Hook It Up

On Monday, my latest purchase from eBay arrived, all the way from the United States. You see as part of my course I have to do some basic psychology, and I have to get the textbook, Psychology and Life by Zimbardo and Gerrig. Instead of buying the new thing (at $104, no way!), I scoured eBay and found a second-hand 16th edition. Total price? AUD$60 including shipping which was $20. Now that I have it though, it's proving to be an interesting read. My original plan was to resell it off again, but, you know, I might just keep this.

Last post I was talking how I was arguing with some parents on praise. It's not something that I do regularly, but I was pissed off at the whole 100%-or-nothing argument. That said, it's helpful that if you get into an argument with Viet people, you keep it logical, keep it in Viet and keep it polite. Contrary to popular belief, you can change a Viet person's mind about the mythconceptions of education. Unfortunately, a number of parents have a very narrow-minded view about higher education and job prospects. You just have to get into their minds that there are respectable jobs besides medicine, law or engineering.

Still reading the Naruto and Eyeshield 21 manga. Hmph, anime doesn't interest me as much now. Mainly, since I never seem to have enough time to download new episodes. The Naruto anime pissed me off with its massive filler arc, and Eyeshield 21 doesn't do the original story justice. It's alright but it changes so much of the original events that it dilutes the awesomeness and meaning in the manga.

No TV shows grabbing my attention either. I'm just patiently waiting for Doctor Who and House season 4. I did catch this episode of something called Masters of Science Fiction. Basically they adapt a short sci-fi story into a 45 min episode. It's quite well done, and is something I would recommend.

Man, I've got to get back to work. I have this immunology and neoplasia worksheet that I've been procrastinating around with.

Music to the Moon

In response to the content of Tales of Mu, I'll agree with Phuong that it's adults-only and only then some people will get weirded out. That said, the characterisation and plot development is excellent. It really is that good. That's why I read it. And that will probably why I'll continue to read it.

As for the Xbox 360, I'm well aware of the hardware issues that the console has. And while I'm very much a PC person, I can see the beauty of the consoles. You don't have to worry about whether the game is going to run or not, you pop it in and play. That said, right now, the Xbox 360 in my opinion, has the better software. Sure the Wii is very fun, but there isn't a game that screams to me to buy it. There is a lot of reasons to buy one, but not one that burns me to get a Wii. And while the PS3 will have some killer software, namely Killzone 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4, it's really expensive and out of my price range. Games that I want to play are on the Xbox 360: Halo 3, Mass Effect, Too Human, Warhound and probably a few more to come. But I'll keep your advice in mind Jimmy.

A few days of rain have made driving a little more pissy than usual. It's raining hard, I have the wipers burning at full speed, headlights on, going slow-ish at 50 and I have some jerk tailgating me. But this person was right behind me, maybe a meter or so. If I had to brake suddenly then no doubt the car would have been rear ended. Leave a freaking gap, so you damage our cars and I don't have to worry.

Anyway, my mother was working overtime and I had to go to pick up my brother from school. So I'm standing there, drinking some Coke and listening (or eavesdropping) on a bunch of Viet parents discussing how to praise their children. One of the mothers was wondering whether she should praise her child is they got a test score of 98, knowing another student managed 100%. In my mind, I was like "Well of course you praise them!", but the other parents were like confused and didn't know what to do. One father actually flat out said that there should be no praise. I actually got kinda pissed at that. 98% in any subject is a pretty good mark, no, an excellent mark. What, are you actually going to say to your child when they come home with a 98% mark "What the..? Where's the other 2%?".

I actually jumped in at that point and made my disagreement known. 100% is an excellent mark and all, but it's more important that you tried your best. Not everyone is equal, and there will be students who only get average marks. I was never that good at maths. 4U would kill me. But I did my best at 3U. I think my point got across to most of the parents. They were nodding and going "well that makes sense". Except the aforementioned father who started dissing me and saying that its 100% or nothing and asking "how would I know about praise?". I politely told him that I used to be Sefton student and used to have the 100% or nothing shit leveled at me. Then I told him, very politely, that he knew shit about the education system and raising kids. That was a conversation stopper, and before he mounted a counterattack it started to rain and everyone retreated to their cars.

Back in the car, I had a little reflection time. Most of the parents were stunned probably not due the insults, but more that I could talk and phrase coherent sentences in Viet. I'm not going to say that I have excellent Viet, but I can hold a lengthy conversation. And eavesdrop on conversations. That said I felt rather lucky that my own father started to recognise that 100% or nothing can have a negative affect and switched to a more "do your best and look after your future" praise.

I don't know if those Viet parents will change, but I hope they do.

And yes I've played and finished Elite Beat Agents on the DS. It's wild.

Canned Heat

Taking stock of my financial situation, I currently have just enough to buy a Xbox 360. The Wii is fine and all, but it doesn't have the games that I want to play. Of course, my financial situation is getting better, and if my schemes work out then I'll be in a much better position.

I've been looking through my clinical stuff for my course and the shitty thing is that next year I have three lots of clinical at 6 weeks each. The idea of 6 weeks of Mon-Fri working pisses me off, but I'm out for experience and I can only get some real experience by working at a clinical setting. Then there's the fact that I have to do an out-of-Sydney placement. Which isn't that bad until you realise that it's six weeks away from any Sydney metropolitan workplaces. I'm leaning towards either up to Newcastle or down to Wollongong and neither appeal to me much. Or I could delay the whole thing to third year, but it will still be pissy. I'm thinking of getting it over and done as soon as possible.

Just recently I've watched this three part doco about what life would be like 50 years into the future. They spin a story and revolve the possible changes and present day research into it. It is some interesting stuff. Like there is research on printing human organs. Seriously. This dude modified an inkjet printer and it can printed bacteria into layers. Potentially, you can print out human organs. That would be cool. It's called 2057 and was made by the Discovery Channel. If you can find it, it's some wild stuff and well worth your time.

In Nintendo DS news, I'm currently playing Madden NFL 08, an American football game, despite the fact that a mere 3 days ago I had no experience with American football and I still have limited knowledge about it. Really, it's more about the overall strategy and tactics that I'm not familiar with. Granted that's more to do with the fact that American football or gridiron as it's called is not that big in Australia. But I have the basics down, and I'm resorting to the age old technique to choosing tactics based on how cool their name sounds.

Monster Blitz vs Double Sting.

Post Out vs Hail Mary.

Corners vs Exchange.

Oh, the decisions. Back to the game.

Arrgh Motherland!

Wonky weather over the past few days. It suddenly started to get hotter like summer then quickly slammed into a more wintery climate. Hate it when the weather fluctuates like that.

I now live in fear. Maybe not direct "my-life-is-in-imminent-danger" fear, but more a "one-day-it's-going-to-happen" fear. One of my neighbours keeps a pair of Rottweiler dogs in his backyard. Despite the stories of dog attacks permeating the media, I never really felt afraid of them. They were more or less kept securely in their yard, and despite their best attempts would never get over the side fence. Except not too recently, one of the dogs managed to get out through a low spot. It went after some cat, and as the cat leapt over the top of the fence into our backyard, the dog grabbed the cat by the tail and dragged it to it's death. Now that's scary. Even scarier is that yesterday one of the dogs has permanently escaped its confines and is on the loose. I can't even walk into the backyard without having a cold chill up my spine.

Last Saturday was cool since I went out with the boys (Jack, Lesley, Andy, Oli, Darren, Jimmy Li, Alex, Kenson, Bill) to a nice little place called Hanabi in Lidcombe. My first time at a Korean BBQ. The food was great and the alcohol even better. Andy was out of it by the time we started tucking into the food, but it was so good stuff. Expensive though.

Rotating on my favourite song list is Queen's Don't Stop Me Now. I've been listening to that for a week and I still like it. I tend to listen to one song obsessively, before it gets dumped and a new song takes its place.

I'm burning through the sky yeah
Two hundred degrees that's why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit
I'm travelling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic man out of you
Don't stop me now
I'm having such a good time
I'm having a ball

Can't Stop Me Now

Another week is flying on by.

Sociology, as far as my circle of friends are concerned, is a useless subject. That's not to say that it isn't interesting, but it seems irrelevant in regards to our actual career. It is defined as "an academic and applied discipline that studies society and human social interaction." We have spent the last fortnight getting to grips with sociology and the events that have changed human society. Now where moving on to the sociological imagination. Don't ask me what it means yet. I don't fully understand it, but for now, I think it is a type of mindset that looks at the links between the big picture and the little picture. Ask me again in 2 weeks after I finished my in class essay. Which leads me to...

There is a fair bit of reading to do in sociology. Also add the fact that the pro sentence structures and word usage can make it more difficult to understand. It just goes to show that reading and comprehending what a given piece of text is saying is a fairly important skill and something that I probably take for granted. Like reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 5 hours.

Do I sound a little arrogant?

I don't mean to. But it is a skill that I am a little proud of, being able to quickly consume and comprehend text. It's also a skill that some people lack. Point in case. Before the sociology lecture, my friends and I were reading through the several pages about the topic. I finished quickly and then reread it, then spent some time explaining what I thought the author was going on about. I'm not saying that my friends were stupid, they are of equal or greater skill. But reading and understanding are such important skills. Can you imagine people without the basic skills? It would be difficult going through high school, not to mention uni, what with that massive amount of reading one has to do.

Reading, and as a byproduct comprehension, is a skill that I think is being neglected. Video games, movies and other media are fighting and generally speaking succeeding. You switch your brain off and enjoy the ride. Seriously, if I had the money and the means, all I would do is to sit down and read. I'd buy all the books in Borders or Dymocks etc, make my own library and read. Maybe not even physical books. There is some good material on the internet nowadays. And I'm not talking fan fiction. I've seen some good ones and I've seen plenty of bad ones. One of the excellent ones is Tales of Mu, which I've mentioned before. Its got a great plot, great characterisation and great writing. Every day, Mon-Fri, the author posts another chapter in the story. It's not a bad format. Posts range from 1000 to 2000 words, sometimes more if she's on a roll.

I know that some blogs are starting to disappear. I guess time and lack of material played a part. Land closed her blog, noting that a blog was supposed to be a creative outlet, an emotional outlet and that it started to feel fake, or artificial. Writing a story in a chapter-sized blog style could be a possible solution. If I remember correctly, Land was not a bad writer, you could post some short stories or poems! As for me...the idea has merit, but when it comes to actually writing something I tend to procrastinate. Oh sure, I'll plan out the plot, the characters and everything, but actually writing it is a different story.

Meh. Friday night. I really need a good book. Maybe I should actually start getting serious in getting money.

Elokuu

New month has finally arrived. We leave cold and bleak July behind and jump forth for the more promising month of August.

Sophia's and Carolyn's party went well. It was some good old-fashioned fun, although it would be better if more people actually dressed up according to the them. Best wishes to Sophia and Carolyn. To be honest, these types of parties aren't really my cup of tea and so I left early at 11pm. I'm more of a small, intimate group of friends with alcohol and food. But I did have some fun and of course, some people did some nice costumes. Off the top of my head, there was a Red Riding Hood, Zorro, Batman, Mario (Jack and Lesley did a Mario and Luigi, but someone else did a much better Mario) and someone dressed up as a character from The Incredibles, Elastigirl, if I remember correctly.

Been reading a new manga called Eyeshield 21. It's a bout this boy called Sena who has this amazing ability to run really fast. He is forcibly recruited into the American Football club and face the trials and tribulations to reach the ultimate goal, the Christmas Bowl. It has got me hooked. Right now I'm not really into anime per se anymore. Just reading manga, and keeping my eye out for limited series runs, like a 6, 12 or 24 episode anime series.

Also been playing a new MMORPG (think World of Warcraft...sort of) called 2moons. It's in open beta so it's free and its not bad. It's a less forgiving environment though. The tagline is "No mercy for the weak, no pity for the dying, no tears for the slain".

I'm glad that I took Biology during high school. I'm breezing through the immune system lectures right now.

Here's a little pic from Sophia's/Carolyn's party.
I'm supposed to be a mad scientist, Helen is Cruella DeVille (she's not wearing her awesome wig) while Jack and Lesley are supposed to be Mario and Luigi respectively.