Battlecry

Tired, tired and tired. Having a BBQ is a lot of fun, but it takes a lot of effort. You have to do the initial set up, maintain the pace and then pack and clean it all up. Everytime we have a BBQ, it seems to become slightly more troublesome each time.

But then again, it's more likely my teenage rebelliousness surfacing more strongly. It's amazing how parents can drive you to the border of insanity and you start to wonder whether it's just you or if they're somehow doing it deliberately or both.

Now that I'm older, my dad delgates most of the setting up to me. Which wouldn't be that bad, if he doesn't overrule me on every single decision I make and completely ignores what I'm saying. At first, I was thinking "it's probably me, just calm down..." then it becomes obvious that it's not just only me, but it's my dad as well.

So I have the BBQ out, and then my dad asks 'do you think that's enough?' and I'm like 'yeah, totally'. Then he goes 'nah, take out the other bigger BBQ as well', so I go along thinking 'so we're cooking more meat..'. Then my dad explains his decision, reasoning that 'we should only cook as we eat', that is we cook the meat at a pace that can supply the demand, no oversupply or undersupply. Now this is the same reasoning at all our BBQs, it doesn't matter the size of the BBQ, but that rate of cooking. Now I'm pissed because the other BBQ is enough and I know it is enough because I do the cooking and the reason he gives doesn't change anything. When I point this out, he tells me to 'be quiet and stop being a smartarse'. What? I'm a smartarse because I point something out? I was right in the end. We didn't even use the second BBQ.

It doesn't end there. He calls me over and starts going on about how I didn't arrange the tablecloth properly. You know what was wrong? A smallish wrinkle that I didn't smooth out properly. Fair enough, but it's nothing that you should start making a big deal about it and go all out on the person who did it. Sheesh.

Finally, he tells me to setup the BBQ to suit me, since I'm doing the cooking. So I do. Then my dad comes and starts to rearrange everything to 'better suit me'. What the hell? I know what suits me. That's period. But I didn't want to fuss too much. So I just rearrange it again to suit me. Then my dad chucks a fit, and starts fixing and yelling, saying stuff like 'not like that, like this!'.

I probably sound a bit bitter. I'm not. Just incredibly fustrated and annoyed. I'm extremely pissed off though at the smartarse counter. Just because someone younger than yourself, pointing out something in a calm, logical manner doesn't mean that they are a smartarse. Parents know that they've been outmanoeuvred, so they hit with the smartarse counter.

Still, plenty of good people are coming over, so it won't be that bad. Plus I just registered my savings account to Netbank, so I can transfers funds and buy stuff off the net that accepts bank deposits. There are some anime stuff that I would like to get. Evanglion Platinum boxset tops the list. And now I can search and maybe buy something of eBay. Probably have to do after my return from holidays on the 8th of January.

Happy New Year people!

...and Appear on the Dark Side of the Moon

The bus was late as usual, so the planned relaxed browse for PS2 games became a more frantic treasure hunt. We ended up with two games, with one that we regret, NBA Ballers and King of Fighters NeoWave. My brother loves basketball, so guess the one that we regret.

City Hunter was fun. Only Paul Tran showed up, probably only because he had some free time, rather than my leet *cough* organising skills. My brother eagerly jumped on the many games on offer, but his friends never showed up. Apparently, they woke up at 2pm, and thus considered 11am way too early for some reason. Now look here, 11am is anything but early. It's almost noon, for heaven's sake! But then again, I'm not out partying or gaming until 3am...

Anyway, on that quick trip to Westfield, I saw a box collection of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex for $119.95. I didn't buy it and when I got home I kinda wished that I did buy it. Hell, I'm not to impulsive. But my mother needed to go to Westfield to refill on makeup or something, so I tagged along and bought the box set for only $70. Apparently, it was reduced.

Shopping isn't something that men do often. We rarely shop, we usually go buy a specific thing. Like I need a new shirt or two, or I really need a fan for the office. But when Westfield, or at least the stores, have thought ahead some. They know that guys rarely shop and when they get dragged along by their mother/wife/girlfriend/female friends, they don't fit in very well sometimes. That's not to say that all guys hat shopping with women. But a sizeable majority do. Thankfully, in major "female" shopping areas of clothes or cosmetics, there are these nice soft, comfy seats, that men can sit and wait, rather than being pulled in a comestics area, the mysterious hostile zone that defies many a man's mind.

Arrgh, that box set is just taunting and tempting me to watch it. Well, the only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun...

The book-cd-dvd sale thing at Homebush was again huge but overall not that spectacular. The books were cheap and the large selection was pretty much trash. There were definitely treasures though. I picked up three great books. There was this fantasy book that was really good, but it was part of a trilogy and it was the second volume. I mean, I don't need the entire trilogy to start reading, if that was true I would have never read Harry Potter, but I definitely need the first book to start off. Anyway, the books that I bought are as follows:

• How to be a megalomaniac (or, advice to a young politician) by Mungo MacCallum
• The Miocene Arrow by Sean McMullen
• The Electronic Whorehouse by Paul Sheehan (the same dude that wrote Among the Barbarians.)

So anyway, City Hunter Burwood tomorrow. I hate organising shit, having to make sure that there are so-so people coming along. So I'll keep this brief. I'm going, so is my brother, other people may be coming, if you want to play some games and have some fun, you should come along to. Be there tomorrow at 11am or so.

Besides the books I snatched up at the sale, I managed to snag a copy of Eldest, the sequel to Eragon, of a friend. It's not a bad sequel and I like it immensely. But I've been hearing rumbles about the movie adaptation. Still, it is my firm belief that the book is always better than the movie, with the sole exception of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. That trilogy of movies broke all the rules (and probably a few bladders, 9+ hours altogether, whew!) and is the lofty ideal that I think no other book-to-film conversion will ever achieve within my lifetime.

Well, I hope you guys and girls out there have some fun. Until the offers come out at least.

Keep on Lifting

The person that posted a comment about my spelling, see the the comments page of the previous post for my reply.

It's been dead boring these couple of days. Parents are at home on these public holidays and that means I can't play the PS2, since they don't know it exists. I'm falling behind on FFX, man! Come on! Give us a break.

Went to a Christmas Eve party on Sunday, and it was pretty cool. The food was quite decent and I managed to have a little chat with a university student on what the campus of USyd at Cumberland is like. According to him, it's very small and you get to know everyone pretty well. Sounds like my kind of place. Entertainment was sparse, until we found the owners big tv and sound system. We ended up watching Samurai Champloo, which was pretty good anime. But the size or zoom or whatever was kinda screwed and we couldn't get the video to size up exactly with the screen. And the subtitles were out of sync. It got kinda tiring, and soon, it was only my brother, my cousin and I watching. Then we discovered Harold and Kumar go to White Castle.

I heard about this movie from Jack, but never really got around to seeing it. Sounds like the time Jack gave me Infernal Affairs. I still haven't watched that. But White Castle was really cool. A basic road trip type of story, it's about Harold, this Asian guy, and Kumar, this Indian, trying to get to White Castle, a fast food joint, but are put through a series of misadventures along the way. It touches lightly on racial discrimination, not enough to get you riled up and throwing boulders, but enough for you to take notice. Unfortunately, we had to leave before we finished the movie. That's it, I gotta find the DVD.

So boring week, what's a guy to do? Well take a leaf out the girls' book and go shopping. There's this ad on TV going on about the really cheap books, cd, and dvds sale going on at Sydney Showground tomorrow, so that's where I'll be. Don't know what time I'll be there, most likely around 10am - 11am. So if you come and long and happen to meet, I'll say hi to ya.

And on the 28th of December, a Thursday, my brother wants to check out City Hunter Burwood, grab his friends and play some DoTA and CS:S. If anyone wants to tag along, you're welcome to. We'd probably get there at 11ish am, grab lunch at the Hungry Jack's nearby and stay until 2-3ism pm.

And I'm going to Queensland on the 2nd of January to the 8th, so I'll be out of communication until I return. And I think there's a band thing event at the Annandale Hotel on the 13th of January. I'm 70% certain to go, so tag along as well!

Have a Happy New Year everyone!

Touch of Jazz

3 sleeps to Christmas. 12 sleeps to holiday to Queensland. I've been to Queensland so many times. All those trips to Surfer's Paradise, Brisbane and so on, well, it must be my 6th trip to the Sunshine Coast. Not that I'm complaining. Once you get there and settle in, it's a very relaxed place. You sit on the balcony and just watch the wind and the waves, and forget the spectres of the past, the stress of the present, and the terror of the future. Plenty of friends on this trip, so it'll be fun.

But until then it is going to be a bit boring. I mean, the euphoria of the UAI has faded away and now I sit, listening to music or playing FFX. I've been trying to expand my musical taste. Usually, when I hear a song that I like, I listen to it obsessively then stop since it has become so familar. So I'm trying to find some new tracks and albums that I can sink my teeth into. A new band that has popped onto my radar is The Temper Trap, courtesy of Serena. Check out the song My Sun either on their mySpace or Youtube.

Getting 92.45 is pretty good, considering that just months ago I was scared as heck with the possibility of getting a UAI in the 80s. But some last minute focusing poked it above 90. Thinking back, I definately could have done better, by studying harder and whatnot. In hindsight, the HSC wasn't that bad. It wasn't the 'end-of-the-world' thing that most people seemed to be predicting.

So now the relatives are going to reward me. Granted, it's not that much compared to if I got 99 or something, but since I have no job, I've been trying to maximise gain, not just for me, but for other close friends as well. I know my aunt is guaranteed to give me some cash. I'd probably shove some into the bank, but I have no idea what to spend it on. I have some vague ideas on upgrading or replacing my computer, but now is not the best of times with Vista, the new Windows, being released next year. I have plans though.

My tutor was happy with my mark, though disappointed since he expected me to do really well. But I was a lazy student, so I didn't study that much, yeah. I told him of my plans to study diagnostic radiography, and he said it was alright. Except it didn't pay a lot of cash compared to other jobs and kept recommending pharmacy. I'll think about it, but pharmacy seems beyond reach right now. I'd have to do very well in my first year of Uni before thinking of switching courses. But for now, I'm sticking to my path. Plenty of time.

Oh, and I found this techno cd that Kevin Tran gave to me way back in 2002. The 27th of May, 2002 if the date is correct. Right now, I'm blasting this at max bass on my computer. It's a hella different to the ultimate acoustic guitar collection I was listening to before.

Ninety Two Point Forty Five

So lets get this said straight out.

Wait for it....

Now, it is finally over.

The HSC is done. I know we jumped the gun a little bit when we finished testing in November, but now that we finally have our course marks and UAI, I think it is safe to say that it is finally over. All you guys, congratuations on your marks, and I hope you can now get into the course of your choice. And thanks to Phuong, for telling me that the UAC line was open at around 8:30am.

Today will definately be a celebration. Forget about the enormous bad luck with the aborted driving test, I'm happy with my UAI and that, as they say, is that.

My last words on this?

"Maths makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot. Maths Extension 1 makes it harder, but when you do, it blows away your whole leg. And don't even talk about Maths Extension 2..."

So now onwards to Christmas.

It's Only Natural

Do you believe in bad luck? Or karma or whatever? I'd like to think that when something happens, it happens for a reason. The laws of cause and effect coldly apply. Not today. Today, I think some bad luck decided to strike.

I was supposed to take my driving test today, and when the examiner was checking out the car, she noticed that the rear right brake light wasn't working. So the test had to be cancelled. Which sucked because I had checked the lights yesterday and everything was working fine.

*sigh*

Well, as the saying goes, 'shit happens' or as some others say 'excreta occurs'. So the test is rebooked to the 17th of January next year. I know there may be some comments going 'oh snap! sucks to be you' and lots of repetitive uses of 'noob', but well, I'm past caring at this point.

Anyway, moving on from the bad news, the side mirror was fixed quite easily and cheaply. The mirror was taken to this shop that cuts glass and the guys there measured and cut out a piece of glass and stuck onto the mirror. And it cost a mere $25 compared to $260 for replacing the entire mirror.

Well, hopefully some good news later, eh?

Melodic Melodies Merge Merrily

1.) Put your music player on shuffle
2.) Press forward for each question.
3.) Use the song title as the answer to the question.
4.) NO CHEATING!!!
Translate them if necessary.

1.) How am I feeling today?
Within Temptation - Jillian

2.) Where will I get married?
Nickleback - Hero

3.) What is my best friend's theme song?
Harry Gregson-Williams - Metal Gear Solid 3 Main Theme

4.) What is/was highschool like?
U2 - All Because of You

5.) What is the best thing about me?
Utadu Hikaru - Simple and Clean (really? I'm not so sure...)

6.) How is today going to be?
Peter Frampton - Do You Feel Like I Do?

7.) What is in store for this weekend?
Mary Elizabeth McGlynn - Waiting For You

8.) What song describes my parents?
Hoobastank - The Reason (wtf?)

9.) How is my life going?
The Game feat 50Cent - Hate or Love It

10.) What song will they play at my funeral?
Franz Ferdinand - The Fallen (oh yeah..)

11.) How does the world see me?
U2 - Beautiful Day

12.) What do my friends really think of me?
Rogue Traders - We're Coming Home

13) Do people secretly lust after me?
Fatboy Slim - Weapon of Choice

14.) How can I make myself happy?
Evangelion OST - Both of You, Dance Like You Want to Win

15.) What should I do with my life?
Remy Zero - Save Me (how utterly appropriate...i'm ignoring that)

16.) Will I ever have children?
John Legend - Save Room

17.) What is some good advice?
Meja - How Crazy Are You?

18.) What do I think my current theme song is?
Wolfmother - The White Unicorn

19.) What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
Chris Cornell - You Know My Name (wtf?...the new James Bond intro song?)

20.) What type of men/women do you like?:
Kanye West feat Jamie Foxx - Golddigger (Now this is a bad sign of things to come)

21.) Will you get married?:
Franz Ferdinand - You're the Reason I'm Leaving (maybe not....)

22.) What should I do with my love life?
AC/DC - Big Balls (now this is funny...)

23.) The original poster forgot this one so I'll just make one up. What's up?
Bambee - Bumble Bee

24.) Where will you live?
lostprophets - Rooftops

25.) What will your dying words be?
The Killers - When You Were Young

Triangular Situations

Has anyone Viet seen the latest Paris By Night 84? No, not the Paris Hilton sex tape. To explain to our non-Viet readers, Paris By Night is a Viet concert thingy, where a bunch of songs are sung, a few skits are acted out and some information is throw in to enlighten the audience. It has its competitors though, like Asia. In recent memory, Asia been trying to court the old crowd, playing old, classic Viet songs, harking back to the good old days before the Communist takeover. The problem is that the old crowd is dying off, so Paris By Night is trying to lure the young crowd by transforming itself as the "passport to music and fashion", with mixed results.

Basically, all contemporary Viet music can be classed into two group: 'sad/romantic/missing a lover/emo/about love/etc' and the 'others'. Watching these concerts gets kinda boring, when 90% of the music is of the former group. Very occassionally, an artist will spice it up and do something different, but very rarely. You also get some young Viet performers who sing in English, but for some inexplicable reason still sing about lost love/romance/whatever. Where is the Viet version of The Killers, Eminem or AC/DC? Where are the bands or artists that sing about Viet parents, the pressure of being an Asian and why rice has to be white? Damn it all to hell.

And the fashion? Well, it's slightly better, but the women either end up anorexic, slutty or so-so (to me anyway). Actually this Paris By Night was not that bad. With the greater emphasis on fashion, most women looked pretty good, except for the few that looked so damn thin. I mean, there's a fine line between slender and too thin. It could be worse. There were no Nicole Ritchie types who only weigh 30 kilos or so.

It never rains, but it pours, eh? My brother was driving home from tutor and as he turned into our street there was another car. So he moved furthur to the left, a bit too close to a parked truck. The other car signalled him to move forward and my brother accelerated and now the left side mirror is completely screwed. All the glass has shattered off. And my driving exam is on next Monday. So that has to get replaced. Also, the laser printer has finally run out of ink, just when my brother needed to photocopy some stuff. Bad luck seems to follow him around like the plague.

I'm fairly confident about my driving test (or DART - Driving Ability Road Test), and I've gone through the guide and stuff and I think that as long as I stay cool and keep below the speed limit, I'll be alright. So fingers crossed.

Also, I've been discovering that Final Fantasy X is proving way bigger than expected. I mean, there's a lot of stuff you can do, all these secrets and treasures. Damn, looks like it'll take a bit longer than expected.

And how is this for comedy gold? I found it in bash.org :
|TrivBot| Question 3. A man's beard grows fastest when he ______?
|_Cozmo_| shaves it
|emul8or__| shaves
|RatAway| jacks off
|TrivBot| Here's a hint: antici
|Rjx| anticipates sex
|TrivBot| Rjx got the answer: anticipates sex. In: 5.7secs.
|Rjx| wtf?
Yeah, I'm like "WTF?" too. Hey! They should test this on Mythbusters!

And some parting words or wisdom:
Love is blind,
Lust is deaf,
But psychosis is obvious.

Diversion Inversion VI

"I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
"But what...is it good for?"
- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip
"Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same."
- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

Solitary Desperation

I only have one thing to say. Ahem.

PAINTBALL IS FRICKEN AMAZING!

We went to Advanture Quest Paintball Skirmish, with a massive group of 34 with a mix of Viets and Lebos. Started the actual game close to 10am. It was intense. You hiding behind a tree, paintballs are flinging themselves towards you and you desperately try to find the shooter. Getting hit by a paintball at a distance didn't hurt that much. But when you start to get to the 5-10m range, then it stings. It leaves a mark like you wouldn't believe. Apparently, some marks can take a couple of months to disappear fully.

The basic gear were camo overalls, throat protectors and a mask. Since the group was all guys (and one girl), most people invested in a groin protector or brought along their own. Getting hit in the balls with a paintball is not fun at all.

Lunch was basically snags and salad, but it was unlimited so you could go for thirds and fourths. Our package was different from the standard ones. It was $31 for clothing, lunch and 100 shots. To but more shots, you had to use your own money. The ammo is expensive, $22 for 100; $40 for 200 and $90 for 500. My recommendation is to go big early. Some people bought an extra 700 shots and didn't have to worry about the cost of refilling. I went for 200 extra shots and that runs out hella quick. Altogether I used 800 shots, but some guys were reaching the thousands mark.

Games were variations of team deathmatch, two teams eliminating each other. Viets were on side with the Lebos and some Viets on the other, at 17 people in a team. There was a capture the flag games, and my favourite was to kill the enemy general. The arena was smaller and you didn't worry about being outmaneuvered. However, the best game in my opinion was the free-for-all. Well, technically is was pure team deathmatch. It was supposed to be free-for-all, but sticking in teams was better and safer. You don't have to worry about being backstabbed or ganked. The Lebs split into two groups with one up the hill and one down the hill in a corner. Using covering fire, we surrounded their group. Imagine 10 Asians surrounding 4 Lebs, with no escape and at around 6 metres. We just stood there and rained paintball hell onto them. It was a slaughter.

Anyway, here's a little 10 tips for when you decide to go paintballing.

1. Bring lots of money
   Paintballing can be quick expensive, since you use ammo so quickly. Check the prices and bring some cash or better yet, a credit card. I used $130 worth of ammo and would have probably used more if I had more cash.
2. Conserve your ammo
   A standard paintball gun will hold 200 shots. If you're not careful, it can easily run out in less than 10 minutes. Try to shoot when you have a clear shot and don't let rip a massive burst, 3 shots is a fine enough burst.
3. Accuracy by volume
   This may seem a bit contradictory to the above, but paintball guns are not accurate. A wind, a cough or even a butterfly flying past can divert your paintball. When you are close to your opponent, let it rip. They can't fire back under the withering amount of fire and chances are you hit them too.
4. There is no 'I' in 'team'
   Teamwork is key. Stay in a unit of 3-4 friends. Yell out when you see an enemy. Concentrate your fire. Teamwork is essential. No Ramboing. It'll get you killed in 10 seconds.
5. Covering fire!
   Winning a match is easier if you advance relentlessly towards the other team. Use cover fire to ensure 1-2 friends can safely reach the next rock or tree. Fire on the move. Just make sure that while your moving, the enemy can't fire back.
6. Stay low and go
   Standing up makes you a sitting duck. Find some cover and stay low. The barricades has slots to fire out, and with enough patience, you can put shots between those gaps and hit someone. Try to keep moving.
7. The better part of valour
   Don't be afraid to hide or even retreat. Too many deaths were brought about by reckless advancing. Wait when the enemy runs out of ammo, or use covering fire.
8. Be like the wind
   Outmaneuvered the opposition is more important than any other tactic or advantage. They may be stronger, more ammo or whatever, but attack from the left and right usually means victory.

Paintball was awesome fun. And not only for guys. The only girl in our group nabbed some decent kills, and sent most of guys running with accurate shooting and cover. The only crap thing was that I only knew about 2-3 people there. But it was fun. You guys should do this. Try to arrange a large team, it's more fun that way.

Exit Strategy

Plenty of time for regular blogging, that's good. While everyone else is off working or minding younger siblings, I'm at home with almost nothing to do. Actually, scratch that, I have plenty of stuff to do. I'm taking regular driving sessions to strengthen my reverse parking and three-point turning for my upcoming driving test. Hopefully, I should do okay. And I'm digging through Jung Chang's Mao: The Unknown Story as well. But I'm not sure about it. I mean, she spends most of her time laying out the scene, then dissing Mao. It's like, "look, he's a bastard when he was young, so he became a bigger bastard later on..." Damn Eng Adv, now I'm analysing this book and reading and all that. What book after that? No idea, but my dad has this autobiography of Che Guevara, so I'm covered.

Cricket/soccer/sports tomorrow with the boys. And a whole bunch of ex-Sefton uni students as well. These sessions are always fun. Last time I went, we played cricket in the morning and ended up playing golf in the afternoon, using cricket bats as clubs. So fun all around. If anyone wants to come it's at Guildford Park, corner Oxford and Marian Street, at around 10am. Bring money for KFC and $1 for the cricket ball. Everyone welcome.

Now I had a quick whip-around the blogs, and Phuong's recent post is a horror story. Not only is she stuck with a younger sibling but an entire family of relatives are coming to stay and no one except her mother knows them. Now that is so Asian, cramming people in one house. I kinda know the feeling. A few years ago, my mother's brother's family came over and stay at my place and it was kinda crowded. Still, it wasn't that bad because we could all talk Viet and I learned a lot of their stay. Still, find a reason to get out of the house, even if it's for one day.

Now Casino Royale is coming out tomorrow. So the cinemas are going to be packed. I want to see it. So do a lot of other people. We should organise a day to go watch. Not this Saturday, I'm off at paintball and I think Sabrina is having some party. Maybe Sunday or Monday? Well, lets see how the next few days pan out, okay?

There was a recent Doctor Who concert, where they played live music from the two series from the Children in Need charity. And I snagged a copy of the music. Damn, does it sound good! Especially when they start hammering out the theme song. The original soundtrack studio version will be released within the next few days, and I plan on getting that.

Finally, check out this 60 sec ad on Halo 3. It rocks. Gotta start saving some cash....

The Face of Boredom

Well, Anonymous had a go at guessing the books, but can you believe the cheek of this person?

1. Ernie and the Alien(s)
2. Under Siege
3. Physics Jacaranda (or Excel, and the like)
4. The Pied Piper of Hamlin
5. The Heart of Darkness

I bet whatever the titles are, mine are better. :) .

I'd like to dispute that. But come on, Physics Jacaranda/Excel? Who the hell still has that on their bookshelves. Yes, I still have the books but their on my brother's bookshelf now. Still, I guess I'll reveal the titles, so all the millions (cough cough) of readers don't have to live in constant suspense.

1. Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky
2. Eon by Greg Bear
3. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
4. Men At Arms by Terry Pratchett
5. Only the Heart by Brain Caswell and David Phu An Chiem

Granted Only the Heart and Heart of Darkness share a one word similarity, so half a mark.

I'll be away on Saturday December 9th so participate in some paintball action. I used to do martial arts and the entire group is basically Viet. Some guy there booked a session for some time now and he now needed more people because it's 15 people a team and he wants to have a Viet vs Viet match. Something about the Aussies being sore losers and starting fights. Still, I'm sure it's an overreaction. Aussies aren't that bad, they're just a bit more spirited.

In other news, our Daihatsu Terios was fitted with a new CD player. My brother received it as a gift and since I'll be eventually driving the Terios (it's a manual so I have to wait to my P2 license). But then my mother started to really like the player because it can play MP3/WMA and she has a bunch of Viet stories narrated by Nguyen Ngoc Ngan that she can listen to. Viet readers will now who NNN is. If not, ask your parents. And watch some Paris by Night 80-something or latest one. And I'm not referring to the Paris Hilton sex tape. So now my mother convinced my dad that the Toyota Prado needs a new CD players as well, so if we go on long trips, they can listen to Viet stories. And he reluctantly agreed. My dad, he's just, to borrow a term, 'financially prudent'.

Oh yeah, and I finally managed to snag a copy of Eragon. It's not a bad book, so if you like fantasy, this would be pretty good. Lots of Lord of the Rings type stuff and a bit of Star Warsy stuff thrown in. *minor spoilers* But Arya is such a Mary Sue. I mean, do we really need another know-it-all, hot elf chick so is the possible romantic interest of the protangonist and whom the author spends more time describes her looks than her character? That's probably the only flaw the book suffers from. But read it. It's good. *end spoilers*

And far out, House Season 3 is shaping up to be a killer. Best line so far?

"I'm going to need 30 pieces of silver..."

Something to Pass the Downtime

So, how's everybody? From the general feeling I'm picking up, some people are getting bored. I mean, we've finished the HSC and now...we have nothing to do. Except the people with jobs and they're getting money. So what's a person to do? Well I am playing Final Fantasy X but this is a quick break for me. Sitting in one place for a few hours staring at a TV and having radiation bombard your eyes isn't healthy. So to pass the time, here's something I picked up from Land's blog:

1. Take five books off your bookshelf.
2. Book #1 -- first sentence
3. Book #2 -- last sentence on page fifty
4. Book #3 -- second sentence on page one hundred
5. Book #4 -- next to the last sentence on page one hundred fifty
6. Book #5 -- final sentence of the book
7. Make the five sentences into a paragraph:

A few years ago, one of the great figures of contemporary biology, Ernst Mayer, publsihed some reflections on the likelihood of success in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Electronic sensors had been placed around the building. We also now have evidence for several other black holes in systems like Cygnus X-1 in our galaxy and in two neighbouring galaxies called the Magellanic Clouds. "Eater of rats!". I know it by heart.

Go ahead and knock yourselves our to guess the five books.

The Door to the Beginning and the End

So last night was the formal. It was a great night and after that I didn't regret going to it. I was a bit skeptical as to if it was actually worth it, but it was. Right now, I'm guessing most people are sleeping in after that party.

I took the train to Wynard and happened to run into Charles in the carriage. At Wynard, we had a quick toilet stop and I met Yang, dressed...very informally. He had his formal clothes in his bag and was going to change, because he didn't want his formal clothes to get dirty. Fair enough. When he did change, his shirt was extremely wrinkled. Apparently, he didn't iron it. We met up with other friends and all of them wondered if Yang was going to be let in at all, since his clothes was kind of sloppy.

A group of us took the lift to the second floor, when we were supposed to take the stairs. Not our fault. No one told us to take the stairs. For a while it was talking, drinking and photos. When they let us in, and all the talking was done, the food was delivered and it wasn't bad. It was actually pretty good. With the main course, Alex didn't like the pickles or whatever and passed it on to Jack, who in turn passed it on Charles. So the guys at our table number 13:

• Me
• Alex
• Jack
• Charles
• Paul T
• Gough
• Ru Yang
• Lesley
• Tan
• Albert

Then the night followed its predictable pattern of dancing, talking, drinking, repeat. The dancefloor was a tad small though. Everytime you tried to dance, you ended up elbowing someone in the back or someone does that to you.

Eventually, like all good things, the night came to an end. It was fun while it lasted. Kathy's dad was nice enough to give me a lift home. A shower later and near 1am, I went to sleep but it was difficult. The caffeine from the Coke and coffee kept me awake and the fun times kept my mind awake. It was fun Sefton High. It was definately fun.

Diversion Inversion V

Tomorrow is Another Day

So it was thanks to other people's blogs that I realised that the formal was next Monday. And now I'm looking towards that day (or should I say night?) with a mixture of anticipation, dread and sorrow. Anticipation because I have a chance to meet my friends one last time, in case I never see them again. Dread because it means I have to actually dress up and get there and back. Sorrow, because after that night, some people I will probably never see again.

Seriously though, guys have it easier at the formal. I mean, we were a suit, maybe gel our hair, spray a little deo and that's it. But the girls have it tougher with the makeup, dresses and whatnot. I don't envy them. Transportation is a minor obstacle. I'll probably take a train to Wynard, that's easy. It's the going home part that's more difficult. Some girls solved it by staying the night in a hotel, others are going to drive and some will stay at friend's place. Seeing that the formal ends at midnight and I don't have any intention of leaving early (I mean, come on, it is the formal here!) I'll probably take a taxi, share the bill with a few others. Get back at like 1am? Damn. I bet the guys playing World of Warcraft will probably decided to jump on and play until the next morning.

A couple of movies caught my eye today. The Prestige looks really cool. Well, most things involving magic is pretty cool. But a tale of magician friends outdoing each other in tricks, with plenty of betrayl and hate? Now that's cool. Also saw the trailer for the new James Bond movie Casino Royale. While the last Bond film, Die Another Day, was meh, this one looks cool. Apparently, it's a reboot of the francise, similar to Batman Begins. But there's no Q and M is still played by Judi Dench. Hmmm. My theory is that James Bond is just an alias given to all 007s. So this guy is a new 007 and it's his first time as "James Bond".

And have so seen the opening? No naked ladies and it still looks fucking amazing!

Under A Sky So Blue...

Just got back from hiking. It was only a one-nighter, but it showed that everyone, except maybe Jack, was a little bit out of shape. It was hella fun though.

We meet at Lidcombe Station at 8am, only to find that a whole bunch of people had decided not to go at the last minute. So our group consists of:

• Me
• Alex H
• Jack
• Charles
• Raymond L
• Harry
• Lesley

We hop on the train to Central, then change lines and head to Heathcote. Once there, Jack tells us that there are no fires allowed and Ray starts getting anxious about lighting, since he didn't bring his torch. So before Charles and Jack walk into town to buy food, he tells Charles to buy a torch. Charles bought a $22 torch using most of his money and Raymond's. Complaining ensures, and so by the time we actually head to the campsite, it's 10:30am.

It was 4.5km to camp over rough hilly terrain. And this is where pretty much everyone struggles. Walking 5kms is nothing. Walking 5kms over rough terrain and a 15kg pack is a whole different story. We take breaks every 15 mins, and by the time we reach the campsite, it's 1pm. It took us 2.5hrs to get there which is pretty crap by Duke of Ed standards. But the fun starts at the campsite.

After taking a quick break, we start setting up our tents. I'm on my own, Charles and Lesley are a tent, Raymond and Harry are in another and Jack and Alex make up the final group. But when Alex pulls out the tent, he only find the outer layer, it's missing the inner layer, the pole and the pegs. Apparently, Alex had lent the tent to Helen and when she returned it, she probably forgot to check that all the stuff was there. So there was this "Oh, shit" moment with Jack and Alex. It was settled that Jack would bunk with Charles and Lesley, and Alex would bunk with Harry and Raymond, because they have 3-man tents.

Mobile phone reception was bad, but Alex managed to call Helen to ask where the heck the ret of his tent was. The missing tent was fustrating, but Alex and Jack were pretty cool with it, so there was no real yelling involved, just a "I'm missing half my tent, yeah". The rest of the day was spent milling around, resting and eating dinner. By nightfall we had retreat to our tents to talk. Harry and Alex were playing Uno, and other stuff, while the rest of us crammed into Charles/Lesley/Jack's tent to talk. We talked about a diverse range of topics, qith some honesty. The policy is similar to drama room policy. What is said in the tent, stays in the tent. So it was nice to be somewhat frank and not worry about what your said being spread around the world.

The final day, today, was much better, because we were travelling on a fire trail, where fire trucks would use in a bushfire. So the road was wide and flat with a sprinkling of gentle uphill sections. It was 6kms to Waterfall and we did it in under two hours. We ducked in a shop for fish and chips before heading home.

The walking part of the hike was difficult as always, and the lack of the usual luxuries made life a little more harder than usual. Right now, my legs have just stopped aching, but my shoulders are burning with a dull pain. However, it is after these hikes, that I really appreciate the luxuries that civilisation provides. Clean running water, a soft, warm bed and electricity. All of them are more appreciated. I don't know if there will ever be another hike, but if there is, everyone is warmly invited.

Jack took several photos on this trip. Once he has rested up, he'll probably post them on his blog.

To sleep! And perchance to dream.

Death's the final word

I managed to get all the clearance things done on Thursday. I did forget my BOS Stimulus Booklet, but instead of returning later, I just paid 5 bucks. It wasn't worth the hassle of going back and then returning tomorrow.

I had planned to spend the next few months taking it easy, and grab my P's before Christmas. Besides the planned hike, I don't have anything else to do. Or so I thought. Now that I have had a couple of days to relax, I realise that something to keep me busy would be nice. That was when, after the HSC, I bought a PS2 and a few games. But you can only play for so long, and the fact that my parents don't know about it, ruins the playing experience. But that endeavour has pulled me flat broke, and like many other post-HSCer, I'm thinking of finding a temp job. Something for a month or two, so I can have some cash to use.

And the fact that eventually we'll all be going to Uni and paying the fees means I'll have to get a tax file number. And I now regret not getting one earlier. My dad said don't worry about so early, but now seeing that it requires original documents and takes up to 28 days to clear, I regret my earlier decision. Hmmm...this is going to take some thought.

As for the job, I have a couple in mind. The best one seems to be a 3 day temp doing stocktakes. They didn't list the pay, but I'm thinking it's not going to be that high. At best, I'll probably get a couple of hundred. The other is a more long term temp, going into Christmas and may even offer permanent casual jobs. More money in the long term, but more work. Decisions, decisions.

Yearbook is cool. I mean, I knew it was going to be cool, but this was way cool. I had a lot of fun reading articles and other people's thoughts. Someone put the poem Jack and I wrote for English. It's nice, although I didn't expect that. I didn't think it was that good or anything.

I have finally finished watching all of Trigun. Usually I'd take the Japanese audio with English subs, but it had the English dub which was fair enough. Its mix of comedy and seriousness was perfect. The ending is a little open-ended, but I hear the manga is still going. That's like definately at least 10 years.

Besides House, I'm also watching Heroes and Torchwood. They're suffering a bit, since I have Final Fantasy X to play on my PS2 and Sudeki on my PC. I'll probably just keep updating House.

Damn it, I'm going to have to vote in the upcoming state election. That's one part I hate about being 18. The responsibility that comes with the age.

The Big Schwarz

I remember having a Chemistry substitute teacher who would say that Google is crap because it is not a "meta-search engine" and that it could not find some tiny obscure Vietnamese town. Instead he recommend the use of meta-search engines such as Dogpile and Mamma and a whole bunch of other obscure engines.

However, there is a reason we should use Google and that is because it's very powerful. Very powerful. So powerful, that it can give the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything. Don't believe me? Take a look down.
On another note, I'm not selling any textbooks or notes because they are all going to my brother to use. And Final Fantasy X has too many cutscenes for my liking.

HSCompleted

That's all I have to say.

Distracted Reactions

For some reason, I don't really want to study for Chemistry anymore. Now I have this strange urge to go and do some ironing.

For the seventh time

I must confess some love for SBS. When all the other channels are showing some crap shows, you can switch to SBS and watch something interesting or mindblowing or a combination of both. But I'm not talking about those really weird foreign films that throw borderline porn when you parents enter the room. Everyone knows about those films, but your parents walking and seeing that questionable scene can be hard to explain (as someone else knows so well, P.)

I'm talking about a series that is up there with the best. I mean there's Chaser's War on Everything, Glasshouse, House, Doctor Who and Thank God You're Here. I'm talking Mythbusters. No other show on Earth makes science so fun. It answers the questions that we really need to know, like can paint your house using dynamite and how much blasting agent you need to completely demolish a cement truck or using salsa sauce to escape from jail.

In doing Physics, Chemistry and Biology, there are definately fun and interesting bits. Mythbusters takes these three sciences and puts them in a blender. A myth pops up, they test the myth, replicate the effect usually with explosions and then you learn something new. I think there was another similar kind of show called Brainaic. However, they only focused on big booms and hot chicks with a tiny bit of science sprinkled around. I mean it couldn't compete with Mythbusters and now I don't see it anymore.

In other news, Glasshouse is being axed! Shock! I really wish I discovered this series earlier because it's so funny and informative. It's days were probably numbered when the ABC decided to go unbiased in all its programs. Comedy is so hard to come by. Skithouse was funny for a while, but as the program went on, it didn't really get any funnier. It was like there was a asymptotic line in which no comedy program could break free. But. There was a program that was funny and got better with each episode. I'm talking "The Sketch Show". Now that was some British comedy that didn't really on stupid people doing stupid things, but focused more on wordplay and absurdism. Unfortunately, the internet is showing a distinct lack of files relating to this program. I just hope there is a DVD series somewhere.

Only Chemistry left to go. Then 3 months will nothing to do. Nah, I guess I'll find something to keep my mind busy. I mean, Doctor Who will be coming back and I've discovered a new series that I like. It's called Heroes. Search the net. Find it. Watch it.

Hook, Line and Sinker

Amusing Star Wars quote I found:

Wedge: "Sithspit! What's that?"

Wes: "That's the sun, Wedge. It's after dawn."

Wedge: "Well, it offends me. Turn it off."

Obviously, it's part of the novel range (or Expanded Universe) of Star Wars, but it made me smile.

I had to go shopping today with my mum. I needed a new cap, because my old one is tattered and faded due to constant and repeated exposure to extreme weather and sea water. I also needed new shorts for the beach. It would have been a quick "in-and-out" exercise, but my mum got distracted and ended up buying a whole bunch of other clothes for my dad and brother, a new bag for her, some makeup things..zzzz....zzzz....and a whole bunch more. But as we left, my mum went to buy some chicken for lunch, it was $8 for one and $14 for two. We talking about buying the BBQ chicken and some Asian guy next to us asked if we would mind buying two chickens and split the cost 50-50, because he wanted some chicken as well. End result? We saved $1 on the BBQ chicken. Must be an Asian thing.

Why is it that the really good books are in a series? I popped into Dymocks to check out the sci-fi and fantasy section, and there were plenty of books, but they were always part of a trilogy of some sort. Now I saw this book, can't remember the details, but it was massive. It made Wild Swans look small. Or better yet, it made Le Morte D'Arthur look like a brochure. It was big and it was part of a trilogy with two books that were equally as big! I mean, come on, chuck us a decent one-shot, something we can finish in a week or two.

So I have only two exams left, Bio and Chem, and what decides to pop up, but House Season 3. God, I love this show, and I'm constantly on edge waiting for the next episode to make it out onto the internet. Heroes is another great show. It's about a few people developing super powers and has the shady, mysterious, morally ambigious guy who seems to know more than everyone else. Check that out. I've been watching Avatar: The Last Airbender on Youtube, but no new episodes have appeared in a month. Dammit, release that next ep! The fact that they model the bending on real Chinese martial arts is so cool. Naruto is still on crappy filler arc, and so it Bleach, but its fillers are less crap, so I'm still watching it.

My collection of comics are slowed to a mere trickle as all the comic artists are way past their deadlines. It is supposed to be an issue a month! Not 6 months late! Just for the heck on it, here's a list:

• Alan Moore's Top Ten
• Codename Knockout
• Danger Girl
• Gen13
• Hunter-Killer
• Metal Gear Solid
• Neil Gaiman's 1602
• New Avengers (ongoing)
  
• Shanna the She-Devil
• Superman and Batman (ongoing)
  
• X-Factor v3 (ongoing)
  
• Ultimate Universe
• Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra
• Ultimate Elektra
• Ultimate Fantastic Four (ongoing)
  
• Ultimate Galactus Saga
• Ultimate Spiderman (ongoing)
  
• Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk (ongoing)
• Ultimate X-Men (ongoing)
  
• The Ultimates v1 and v2 (ongoing)

Also, I'm trying to get all 26 episodes of Trigun. It's around 5gigs and I'll probably start getting it after the Chem exam. And John Legend's new album Once Again is mega hella awesome. Get it and listen to it, especially the first single Save Room.

JUST TWO MORE EXAMS TO GO!

Diversion Inversion IV

A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any other human invention in history…with the possible exception of handguns and tequila.
-Mitch Ratcliffe

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.
-Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

I like the stars…it’s the illusion of permanence.
I can pretend that things last...that lives last longer than moments.
-Neil Gaiman's Sandman: Brief Lives

There is nothing to fear, except fear itself?

Physics was alright. I was expecting some really hard questions, especially for astrophysics, but it wasn't that hard. For other physics devotees, what did you write for that magnet falling on copper, cooled to -50 degrees C? I don't think the copper would be a superconductor at that temp...I just threw in Meissner Effect since I have no idea.

Maths exam on Monday. It's alright, but I know that I'm more or less screwed for Maths3U. Still, I'll just do as many questions as possible and ride that one out. Bio and Chem are last. I think I'll be alright for Bio, but I can't seem to be able to get my head around Chem. All the stuff I have to remember...did the past papers pretty badly though, so I might chuck in some extra revision time for that.

Now here's an idea that the Board of Studies should consider:
Jack: hows your study going?
Me: cool
Jack: lol
Jack: your the only one who seems to be enjoying it
Jack: I say they should ban all studying
Me: yeah no study for hsc
Me: you pass on what you remember over the past 2 years
Jack: damn rite
Jack: and if you study, instand NSA
Me: yeah
Jack: you made a non serious attempt at not studying!
Me: hsc would be so much cooler with no studying allowed

HELL YEAH! NO STUDY FOR HSC, BIATCHES!!!
Seriously, if that concept ever got voted in, the HSC would be more competitive, since no study is allowed! It will be a whole new revolution in examinations. Students getting zeroes because they studied. No cramming, no stress, just walk in and do your best! Hey, that should be the slogan.

We Are the Strange

Monsters Inc meets The Nightmare before Christmas inside of a retro Japanese videogame.

Game on

I'll be posting during the HSC. Don't expect anything long. It'll probably be a few words and maybe some interesting picture/s that caught my eyes. So good luck, everyone. Although some won't need luck. They'll probably need a miracle. Or two. Or three.

Diversion Inversion III

Down the Home Stretch

HSC in close, very close now. I've got my last-minute study tables in order, though hopefully, I've successful know everything. Just practical experience, so I'll probably do past papers.

Actively avoided study today. I'm definitely feeling...something. Something like nervousness mixed with anticipation. It's not a good feeling, but not a bad one. Anyway, Youtube became my saviour today as I discovered someone had uploaded the entire series of Evangelion. It's the english dub, which is passable, but it's so cool to see giant mecha battle it out with the Angels. I've downloaded some clips, mainly of Unit-01 going beserk. Good it's just so cool when Unit-01 goes berserk. And the music for those scenes fit perfectly. I gotta find a soundtrack.

My family has plans to go to Frasier Island, off Queensland during the holidays. Most likely the beginning of January for a week or so. I don't think any important stuff happens then. Since we'll be making the journey by car (yes, we're that hardcore) I'm tempted to buy a PSP for the journey. I might have to dip into my savings, but it won't burn my pockets too deep. Anybody, know any good games to recommend? Preferbly RPG types?

Last test for my is the Chemistry HSC exam on the 10th of November. Can't wait.

Diversion Inversion II

Diversion Inversion

This is SPARTA!!!

Can you say cool? This looks like to be the best movie since Sin City. Grab the trailer of the official site or Apple trailers, fullscreen, max volume with max bass. This is definately something to watch in the cinemas.

Male Restroom Etiquette

A nice little diversion.

Leave this academic factory...

There's nothing quite like the feeling of finally being uncapped. Broadband is so cool, until you're capped and you have to agonisingly wait for days until the next month rolls over. I feel the need...the need for speed....

Besides all that, graduation was alright. I mean, we got crappy certs, but this is a public school. I really like the keyring. It's a nice little token, definitely a keeper. After the graduation, there was many a photo taken and a tear cried. The best part was when a godly part of the grade lined up on the basketball courts in a massive group. That was fun.

A thousand photos later, and a million words later (cos a picture is worth a thousand words), Jack, Lesley, Simon, Kenson and I drove off to bowling. I played a pretty crappy game, but then again, I've always been crappy at bowling. Except that one time when I got 3 strikes in a row and managed a 190ish. We dashed back early for the luncheon, with a change of clothes at the bowling centre and were shocked to find ourselves underdressed. Several of the girls definitely put a lot of effort into their dresses. Soon, my shirt and cargo pants faded softly from view. Well, at least I wasn't the only one underdressed.

Luncheon was anticlimatic. We came. We ate. We talked. The food was excellent though. A water bomb fight broke out, but the teachers weren't up to the task to telling those involved off. I mean, last day come on. After luncheon, a bunch of us travelled to Birrong Park for some sport. Jack, Kevin Tran and I went to get some drinks with Kevin driving. He's good, at least he doesn't turn the corners as quickly as Jack, although Jack keeps saying that Carolyn is a crazy driver. Anyway, he reversed parked and Kevin nudged the back of the front car, resulting in a slightly dented license plate. Nothing that could be fixed with a little elbow grease and headlight fluid.

Soccer went well, but then people left. Jack got me with a water bomb, splashing me in the back. I'm gonna get you back, Jack!

Watched the DVD of our kick-ass concert, thanks to Gough. Some of the jokes were 'meh', but the gravity one went down really well. Maybe too well. I ended up looking like a complete moron. Just so you know:
S: Well, you know how gravity is cruel and unpredictable mistress...
P: No it isn't, it's a constant all around the world, dumbo.
(crowd jeers and I look like an utter idiot)
Thanks Phuong for making me look dumb. My legacy to Sefton High.

Apparently the MCing went down better than I thought. Most students I talked to liked it and the teachers enjoyed it a lot. As I was handing in the note in the morning, Petersen said I did a good job, which was suprising. So there. The jokes weren't that lame.

Phuong has started blogging. That's a good sign. More blogs for me to read and procrastinate.

Land, I do not enthusiastically make "Land" jokes all the time. I enthisiastically make "Land" jokes with Jack some of the time. Now that is something that I'll miss. He made those first jokes and it kind of carried on from there. And we keep joking about it, because you do nothing to stop it. If you swung a textbook at Jack or me, then maybe we'll stop.

Yes, Jack, you do take the corners too fast for my liking. It's not that you're a bad driver. It's a little too fast for me. And I know for sure that you're no Schumacher.

Obviously most of the teachers were talking about the "Kylie Minogue" act which had 15+ guys in skirts. In the office, MacPhearson was saying how she never expected that Lesley...er...had that side in him. It's definately a talking point for a while.

Yay! Sefton High School is Wikipedia. Click here to read the completely honest, objective and unbiased article.

For Great Justice!

It's finished. It's over. It rocked, as Serena would say. The year 12 concert is something of a tradition that looked easy, until we actually did it. Then you have to think about the timing, sound and lighting, technical difficulties and organisation. So let's go through this in a chronological fashion.

Firstly, my skit died. It's performance was good, but it was long and in hindsight, didn't fit the concert mould very well. Yes it was funny, but it wasn't fast. It was a three-course meal in a tray of quick snacks. It died an honourable death, and while I'm a bit disappointed, it was for the best.

Then Jack rings out of the blue and asks me to be the MC. To be honest, it was something that I desired and dreaded. I'm not much of a funny improviser. I tend to improvise good lies better than funny comments. So I rushed a quick script. It was quick, bite-sized humour that would let the stagehands do their thing. Did it work?

The concert itself ran very well. The Sound/Lighting crew had wired the stage. Jack and Alex set up a wireless link from the front to the back so that Kathy could see what was next and how we were going for time. We even had a comm link straight to Alex, so she could yell stuff direct to the sound department. Also, congrats out to Sabrina and Corrina. They made sure that the acts were prepared and onstage and confirmed which act was next.

I don't know how the jokes ran with the crowd. From the general impression, it went down quite well with most of the school. There were mixups though. Apologies to Helen, when I introduced her fashion show as Hiba's Dance. And much thanks to Phuong for doing some wonderful script work and improv. I couldn't ask for a better partner MC.

The acts? Grease was groovy. Sway was sexy. Kirteeka was cool. Rae-li's dance was all razzle. Anderson was awesome. The Fashion show was fabulous. Hiba's dance was hi-five. Kung Wow was the pow! Phat crew was phowerful. Land's song was lovely, despite hitches. and the Kylie Minogue act killed. Literally. It was that good. With 15 guys in skirts, it was the best act and I think it'll be hard pressed to be beaten.

Time was against us due to technical difficulties with Land's song, so the intro was skipped. But here it is, for you to see:
P: Tomorrow, it's the end of year 12, and we're free, while you're still stuck here! Ha!
S: Yep, and that means we'll be driving, while everyone else to take the bus to school.
P: I betcha I'm a more hardcore driver than you.
S: No you're not. I'm hardcore.
P: Yeah?
S: Yeah.
P: Do you swerve to avoid kangaroos?
S: Never. Do you?
P No.
S: Koalas?
P: No!
S: No?
(Silence)
P: ... Children?
S: I do, I do... Children, yeah. I have swerved to avoid children.
P: You see, you see, you're too soft for this game.
S: ...Dammit.

It was great, dammit. For moments I thought that our concert would be mediocre compared to the previous ones, but we pushed the envelope and did it. We fucking did it! The Kylie Minogue act was some guys acting, er, questionably and Petersen was lurking near the stage in disapproval. Who cares? Not us!

I also have to say here that we got, hands down, the best present ever! It was seriously that good. We got a SuperSoaker Triple Agressor for Mr Armitage. You have the main gun, a small pistol, and a water grenade (read: a fabric ball that absorbed water). We managed to trick Ms Pham into taking over our class temporarily. Go Land doing the lying. So she's in the class and we say "Mr Armitage said to duck" and Pham was like "what?". That's when Armitage burst through the door and sprayed her with water. Awesome.

Hope everyone else had fun during the concert.

Note to self: Buy concert DVD of Gough ASAP.

I'm not a superhero. I kill superheroes.

Just finished applying for my UAC application and preferences. I need to submit a copy of my STAT results, which have disappeared. Well, at least I have the weekends to try and find it before I have to ask for another copy.

UMAT results are back and I did...I don't know...crap?...average?...one of those words.

Section I - Logical Reasoning and Problem Solving - 49
Section II - Understanding People - 49
Section III - Non-verbal Reasoning - 47

Considering I did better than 49% of most entrants that I must be average at least.

I bet a whole ton of people got better than me though.

OMGWTFLOLROFLBRBBBQ!

Have you ever caught yourself using a net acronym in a real life conversation? While this requires the assumption that the reader does participate in real life conversations, it is actually kind of sad that this is occuring. Someone says something funny and instead of laughing really loud and saying "that's so funny!", you laugh and "lol, dude". I'm also reading Jack's blog and for him it's more like these acronyms have lost their meaning. Maybe, but the day they enter common speech is when they definitely lose their meanings.

So 4 weeks to the HSC and now it's time to ditch light study in favour of heavier studying. Still it's a bit hard to believe that there is only 4 weeks left to the HSC and that our compulsory education started 13 years ago ends in 2 weeks. I mean, wow!

Everyone else's blogs seem to be on a extended hiatus, so procrastinating is less fun now. As far as I can tell, out of my pathetic list, only Jack and Sophia are posting new things, and Corrina too I guess. Everyone else is more or like "meh...i'll do it in a week.....wait I said that a week ago! Stuff it!" So yeah, Jack and Sophia, keep posting.

Probably about time to arrange a rehearsal session. I'm thinking of a Wednesday or Thursday as a preliminary and maybe a final one on the last week or something. Give me several hours to mull on that.

Lost my Physics textbook several weeks ago, but a few minutes spent moaning about it produced a miracle. Lesley was in Physics and managed to find my textbook. You legend, Lesley! Now I can do those shitloads of physics questions Fearnside gave us.

Now I have to finish these questions and maybe sneak and hour of DoTA. Too much and I'll be failing my HSC.

Game on, people.

Work, Work, Work...

Five weeks until the HSC. Five weeks. Read it and weep, because now all my energies have to be directed towards this milestone. After beating my way through the trials, I know what I need to learn and what I need to do. This blog will probably be on semi-hiatus. I'll probably post once a week or less, just to show that I'm still alive and kicking.

Finally got our jerseys today. They are all right, but to be honest, they kinda suck with no names on them. Even if it was just our first name printed the jersey would be a whole lot better. Still, it's kinda cool in its own way.

Pretty much finalised UAC course preferences. I'll probably submit on Tuesday. Get it over and done with. And references too. Damn it, I hate school paperwork. Might as well gather all my textbooks so they are in one place as well.

Don't know about anyone else, but I'm setting up a study timetable. When I actually followed the table, I did better in the Trials, especially for Maths 2U and Biology, unlike the 1-mark below average I usually pump out.

Hate the way we are learning in Biology. Here's this booklet. Go learn. Damn it, I need to write things down, drawn diagrams and paste sheets. Not memorise the entire booklet. Well, it's probably a good time to update my notes.

Damn rain. So much rain. I hate walking in rain. At least the dams will get some water.

Higher School Certificate Examination
20th of October to 10th of November (2006)
Target UAI:
95
Target University:
University of Sydney
Target Course:
Bachelor of Applied Science (Medical Radiation Science)
Diagnostic Radiography

I heard this from a friend of a friend of a friend....

Girl #1: My tits feel weird.
Girl #2: What do you mean?
Girl #1: I did Party Tits at the share this weekend.
Girl #2: What??
Girl #1: Party Tits. You get saline injected into them, and they get really big. It wears off in a few days. The guys love it.

--Subway platform, Fulton St, New York City

What the hell? I think some verification is in order. It's not on Wikipedia, so I'd say be cautious about this.

Rest in peace, Steve Irwin. Killed by a stingray. This next little story may be considered bad taste to some viewers. So we're in Biology and I'm sitting in between Albert and Charles. We're doing work on the option topic communications out of a booklet and we need to draw this graph. Charles wants to copy off Albert, who doesn't want Charles to copy. I pass the graph to Charles and he starts complaining about the scale and line of best fit. I tell him to stop complaining and he argues he's telling the facts. He asks me, and I say that I think the scale and lines are perfectly alright, so Charles is at a loss on what to counter with. So I start poking his chest, where his heart is and said "Stingrayed!". Then we broke into gales of laughter. *ahem* So anyway, RIP Steven Irwin 1962-2006.

Euro hand ball comp against a team called Nameless. Anybody remember the Chinese movie Hero with Jet Li? And he was called Nameless (according to subs anyway...) and he was really good? So our team name is WBNBBBY8A or We Better Not Be Beaten By Year 8s Again.

Avatar: The Last Airbender rocks. Everyone must watch it along with Dragonball Z and the first few seasons of Pokemon. Every young child must be exposed to it.

Naruto is nearing end of fillers, I hope. Bleach fillers are meh, but still good. Waiting for House and Doctor Who season 3.

And, Battlefield 2 rocks.

Compass Heading: New South

Let's make this clear. I have no intention of going to UNSW. This is of course assuming all goes to plan with the HSC and whatnot, but my aim is for USyd. Still it was interesting at the open day. I met Charles and Ray L at Central at 8:30am, and we journeyed to UNSW. Some freebies later, we journeyed to the Medicine lecture, which was quite packed. I have no intention of doing Medicine, but the stuff you learn is eye opening. A UAI of 99.4 is considered below average for Medicine at UNSW. Below average. Some guy did make it in with a UAI of 95, but that was a fluke in a sense. And it takes minimum of 10 years to finish all your training. Damn.

Since I didn't have any real timetable for UNSW I mainly hung around Charles and Ray attending their lectures, mainly on engineering. UNSW is pretty big and quite pleasing to look at compared to USyd. So lets see who I saw or thought I saw.

• Charles
• Ray L
• Ray D
• Kevin T
• Kevin N
• Land
• Phuong
• Julia
• Jimmy
• Yiling
• Yang
• David V
• Andrew
• Kathy
• Ann
• Jennifer
• Jack
• Lesley
• Angeline
• Gough
  

That's pretty much it. From anecdotal evidence, it seems a whole bunch more Seftoners came along, but I missed all of them. Anyway at 1:30pm, Charles and I left to meet Jack and Lesley at the Roundhouse. Our plan was to journey to Croydon, get Jack to drive us to Burwood and meet up with other Seftoners at City Hunter, a net cafe. Charles eventually left at Central, saying it was too late and Jack, Lesley and I made the trip. We joined up with a whole bunch of other Seftoners and started to play Battlefield 2. My team won the first game, but lost the second in a closely-contested match. In one instance, Jack and Lesley stormed a small island where the artillery cannons were located. Their intent was to knock them offline so their team wouldn't have to suffer the deadly barrages. Except I was sitting in between them, heard about it and got there first. I held them off for a while, but it was 2v1. They left and I just repaired the artillery. Jack and Lesley make a great team, especially when they both are driving tanks.

Initially I was going to play for an hour or so, but the second match took longer than expected and altogether I played 2 hours. I had told my parents that I was to be back at 4:30pm give or take 30mins. Since I finished at like 5pm, I called and made up a story that the train was delayed and whatnot. So I got home close to 5:45pm. They didn't seem to mind (Cityrail problems, yeah!). There was a BBQ on, but most of the guests had left. Some people remained and as I chomped on leftovers, washing it down with Pepsi, I regaled them to the stuff at UNSW, and the new facts in Medicine. Day over!

I'm quite sure that everyone else had a great day at UNSW, whether they plan to go or not. And I'd like to not that yesterday marked one year of blogging. As I read back, some things have changed quite a lot. And some haven't.

Skit is finished and now its about learning the lines and doing a quick dry run so we're ready for the rehearsals. Here I have to give some credit to Jack, for actually being one-step ahead, and thinking about rehersals and stuff. Kudos to you, Jack.

Shit. Now I actually to have to organise some stuff for skit. I hate doing things. I like deadlines though. I love the whoosing sound they make as the fly right by....

You live and learn. At any rate, you live.

Writing a skit has been an enlightening experience. Given the chance I would never do it again. Then again, I might change enough to do it again. Writing is tough. Making it funny to the majority of people is difficult. I've never been a fan of slapstick or crude jokes. Yes, they're funny but you can only laugh so much. I like more wordy jokes, jokes that rely on puns, irony or satire. Intelligent jokes if you will. But since those types of jokes actually require some thought, it's not ont everyone's wavelength.

Also, following the 2Unit skit, there was a bit of fear around. They were funny, because they were so lame. That's not to say they didn't try. They did try hard, and they deserve kudos for them, but it showed the problem of not really appealing to everyone. Reviews were mixed and most poeple could not say that it was definitively funny. But this fear should stop us. I have knowledge that Bill is working on a skit, it's rather random, but quite funny in its own right. I also know that my skit is pretty much done, with only practice and minor adjustments.

There seems to be a whole lot of dancing and music, which is the staple of a year 12 concert. Then occasionally you get some really good shit. Anyone remember that martials arts/game skit-thingy. That achieved a nice balance to physical action and comedy. Hell, they could have gone all serious and stuff, but they mixed it up with some funny stuff. Still, I'm quietly confident that this years Year 12 will maintain the bar of excellence.

UNSW C+C Day tomorrow and I'm attending due to some interesting lectures and courses. I know a whole bunch of people will be there, and just to let you know Charles and I will be trying to meet up at 9:30am at Central. If you want to join, you're definitely welcome. City Hunter afterwards.

There's always UWS, right?

University of Sydney Live Open Day. I didn't want to go initially, stuff to do and things to catch up on, like Bio and Chem pracs, but at the last minute I changed my mind and decided to go. And it was definately worth it. For those who did not go, like Gough (he's going UTS), it was like a huge expo where you could go to hear lectures on university life, courses and such. My main aim was Medical Radiation Science and it was quite packed. Still good info was delivered.

Since I decided on the spur to go, I planned to initially meet up with Charles and co at Redfern 10:30am. They had changed to 9:30am Central. So off I went pretty much alone. I did try to stay in groups but it didn't last very long. Everyone wanted to go to different lectures at different times and so more often then not, groups were split up. On cool lecture was Dr Karl's hour-long on about science. He spoke generally about science, instead mixing amusing anecdotes and hilarious commentry. One funny piece was his three ways to destroy the world:

1. Drop the big one (massive EMP bursts)
2. Do nothing
3. Destroy the innocence of kiddies

Number 3 was cool. He was talking about Santa Claus' trip to kid and using the law of physics to show that it was basically impossible. A few things that popped up was that Santa has to visit at least 380 million kids, at 1,000 visits/sec, travelling at 1,000km/s with basically 500,000 tonnes of payload and consuming 3,000,000 million litres of drink. Now that's what I call applied science.

Now a whole bunch of Seftoners and other familiar faces were there, but again I was so wrapped up in going places that I didn't notice them until a second later and by then they had moved off somewhere. So here's a quick list of people I saw or thought I saw:

• Charles
• Lesley
• Raymond L
• Yang Lu
• David V
• Andrew
• Anderson
• David T
• Tan
• Harry
• Richard
• Julia
• Susanna L
• My Hoa
• Nam
• Carolyn
• Danny
  
• Land (fairly certain but not sure...you were walking with some guy and went to Dr Karl's lecture at 1pm?)

Now I'm sure there's probably more, but that's a hella lot of faces in one place.

I spent some time looking for Lesley and Charles, and cursing the fact that I didn't ask for their phone numbers. Apparently they went to to some net cafe called City Hunter to play Battlefield 2. I was about to search after them, but tired I decided to head home.

So how was other people's experience at USyd?

My name is Tran. Henry Tran.

What do you do when you're trying to procrastinate? Steal quizzes and stuff from other people, in this case, Land's blog, cos no one else had any quizzes up.
On another note, the "official" skit for year 12 concert is done. Heavily revised to be shorter as other acts are eating up time. Casting dates and info are to be announced. Jack, Sophia and Anderson are on, so we have star power for our skits. Kind of like having Academy Award winners on a movie project.
And, err, ignore Henry Tran. That's my alter ego for browsing the deep, dark recesses of the Internet.

A drive in the country

Pushing one-ninety down the open road,
Guzzling thirty litres a minute, with wind blowing through my hair,
Cops in the mirror, sirens screaming with double demerits,
But I don't care, all for a drive in the countryside.

Jack & Steven

Poem that Jack and I pumped out during English Adv. We were annotating Skrzynecki's A drive in the country and Levick had us brainstorm what images came to mind for a drive in the country and then got us to write a poem. With Tom away, Jack and I actually had to think, well, think a little harder than usual. Jack wanted to put all the negative stuff to mind into th poem, but it ended up with a positive spin. Everyone else's sounded better though, especially the haikus.

Jack had proposed that when he turned 18, he wants to go barhopping. I think that's a good idea, but someone's got to be the designated driver. Currently list stands at:

• Jack (when he turns 18)
• Me

I think Phuong and Ricknam celebrated their birthdays today, but they are only turning 17, not in time to get drunk when Jack turns 18 or after HSC.

I got conscripted into writing skits for the year 12 concert. Or did I volunteer? Right now, I have a basic outline with 5 skits each around 5 minutes or so. Jack, Sophia and Anderson want in, so I can definately say we have some star power on it. Should be done next Monday, with character biographies and script with stage directions. If I'm going to do it, I might as well do it properly.

Physics Prac ReTrial is on tomorrow. Classes are F3, F4 and A4. Dunno which one to go too, but Gough suggests to troll the hallways. Period 1, so I miss out on my free period. Luck to the people who needed. I intend to get there early and jump up to see if I can see the equipment, but I won't be telling anyone. So there.

Happy Birthday to me

I'm very happy to say that on this day, I have survived 18 years in this world. And hopefully more years to come.

Trail HSC is Over...not really...

Maths 2U: Did pretty well, completely screwed by last question.
Maths Ext 1: Screwed, hoping for a pass.
English: Meh...it was alright.
Physics: Very confident
Biology: Can I say aced? No, I can't, but damn close I say!
Chemistry: Urrgh...not very well hoping for 70%
Pracs: Aced Bio, screwed Chem, Physics need to redo

Yes, so these are my feeling for the trial HSC. It was alright overall and it definately helped to show my weakness. Tomorrow I will take steps to prepare to address them. Procrastination, what can I say?

When the Physics finished, Fearnside announced that there had been possible malpractice inthe prac exam, involving 8-10 people. I guess most of us first thought it was some sick joke, but it wasn't. So now we have to redo the prac exam on Friday 18th. But if they have identified the cheaters, why can't the cheaters get their marks reduced to zero? Why a retest? Now the cheaters will get away with it. I think the science faculty suspects malpractice, maybe circumstantial evidence, but can't definitively prove that malpractice had occured. If I had be on the ball, I might have asked why marks weren't cancelled. I have my suspicions on who cheated, but it's all a moot point right now.

So I sure everyone did well in at least one subject. I heard Lesley was really good at the speeches. So good that he made Tom look bad. Is that possible? I'm not sure, but I have good info from MiG.

Rest up and prepare. There are 70 or so days to HSC.

Trial HSC Examinations

Game on, people.
Good luck to all, and miracles to the few that need it.
Of course, I'll be off until Friday the 11th August.
Until then.

A minute's success pays the failure of years.
-Robert Browning (1812-1889)

A Flat, Flat World

Went to the SMH Career Expo today with my brother and dad. It started off alright, but we forgot to get off at Town Hall and instead got off at Wynnard. Then we got lost, walking to the Rocks and wandering around before we found our way back down to Darling Harbour and into the Exhibition Center. It wasn't really anything good. The expo had a whole bunch of companies advertising what a career with them would be like. There was a lot on business and computing, but I couldn't find anything health or science related. There was some breakdance comp going on in there as well. Some of the dancers were cool, others were kinda crap.

Of course, the armed forces were there, spreading their propoganda about joining the army, navy or air force. But the weird thing is that there was some Asian guy in Army uniform there. Apparently he joined the army and worked into technical division, wires, computers and communications and stuff. Still it was weird. Not that Asian-Australians aren't patriotic, its just that we don't want to be on the frontline in some war in Whateverastan.

My mother bought me a new phone as an early birthday present. Its a Nokia 6101, and I'm still reading the booklet on what it can do. It kinda sucks in the memory department, around 3 megs, and so I have to do some cleaning, getting rid of themes, tone and other pictures. I guess its a cool phone. By the way, if anyone has a CA-42 adaptor cable, give me a shout. I'd like to borrow it and see if I can add some personal tones and wallpaper.

A Carnivorous Flamingo

For those who you don't watch the Chaser's War on Everything on Fridays on the ABC, you should. Sometimes their jokes could be better, but they do some mad 'stunts' like wearing a stocking and going shopping or trying to smuggle meat into a concert only to have all the sniffer dogs smell the meat and swamp the person, so the cops think he has a ton of drugs. This little music vid is from the Chasers, and for the Doctor Who fans.



I'm no where near that hardcore. Still not a lot of people seemed to be clued into Doctor Who or have watched the earlier episodes. I know has watched the earlier Doctors, Sophia apparently watches the new Doctor Who and Phuong is only watching as the 10th Doctor actor, David Tennant, is good-looking. Still, better than being alone.

I've confirmed that I was the only Seftoner there at UMAT at UTS. Damn that was lonely.

Gotta type up speech to submit tomorrow.

I'm now hopelessly addicted to Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, especially those that invole the Night Watch. Bad time for an addiction.

Undignified but Mandatory Antispasmodic Tablet

Just got back from UTS and finished UMAT. While I can't definately say that I felt bad or good, I did feel anguished, annoyed and apathetic. The first two sections went rather well. I got most of the answers, though I felt that I did better in the 2nd section, that is the 'understand-what-the-bastards-are-feeling' section, than the 1st, that is the 'damn-I-don't-see-any-logical-answer-and-I-want-calculator' section. The 3rd section was the worst for me. It seems that my non-verbal skills are not so good. Like I said before, I want to ask the creators an explantion for the order/solution, then punch them in the face. So I guessed the most of the questions, using my own twisted logic.

What the hell? What comes next?
There's no pattern at all!
Hey, since that triangle rotates 90 degrees...
....then so must everything else!
Done! Now next question...

That was more or less how it went. So how did other people do? Bad? Good? Aced? Failed?

You know when you see someone, then like later on in the day you're like hey I know so and so, they were from so and so! but its way too late and they're already somewhere and you're already home? I think, 95% sure, that I saw two old classmates from primary. It just didn't hit me until now that I'm home. So if anyone knows a Henry(guy) or Tian(girl) that used to go to Blaxcell Street Primary and knew a Steven Nguyen, tell them I would have said hello, if my mental gears shifted up a but quicker.

Supposedly, Raymond L and Tan were also going to UTS for UMAT, but I didn't see them. Maybe they were at the back of the line and since I was at the front, we missed each other. It was hella lonely when you're there and you don't know or recognise anyone else.

Now I have to burn the new Doctor Who series for Phuong. Hopefully, she'll get distracted by it and I have a better chance to doing better in the trials. And English speech, yeah, better finalise that tonight and type it up tomorrow so its ready for to submit and so I can get some practice.

Undergraduate Machiavellian Attitude Test

UMAT is tomorrow and while I can't really say that I'm stuffed, I'm damn near to it. Most of the questions are alright, read the passage, answer multiple choice verbally reason this and that. Then I got to the non-verbal section of the practice exam and it kind of went downhill from there. It's non-verbal so it's basically a bunch of pictures [in/out of] order and after [rearranging/ordering] the pictures you answer the question by noting which picture is [next/in the middle].

Which is okay, except 50% of the time, it doesn't make sense what picture goes next or why a picture is in the middle. To the average person, the ordering can be a load of bull. Granted it may be because I'm too stupid to figure it out, but I want to meet the person or persons who devise these 'logic puzzles' and ask them for their reasoning of the order or solution. And then punch them in the face. Repeatedly. Preferably with blood and broken noses.

Still I get a day off school. But I did pay for the Chemistry Quiz and I am a little pissed off that now I'm going to miss it.

UMAT @ UTS 8am. If you want my phone number, tell me through MSN.