...And Aggrevating Actions Assessed

So it's now 6:51pm and I just left my last ever group meeting for Managing People and Organizations. Since I have to wait another 45 minutes for Veronica to finish her Marketing tutorial, I thought I'd kill some time by writing up another blog at the B2 Labs.

Today's topic. Passengers.

Passengers to drivers are the equivalent of leechers to seeders in torrent files. They leech and leech your fuel, but as soon as their destination is complete, they log off and you never get anything back.

So a shout out to Toby for all the times I've leeched off him. Yes I'm attacking myself.

... Ok but this isn't what this blog is about. I wanted to focus on a more niche group of passengers, the ones who treat your car like a rubbish bin, or in my case, a wardrobe.

Where to begin, where to begin...

Veronica sent me a text message a couple of days ago informing me that her assignment notes were in my car. Now I'm not one to complain, but you can't blame me if this isn't the first time she has left her stuff in my car. I hope you're reading this. First you left your high waisted belt in my car, which took 2 weeks for me to return. You then left one of your shoes and a bunch of economic notes in my car. Then you left your container of spaghetti or whatever you ate. And guess what? You've managed to yet again leave something in there.

So this morning as I put my bag in my car as I was ready to leave, I spot a Country Road T-Shirt lying on the car floor, still in the Myer bag it came in. Veronica ! If I wanted a size small ladies Country Road shirt, I would have asked.

But wait there's other people.

Underneath the front passenger was someone's maroon umbrella. Eventually I realized it was Jono's umbrella because I picked him up from BattleZone when it was raining. I only met him recently and he seems like a cool bloke, so I'll let him off the hook this time. Besides, he could kill me. He's that asian.

One of the more irritating situations are when you drop someone home, then they call you 5 minutes later after you've already started driving home to tell you that they've left something in your car, which then you are forced to drive back to return it. Not mentioning names.

Let's just make an establishment. For the record, I am not in any way angry. There are no hard feelings (none that you guys will ever know of anyway).

Vent closed.

In other news, I got some uni results back today. I got a Pass mark for my Information Systems Quiz, a Credit Mark for my Managing People and Organisations assignment, and a High Distinction for my Information Systems assignment.

Not too thrilled. The only form of gratification I received was beating Nikki in the quiz and Info Systems assignment.

Well Veronica's class is finishing soon.
Better start logging off.

...And Atypical Arrangements Amuse

For some strange reason I had the sudden urge to read over the first couple of blog entries I ever wrote and boy did I laugh, especially at my first blog. Here's an amusing quote.

"Facebook was never really my cup of tea anyway; at least blogspot is much more personal."

That quote is just so wrong on many levels, and yes I'm aware that I'm the victim. Perhaps that quote had its element of authenticity back in January when it was written, which would then of course render this post futile and obsolete, but the thought of even applying that quote to the present day is amusing. I can definitely reveal that I'm a Facebook 'bum' despite how application-free my profile may appear. At least I'm not as addicted as I was with myspace where I would spend 3 hours straight on Adobe Photoshop designing technical layouts for the sake of standing out. Facebook wins baby, honey's get all over that.

Well that's the end of that chapter.
Let's vent.

Lately I've been doing the random and uncharacteristic. Apart from refusing to wear a jacket/jumper to uni when I know I'll be there until night time in the freezing cold, for some sudden reason I'm really into the 80's pop music such as Madonna, Belinda Carlisle and Taylor Dayne. I've had a very flexible musical journey throughout my life I can tell you that much.
Let's review.

• Year 6 - Nu-metal; Limp Bizkit, Korn, Slipknot, etc.
• Year 7-8 - Gangsta Rap; Bone Thugs N Harmony, E-40, 2pac, Gangsta Pat, etc
• Year 9 - Metal; Metallica, Slayer, Sepultura, Pantera, Nevermore, etc.
  
• Year 10 - Death Metal; Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Cryptopsy, Death, etc.
• Year 11 - Tech-Death Metal; Necrophagist, Martyr, Arsis, Anata, Origin, etc.
• Year 12 - Mixed
  

As you can see, Years 9 through to 12 was artistically and musically one dimensional. I really don't remember what spawned the change from Gangsta Rap to Metal but I carry no regrets. The great thing about Metal is the diversity; there are so many genres to listen to. One day I'd be listening to the old school heavyness of Dismember and Morbid Angel, another day I'd be listening to the arthritis-inducing riffs of Necrophagist and Origin.

One of the benefits to being a metalhead are the faces that people pull off when they ask you what music you're into.

Person: So Lenny bro, what kind of music you into? Rap?
Lenny: I'm into Death Metal.
Person: WTF. *pulls off the "I've just seen a ghost' face".* But you're asian.

Nowdays I am really really flexible to what I listen to. I feel it is necessary to give credit where it's due. One of the driving forces that iniated my breakthough was when Audrey introduced me to a band called Acceptance. I really wasn't into the whole pop-rock thing at the time, but this band alone grew on me, especially before the HSC saga. Listening to Acceptance taught me that's it's no crime to like two extremely contrasting genres. Musical taste is something that comes with age I guess. But yes, ever since Year 12 I'm open to pretty much everything. Heck even that new Souljah Boy song is a charm.

Ok that last part was a lie.

Perhaps the most prominent genre that I've glued my ears to since Primary School would be Old School R&B. We're talking late 80's to early 90's material like Boyz II Men, Intro, Changing Faces, Jade, SWV, Jodeci, Hi-Five, Brownstone, etc. Even during my death metal phase, I would listen to these artists from time to time. They don't make pure R&B like the 90's anymore. Nowdays our television sets are dominated by uninspired garbage featuring plastic females.

A man's musical journey can no doubt turn 180 degrees, but his roots can never be forgotten.

...And Alive, Active and Afraid...

The next couple of weeks that lie ahead are ones I really wish I could fast forward. This week I have a group presentation due for Managing People and Organisations which is easily the worst and most boring subject I will ever endure, no contest. This is then accompanied by a seminar presentation about spam. (not the food).

It's Sunday morning and I refuse to let these daunting tasks interfere with my day of rest, even though I cannot afford any at the moment. Whatever, let me reflect over Week 8.

Monday: Picked up Nikki and drove to Xander's place in Strathfield to get some work done on the group assignment. Getting there took only 20 minutes, but getting back home took forever. Since I had no coins for the toll, I foolishly went around the world by driving through Victoria Rd instead of just entering Parramatta Rd. Before arriving home, I stopped by Edwin's in St. Marys to get a much needed haircut.

Tuesday: After two consecutive weeks of having no recollection of the Tuesday, at last I know what happened in this week's Tuesday.

I drove back to Strathfield to visit Xander and get a bit more work done on the group assignment, though the primary reason for my visit was to leech his movies and music from his external hard drive. I managed to get over 80GB of movies and tv shows which should be enough to occupy me for the whole year.

I went back home at around 3 and picked up Adrian from St Marys so we could make our video for the youth group. Ana and JP came over after and helped with the video. We filmed video interviews of each other which turned out to be pretty good. This whole video project kept us awake until 1am.

Wednesday: Slept over/piss up at Jinno's place with the rest of the St. Clair boys. Continued onto Thursday.

Thursday: Woke up at Jinno's and played Metal Slug on the wii with Mon who didn't even sleep. Left at 9 and went back home to eat and clean up. I then dropped Francis off and made my way to Blacktown Library to do my report for Communications. I met up with Geoff and then Shirley came later to distract me some more. Just kidding.

At around 5, I left the library with Shirley and we met up with Jono at Blacktown Workers Club where we played snooker and ping pong. After 4 or so games of ping pong we picked up Veronica and went back to the worker's club to have dinner and boy did we eat heaps.

At around 10, the four of us went back to Westpoint and wasted more money at Playtime. I watched Jono dance on the DDR machine and man he attracted a crowd. Afterwards I versed Shirley and Veronica on the Tekken machines which was a painful experience, not because I lost but because those girls make too much damn noise !

Saturday: Had a movie night at my place with the youth group which turned out better than I thought. We started off the night with 40 Year Old Virgin and then we watched this filipino movie called Magnifico. We then ended the night with a scary film called 'The Abandoned'.

Over.

...And Alliterations Are Arduous

These alliterated blog headings are becoming more and more difficult to assemble. People have asked me about my blogs and they seem to think I can conjure up an alliterated heading at the click of a finger. That belief was formerly the case, but each blog written just becomes harder and harder to alliterate. I don't know whether that's something that comes with age or whether its my habit of never being inspired but I'd feel filthy to cease the trend.

No, this post isn't just about blog titles, I actually did plan to recount Week 7. Let's do it.

Monday: Scariest day of the week for most. Just another day for me. Today was the mid-semester exam for Accounting worth 40%. Had to wake up at 6 which is not an easy task for me, believe me. I grabbed my chunky accounting textbook and read every page I could on the train ride to uni. I met up randomly with Kristine and watched as she furiously went through her notes last minute. I tried reassuring her with cliche words of encouragement, but her superior standard for achievement and sense of modesty didn't seem to give in.

I was well aware that a failing mark would jeopardize my GPA and chances of passing the course itself, but for some reason I was unable to feel any sort of pressure from this exam. Don't get me wrong; in no way am I confident of passing this exam and a lot of others are in the same boat, however I think that's their way of being modest. I'm just happy my exam was conducted at Building 1 with all the other students whose surnames started with A, B or C. Beats walking all the way to Wentworth Park which is what the D-Z students had to do. Exam marks aren't released until next month so there's a fair bit of waiting involved unfortunately.

After the exam I met up with Angelo, Joy and Jasmine and took the train home together. When we got to Blacktown, I insisted that I stay on the train since I had to get off at St Marys, however I was unaware that the train went to Richmond and Joy kindly warned me to get off, though she later realized she should have just left me on the train anyway.

Tuesday: I don't know what's going on. I have no recollection of this week's Tuesday or last week's Tuesday. One can only assume that my day was boring and unproductive since Tuesday's are my day off.

Wednesday: Caught the 9:30 train or something like that with Denise and Cheryll to uni. Walked Denise to her class because she told me there was a shortcut from her class to Building 10, which there wasn't. Thanks for nothing.

Anyways, I went to building 10 and met up with my group for my Info Systems assignment. We went up to the Keno Bookstore in Town Hall to ask questions about our assignment. Afterwards I went with Derek and Darren to Allan's Music Store and played some of the guitars. I got to play the Joe Satriani signature guitar and some pink Hello Kitty guitar.

After almost a half hour of trying out guitars with no intention of purchasing, I left the boys and went to the UTS gym. This was my first time trying out the university gym and I was quite impressed. The gym is tri-levelled, with cardio machines on one level, weight machines on another, and workout rooms on the other. There's also enough machines to keep you occupied until the next year.

Thursday: Woke up at 6 and met up with Denise to catch the train to uni. We were supposed to catch the 7:44, but because someone was late, we caught a later train. I went to the library and did some much needed reading for Managing People and Organisations. Eventually the huge slabs of text started to bore me, and I made my way to Town Hall in search of a cardigan. I looked around in Myer but couldn't seem to find a good cardigan that I could afford. I went to Utech in the TGV building and found a nice dark blue cardigan.

After doing enough walking to replicate a 10 mile walkathon, I returned to the library to get Denise so she could get her books binded. It was funny because her book was so thick, it gave the staff a run for their money. After getting her books binded finally, we quickly passed by my sister's place to drop off her mail. Never have I seen someone so amazed at apartments and alternate routes.

Friday: Took my mom to the doctors at 10am and got myself a flu vaccination. Afterwards I headed off to uni and met up with Denise yet again. We had a bite to eat at the UTS foodcourt and met up with Billy and Ralph at Galaxy World. We had 2 races of Daytona, both of which I won and then played the basketball shootout game which I got massacred in.

I caught the train and got off at Blacktown where I met up with Shirley. We went to Playtime for a bit and played Time Crisis 2. Afterwards we bummed outside Yumcha. The funniest thing happened. Shirley spotted a $10 note lying on the floor outside Mozart's and sure enough I ran as fast as I could to pick it up before anyone else did. We rewarded ourselves with a large bag of hot chips and some vanilla biscuit things from a Korean store. I don't know what those biscuit things are called, but they are fairdinkum tasty. I'm definitely going to return and buy some more.

We later met up with Veronica outside Westpoint in the blistering cold. No cold weather could overshadow the horrible act I witnessed of a lady picking up chips off the floor and feeding it to her kids. The fact that the lady was so casual made it even more disgusting. Perhaps the most 'WTF' moment of the week.

Saturday: Study time hard. Went to Blacktown library at 12 and made a start on my seminar presentation on SPAM. Veronica visited me but left to go to UTS the dogg. Eventually Denise and her boyfriend Adrian arrived and seemed to hit the books hard which is to be admired. Those guys seemed to be in the zone, rather than distract each other all day. I'd most likely get distracted if my girlfriend were with me at the library, like that will ever happen anyway.

After the library I met up with Shirley and Veronica and we went to Blacktown Workers Club. We had a long, and I mean loooooooooong game of snooker and then we had dinner at the buffet. Thanks for the shout Veronica. Quite filling meal, you would know. Haha.

After dinner, I took Shirley home and Veronica and I were off to Prayas' 18th down at Glenmore Park. I picked Toby and Kirill up on the way. Sorry for the lateness boys. It was a great party simply because I saw a lot of people I hadn't seen since the HSC. Ease down on the red cruiser's Veronica. Anymore of those and your lips will look like permanant lipstick.

Sunday: This is the day I've been waiting for, however it ended up being a disappointing day, for me anyways. Today was the day my friend Suzanne and I travelled to the Central Coast to watch the Roosters and Knights game. Thankfully there was no rain, as I heard it was raining all day in the Western suberbs. I happened to see Joey from university who happened to be sitting in the same row as me. Out of all rows, seriously. Major coincidence there. Roosters ended up losing 20-34 or something like that. Great experience nonetheless.

I better end it there. Week 9 commences as of tomorrow.
Peace.

...And As Academic Adversity Abates, Ataraxia and Animated Assemblages Ascends

Saturday morning, weather looking splendid. Just thought I would pin down another blog entry before heading to the library. I'm going to Blacktown library later, but I actually have to visit the much further Rouse Hill library to return some books. Apart from wasting petrol, I have an accounting exam on Monday, which I'm certain of failing seeing as I'm three chapters behind. Let's hope my much needed study today can turn things around.

Onto something totally unrelated, I've noticed my ability to recall things from the past, especially current events, is slowly diminishing. 3-4 years ago, if someone asked me about my weekend, I'd comfortably tell them. Nowadays I have the biggest difficulty recalling things. Guess it's something that comes with age.

Let's reflect over Week 6 shall we ....

Monday: Today was the due date for my group's presentation on Web Developer's. Well it wasn't actually a group presentation, considering only one person out of the group was permitted to present. That lucky person was CJ ! Her attitude prior to the presentation spelt out nervousness and a sense of disbelief that she would actually pull it off, but she was fairdinkum one of the best presenters in the class. I just hope the group report I compiled is just as good.

I was supposed to attend the accounting lecture later in the day, but instead I went to Blacktown in search of a memory card for my new phone. I actually spent an hour at Parramatta before arriving at Blacktown, trying to find a memory card. I was about to buy a 4GB card until the sales consultant warned me that my phone wouldn't be able to handle it. Lucky. Eventually I got a 2GB card from Big W.

Tuesday: Perhaps my favorite day of the week now, since its my day off. Like I said previously, my ability to recount previous events is slowly diminishing. I cannot remember anything from Tuesday. All I can assume is that I did some study.... nope, even I doubt that.

Wednesday: I had my first exam of the semester, though it was worth only 8%. Or was it 7%? See that's how lost I am at university. It was an Informaton Systems exam, consisting of 24 multiple choice questions. I was confident my knowledge from IPT would help me excel in this exam, and it did. I don't understand what all the hype was all about. It was pretty easy even for university standards. That's enough cockyness for a Wednesday; moving on now ...

I spent some time at the UTS ping-pong area with the usual people that are there, and got to meet many more people. I only just realized that my friend James was a fan of Metallica. We eventually ditched the ping pong paddles in place of his guitar, where we traded off various songs and riffs from Metallica songs. Good stuff.

At around 7pm, I headed to the UTS library in the evening to prepare my biblography for one of my many assignments. I think this is the first assignment I've done where I've completed the bibliography before the actual assignment itself. I eventually met up with Veronica and Hazel and had a relaxing train ride home. Someone should really get that 8:05 express to stop at St. Marys. Seriously.

Thursday: Perhaps the most relieving day of the week. It was the due date for my Managing People and Organisations report. 2000 rushed words submitted. Major monkey off my shoulders.

After my MPO tutorial, I went to yumcha for lunch with Xander and Chloe. You would too if your friend was shouting. Thanks again Xander. Next time Chloe HAS to eat chicken feet. It's like, so good. Afterwards, Xander and myself spent some time at Galaxy World. Played some Time Crisis 2, Time Crisis 3 and House of the Dead 4. Waste of money? Yes. Entertaining? Hell yes.

At around 4pm, I met up with Adrian and we had our 100th one-on-one race of Daytona at the UTS glasshouse arcade. Definitely our best race so far. It contained many elements of a good race: lead exchanges, tons of overtaking, clean drifting and a close race ! While Adrian had the lead for the majority of the race, I eventually overtook him on the very last turn to win by 5 milliseconds.

At 6:30 I headed off to Blacktown to pick up Solly, Shirley and Veronica to go shopping at Rouse Hill Town Center. Never in my life have I seen a bunch of girls scream at my driving. I don't brake THAT late do I? Their noise in the car is the equivalent of the noise you hear from girls on a rollercoaster. ARGGGHHHAHAHAH (repeat for 20 minutes). I think you get the picture.

I took Shirley to General Pants where she helped me pick out a pair of Havainas. You're probably thinking, how hard is it to pick out a pair of thongs? Not hard, but I couldn't say no to her one of a kind enthusiasm. You better get the job at Glue, seriously. After shopping we replenished our stomachs at the food court. Now I'm a really slow eater, but I think this occasion is the slowest I've ate. I dead-set spent 20 minutes on a chicken kebab. No harm done, as the girls were still in awe about how MADDD the Rouse Hill food court looks. Personally, I think it's a rip-off the food court at Liverpool Westfield.

Friday: Another day off. Not really much to talk about here. I went to a family party in Rooty Hill, though it wasn't really a party for me. It was more of a 'do nothing but watch the Friday night footy'.

Saturday: It's Saturday now, and I believe I'm watching the Panthers vs Roosters game later tonight with Toby and company.

I guess I'll end it here. I really need to start heading to the library. Au revoir.

...And An Assessment Atrocity Abates

Half an hour before midnight. Thought I'd share the rest of my week in detail before the new week commences.

Friday: Feeling unsatisfied with the amount of non-internet resources occupied for my Managing People and Organisations assignment, I drove to the recently built Rouse Hill Town Center and visited the library for more books. First impressions? It could be bigger. I don't know whether that's the library's final design, or there's still more to be built, but for a library that's located in the heart of shopping center that's supposed to be Sydney's biggest, it definitely seemed small. After pinning down a session of study, I visited the Churros Cafe and consumed a bag of delicious American-style churros ! Getting back to my car was the biggest hassle ever as I managed to forget where I parked. I was walking around the Orange and Green car parks for ages.

Later that night I headed to Blacktown Workers Club with Salih to watch the Friday Night Footy between the Roosters (WOO!) and the Bulldogs (BOO!). I watched this game with the expectation that it would be a close game, possibly a Bulldogs victory but to my surprise, the Roosters dominated. In your face Alexa.

My night ended with my writing up MC notes until 4am the next morning for the youth forum on Saturday.

Saturday: With youth week being the occasion, my youth network hosted a youth forum at St Marys Senior Citizens Centre featuring an all-star cast of guests and speakers and most importantly, youth ! Our forum included the likes of Penrith Mayor Greg Davies, Member of Parliament David Bradbury, Philippine Consulate General Maria Lazaro and various university graduates voicing their opinions.

It was definitely a great experience for me not only because I was MC for the event, but I learnt a great deal from the various speakers about youth culture and leadership. It was most definitely a great event.

Sunday: I was hoping today would be my chance to sleep in but that was not to be. My mom woke me up and made me go to Dick Smith Powerhouse to buy a phone. I really didn't want one, but she paid for it, so I'm not complaining.

Later in the day I monitored my eBay profile and noticed one user hadn't paid off an item despite the auction ending weeks ago. I eventually reported that user to eBay, so hopefully something works out.

As of now, I've completed my group's IT Careers Report based on Web Design. Communication with each of the members could have been better, but I guess that's partially my fault for not having a phone.

...And Addictions Accumulate - Assignments Ameliorate.

I was actually in the middle of writing this very post lastnight at UTS library, but I eventually ditched the keyboard to have dinner with some friends. But I'm here now so let's get on with it shall we.

I don't know whether this is out of pure boredom, or whether its an addiction in the making, but I have fairdinkum dead-set spent at least $30 on Daytona alone this week. That's 15 races of Daytona in a span of 4 days. Only benefits I see spending so much time in the glasshouse arcade is that I've met so many randoms. I think I frightened them though with the ferocious force I apply on the gearstick. Oh well, life's too short to worry about someone you're never going to see again.

Now onto the other aspect of the blog title - assignments ! Progress into each assignment is slowly improving, though there's no room for complacency. Yesterday I received my results for my group assignment in Info Systems and I'm content with the mark considering the preparation for it was rushed. As for Communications, everyone is doing their part. All that's left is for me to finalize the report and for CJ to make the slideshow presentation. I'm still in the process of finding an IT related article for my Communications seminar presentation. Luckily that's not due for another month.

Really though, these assginments I've described so far pale in comparison to my Managing People and Organisations assignment. My assignment requires 10 non-internet acadamic information sources, which is a blow considering I usually get all my information from the world-wide-web. No matter though as I've just about exhausted every book shelf from the UTS and Blacktown libraries in getting my sources !

Enough about assignments now. Let's talk briefly about the week thus far. Monday consisted of a high-tension game of table tennis with Angelo at uni. It was a good game, ending at 23-21 my way. I then played against this Chinese bloke named Henry. While I got massacred, it was good while it lasted. That guy has one crazy serve.

Tuesday was supposed to be my opportunity to make much needed progress on my assignments, but unfortunately no progress was made. I spent the first half of the day getting the old' Camry repaired. Second half of the day was spent at the city celebrating my sister's birthday. Happy Birthday again !

Wednesday was a tiring day. After uni I made my way to the library and did some much needed research up until 9:30. Afterwards I met up with Veronica, Shirley and her friend Jono and had a filling dinner ! Ended up getting home at 1 the next morning because of the stupid trains.

Well it's Thursday night now and I'm too lazy to describe my day, so I'll end it here !