope that at least answered your question Neta ;) Woohoo! Panthers support from the Phils AND the US! Hurrah! All the best for the Panthers/Sea Eagles game coming up on Saturday at Brookvale!
What's the 'take 2' for, you ask? Well, despite the fact that we have only had our computer for a total of about 2 months, it has already decided to die on us. It won't switch on and as a matter of fact, time of death just happened to coincide with me being in the middle of attempting to update here.
Ain't life a bitch. Eh, I love it anyway ;)
So... that is my official excuse for a. not updating this sooner, and b. not checking emails which resulted in my inbox getting jammed. If anyone tried to send me anything and you had it sent back, give it a go now... if you still want to that is. I didn't have uni yesterday so I didn't have access to a computer, which I now have. That and a cable connection (woohoo!).
Tuesday night, I went out to look at the Red Planet which, according to news reports, is the closest to Earth it’s been in 57,000 years.
Damn, that’s a long time.
It wasn’t very hard to find it amongst the other stars (which, thankfully, we can see from where we live) and when I did it… well, it was impressive. I only wish I had a telescope so that I could actually see the pinkish-red glow with my own eyes instead of having to look at some photo or read some grossly inadequate description of it in the paper (btw, thank you Clarkey for being my informant on this ;)). Ah well…
I stayed out for a little while. I honestly couldn’t help myself. Call me a geek (I dare ya!) but this astro-stuff (yes, marvel at my level of sophistication!) tends to completely reel me in. I was just standing there, looking up… in my backyard… in the freezing cold… in my nightie and tsinellas (or slippers to those who don’t speak Tagalog. Don’t worry, I had to ask Gill for the correct spelling lol).
See, I told you. What a night not to be wearing warmer PJ’s.
That day ended quite nicely considering the rest of it was pretty odd, and downright painful at times. Considering it’s done now (or more correctly, for now at least), I don’t really want to go into it. But… ok, have you ever attempted to save your sanity by keeping your distance from someone and found that there appeared to be no means of escape? Not a great deal of fun, is it?
Ugh. Bastard.
Anyway, on to more pleasant things. Berna’s 21st on Sunday was a helluva lot of fun. It was yet another Memory Lane excursion for me considering she and I are ex-classmates, which meant that she invited a lot of people from the Class of 2000. I didn’t really know if I would say this, but it was actually really nice being able to see so many of us in the one place again. True, we may not all have been the best of friends but come on! It’s been three years and I’d like to think that we’d done some growing up since then, right? Right?
Berna and her older sister Marie (she was turning 24) had a shared party so the place was packed as. I knew some of the other guests only by name and/or face so it was nice finally getting to actually talk to them. They are a funny lot of people. I spent a lot of that day laughing (again!).
And again with the karaoke (Filos… we’re just incorrigible aren’t we?)! Unlike Reyna’s party, this time I was actually coerced into singing. We started out in groups (my group sang ‘Love Potion No. 9’ – thank you Sarah!) and then people went off it for a while… until later. When the crowd was thinning a little more, Berna, Marie, Joe (one of their brothers), Tess, AJ, my bro, and I went psycho with the mic! And there I was, supposedly nursing a sore throat and no voice. Ha!
They had one of those machines which scored each performer and, lo and behold, the highest scores all went to Berna and her siblings.
The rest of us suspect foul play.
Yesterday, I spent the most part of the day with Clarkey and that was pretty bloody interesting. I got home around 11.30, dead tired and about ready to drop.
Ended up going to sleep at around 3am.
I'll be honest and admit that I've not been all that well in the last week or so (particularly the last few days) and it's definitely had a pretty significant impact on my sleeping pattern (which was already beyond stuffed to begin with). I'm a generally upbeat sort of person. You know the type - the sickening kind you wanna beat up on sometimes, particularly if you're in a 'life's shit/screw the world' kinda mood. Well, bash me if you really want but I'm happy with it that way. Means I'm generally happy. Not that there's nothing going on that would bug me but it all seems handle-able.
Lately though, that's not been the case. I actually do know why. I've known the whole time, and I'm actually in the process of fixing it, but it took this morning's train ride into uni to sort of turn things back to where I wanted them and although I've not hit sickening just yet, I'm back on track. I used to complain so much about having to sit or stand on the train for an hour (which I know is nothing compared to what's endured by some of the Gosford/Blue Mountains located students at my uni) when none of my friends were on my line, until I realised how great an opportunity it was for you to just sit and think for a while.
Alone time is nice. Add the constantly changing scenery and it's nicer - that is, unless you suffer from motion sickness.
Whether or not any of anyone actually gives a stuff about this, I just wanted to put it down. I'm just hoping you don't mind my lack of detail.
And I hope that at least answered your question Neta ;) Woohoo! Panthers support from the Phils AND the US! Hurrah! All the best for the Panthers/Sea Eagles game coming up on Saturday at Brookvale!
Sunday, August 24, 2003
NRL Grand Final, here we come!
I am happy to be celebrating a Panthers win tonight :) Although, like Priddis commented afterwards, I didn't think that the game was one of their best... a solid win though. And they're back on top of the ladder!! Hurrah! Hopefully, they can work on what they need to and at the very least, play in the Grand Final.
Come on Panthers!
*yawn* Anyway, I'm off to bed... been a long day and I have an early start tomorrow morning. Night all!
*yawn* Anyway, I'm off to bed... been a long day and I have an early start tomorrow morning. Night all!
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
Buggered Blaster Worm...
As I received a few 'words' concerning the shocking length of my last post, believe me, I will do my best to keep this one, if not brief, just slightly over. I really will.
It is freezing down here! *shudder* I'm losing my voice again.
For the last week or so, my brother and I have been doing what we can to get over this stupid new virus which is plaguing our pc. I've been working on it all night, only to be told that I don't even have the virus to begin with... total rot if you ask me (whether or not you did is irrelevent:P). Our computer doesn't always just shut itself down at random, and our RPC has never malfunctioned before now...
It is working better than usual right now however. I guess we'll see.
Anyway! That rubbish aside, this week's been pretty sweet. Reyna's 21st went off! It was pretty good... and I actually did find a drink that didn't completely turn me off. I had a Cosmopolitan and I couldn't taste the vodka in it, which was a big plus. Menchie went a little nutty on the Karaoke... a few of us reckoned she was drunk for a while, but she assures us she wasn't... after also noting that she doesn't remember some of the stuff we told her she said, or sang hehehe. I think the jury's still out on that one.
On Saturday, my family and I went to see my little sister perform in her school musical - Pinafore Pirates. It's basically a giant rip off of a bunch of Gilbert and Sullivan musicals and it was pretty funny, even though some of the songs were just downright corny! Overall it was a funny evening, because I got a lift with Tess and met the rest of the family there... and of course, what's a night's drive without getting a little (or a lot!) lost? One left turn was all it took. What ensued was a lot more cussing than I prefer to admit to, hehehe.
Btw, for any Orlando Bloom fans, Manda (my trusty informant;)) has just informed me that there's a lot to have a peek at in this week's issue of NW. Anyone interested should go have a looksee ;)
It is freezing down here! *shudder* I'm losing my voice again.
For the last week or so, my brother and I have been doing what we can to get over this stupid new virus which is plaguing our pc. I've been working on it all night, only to be told that I don't even have the virus to begin with... total rot if you ask me (whether or not you did is irrelevent:P). Our computer doesn't always just shut itself down at random, and our RPC has never malfunctioned before now...
It is working better than usual right now however. I guess we'll see.
Anyway! That rubbish aside, this week's been pretty sweet. Reyna's 21st went off! It was pretty good... and I actually did find a drink that didn't completely turn me off. I had a Cosmopolitan and I couldn't taste the vodka in it, which was a big plus. Menchie went a little nutty on the Karaoke... a few of us reckoned she was drunk for a while, but she assures us she wasn't... after also noting that she doesn't remember some of the stuff we told her she said, or sang hehehe. I think the jury's still out on that one.
On Saturday, my family and I went to see my little sister perform in her school musical - Pinafore Pirates. It's basically a giant rip off of a bunch of Gilbert and Sullivan musicals and it was pretty funny, even though some of the songs were just downright corny! Overall it was a funny evening, because I got a lift with Tess and met the rest of the family there... and of course, what's a night's drive without getting a little (or a lot!) lost? One left turn was all it took. What ensued was a lot more cussing than I prefer to admit to, hehehe.
Btw, for any Orlando Bloom fans, Manda (my trusty informant;)) has just informed me that there's a lot to have a peek at in this week's issue of NW. Anyone interested should go have a looksee ;)
Thursday, August 14, 2003
Warning: insanely long entry...
Hey all!
Just a precautionary note: I’m in the mood to write and in the mood to type and as those people who have ever received a hella long email from me before would know, this is a lethal combination and such a thing is definitely worthy of dire warning.
Monday was the day to run into old friends and familiar faces. I went to that debate at Sydney Uni and it was definitely worth it. Very glad I went and very regretful that I didn’t bring a tape recorder with me. I saw a 2GB mic up on the lecterns. I’m entertaining doubts I’d stay up to wait for that report. No offence meant to 2GB listeners (I guess). If I had seen any ABC representatives, well, that would’ve just torn it.
On the way to the debate itself, I ran into this girl from my old school, Helena. She’s still finishing up her high school stuff and things look good for her. She’s hoping to get into medicine and I seriously hope she succeeds ‘cause I know she’s definitely one smart cookie and there are very few people I know whom I would say had the dedication needed to take on that degree and that profession. At the actual debate, I met up with Tess (who was doing a kickass ushering job by the way ;)) and sat with her mum (Tess’ll whack me if I write ‘mom’) and her friend Darren for the duration of the debate.
At that stage, I really couldn’t see anyone else I knew but afterwards, I saw even more people from school (funnily enough, these included some of my sister’s classmates, whom I am quite certain, have not yet graduated… I wonder whatthey were do… oh I’ll drop that. I’m not the truant officer. We don’t even have such a thing down here) and ended up running into Nicole, one of my closest friends and another ex-classmate who, like Tess, goes to USyd. Tess, Nicole, Darren and I ended up spending the rest of the day at the Hungry Jack’s at Central station, pretty much laughing and making cracks at each other (whenever I hang out with my closest friends, we usually spend the whole time insulting each other… behaviour which possibly displays an excessively high level of comfort lol. And since Darren and Tess are friends, well he kinda got caught up in the whirlwind also).
That night, I had a lot to tape (Alias, Now and Again and the Buffy finale – that’s 3 hours in one night, which even I think is outright disgusting) so as shocking as this may sound, I seriously spent the evening being a complete couch potato, with the laptop on my lap the entire time, the remote handy (I hate taping ads) and mucking around with my little sister. She rocks by the way. Always succeeds in getting me into a laughing fit. That is, when she’s not actively trying to piss me off.
Honestly, Monday night, I really showed my ability to prioritise. Taping and writing the rest of the night instead of reading the paper that was set for my tute the next morning (which btw, I had spent all day stressing about getting till my friend Ri said she’d scan it and email it to me, the angel:))... I ended up reading it on the train to uni the next day, which turned out to be just as effective anyway.
And now we get to Tuesday. My not-so-favourite day. 9-4 with just an hour off. Of course, now that I think about it, that is certainly better than last sem’s 9-5, NO break. Cool. The glass is half full after all :) I do, however, feel obliged to provide a reminder that reading any further is only advisable if I’ve not yet penetrated the final realms of absolute boredom – obviously this is assuming you even got this far. If, however, you are in search of a cure for your insomnia, then by all means… just don’t bloody say I didn’t warn you mate.
My Psychopathology tute was actually alright for a morning class, despite the fact that it meant a wake-up call at 6am in order to get the train. I – and some of the others in the tute – got to act like a total prat so that the rest of the class could practise behaviour coding for child-parent interaction during a high stress situation (i.e. dinnertime) which we’re going to have to do by week 6. That was funnier than you’d expect it to be. Seriously! One group in particular – which consisted of 2 of the many Amandas I know doing Psych at my uni – had us laughing so hard! Who would’ve thought a Psychopathology tute could do that?
Ok, well I sure as hell never would have.
I later had lunch with one of the many Amandas I know doing Psych at UNSW (btw Manda, thank you soo much for introing yourself to me as Manda… otherwise I think I’d have gone nuts!). More laughter. I am not kidding. Amanda and me together? It’s kind of like saying you’ll have some cereal with your sugar… laughter dominates any plausible conversation.
Did that make sense? Hope so.
After that, I had my first Social Psych tute. We’re spending the sem conducting an experiment so there are only a couple of formal tutes, after which each group will be left to their own devices… oh pardon me… research… till they have to give a presentation. My group is looking at the role of inhibition in blurting and we’ve got a design for the experiment in the works but for the moment, mum’s the word. The design and materials aren’t due till next week anyway so it could change. So far though, I’m already liking this assignment.
One lecture left and that done, Jessamine and I spent some time verbally bashing one another on our way to – and once we were at – the psych comp labs (stopping intermittently to check our email), before getting a lift to the station with Ri and Carlos, after much debate about whether or not he should go to his lecture. Ri and I kept telling him off… or at least, Ri did up until he noted that if they left now, they could beat traffic. There was even more deliberation after Ri offered Jess and me a lift to *a* station and we finally decided on Central – which later in the car changed to Town Hall. We went in Ri’s new car, a.k.a. her shitbox, which she doesn’t yet have a license to drive (argh! The injustice!), so Carlos did the driving. The lot of us spent most of that time laughing again.
Yes, in answer to your question, my friends and I are as crazy as we sound.
Honestly though, I think I’ve laughed more in the last few days than I have since this sem started. Hee, I love it when things even out like that.
And then we come to yesterday. Wednesday. Woden’s Day. Unfortunately, right after I actually wrote it, exactly who Woden was, flew right out of my head so, uh, moving on then… important thing to note is that it’s my day off!
Oh! Woden was a Norse god. His significance in Norse Mythology however… sorry, I read the book when I was about 5 or 6… bugger me if I can remember much more of it…
Anyway…
I went to Parramatta with Menchie to get a 21st present for our friend Reyna who’s having a bbq and piss up this Friday at her place. Since I don’t drink it’s probably going to end up being me watching everyone else get sloshed as, which can be both entertaining and disturbing at the same time (uh huh, I don’t drink. C’mon! Beer tastes like piss [oh no. Don’t even think of pulling out the ol’ ‘what? You’ve tasted piss before? Taste is smell mate and beer stinks like piss. Well, to me anyway] and with most chick drinks, the minute I taste the alcohol, I don’t wanna drink anymore of the stuff… ok, people have been going on and on to me about Archers – almost as much as Krispy Kremes, which is sweeping the freakin’ city [a fact which I’ll bet the people up in America must find amusing… bah, Australia’s always been behind in that sense. The Phils had Pringles for something like 12 years before they came down here! Although, I did hear that you guys are only just getting Nutella and some people are pronouncing it ‘New-tella’. To quote Comic Book Guy, ‘Haha! I’m unbelievablyamused!’] so I may give Archers a try. Damn, that was one helluva digression).
All in all? Looks to be fun ;) This year is chockablock. 21sts, weddings… last Saturday, I had a 21st and a 26th to go to, but in the end I had to thank my lack of car and my parents’ not total faith in my driving ability when it comes to the Tarago (or Toyota Previa[?] in the US). I don’t blame them though. Both parties were in Kensington, not far from uni. To those not in the know (the best place to be btw), that’s quite a drive. The Tarago is nice and easy to drive and all, but I’m not insured on it, hence the need for total faith.
It took just one hour to find Reyna’s gift. For me, that is a bleeding record! I am terrible with presents…it takes me forever to think of just what to get. Once that’s done though, it’s usually good. But seriously, that’s how long it takes to actually think of something. Menchie was a lifesaver. She knows Reyna better than I do so she at least had something in mind already.
For lunch, we got a chance to use Menchie’s employee discount so it was lunch at Oporto’s! Their chips are niiice. Really. And Menchie’s friends made sure the box was full too.
Ahhh, I love having connections.
After lunch, we found a really good card almost immediately and there’s this great little shop that sells these mad gift boxes. We had bought Reyna some earrings – and we found the perfect box for them. That clinched the day’s success as far as Menchie and I were concerned. Looking at some of the cards got us in a funny mood so we were being a bit dopey for the rest of the afternoon.
Of course though after that, since we were done, Menchie forced me to look at some clothes. I was a good sport about it… for about a few seconds. Lol. She knows I’m not big on shopping so she only pulled me (not physically, thank goodness) to a couple of stores, bless her heart. I thank her for that. I was also kind of in a rush ‘cause I had to get to Westmead Hospital before the pharmacy closed. I made it in the end, so I’m a happy girl ;) Really, trips to that place are indeed made more pleasant when you know no one’s going to stick a needle in your arm (and possibly have to do a little searching while they’re in there!). I really shouldn’t wail about that though. I know I’ve gotten used to it so I just watch, grin and make cracks about it all to the person administering the test.
Now it’s Thor’s Day (people’ve heard of Thor’s Hammer, yes? Yep, Norse Mythology again), better known as Thursday and I’m about to get ready for uni. Class isn’t till 1 and I woke up shockingly early this morning, after falling asleep a little early last night, around 9-ish (to anyone who knows me, I suggest you pick yourselves up off the floor and I hope you’ve suffered no permanent injuries). I’ve just been watching the early news. Main stories… 3 more US soldiers killed in Iraq (that’s totally depressing)… railway stations in Sydney being overrun by police and security personnel (supposedly not causing any delays. Bah, who needs them to slow down the trains. Cityrail does that pretty well on its own)… the heat wave in Europe (it’s bloody scary how many people have actually already died due to that. It must be awful)… I’m trying in vain, to remember the rest of the little bits scrolling along the bottom… and now it’s on to sports. I only watch the stuff on the NRL and that was over in a blip plus Penrith have the bye this weekend, so I’m done.
‘Another day, another box of stolen pens’. I’m off to get ready for uni and I sincerely hope the police have cleared out of Central. All the footage I saw was from there and they were searching people’s bags and everything. Man, I’m glad I didn’t have uni yesterday. On Monday, I do remember the place crawling with security and I was wondering what the hell was up. I guess I have my answer.
Later! :)
Just a precautionary note: I’m in the mood to write and in the mood to type and as those people who have ever received a hella long email from me before would know, this is a lethal combination and such a thing is definitely worthy of dire warning.
Monday was the day to run into old friends and familiar faces. I went to that debate at Sydney Uni and it was definitely worth it. Very glad I went and very regretful that I didn’t bring a tape recorder with me. I saw a 2GB mic up on the lecterns. I’m entertaining doubts I’d stay up to wait for that report. No offence meant to 2GB listeners (I guess). If I had seen any ABC representatives, well, that would’ve just torn it.
On the way to the debate itself, I ran into this girl from my old school, Helena. She’s still finishing up her high school stuff and things look good for her. She’s hoping to get into medicine and I seriously hope she succeeds ‘cause I know she’s definitely one smart cookie and there are very few people I know whom I would say had the dedication needed to take on that degree and that profession. At the actual debate, I met up with Tess (who was doing a kickass ushering job by the way ;)) and sat with her mum (Tess’ll whack me if I write ‘mom’) and her friend Darren for the duration of the debate.
At that stage, I really couldn’t see anyone else I knew but afterwards, I saw even more people from school (funnily enough, these included some of my sister’s classmates, whom I am quite certain, have not yet graduated… I wonder whatthey were do… oh I’ll drop that. I’m not the truant officer. We don’t even have such a thing down here) and ended up running into Nicole, one of my closest friends and another ex-classmate who, like Tess, goes to USyd. Tess, Nicole, Darren and I ended up spending the rest of the day at the Hungry Jack’s at Central station, pretty much laughing and making cracks at each other (whenever I hang out with my closest friends, we usually spend the whole time insulting each other… behaviour which possibly displays an excessively high level of comfort lol. And since Darren and Tess are friends, well he kinda got caught up in the whirlwind also).
That night, I had a lot to tape (Alias, Now and Again and the Buffy finale – that’s 3 hours in one night, which even I think is outright disgusting) so as shocking as this may sound, I seriously spent the evening being a complete couch potato, with the laptop on my lap the entire time, the remote handy (I hate taping ads) and mucking around with my little sister. She rocks by the way. Always succeeds in getting me into a laughing fit. That is, when she’s not actively trying to piss me off.
Honestly, Monday night, I really showed my ability to prioritise. Taping and writing the rest of the night instead of reading the paper that was set for my tute the next morning (which btw, I had spent all day stressing about getting till my friend Ri said she’d scan it and email it to me, the angel:))... I ended up reading it on the train to uni the next day, which turned out to be just as effective anyway.
And now we get to Tuesday. My not-so-favourite day. 9-4 with just an hour off. Of course, now that I think about it, that is certainly better than last sem’s 9-5, NO break. Cool. The glass is half full after all :) I do, however, feel obliged to provide a reminder that reading any further is only advisable if I’ve not yet penetrated the final realms of absolute boredom – obviously this is assuming you even got this far. If, however, you are in search of a cure for your insomnia, then by all means… just don’t bloody say I didn’t warn you mate.
My Psychopathology tute was actually alright for a morning class, despite the fact that it meant a wake-up call at 6am in order to get the train. I – and some of the others in the tute – got to act like a total prat so that the rest of the class could practise behaviour coding for child-parent interaction during a high stress situation (i.e. dinnertime) which we’re going to have to do by week 6. That was funnier than you’d expect it to be. Seriously! One group in particular – which consisted of 2 of the many Amandas I know doing Psych at my uni – had us laughing so hard! Who would’ve thought a Psychopathology tute could do that?
Ok, well I sure as hell never would have.
I later had lunch with one of the many Amandas I know doing Psych at UNSW (btw Manda, thank you soo much for introing yourself to me as Manda… otherwise I think I’d have gone nuts!). More laughter. I am not kidding. Amanda and me together? It’s kind of like saying you’ll have some cereal with your sugar… laughter dominates any plausible conversation.
Did that make sense? Hope so.
After that, I had my first Social Psych tute. We’re spending the sem conducting an experiment so there are only a couple of formal tutes, after which each group will be left to their own devices… oh pardon me… research… till they have to give a presentation. My group is looking at the role of inhibition in blurting and we’ve got a design for the experiment in the works but for the moment, mum’s the word. The design and materials aren’t due till next week anyway so it could change. So far though, I’m already liking this assignment.
One lecture left and that done, Jessamine and I spent some time verbally bashing one another on our way to – and once we were at – the psych comp labs (stopping intermittently to check our email), before getting a lift to the station with Ri and Carlos, after much debate about whether or not he should go to his lecture. Ri and I kept telling him off… or at least, Ri did up until he noted that if they left now, they could beat traffic. There was even more deliberation after Ri offered Jess and me a lift to *a* station and we finally decided on Central – which later in the car changed to Town Hall. We went in Ri’s new car, a.k.a. her shitbox, which she doesn’t yet have a license to drive (argh! The injustice!), so Carlos did the driving. The lot of us spent most of that time laughing again.
Yes, in answer to your question, my friends and I are as crazy as we sound.
Honestly though, I think I’ve laughed more in the last few days than I have since this sem started. Hee, I love it when things even out like that.
And then we come to yesterday. Wednesday. Woden’s Day. Unfortunately, right after I actually wrote it, exactly who Woden was, flew right out of my head so, uh, moving on then… important thing to note is that it’s my day off!
Oh! Woden was a Norse god. His significance in Norse Mythology however… sorry, I read the book when I was about 5 or 6… bugger me if I can remember much more of it…
Anyway…
I went to Parramatta with Menchie to get a 21st present for our friend Reyna who’s having a bbq and piss up this Friday at her place. Since I don’t drink it’s probably going to end up being me watching everyone else get sloshed as, which can be both entertaining and disturbing at the same time (uh huh, I don’t drink. C’mon! Beer tastes like piss [oh no. Don’t even think of pulling out the ol’ ‘what? You’ve tasted piss before? Taste is smell mate and beer stinks like piss. Well, to me anyway] and with most chick drinks, the minute I taste the alcohol, I don’t wanna drink anymore of the stuff… ok, people have been going on and on to me about Archers – almost as much as Krispy Kremes, which is sweeping the freakin’ city [a fact which I’ll bet the people up in America must find amusing… bah, Australia’s always been behind in that sense. The Phils had Pringles for something like 12 years before they came down here! Although, I did hear that you guys are only just getting Nutella and some people are pronouncing it ‘New-tella’. To quote Comic Book Guy, ‘Haha! I’m unbelievablyamused!’] so I may give Archers a try. Damn, that was one helluva digression).
All in all? Looks to be fun ;) This year is chockablock. 21sts, weddings… last Saturday, I had a 21st and a 26th to go to, but in the end I had to thank my lack of car and my parents’ not total faith in my driving ability when it comes to the Tarago (or Toyota Previa[?] in the US). I don’t blame them though. Both parties were in Kensington, not far from uni. To those not in the know (the best place to be btw), that’s quite a drive. The Tarago is nice and easy to drive and all, but I’m not insured on it, hence the need for total faith.
It took just one hour to find Reyna’s gift. For me, that is a bleeding record! I am terrible with presents…it takes me forever to think of just what to get. Once that’s done though, it’s usually good. But seriously, that’s how long it takes to actually think of something. Menchie was a lifesaver. She knows Reyna better than I do so she at least had something in mind already.
For lunch, we got a chance to use Menchie’s employee discount so it was lunch at Oporto’s! Their chips are niiice. Really. And Menchie’s friends made sure the box was full too.
Ahhh, I love having connections.
After lunch, we found a really good card almost immediately and there’s this great little shop that sells these mad gift boxes. We had bought Reyna some earrings – and we found the perfect box for them. That clinched the day’s success as far as Menchie and I were concerned. Looking at some of the cards got us in a funny mood so we were being a bit dopey for the rest of the afternoon.
Of course though after that, since we were done, Menchie forced me to look at some clothes. I was a good sport about it… for about a few seconds. Lol. She knows I’m not big on shopping so she only pulled me (not physically, thank goodness) to a couple of stores, bless her heart. I thank her for that. I was also kind of in a rush ‘cause I had to get to Westmead Hospital before the pharmacy closed. I made it in the end, so I’m a happy girl ;) Really, trips to that place are indeed made more pleasant when you know no one’s going to stick a needle in your arm (and possibly have to do a little searching while they’re in there!). I really shouldn’t wail about that though. I know I’ve gotten used to it so I just watch, grin and make cracks about it all to the person administering the test.
Now it’s Thor’s Day (people’ve heard of Thor’s Hammer, yes? Yep, Norse Mythology again), better known as Thursday and I’m about to get ready for uni. Class isn’t till 1 and I woke up shockingly early this morning, after falling asleep a little early last night, around 9-ish (to anyone who knows me, I suggest you pick yourselves up off the floor and I hope you’ve suffered no permanent injuries). I’ve just been watching the early news. Main stories… 3 more US soldiers killed in Iraq (that’s totally depressing)… railway stations in Sydney being overrun by police and security personnel (supposedly not causing any delays. Bah, who needs them to slow down the trains. Cityrail does that pretty well on its own)… the heat wave in Europe (it’s bloody scary how many people have actually already died due to that. It must be awful)… I’m trying in vain, to remember the rest of the little bits scrolling along the bottom… and now it’s on to sports. I only watch the stuff on the NRL and that was over in a blip plus Penrith have the bye this weekend, so I’m done.
‘Another day, another box of stolen pens’. I’m off to get ready for uni and I sincerely hope the police have cleared out of Central. All the footage I saw was from there and they were searching people’s bags and everything. Man, I’m glad I didn’t have uni yesterday. On Monday, I do remember the place crawling with security and I was wondering what the hell was up. I guess I have my answer.
Later! :)
Sunday, August 10, 2003
Congrats to...
For anyone who follows the AFL (unlike myself;)), Manda has just informed me that the Lions won their game against Collingwood so a hurrah for them and their supporters!
This is going to be brief because it's getting pretty late and I still don't really know what to do tomorrow. Heh, it's not that big a deal really. I just tend to like to know what's happening on a day, before the day actually comes. Don't necessarily need a plan, just a rough idea tends to work for me and right now, well, it's just too rough. Heh, I'll live.
A friend of mine (whose permission I need to ask before I name her here) has been posting on this science vs religion forum at her uni. I would definitely link it but you need username and password access to get in. I've done the online forum thing... it can get pretty intense and I've left a couple feeling really frustrated a lot of the time... ok, I may not expect people to agree with me on everything I say or post, but I do expect people to actually read what I have to say and actually take a second to consider the fact that I am entitled to my own opinion. So many posts start with something like, 'I respect so and so's opinion...' and then what comes next? Bash post. Ok, bash posts are usually not allowed but they always get slipped in anyway. Ugh. I could definitely rant about this for much longer but, like I said, it's pretty damn late.
Yep, still working on the quasi-insomnia. I'm expecting a breakthrough any day now. Am still trying to recover from lauging like a maniac during dinner too. Ma is frikkin hilarious sometimes!
Hmmm... I guess this wasn't so brief after all. Although considering I was beginning to get a little heated up again thinking about the above, it could have definitely become longer.
Night/morning all :) (there you go Gill, I made the accommodation this time!)
Aside: if you're into alternative/rock/punk type music, check out this site. Very cool station, with a funny as 'Bands We Hate' list. They've named a couple of groups I like in it and I can't help but laugh. The others though? Oh hell yeah, they deserve their little place of honour. At least, in my opinion. I got that site from WWdN which is run by one of the maddest writers I have ever come across. Do check it out.
This is going to be brief because it's getting pretty late and I still don't really know what to do tomorrow. Heh, it's not that big a deal really. I just tend to like to know what's happening on a day, before the day actually comes. Don't necessarily need a plan, just a rough idea tends to work for me and right now, well, it's just too rough. Heh, I'll live.
A friend of mine (whose permission I need to ask before I name her here) has been posting on this science vs religion forum at her uni. I would definitely link it but you need username and password access to get in. I've done the online forum thing... it can get pretty intense and I've left a couple feeling really frustrated a lot of the time... ok, I may not expect people to agree with me on everything I say or post, but I do expect people to actually read what I have to say and actually take a second to consider the fact that I am entitled to my own opinion. So many posts start with something like, 'I respect so and so's opinion...' and then what comes next? Bash post. Ok, bash posts are usually not allowed but they always get slipped in anyway. Ugh. I could definitely rant about this for much longer but, like I said, it's pretty damn late.
Yep, still working on the quasi-insomnia. I'm expecting a breakthrough any day now. Am still trying to recover from lauging like a maniac during dinner too. Ma is frikkin hilarious sometimes!
Hmmm... I guess this wasn't so brief after all. Although considering I was beginning to get a little heated up again thinking about the above, it could have definitely become longer.
Night/morning all :) (there you go Gill, I made the accommodation this time!)
Aside: if you're into alternative/rock/punk type music, check out this site. Very cool station, with a funny as 'Bands We Hate' list. They've named a couple of groups I like in it and I can't help but laugh. The others though? Oh hell yeah, they deserve their little place of honour. At least, in my opinion. I got that site from WWdN which is run by one of the maddest writers I have ever come across. Do check it out.
Saturday, August 09, 2003
ninemsn poll
Well, I've looked everywhere and I was right... those papers are at the library. One's a textbook actually. No worries.
I just checked the poll on ninemsn.com.au and, well it seems as though people down here reckon Arnie would know what he was doing as Governor... I really want to know what some of the people up there are thinking of this. I mean, I'm watching this and sort of thinking back to when Estrada became President of the Phils, which I thought was just downright bizarre. Still following how it goes just like I said I would.
Huh. 8 year olds can model as adults now. Interesting. I just pictured my younger sister getting all dolled up like that and a shudder ran its way clean through me.
I just found out that the Panthers are just under the Roosters on the ladder! Crap. Sydney beat Cronulla... oh who am I kidding? That one was kind of obvious. And Penrith have the bye next week too. Damn. Well, they shouldn't drop too far down. Points-wise, they're still up there.
Apparently they're going to be looking into the video refs... they'd better be! After the Panthers/Dragons game last week, they'd better. The video ref disallowed one VERY clear Panthers try and then awarded a try from a completely FORWARD pass to the Dragons... in the end, the Dragons won by one converted try. One! 34-28. I was so bloody mad after that match!
I just checked the poll on ninemsn.com.au and, well it seems as though people down here reckon Arnie would know what he was doing as Governor... I really want to know what some of the people up there are thinking of this. I mean, I'm watching this and sort of thinking back to when Estrada became President of the Phils, which I thought was just downright bizarre. Still following how it goes just like I said I would.
Huh. 8 year olds can model as adults now. Interesting. I just pictured my younger sister getting all dolled up like that and a shudder ran its way clean through me.
I just found out that the Panthers are just under the Roosters on the ladder! Crap. Sydney beat Cronulla... oh who am I kidding? That one was kind of obvious. And Penrith have the bye next week too. Damn. Well, they shouldn't drop too far down. Points-wise, they're still up there.
Apparently they're going to be looking into the video refs... they'd better be! After the Panthers/Dragons game last week, they'd better. The video ref disallowed one VERY clear Panthers try and then awarded a try from a completely FORWARD pass to the Dragons... in the end, the Dragons won by one converted try. One! 34-28. I was so bloody mad after that match!
11.39pm
Just a warning: unless you follow NRL (and the chances of that being the case is made much slimmer if you don't live here in Australia lol), you'll probably not be able to follow some of the following post ;)
The Panthers/Broncos game finished not too long ago and, damn! It was one helluva match! Penrith won! Hurrah! :D They'd lost the two games before this one so they really needed it... and their chances of getting back on top of the NRL Ladder are a lot better too :D Now, I can't help but keep hoping the Roosters and the Raiders don't do too well this weekend ;) Gower got Man of the Match. Definitely well deserved... towards the end of the game, he kicked an amazing field goal! My voice is a little hoarse as it tends to get after watching a game... yes, I'm a yeller... who knew? Everyone who's ever spoken to me, that's who, hehehe. I'm upset though, to hear that two of Penrith's players are moving to the West Tigers... Scott Sattler and Shane Elford are leaving. That sucks... they're both excellent players. Oh well, good luck to them with the Tigers.
Now, that game's left me feeling very high :) Very good mood to be in before getting to sleep... although, how soon that will be, is a little doubtful, I must say :P It's not even 1am yet... yes, it sounds pretty bad. I'm working on the sleep thing. But I don't know... there are just some things you can do better when everyone else is finally asleep and everything's quiet, y'know? Well, for me anyway. Hehe, we'll see.
Oh crap... my happy bubble just burst. Bugger, I hate it when that happens. Ok, it's not burst... just a wee bit deflated is all. Bah humbug! Haha, yes, I do say that :D That and 'good gravy'... Clarkey, STOP LAUGHING!
Ok, gonna call it a day now :) I'm actually getting tired now... I may get to sleep within the next hour or so yet.. may as well give it a try. Night all!
ETA: haha! NOW it says it's Friday... and technically it's Saturday down here... funny stuff.
Just a warning: unless you follow NRL (and the chances of that being the case is made much slimmer if you don't live here in Australia lol), you'll probably not be able to follow some of the following post ;)
The Panthers/Broncos game finished not too long ago and, damn! It was one helluva match! Penrith won! Hurrah! :D They'd lost the two games before this one so they really needed it... and their chances of getting back on top of the NRL Ladder are a lot better too :D Now, I can't help but keep hoping the Roosters and the Raiders don't do too well this weekend ;) Gower got Man of the Match. Definitely well deserved... towards the end of the game, he kicked an amazing field goal! My voice is a little hoarse as it tends to get after watching a game... yes, I'm a yeller... who knew? Everyone who's ever spoken to me, that's who, hehehe. I'm upset though, to hear that two of Penrith's players are moving to the West Tigers... Scott Sattler and Shane Elford are leaving. That sucks... they're both excellent players. Oh well, good luck to them with the Tigers.
Now, that game's left me feeling very high :) Very good mood to be in before getting to sleep... although, how soon that will be, is a little doubtful, I must say :P It's not even 1am yet... yes, it sounds pretty bad. I'm working on the sleep thing. But I don't know... there are just some things you can do better when everyone else is finally asleep and everything's quiet, y'know? Well, for me anyway. Hehe, we'll see.
Oh crap... my happy bubble just burst. Bugger, I hate it when that happens. Ok, it's not burst... just a wee bit deflated is all. Bah humbug! Haha, yes, I do say that :D That and 'good gravy'... Clarkey, STOP LAUGHING!
Ok, gonna call it a day now :) I'm actually getting tired now... I may get to sleep within the next hour or so yet.. may as well give it a try. Night all!
ETA: haha! NOW it says it's Friday... and technically it's Saturday down here... funny stuff.
Friday, August 08, 2003
2.23pm
Damn... it didn't work.
Hmmm... I'll see if I can link this page up and get it working better that way. Dot TK seems to be good, but it's hellbent on increasing traffic to the site... which I'm not exactly dying to do just yet. The account expires after 90 days if less than 30 users have accessed the site. Eh... it's still worth a shot.
Meanwhile, I was just reading this guy's blog... man... he sounds so depressed... it takes something, I'm not sure what, to be able to spill all that onto a site which is apparently frequented by a lot of people you don't even know. But I guess that's the point right? People start these things hoping to be able to either have a place to just rant or be able to get other people to know a little bit more about them or to finally be able to tell people what they want to tell people.
Good for them. I'll go with all of the above, I suppose.
I'm currently in the process of trying to get some stuff organised for uni... have to get books and fix up notes and things... I know, this is terrible considering that it's only the end of week 2 but well, there you go. Third year's a bitch. That is honestly the best way in which I can put it. I've no idea what I'm going to be saying come fourth year. Heck, the fact that there's going to be a fourth year... heheh, I'll stop complaining. I will admit, I'm pretty happy with the workload for this semester. Doing only three subjects is very nice. Although that does mean that I'd better do well in all of them. I guess we'll see.
I'm also still kind of reeling from the news that Arnie is running for Governor of California... now that's something I never thought I'd see. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing the guy... you can't blame me for being surprised though, can you? I mean, one minute he's in State of Origin ads, and in Terminator 3 ads and next people are talking about him running for office. I was visiting WWDN (if any of you know who Wil Wheaton is) and he mentioned 'The Terminator' running for office... at first I thought he was referring to some politician he couldn't stand but then I looked it up and, well there you have it. I seriously want to see how that goes. Seriously.
Damn... it didn't work.
Hmmm... I'll see if I can link this page up and get it working better that way. Dot TK seems to be good, but it's hellbent on increasing traffic to the site... which I'm not exactly dying to do just yet. The account expires after 90 days if less than 30 users have accessed the site. Eh... it's still worth a shot.
Meanwhile, I was just reading this guy's blog... man... he sounds so depressed... it takes something, I'm not sure what, to be able to spill all that onto a site which is apparently frequented by a lot of people you don't even know. But I guess that's the point right? People start these things hoping to be able to either have a place to just rant or be able to get other people to know a little bit more about them or to finally be able to tell people what they want to tell people.
Good for them. I'll go with all of the above, I suppose.
I'm currently in the process of trying to get some stuff organised for uni... have to get books and fix up notes and things... I know, this is terrible considering that it's only the end of week 2 but well, there you go. Third year's a bitch. That is honestly the best way in which I can put it. I've no idea what I'm going to be saying come fourth year. Heck, the fact that there's going to be a fourth year... heheh, I'll stop complaining. I will admit, I'm pretty happy with the workload for this semester. Doing only three subjects is very nice. Although that does mean that I'd better do well in all of them. I guess we'll see.
I'm also still kind of reeling from the news that Arnie is running for Governor of California... now that's something I never thought I'd see. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing the guy... you can't blame me for being surprised though, can you? I mean, one minute he's in State of Origin ads, and in Terminator 3 ads and next people are talking about him running for office. I was visiting WWDN (if any of you know who Wil Wheaton is) and he mentioned 'The Terminator' running for office... at first I thought he was referring to some politician he couldn't stand but then I looked it up and, well there you have it. I seriously want to see how that goes. Seriously.
Hehehe... ok so it seems that I'm on the wrong timeline because according to that last post, it's still Thursday and I'm (almost) certain that it's Friday down where I am (i.e. Sydney)... oh well, I'll just put up whatever it is down here with each post... this should help me get better at figuring out the time differences I have to deal with when talking to people in the US or in Canada or anywhere else in the world that's too far to calculate. Meanwhile, I'm still a little confused as to the address for this thing... yes, I'm hopeless! Oh well, one can fix that...!
August 8, 03 (Friday)
Ok then! Got me a blogger now :) Unfortunately, I'm being hit right now, by one of those moods... you know, like when you've just received some really cool gift or something and you're suddenly stuck on what to do with it or how to use it... :P Oh well, considering the select few I'm probably going to let see this, they can just use it to know what the hell's doin when I'm either too lazy or too busy to get in touch with them... that is, considering I get the chance to actually update this as often as I'd like to... and that is also considering they give a stuff. Heh, you'll all live either way.
It's pretty cool to see these all over the place.. I mean, I've got a lot of friends who have got their fics and stuff up on blogs and they're getting a lot of people reading them because of that. And they're talented people too (hahaha, major ass kissing there!) so that's really mad. I'm nowhere near that stage personally... it's gonna be ages before anyone will be able to convince me to put up my stuff online (although Abby, Nicky and Chris, I appreciate the gentle nudges... it's definitely nice to think you guys reckon it's good enough!). Also, some of the stuff people put on their blogs and the stuff they say can be pretty damn interesting sometimes! This one girl, Lauren, had me killing myself laughing because of one of her posts on those 'get-to-know-you' quizzes that are going around... hilarious! I'd link it here if I knew where it was now... I lost the addy ages ago. Bugger.
Anyway, I think I'm gonna go ask Abby to give me a hand with desiging this place... I haven't the first clue where to begin! In the meanwhile, I'll just post and publish this now to get a load of what it looks like. Later!
Ok then! Got me a blogger now :) Unfortunately, I'm being hit right now, by one of those moods... you know, like when you've just received some really cool gift or something and you're suddenly stuck on what to do with it or how to use it... :P Oh well, considering the select few I'm probably going to let see this, they can just use it to know what the hell's doin when I'm either too lazy or too busy to get in touch with them... that is, considering I get the chance to actually update this as often as I'd like to... and that is also considering they give a stuff. Heh, you'll all live either way.
It's pretty cool to see these all over the place.. I mean, I've got a lot of friends who have got their fics and stuff up on blogs and they're getting a lot of people reading them because of that. And they're talented people too (hahaha, major ass kissing there!) so that's really mad. I'm nowhere near that stage personally... it's gonna be ages before anyone will be able to convince me to put up my stuff online (although Abby, Nicky and Chris, I appreciate the gentle nudges... it's definitely nice to think you guys reckon it's good enough!). Also, some of the stuff people put on their blogs and the stuff they say can be pretty damn interesting sometimes! This one girl, Lauren, had me killing myself laughing because of one of her posts on those 'get-to-know-you' quizzes that are going around... hilarious! I'd link it here if I knew where it was now... I lost the addy ages ago. Bugger.
Anyway, I think I'm gonna go ask Abby to give me a hand with desiging this place... I haven't the first clue where to begin! In the meanwhile, I'll just post and publish this now to get a load of what it looks like. Later!
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