'Ow, ow, ow...' ;)

I am currently dealing with DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) for attempting to get a bit more active, after years of inactivity so well, it's pretty understandable. I've been making some rather laughable attempts at Capoeira (focusing on kicking mainly) and although I'm stuck aching like crazy, I'm happy to find that I can in fact, still execute a cartwheel and also that I can pull off a one hander! That was a nice surprise. Painful too. :P 

Outside of the sore points though, I will say this much. Skin feels much better and I feel better. I like that. :)

Phone Messages, a la my little sis...

Got onto the computer after getting home today to find this on the screen:

'Phone Messages

For Jelynn:
> Menchie called
> Clarkey called

For Everyone:
> We are getting new locks if we do not find the keys
> Check the car

For Everyone that Counts:
> We are having McDonalds for dinner

To Nobody:
> Get a life' 

I love you Duds. :)

:D - it's all I can do right now! :D

After almost two hours of utter frustration with UNSW admin for not getting our results emails out, Mel and I were able to check our results and as per usual, Mel kicked ass! Congrats to her! She was so sure she was going to fail her Bacteria and Disease course and in the end she got a high credit! :P 

As for me, I got a 69 in Stats!! Hurrah! :D After expecting less than 50, it just adds heaps to finding out I passed :D

So, now I'm finally sure, I'm GRADUATING! I've screamed myself stupid already (my brother jumped around the lounge room when he found out about his... how gender typical our reactions were :P) and in the process, I'm almost certain I blew out Mel's ear drums over the phone (she was the one who told me, 'dude, you got a 69!'). I don't know how long it's been since I last felt this happy... I've breathed numerous sighs of relief. :D

And now I apologise for my whininess about results to everyone to whom I've whined and ranted :P 

:D

Ah well... ;)

I had the longest, most convoluted entry written up. I'm now going to put up the pain free version.

Jo, Christina and Vicki deemed me overqualified for the position which, ultimately, was kitchen/boardroom maintenance/clerical support (the title changed from Admin Assistant to Kitchen Assistant/Admin Assistant) and chose someone just fresh out of school and who had just completed a bar course and thus they thought would be more suited to the job long term. In other words, they were afraid I'd bore quickly considering my degree and interests. Jo liked me though so if a position on her HR team opens up, she'll call me. I'm also allowed to email her about what type of position I would possibly like within the company and she'll see what she can do.

Mel was not surprised considering she continued to maintain that she didn't like the idea of me just doing the random stuff they didn't want to have to for themselves (which they had conveniently formed into a job) and my brother even said that he reckoned they were probably wondering why I applied to begin with. 

They're both sweet.

I no longer: 

- have to consider being out from 7am to 7pm, Monday to Friday
- have to buy work clothes
- have to memorise the tasks
- have to rearrange my schedule (for hospital or med)
- have to worry about whether or not this job was right for me

I now have:

- corporate interview experience (had never done one before)
- a connection within HR
- time to refocus on writing, Journo and Counselling and looking for a better suited job (poss. P/T)
- availability lest I need to redo the stats exam
- time to REST after the most hellish semester (from sem to exams to interview, non-stop worry)

I'm honestly relieved that I didn't get the job. I didn't want it forever and I was actually beginning to despise it in the time approaching the second interview. To have a steady job and paycheck woud have been great and all, but at least now I know it wasn't for me and now, I can stop using up time thinking about it and all the potential havoc it would wreak on my life. 

Now if only I could just keep things so simple all the time... I'd save a lot of time and energy.

'The University has the following Graduation Details registered for you:

You have been identified as a Potential graduand.

If you are eligible to graduate, you can update your record to indicate whether you will attend the ceremony and to change your ceremony to an overseas ceremony.

Checklist for Potential Graduands
Potential graduands should check that all their student record details, testamur details and graduation details are correct. Some graduands may need to arrange to defer their graduation and/or attend an overseas ceremony. All potential graduands should be aware of relevant dates and deadlines

Important Information for Graduating Students
Graduating students should be aware of dates and venues for graduations, who may attend graduations, as well as other details and requirements for attendance at graduation ceremonies. Students who cannot or did not attend their graduation ceremony should be aware of the correct procedures.

How do I hire my academic gown?' 

Just one more week of torture till results come out :P

Catch Up...

Ola! 

Ok, I'm still awaiting my results (and biting my nails in the meantime, ok not really)... the stats exam was horrendous, but at the same time I don't need much in order to pass... I need a bare 38% in the exam to pass. Hehehe, I'll find out soon enough.

I had a job interview with an accounting firm yesterday and it went really well :D My second interview is on Monday and so far, I'm liking my chances. It's a full time admin assistant position (I know, doesn't sound great, but considering how not so stable both journalism and counselling are, I need a more stable backer and in this position I have the opportunity to work up to HR). My interviewer yesterday, Jo, was so much nicer than I expected and she seems to like me :) Come Monday, I have to face the Admin Supervisor and the Financial Manager. 

I'd love to get the job but I'll admit, without it, there are still a lot of other avenues I can take. At the moment, I just want to know that I'll be graduating. 

In other news, The OC has just started here in Oz and I find myself hooked... Benjamin Mckenzie helps that out a little, I will admit ;) My sis beats me in the obsession department though... she's gone nutty for it! It's so funny to watch hehehe. Thirteen-year-olds, go figure lol.

Hope y'all are well! :hug:

How to make a lynnem

Ingredients: 3 parts competetiveness 5 parts humour 5 parts joy

Method: Stir together in a glass tumbler with a salted rim. Add a little cocktail umbrella and a dash of curiosity

Traffic Check

Subject? I just clicked the box and scrolled, finding that among the options and wondering... huh? I don't remember that... so slotted it in just 'cause.

Ma's back. Things are (sort of) back to normal... and I am numb. It's not a bad thing really, I mean, I don't mind it. I'm just... here. That's all. I'm recovering from the flu and looking forward to the time ahead.

Why? Just some good things to get down :)

- Tuesday was my last day of uni, forever. Hurrah!
- I just finished my last essay (Socio) which I will be handing in tomorrow
- I have 2 weeks to study for my one exam, which is Stats 

Graduation itself won't be until October and for now, I've got to work on making sure that I get to do so by that time, by not stuffing up stats again. I've got time though and a much clearer understanding of the stuff than I did last year (trying works... who knew?). Of course, considering back then I had 3 other psych subjects to contend with and only one socio subject this time around... anyway, getting that down perked me up actually... in fact...

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!! I'm done with uni! HURRAH!!!!!!

Ok. Dignity back? There we go. :)

On Tuesday, it was almost as though it was meant to be my last day... I ran into so many people I hadn't seen in ages and was able to give them the news and catch up... I'm sure I'll miss it, but right now, the only thing I know is that I am so damn glad I'm done :) I ended up having to stay late though, since I decided to wait for Mel to finish so we could leave together. Ended up having to help my friend Amanda (one of the thousands I know... it's like an invasion!) because she lost her wallet so the two of us were retracing her steps. Poor thing. Her keys were attached. Good thing though that the only contents of that wallet, were her keys and student card, void of address. 

Some friends are going to take me to lunch tomorrow as a mini celebration. Can't wait :)

ETA: it just occurred to me, I'd like to change my icon... anyone got any nice suggestions? I'm open :look: Kel, I think I shall rummage through those ones you made... so many! I only got through the first couple before realising I'd have to come back but the ones I saw looked lovely. Any Jon, Friends, AOGG or any random good pics are definitely welcome (I like your one Chris).

...

It's been a very, well, odd couple of weeks.

This week, is the first week in a month, that I have gone into uni both days I was supposed to. Small achievement, although a terrifying eye-opener to the fact that I have to get going on my stats assignment! I can only say things this bluntly, I don't like Stats, I don't like Psy (the program, not the Psych course) and I don't like that I have to do Stats in order to ensure I graduate after this semester.

I've been purposely avoiding getting online lately, only because I am fully aware of how prone I am to staying on for disgustingly long periods of time and feeding any of my extreme obsessions (one of which, lately has actually caused more undue stress than was ever necessary). Plus, got assignments (I believe I mentioned them above...?).

Thus far, I've succeeded. Here's to hoping it lasts. I've given myself only a few valid reasons - Manda and Gill, research, email, job search, and checking to see how all the rest of you are via LJ or FF are headers on them... anything else, no (list seems a bit long. I don't know how this is coming across, but when I say undue stress, I mean it. Part of me never wants to go online ever again, but knows that isn't entirely realistic... heck, I'm reluctant to get onto this PC now... my laptop is just so much safer).

Yuck, that all sounds so bellyache-ish. Clearly I vent. Had to though, just now anyway. Tired... very tired. Ok, enough.

Katherine, Mel, Clarkey, Manda, Gill, Amanda G, Menchie... I love you people so much, you guys ROCK. You know why.

On the brighter side (for there is always one... at least in my opinion anyway), I finally got more feedback from my Journalism tutor and he wants me to approach an editor as soon as possible, about my last assignment :D My only pang is that I honestly do have to get uni work out of the way before I can completely go ahead with researching and setting up interviews, however, those done, hurrah! Gary is a really cool tutor... I only wish it were easier to contact him considering he's generally on assignment himself. But hey, so far, :D

I'm so broke! 21sts all over the place! Meanwhile, my search for a present for Amanda M (her one last Saturday, was BEAUTIFUL) helped me discover Boy Meets Girl, by Meg Cabot. Funny, funny book along the same sort of lines as Bridget Jones's Diary. No classic, but definitely a great laugh. I still have to get pressies for Amanda G, Kim, Sarah and Kasey. Sarah's one is on Saturday (hurrah!). I had to miss a lot of 21sts last year and the year before so this year, I'm kinda making up for it... big time! Cha ching!

Last night, was watching my bro's friend's wedding DVD... so sweet... and the groomsmen! LOL! Show offs! Before the wedding, while they were accompanying the groom from his place, they all had to showcase a little for the camera (incl. my bro, who was best man.. the dill, he showed up the groom! Silly, silly, silly) and they are a funny lot. Meanwhile, a couple more of my friends (younger than me!) have gotten engaged this year but the weddings aren't till next year so, hehe, pardon my callousness but it eases the pressure on my wallet.

I know it's officially over now but,

... to all the mamas, mums, moms and mams out there,



Especially mine ;) Being able to admit to me for the past 21 and a bit years? If that's not admirable, I dunno what is.

'Can't sleep... clown'll eat me. Can't sleep... clown'll eat me.'

Damned insomnia :P 

Amanda's party was loverly and she's an absolute sweetheart. Keeping a little more closely in line with my normal way (not drinking at all), I only had one drink - a cosmopolitan slushie (yep, she had a machine). Not a fan of the cranberry juice I must say but in slurpie form? Well, actually, all it did was turn my hand into an icicle considering it was - and still is - freezing tonight.

The speeches were so sweet (albeit hilariously embarrassing as is 21st celebration tradition) and her mom had set up old pictures and drawings around their dining room. Hands down, the best one I saw was a drawing she had made when she was maybe around 5? It was an 'illustrated story' about a dot and a line who were in love, but whose love was torn asunder by a homewrecking squiggle (just not in those terms of course :lol:). How freaking adorable! 

Just a note :)

I'm getting ready to head off to Amanda's 21st but as I was checking train timetables, I got this 'note from Kyle and Angela' whose engagement party I recently went to, and I thought, ok, I'll share why I'm so red-faced right now :lol:

'Thank you Jelynn for the absolutely gorgeous crystal basket. Also we'd like to thank you for celebrating our engagement with us. By the way, just confirming to let you know you WERE caught on tape dancing'!

Thanks a lot Tracey (Ange's mom)! :eek: I am never going to imitate dancing purple hippos from TV ever again :P

Hmmm...

I'm sitting here pondering whether or not I'll be hungover in the morning, whilst checking email (!). 

Ah, we'll see. 

And I still don't call myself an alco. Almost 10 drinks, once in a blue moon doesn't make me an alco. 

Does it?

I'm not actually drunk, but I do feel a bit odd. I'm actually surprised at my tolerance level... I thought that not drinking would have made me more sensitive.

Like I said, we'll see.

Btw, just to mention since I've not done so yet this year.... Penrith won yesterday's game against the Tigers after 2 defeats in a row so hurrah! That made my Friday :)

'Lest We Forget'

'They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning..
We will remember them'
 

May we never forget the sacrifices made in WWI by the Anzacs 
(the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps)

In-som-ni-ac

I love these guys. I've not laughed this hard in a looong time. 

But damned if I know what's up with all the 'cakes'.

Writing mood; on.

Although the time of relaxation in which I've been indulging lately is about to - nay, has to - end soon, it's done a whole bloody world of good. 

Uni began again this week and I only ended up going in on Tuesday because I was sick on Monday. So I missed one RM3A lecture. Again. Second Monday Lecture I've missed in a row which is not fantastic since this is my second time around. And, to make that even more ridiculous (although at least this time, guilt-free), next Monday is a public holiday (ANZAC weekend) so that will make it the 3 for 3. 

Tuesday was, to say the least, draining. Tolerable, but still draining. I was pretty keen to go in too, since I hadn't seen anyone all week break. I was all set, good mood and all. First lecture was sociology, which is generally ok, albeit a little sleepy at times because my lecturer is in the habit of rambling. I was only slightly bored since Travis and Adra are always great entertainment but then towards the end of the lecture, we had to watch 4Corners footage of the Rwandan massacre (the topic this week was Ethnic Cleansing). We were watching the testimonies made by some of the Hutu killers. 

I don't know if I've ever watched anything so distressing in my whole life. 

No, it wasn't extremely graphic (minus the shot after shot of bodies and bloodied streams - whether you would call that graphic, I suppose, is subjective), but... several times throughout the video, I wanted to cry and at the end, I was physically ill. The words of those talking didn't make things any better (sometimes describing what they actually did to people with more detail than was desirable). You could see they were remorseful and that they themselves, didn't seem to understand what they had been doing and why, outside of the basic hatred and wish to rid themselves of oppression. I won't go into any of it here... a woman who survived the killings at the church gave her account and I still want to cry just thinking about it. 

The whole thing depressed me (I don't think I need to excuse myself for that). After studying Psych for 3 years, you stop asking how people can bring themselves to do that sort of thing. People are capable of anything. You certainly don't have to be a psych student to know that, you just have to watch the news. Of course, I can still ask why... but it doesn't make acknowledging these things any easier to swallow. 

Adra and I were walking to stats and basically trying to work it through I guess... although the fact that stats was where we were headed didn't help things. My motivation was shot momentarily and listening to Melanie go over orthogonal contrasts was just a little too much. It's not an excuse, true, but my notes for that lecture are pretty poor. I also found that I was missing a page of the notes so that didn't help - ruddy printer - and I was also a little disappointed to find that a friend of mine wasn't there (Menchie and I are still in the process of trying to convince Reyna to come to class more often so I was glad to see her there though).

Those 3 painful hours finally done, I had a break and ended up having lunch with Mench, Mel and Kristine (who's still relatively new... only been here for a month! Hasn't stopped her from having already visited Taronga Zoo hehe). The mood was kinda sombre though because Mel wasn't well and we were all trying to help her out a bit. It was kinda nice towards the end though because almost everyone I hadn't seen in ages appeared from nowhere so I was talking to a lot of people (at different times that is. Travis rocked up and crashed eventually), but this meant that the others were sort of stuck watching. I felt bad, rude but stretched a little at the same time. I'm not the greatest at manning several conversations at once so I fall into (very self-consciously) ignoring people. Not nice.

Sociology tutorial. Death. I don't hate this subject. I brought it on myself anyway... you don't enrol in a socio class called 'Space of Terror' without expecting some pain. I was still reeling slightly from the video (yes, it takes me a while to get past things) and I didn't want to be there. Justin and Travis are cool though, so I don't mind talking to them about it all. My tutor is pretty cool too. I got to argue a bit with the American exchange student, Dean (slight crush... slight!) and then the rest of the time, discussed the prep questions with the others... typical tute. Nothing too shocking I guess. Then I got my essay back. I did hopelessly. I passed, yes, but I was upset. I'd worked hard on that essay and it was a slight knock. Plus, it's socio. I'm generally good at the subject. My mood basically plummeted.

I just checked the actual percentage received. It was a high pass - almost a credit. I didn't realise (I simply saw the 'P' and the mark out of 25)... ok, that makes me feel a little better. Sheesh, get all the facts first... heh.

The day picked up a little after that. Met up with Reyna and Menchie and the two of them were playing around with her new phone [rant warning - I hate these new phones. I seriously can't stand them. Polyphonic ringtones piss me off so much, I don't see the point of having a camera or video in your phone and I could never imagine myself surfing the net on my mobile. I get that other people want them so I don't rant about it too often, but as long as my phone lets me ring or text people and vice versa, then I'm set. I just don't see the need I guess, but how you use your money is how you use your money so... I'm not big on buying things I don't need, that's all. Ok, I'll admit to wanting a bunch of DVDs and books. They are my weaknesses, though I don't have the means and even if I did, doesn't mean I'd buy 'em. Yes, I'm a scrooge. And any friend who has tried to take me clothes shopping, knows enough to fuhgeddaboutit]. 

The rest of the day is a bit of a dreary blur, outside of my conversation with Duane which revealed that the two us have a lot more in common than I had originally thought. Then again, anyone who knows what Ciclosporin even is, gets points with me. Oh and Reyna's friend Ralph, is a gag. I don't get to see a lot of the homey-boy Filos at my uni so he was kind of a breath of fresh air (despite the fact that most of the time, those guys really shit me). Stats tute came and went and then Mel, Menchie and I met up with Jen at Central and headed home. I honestly envy Jen right now. She's working at ING at the moment and has deferred the year. Not thinking about assignments, classes, researching, etc... sounds positively loverly (May and Gill, seriously, I don't know how you handle both work and school, but bravo girls). I've a semester then I can do that, which I suppose is better considering Jen will have to come back to it. The job search is still on though and the job at uni is ??? Honestly, I've not heard a word (Ri!!). 

Journalism is going well. My tutor is cool and I love that I'm not doing it at uni. 

Yesterday, Menchie and I headed off to Parra to watch 50 First Dates. That's a really cute movie and at the same time, Mench and I kept thinking of secondyear cognition. We had to watch a video of a man who had a similar condition. It was so sad... every time he'd see his wife, though he knew who she was, it was as though he was seeing her for the first time. You could see the look on her face... though the movie is funny, you can't laugh at the fact that it's real. A lot of people live this way. 

While at Parra, I found DVDs for It and NESII but of course, they were expensive as. I'm more glad to know they're available here in Oz. Not many Jonathan Brandis movies are (yes, I'm hoarding, so sue me) and I don't think I've much hope for finding the TV ones but thanking Jan for trying! And BJ for offering to tape and send :D You people are loverly. 

Oh, and a hurrah! I found a bunch of songs I'd been wanting for the longest time! I first saw the Macross movies when I was around 12 or 13 and I loved the music... I was able to find Ai Oboeteimasuka from the original Macross. I love that song... it's in Japanese, yes, but it's still one of my favourite songs ever and it's way better in Japanese anyway (I've the english lyrics as well). Yoko Kanno's cello version of the Myung theme for Macross Plus and the vocal as well, and Between Heaven and Earth. I also got Cruel Angel's Thesis and Dance Like You Want to Win from Neon Genesis. I love manga soundtracks. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the themes for Battle Angel Alita or Tokyo Babylon but hey, I got a lot already. 

Meanwhile, thanks to Rick Dees (though I never listen to you hehe) for bringing Hoobastank's The Reason, Switchfoot's Meant to Live and Five For Fighting's 100 Years to my attention. And Mel, thanks for telling me that there was a 9min version of In Da Club. Man! It's replaced my old one. My music collection grows... recent additions besides the aforementioned, were Chantal Kreviazuk, Bob Schneider, Casper's Lullaby, Jordan Hill, Cranberries, Gene Wilder (Pure Imagination was one of my favourite songs when I was younger) and some stuff from the Sister Act soundtracks (great Gospel-y stuff). 

Ok, I've been somewhat overindulgent with my music. I can't help it. Writing and music sustain me(of course, outside of prayer and my family and friends). 

And now that my writing energy has all been used up, I've some stats notes to go over and organise for my optional test, a new journo assignment to start and a socio journal entry to write. My sis just asked me to look up some N64 cheats for her and I'm getting a kick out of reading them. I may not play much anymore but hey, now I wanna try a couple things. I'm such a geek! (that reminds me, I gotta see if I can get a hold of any of Wil Wheaton's books hehe. One of them's called Just a Geek, but he's only just finished writing it. Go here if you're interested).

:D

21sts, 21sts... and more 21sts

Just got back from Esha's (really good uni friend) 21st out at Kensington... lovely :) I got the chance to see a lot of people I never get to see anymore thanks to conflicting timetables! So many of my friends have disappeared ahead of me, doing honours and worrying about their thesis and panel meetings and such, and the rest of them are no longer in my classes, so it was great getting to see them again! The night was pretty much spent eating, drinking, laughing and - in the grand tradition of all 21sts - embarrassing Esha :D 

I'd go into more detail, but as I said before, my body has been in constant rebellion lately because I've been severely depriving it of sleep... why am I even here? Well... I only came online to check mail and accidently opened this (was about to add 'by accident' to the end of that *rolls eyes* - clearly, I'm not thinking straight:P). I couldn't help thinking that it looked pretty neglected so thought to myself, 'why the hell not? A quickie update wouldn't hurt... and here we are.

That was fascinating wasn't it? 

In clarification of the title, tonight's was something like the hundredth 21st I've been to within the last year and a bit and there are several still coming :) Man, I love being 21... the most immediate two coming up are for two of the many Amandas I know, one of whom drove me back tonight (glad you found your way home, despite my apparently pathetic directions, sweetie! :)) and they're both looking to be good. 

Anyway, am off to bed. Night to all and, because I'm sure I won't be diligent enough to update before then, have a Happy Easter! :D

Still trying to finally get a grip of my net legs...

... but I'm so glad that I have it back! :D It's been a little too long. I've missed so many people and just lost contact with so many people... I've been lucky enough to grab Gill, Manda and Je a lot already... I was able to finally get back in touch with a close friend from uni whom I've not had the chance to see in ages!

Ok, basics. Some catch up. The last 5 months or so have been pretty damn interesting... unfortunately, I don't actually have the time to go into too much detail (sure, that's gonna stop me!). Life's thrown its fair share of curveballs at me over that time, but thankfully, things are pretty good at the moment (now if I could just get over my crippling lack of motivation to get down to work already! Ugh). 

I'm finally doing my journalism course, after waiting 4 years to get to it... and it's great! I love it! My tutor is really nice and extremely supportive and he's encouraged me to write up my article and send it in! Considering I was expecting all sorts of criticism for my idea (basically about inflating UAI cutoffs, their effect on school leavers and possible educational alternatives - outside of Oz, I don't know how much of that people'd understand) but he loved it! I'm working on it at the moment and I just have to finally get those interviews I need finished up :)

I'm only part time at uni now, with a very sweet 2-day week, so I'm looking for part time work at the moment. That search has been, well, less than successful. Thus far anyway. Weight Watchers and Thomson Legal & Regulatory have me on file (no word yet though) and I've applied for a couple places on Seek.com (fingers crossed on getting an interview!) but unfortunately, with regards to ads in the paper, I always get the paper too late in the day (after business hours). I call a half day late and people are telling me that the position has already been filled. I've decided to somehow snag the paper first thing and then exploit these places' clear need for someone now. Unfortunately, all the better jobs I'm suited for are full time. 

Ah, c'est la vie. 

At the moment, I've just got a temporary stint, filing at uni and still volunteering to be meeter and greeter at open days. I complain not, because UNSW is extraordinarily generous to its employees. 

Late November, falling in line with this pc, my laptop decided it was time to call it quits and I lost a lot of writing. I wish I had meant it when I said I was going to put my writing on hiatus because then, maybe I wouldn't have lost so much. If there's anything I've learnt from this - besides the fact that I have a bizarre love/hate relationship with computers - it's backup, backup and backup! Now, I've got everything on the laptop (which we had fixed in January.. till then, no computer at all in the house), and two extra disks. I still doubt whether that's enough but... I'll live (I hope!).

I was really out of it during the following months (although there were some pretty good distractions... a bunch of 21sts (including my own), good ol' Christmas...). I lost an entire story, and huge chunks out of almost all the others. I justify my lack of floppy usage with the fact that I lost some assignments because of disks which suddenly stopped working for reasons unknown so I saw no point. Not till I could get some new ones anyway... plus, the laptop had been reliable to that point so I guess I got complacent about the whole thing. Pretty big mistake eh? 

I tried writing by hand again (the keyboard has spoilt me. My handwriting isn't fast enough) and was able to punch out a few things. Re-writing is such a bitch though. I tried to stop thinking of it as re-writing but it's hard... you still can't help but think that what you are trying to write, is never going to be as good as what you had originally. Nevertheless, was finally able to 'rebuild on the ruins' as I kept putting it and, although not every lost scene has been rewritten, I've been able to write new ones quite well and begin new pieces :D Basically, I'm back on my way. 

Coz I was sick most of the holidays (the heat! Bloody, ghastly hell, the heat!), I was only able to pursue those less strenuous activities... aside from trying to write (I just couldn't do it for a pretty long time) did a lot of sketching and drawing, got started on some new piano pieces, read a lot (got some excellent books for my birthday and Christmas... to name a few; On Writing, by Stephen King, Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, Catcher In The Rye, Gibran's The Prophet... I also got Tuesdays with Morrie but my friend forgot it the day of my 21st so she gave it to me last week at uni, meaning I haven't had the chance to read it yet... been too busy), and basically added to my movie collection (aahhh cable...). 

Man... I knew the lack of time would do nothing. Ok, quickies:

- Chris, that talk finally happened. I'll email you as soon as I can with the details :D but I can tell you... so much weight off my shoulders! Hurrah! ;) 
- Wedding notices! My friend Kirsty got married late last year and another friend of mine, Angela (Happy 20th darl and congrats!!), just got engaged. Angela and I were friends back when we were little and we've only just recently gotten back in touch... her daughter is so adorable! And pretty well-behaved for an almost 3 yr old!

Ok, ok, I think I'm gonna wrap this one up now. Focus! Assignments! I've been ODing on the net usage over the last couple days (catch up was necessary, as well as fixing up a few new things) and I'm trying to avoid that AOL warning that fires itself at any users that go over 95 hours in a month, giving us a 20minute time limit online :P 

I just hope y'all are doing well :) Hmmm... maybe that would have sufficed as opposed to drivel above. Oh well, tough.

Cheers!

Hey everyone! Hope everyone's doing ok! I've missed y'all big time. Hope everyone who had finals got through them all ok! I'm extremely busy at the moment but I just got this in an email and I had to put it up:

The Buffalo Theory
(In one episode of 'Cheers', Cliff is seated at the bar describing the Buffalo Theory to his buddy, Norm. I don't think that I've ever heard the concept explained any better than this...)
'Well you see, Norm, it's like this... A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the lowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members.
In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Now, as we know, excessive intake of alcohol kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. And that, Norm, is why you always feel smarter after a few beers." 

I don't even drink but I found that bloody hilarious.

Cheers all ;)

Ramblings...

Ok... most of this entry is simply to achieve some mental organisation so I can finally finish up my assignments... if there has been anything I've been neglecting lately, it's been those and I really need to fix that... I finished Apt Pupil last friday and I've decided to leave the last story till when I have the time. Meanwhile, that story is well written, but twisted... part of the reason it freaked me out a little was the fact that I could honestly see it happening in real life *shudder*

Anyway, I tend to just type and let things roll as I do so, so I'm expecting the rest of this entry to be really disjointed and very rambly... 

Just some ideas to jot down for the ‘acting class’ that we’re going to put together for Behaviour in Organisations… I've not been able to properly meet up with the other members in my group considering everyone is so busy, thanks to the semester getting closer and closer to finishing...

We could look at the ways acting have changed over the years and pinpoint particular styles which we could cover in the class and those who were major performers in those styles, because I think that as part of teaching the class, we should also further advise our ‘students’ to do their own research on these styles and eras, by watching the old movies, observing the actors and reading up on old acting books and reading about what actors do to prepare (such is the advice of Mr. Wil Wheaton anyway. Not to say that there is no other approach or view on the subject, but it does sound pretty sensible to me…)

We then could select 2 or 3 styles which we can actively cover in the class. I already know of (or at least, have heard of) method acting, for example, for his short stint on Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Charlie Sheen had to play a druggo at the police station. If my info is correct, to look the part, he actually did not sleep for 72 hours beforehand... 

Outside of method acting, what else have we seen? The change in standard – in the early stages of cinema, it was a running joke, as well as almost a fact, that women who knew how to ‘faint’ and ‘scream’, had what it takes to get into the silent movies. Now, one might say that all a woman needs is a great body and face and voila! You have a successful actress, and this may also work for guys. Although personally, I don’t reckon you could say the larger, more powerful actors and actresses can’t act… I don’t think they could have maintained their careers if that were the case. Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise… and all the rest. I never cared much for how Brad looked, but he is one helluva good actor in my opinion. Not to mention his adaptability with accents.

Depending on who you are, the ways of approaching a role vary. We should look into that because people are different so we want to adopt a training style which will benefit all the students... I'm having trouble trying to use the last couple of lectures we had on training, with acting...

Up to this point, film acting has been the focus. However, there is TV (live or cartoon), theatre and other miscellaneous activities which involve a degree of acting, such as mime (I had to put that in… Chris is really jumping up and down to do his mime act for the class). 

Theatre is very different from onscreen acting because you have to involve the live audience (TV or movies can have the actors try to involve the audience however, in the end, they are really only talking to a camera, as opposed to a live group of people again leading to different approaches). There is also the issue of positioning yourself on the stage. From every time I’ve been in a production, it appears to be a strict rule, never to turn your back on the audience. If you’re not facing them fully, then you should at least be in the position to allow you to have them in your sights and engage them in your dialogue. You’re addressing them just as much as you’re addressing the rest of the cast.

Oh my gosh! It just occurred to me to ask Xan and anyone else who’s in the Fellowship, if they’ve done any drama and what sort of stuff they did! Cool!

I think it would be a good idea to address the fact that while some people are brilliant actors, and others mediocre, there are those who couldn’t do it to save their lives… how could we include them in our training? I’m sure there are ways to get around that. I keep thinking of Joey (Friends) here and his little ‘tricks’… I’d like to see that actually hehehe.

I know there’s more, but I’m kind of tapped for now… as I watch an insane amount of TV and an equally ridiculous number of movies, Chris wants me to write the report up for the group. The dill. Meanwhile, I need to begin the research on that…

Ok, I now have to do the same sort of brainstorming for Psychopathology. This one is going to be a lot more difficult I’m sure, but it’s still worth half a shot or more. 
Wow… this is proving to be harder than I expected… ok then. The experiment Ri and I carried out was looking to replicate the findings of past research investigating the relationship between particular parenting techniques or behaviours and non-compliance in normal families (the majority of past research looks at more extreme cases of noncompliant or aggressive behaviour in children, these kids having been diagnosed with actual behavioural disorders. This is why this experiment was only looking at non-compliance as it was assumed that more severe behaviours would more likely be rare in normal families). 

Ok… according to research, particularly that which has been conducted by Patterson, it appears to be the case that parents of more aggressive or non-compliant children are more likely to give more commands, provide less positive reinforcement for appropriate behaviours (including compliance), and use ineffective strategies like threats, criticism and sporadic physical punishment to discourage inappropriate behaviour in their kids. These have been termed, ‘reinforcement traps’. This leads to children being less sensitive to patterns or reward and punishment and may be likely to simply increase their bad behaviour when they are punished, as was found by Snyder. 

Hmmm… ok, that’s what I have so far… right now though, I can’t help thinking that although there are a lot of apparent relationships between aggression and physical punishment in families, I personally still reckon that some kids really need a good thwack on the butt once in a while… I’m not trying to endorse child beatings or anything, but I’m not quite sure I’d totally write off spanking just yet. I just reckon the issue differs from child to child. Some kids may benefit and others might not. 

Anyway, back to the study. Did our experiment further support past research? I... don't bloody remember right now...all the correlations, positive or negative, were pretty weak however, there were some apparent effects, if not incredibly significant ones, so that's all I can really focus on. Ok... I gotta go over my results and my other readings again. 

Ok... this has actually helped out a little bit :) I've got quite a few references for it, but I've still got to look up more info on acting :P For now though, I'm not as lost as I was before. Cool.

Pardon my french...

...but Stephen King is a fucking fantastic writer (I don't tend to swear when I write but, having just read two Stephen King books, it sort of just came out ;)). I've just finished Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption and, to put it simply, I loved it. It's such an incredible, not to mention well written, story. That and The Body are two booksI could probably, and most probably will, read again and again... and again. I will say that I felt I could relate more to what he wrote in The Body, but Shawshank Redemption is such a great story, and Andy and Red are both characters I love. I had never thought of Stephen King as anything more than a horror writer... I'm glad to have found I was wrong (although I will agree with those who have bemoaned his rather graphic detail at times, although I think it just adds to his writing). 

Alrighty then, on to Apt Pupil.