...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.