Merry May

Last day of uni on the twenty-ninth, glad to have this semester (almost) done.

Work, work, work at the moment.

However, more interestingly, today is the last day of May, the last day of Autumn, and tomorrow the first day of Winter.

Fast run through of May, yeah?

Early May, Dad's birthday, lots of a very filling cake... Mmmm... Cake...

Moreover, Jesus Christ Superstar. Show was fantastic. So hot, it almost caught fire.

Middle of May, Tash's party, with a guest appearance from Jesus.

Also: JD's birthday; Pancake Parlour; Shopping in th

e city; Cancer (boo!); Crepes; Movie night.

Work every Wednesday (I have not been outside during daylight hours on a Wednesday this month).

In addition, I turned twenty. Fun things of note: Suit and associated items; items for my cuffs; subscription to a magazine I was planning to buy a subscription to next month; fan controller (see picture); enough money to fill my car up four times (or enough for two and a bit months); cards; hugs; and well wishes.

Plan for June: Work every Wednesday, and most Friday's. Study hard for exams, especially Math and Electrical Systems. Relax before another hectic semester. Visit friends all over Melbourne. Fiddle. Invent something. Increase my average sentence length...

Hope you've all had an awesome May 2009; now onto Winter!

Hawaii, Uni, and the races...

What could have been three separate posts I've merged into one. Aren't I smart?

Let's start with Hawaii.

Recently went on a trip to Hawaii. I had a great time, lots and lots of fun. I'd love to go back one day. Yes, I went surfing; yes, I went shopping; yes, I did the beach thing; yes, I stayed in the penthouse suite of the hotel; yup, I climbed Diamond Head... It was a very busy week away, and I did a lot of things and come back with my own set of scars, mementos, presents and tattoos...

I experienced food like I've never witnessed before. Some things Australia is clearly better at. First is conservation of energy. Most of you will have already heard me rant about the continual and massive waste of electricity, water and petrol over there, so I won't repeat it. Next would be food, while their portions were very decent sizes (ie. Too much) and it tasted nice; by the end of the week I ended up wanting something healthy... Like a salad... Yes, America is the only thing in the world that will get me to eat my vegetables... (As a side note, can anyone say free refills?). Finally, I think Australian's would have to do far better with driving and road rules too. I was happy to be back on the left side of the road when I got home. None of this "the light is red but we can still turn here" shit. If the light is red, then you stop. I like our method...

But the place is just so different that it's something you have to go back to. We explored about 85% of the beaches of O'ahu, the third largest island of Hawaii, and I still want to go back for more. Every day was a different beach. Whether it was surfing at Waikiki, swimming at Kailua, skin diving at Sunset Beach, or face planting while body surfing further along Kailua Beach (It was ranked #1 US Beach in 1998). The beaches were a whole different experience too. I think the main things that made them so amazing were the views you enjoyed while swimming, and the fact the weather was always perfect.

Yup, I'm browner too for those that did notice.

The last week of uni was recently, and it's now exam time. I had one yesterday, one tomorrow, and another Friday. Then my last one is next week. I could do very well on these exams, if I was willing to put in the effort. Mostly I know that I've been doing well, and am not putting in as much effort as I probably should. The weather is too nice to be studying. I think my best result will be from Engineering Design, even though I attended a grand total of three lectures, because I find the subject quite cruisey. Some might struggle with this one, and I can see why if it's your first time around logic gates, but logic happens to be what I'm good at. Though last semester the subject I felt I was going to do the best in was the one I did the worst, so I'm not going to hold my breath for fantastic results.

Finally, the Spring Cup Carnival. I've been working at a bunch of the races so far (Geelong Cup, Cox Plate) and will be working at quite a few more I hope (Melbourne Cup, Oaks Day) so make some money. I always enjoy watching people progress from sober to blind drunk over a period of time, and there's no better time to do that than when working at the Spring Carnival. Already had people offer me $20 for my nametag (free money, I have several nametags) and I made something like $14 worth of tips, all in 10c pieces at the Cox Plate. Straight to my car for them, they aren't staying in my pocket. Working Melbourne Cup should be good, because it seems they've finally figured out that I'd prefer to be bartending than holding a platter of food in my arms all day (Marble platters are heavy, and you get dead arms by the end of the day). Instead, I come home with hands that get pretty badly cut up from bottle tops and cans. Sigh... Long live the invention of the teaspoon and the bottle opener (though some fucker nicked mine the other day).

Overall, I come home with more money than most people went to the races with, so I'm one of the few that get away on a profit. If you're going to bet, chances are you'll lose. That's why TAB and bookies exist, they actually make money. The math says you will lose more than you'll win. Same goes for casinos. Don't bother unless you're really good (or can card count).

Until after exams,

James!

Down Below

I'd like to be surfing the net right now as I wait for this lecture, but this has got to be the one uni room that doesn't have wireless coverage. Being deep underground, and being able to feel the City Loop train rush underneath the floor, I can't say I'm surprised I don't have any mobile reception either.

Every time I want to reply to a message that only just gets through, a have to wait till I have reception, then press send. Or I have to get up, go up the stairs, send, and then come back to class.

The alternative is sending an email to the IT guys here, asking for them to install wireless for this underground location. It'd be nice, but I don't really see it happening straight away. Though that would mean I could start downloads while I code next week's test and take notes.

I'm really enjoying my classes this semester. I really can't remember what any of them are called, but I know which ones are which. The one I'm in now, Engineering Methods, is probably my least favourite, probably because the lectures feel like a waste of time. But in the labs for this class, I'm a week ahead due to my ability to work faster and better alone. Code, code, code...

Just had the other programming test today (as in the other class, we code C++ in it, and MATLAB in the one I'm in now). Walked in late, so was worried I was a touch behind, but when I'd finished the bulk of the code in fifteen minutes, and the guy next to me was sweating it out, I was feeling more confident. Oh and congratulations to that guy too by the way. After he finished cheating from a piece of paper he brought in, he left early, only to come back in ten, saying he'd forgotten to remove the 'system("Pause")' lines. In other words, he got a score of zero because the program won't run correctly. Serves him right.

Circuit theory and Engineering design are basically the same class, and lectures in one are very similar to the lectures in the other. Very handy, cause learning in one means you're learning in the other. The labs are distinctly different though. In one, we're measuring resistor values using a digital multimeter; and in the other we're designing traffic light control systems using flip-flops and logic gates. But between these two classes, I can say I've learnt something about circuit analysis, even though I pretend I haven't. Mesh circuit analysis, circuit node analysis, grid analysis, and some sort of creepy replacement thingo... Basically, it's all just common sense and being sure you conform to KCL and KVL (yeah, I think I've probably lost you all now) rules. Oh, and Ohms law... (Well duh...).

Lecture's started now, and it's about the Trapezoidal rule. Yay for already knowing how to do it! Yay for CAS! Tune-out time continues...

I'm thinking about getting a stereo for my room; something snazzy. I don't care if it doesn't have all the top-of-the-range features like a built in DVD player (like some of the players I've seen). I want one that looks good; with blue lights... Probably should work more to be able to afford it.

Ah, speaking of work! Hopefully I'll be working for the footy finals season. If I'm working all the days I've told work I can work; then I'll be going to the footy more times this September than I've been my entire life. Except I'm not working the Grand Final; I'll be in Hawaii. Yes, that's right, it's the second year in a row I won't actually be available to watch the Grand Final on TV. Good! It's not like I'm missing anything but shitty actors prance about in short shorts. If I want to see that, I'll go and live in Sydney...

Night children, she's actually talking about something I don't know now, so I'm going to tune back in to the lecture... Take care, don't do anything stupid... Like play football...

A word of thanks

I probably should have updated this a week or so ago, but I have been that busy. Mostly trying to help people actually, stuff I don't actually have to do, but am because it makes me feel like a better person (and it delays before I actually have to write something.).

What amazes me though are the so very few people that say "thanks" and actually mean it. Sure, we all say it. I bring someone something at work and I have the polite "Thanks, James" but has this person actually realised the time and effort I went to do find the box?

Yesterday, however, I was surprised by the first person who said "thank you" and actually sounded like they cared for the effort I'd gone to to help them. I was a wet, cold, Melbourne evening, and I was on my way home from work. It was the second time in two days I'd been caught in the rain; this time however, was neither fun nor enjoyable. As I squelched my way of the tram with other travellers, a man down the street caught my eye. He was blind, and had clearly lost his way. Not one person stopped as they trundled past him, so I did.

As a result, it took me an extra forty minutes to get home. I become even wetter, and I knew that I now had no chance of not getting sick (at the moment I'm suffering with a sore throat). And when we arrived at his destination, I received the first thanks in weeks that sounded honest. He shook my hands, told me he could never thank me enough, and that he would repay the favour someday, if he ever has the chance. It wasn't what he said, but the way he said it.

And as a result I'd like to expand my list of words that have lost all meaning due to abuse because of today's society: "Love," "Sorry," and now "Thank you." I try always to only ever use these words when I honestly mean them, and I hope you'll do likewise.

There have been plenty of times that I can think of when "Sorry" might have fixed it, or "Love" might have had a laugh, or "Thanks" would have been custom; but I have refrained from saying it, cause it wasn't what I truly meant.

So what I have I done since my last update?

Well, quite obviously, I had exams. Lots of fun there... Not...

Actually, lunch before exams was kinda awesome, much better than a bread roll, though I don't think eating at a fancy restaurant on Southbank is the best way to revise for Enterprise Engineering... I packed in work wherever possible between exams and I'm making some money now. Well, until uni goes back at least. Money's kinda very handy at the moment, especially with the cost of petrol and our trip away to Jervis Bay.

Trip away was much needed, and I really am glad we went. Had a couple of walks along the beach, and got to see someone special graduate from the Navy. Dyed Al's hair... again... Lounged on the couch, the bed, the floor. Watched Al speed at 130km/h, and listened to Ken get angry at him. Photo's are on Facebook if you'd like to see them. Most are of Izzy marching, which was great to watch, but it does all start to look the same after a few minutes. :P

The Sunset Parade wasn't as loud as I was expecting. Yes, I know that it was loud, and I know that we were told it was going to be extremely loud, but I did actually expect more noise. So I didn't jump out of my skin, like some people did. But watching the whole thing is definitely something I'd watch again (which is why we watched it twice).

And the Passing Out Parade lived up to expectations of people passing out. I think it was five in total. Three honourable mentions here:

1. To the person behind the crunching noise at they hit the ground. It carried quite a distance, and although there was no blood, it was great to hear.
   
2. To the person who passed out, but remained standing. Never seen it before, and probably never will, but serious points for that.
   
3. To Izzy, for swaying, turning pale, and wanting to vomit. You looked like you were next to hit the deck the whole parade, but you stuck through.
   

Overall, I knew where I should have parked my car!

The Ball was... Actually... I don't think there's a word for it, and because I'm in the habit of making words at the moment, I think that the Ball was benourable. Which is sort of like endurable, but only if you knew a portion of the people there. I just spent my time following the one person who might know people, and there was people following me accordingly. We all left early, only because the Ball was starting to get a touch benourable, and we'd be having much more fun at home with movies, coke and vodka.

And then since getting back, I've been back working again, and having quite a few late nights. I'm exhausted, why do you people keep me up so late? (Yes, I want to be asleep at 3.30am). So I'm working on more money before uni goes back, I need to save for a trip away to Hawaii in September. And a new desktop. And just save in general. You can never have too much money saved.

And I got my results today. I'm actually quite impressed. My average would be a distinction, if you balance the high distinction and the credit out. I'm a touch disappointed in my score in Math, but to be fair I don't show any working, so maybe it was deserved. Biggest surprise was Enterprise Engineering, which I'm beginning to think that if I'd actually handed in one preliminary assignment (no, I didn't hand in a single one, they counted for a total of 15%) then my score would have been in the late 90's. So the one class I expected to fail I got a High Distinction in, and the one class I expected to do really well in, I didn't do as well as I thought.

And as much as I hate writing, I'll try to update the blog soon, but I need something to write about first...

Take care, talk soon.

The last thing I wrote for this post (Also known as a title)

So how many people have noticed a lot of my posts arriving on Tuesdays? It's probably because Tuesday is blog-post day!! Or more likely it's cause I'm in Physics lecture... I can listen and type at the same time... Really... Stop laughing, it's true!

Why are you posting this crap James? What's the purpose of this post?

Tell you the truth – I haven't figured it out yet... The title isn't even filled in yet...

Maybe I could just point out something I've noticed this month; like every single Wednesday, Thursday and Friday have been flat-out busy days. I've got up early, and gone to bed late, and been doing things all the time in the middle. This last week of May is no exception to the rule...

Speaking of last weeks, it's the last week of studies here at RMIT before we start SWOT VAC, then exams; so a lot of lecturers are wrapping things up or frantically trying to cram it in. While at the start of May my entire June was planned to be empty, except for four days with exams; it's now also packed, with exams interrupted by work, lots of work. This will be nice – because work equals money which can be directly converted to petrol, the quantity of which is inversely proportional to how much work I do. In other words, I'm working so I can fill up my car and get to work. The left over 5c I'll take with me on my trip away at the end of June.

Am I exaggerating? Not really. I just put $120 in my wallet to fill up my car this afternoon, and Tuesdays are (relatively) cheap and my car uses less petrol than a lawnmower. Which is definitely a good thing – my next car will be a Hybrid or something else eco-friendly, even if more expensive, and regardless of how much less power I'll get. I'm not interested in having a powerful, beefy (manly?) car if it means I'll need to take out a loan just to pay for petrol.

And who pours oil onto glass nowadays (see? I can pay attention to my Physics lecture)? Yes, I know that it's only theoretical, and yes I know we're using it to figure out the wavelength of light; but there are better ways of doing it than glass, oil, a ruler and a protractor.

It's amazing how little stationary you need for uni – all I have is one pen and a sharpie (which is only here cause you'll never know when you might need one). Maybe it's just cause I'm doing engineering, and it's all either on the computer (MAT-ha-LAB) or written in a lab book (consistent eights, interrupted by a nine, anyone?).

Well, if I ramble any longer then I'll be left here in the room alone after everyone leaves. Yes, it took me a whole hour to write all that. I'm slow and writing, and even when I know what I want to say, the words only dribble out. If I write fast then usually every other word is completely unrelated to the first, and sentences would just sound really shotty... Ok, maybe that one already did... Sigh...

Keep in touch people, hearing from you is always great; especially when I need the break from staring at my programming like a shit-chucking ape.

Whoa... Busy!

Yeah, I've been busy with this, that and the other; hence a lack of updates. Basically, I blame uni for making me this busy. I only know one person that has more hours than me, and that's Luke, so he's the only one allowed to complain that I have it easy.

Quick summary of everything since the start of March:

• Uni started, you noticed from the last post.
• Izzy's birthday; she got shoes – lots of paper ones and one real pair.
• Anniversary.
• Mid-semester break, before I had even figured out this whole uni thing. Apparently, I'm halfway through the semester.
• Izzy came home for Easter, and lots of fun times ensued.
• I took a break from hospital this year, and decided that rolling round on the ground in pain can be left till later.
• Back to uni; and found that I wasn't halfway through, but only at the start still.
• Earth Hour; which I ended up leaving my lights off all night, cause I was having too much fun burning things to look at the time.
• Some other stuff that I've told myself doesn't need to be placed online, because it doesn't concern but a very limited few of you; but if you want a hint, it relates to last March.

That's basically it for the time being; if something interesting happens, like a bomb threat, I'll leave it for someone else to describe.

I'm going to go back to paying attention to this Physics lecture now...

Little Fish, Big Pond

A long time ago, just over thirteen years ago in fact, I began something new... I was a little fish in a big pond...

As time went by I got bigger and eventually I was the big fish in this little pond, and of course saw lots of tiny little fish join my pond over time, remembering a long time ago that was me...

One day, I was scooped up, and placed in a new, bigger pond, more of a pool in fact, as I had outgrown my old one... Once again, I was a little fish in a big pond... I started to get big for this pond too, and I played with the edge of the waterfall. In 2004, I slipped over the edge of the waterfall, as did the rest of the fishes my size, and landed in a bigger pond still, a lake...

Feeling even smaller, I worked hard to grow over the next few years...

I made friends with similar fish and swam in the same, similar part of the lake. Occasionally we'd visit other lakes, and make new fishy friends. Once again, last year in fact, I grew too big for the pond, a pond which I now knew as a part of me...

Today I was scooped up once again by the mysterious hand of time, and thrown, not into a lake-sized pond, but into the ocean. I'm once again the smallest fish in the pond (ocean, yeah whatever, I like the word pond ok?). My fishy friends from the assorted ponds, pools and lakes have been spread far and wide; some swimming under the same pier as me, some in the same patch of seaweed; some have been thrown deeper, and have to deal with slightly bigger fishys, sharks even; one has even been thrown over to New South Wales (technically ACT, but again, I'm too tired after today's first ocean swimming lesson to care).

On a completely unrelated note, I'll tell you about my first day of university now. That sound like a good story?

Right, well getting there was shockingly easy, even with Connex, only four minutes late really... And now that I'm aware that RMIT has elevators, I don't have to climb thirteen floors like Spiderman... First up was MATH2160, which is taught by one of my favourite kinds of teachers: the fast, no-bullshit, ain't slowing down for nobody ones... Well, like a said, he's fast, and can be a little difficult to decipher with that accent sometimes, but I went to Haileybury, so I'm trained in the art of multi-lingual English... Overall, I can see how he'll be great, but he and I have slightly different views on Mathematics. While I call it the absolute value of x (absolute x), he calls it the modulus function of x (mod x). Yeah, both correct, both just as easy to write, but I can tell he and I will get into marking issues over it... And another one: turns out VCAA doesn't teach Methods right. VCAA: log = log base 10. The rest of the world: log = ln. So what the hell VCAA? Teach us correctly! Take me a while to figure this new one out... On the plus side, this course looks like it will be Methods 1/2/3/4, Spesh 1/2/3/4, all wrapped up in a nice little 6 month bundle, which is what I always wanted to do with it...

Hour break, far too long, followed by: EEET2246 (some sort of Computer Science Engineering). Now this lecture is taken by one of those funny teachers: "Hey, been teaching this subject for 15 years now, shit then, shit now, do your best." Have to agree with the "shit now" part. Figured it out when he put 1 * 0 = 1 on the board. C'mon... Seriously... Anyway, two components that we'll start with: Matrices (I found these easy in year 10, I find them easy now, can I skip class?), and Excel Spreadsheets (you can tell that this'll be another subject that you want to skip when he hardly knows how to use it in his examples...). Sigh... Maybe the next class will be more productive...

So I walk into EEET2247 (Enterprise Engineering, don't worry, I had just as much as no idea as you do now) and find the room is filled with people on computers... It was a Lab, so I was sorta more expecting so be sitting at a workbench with scratches and burns from assorted tools, but instead the room is filled with people that looked a lot older than me... So I just stood up the back (I walked in through the front) and waited for something exciting to happen. A slightly overweight (delicate James, delicate... You never know who might read this one day...) woman walked in and barked (sounded like a loud whisper actually): "This is a lab, everybody out now..." Considering I was expecting a lab to be, well, more laboratory like, I kinda just thought she was crazy... She ended up getting the class started and told us to log onto Blackboard and open our assignment. Mixed bag of results. Some people could log on, some people could open Blackboard, and some (very few) could find this mystical assignment... Then she barked (whispered): "Form a team of four." As always, I just kept it simple and looked at the people next to me and provided that nod of "you'll do..." After the room had assigned groups our instructions were given (if you could hear them). I didn't hear them, so we just sat there and assessed the possible data, before providing an abstract solution to the problem at hand (see? I learnt something today! How to solve stuff engineering style!). Then several more people rocked up, and we got a blast about being late to class... Now I know it wasn't me who was late, and I know that I despise people who are late, but seriously woman, that's the WHOLE point of uni: to turn up (or fail to turn up) to classes at whichever time you choose... Yes, if people turn up late and disrupt the class, you have a right to tell them to piss off, but they were only ten minutes late, and you have no clue where they might have some from. Class settles; lady speaks up (now an hour into class): "You should be using Microsoft Office Project."

Ok, never heard of it me, but I find it quickly and stare blankly at my screen... You want me to make a timeline? The hell? So as a team, we plot how we will manage our time on Project over the next two weeks (which reminds me, feel free to change the due date anytime you wish... Anytime! Honestly! Doesn't piss me off at all! Just why the hell would you change the date at the last minute?). SO we plotted our timeline of time management, and she speaks up (she was close, so we could hear her). Turns out we were supposed to be plotting our timeline for this mystical engineering project with some sort of crazy invisible engineering team and some fruity unlimited quantity of cash over some spastic timescale, a year... So we (the entire class) spent an hour and a half doing the wrong thing, without any indication from silent to telling us we were doing something wrong... So in twenty minutes we manage to begin to pull some crazy contraption out of our asses (mosquito repelling alarm clock, powered by batteries, and made cheap, for third world countries) and begin a timeline. Time! So I log off and my team heads out the door while I put pens away. Silent comes up to me, asking to see the work we'd done today. So I was forced to log back in... Sigh just doesn't cut it...

And then when I got to my platform Connex decided it had been too nice to me this morning and decided to punish me by diverting ALL Eastern suburb traffic through my platform, my line. Squashed on the train. Got abused and attacked my some old lady who wanted to get past me, towards the seats that were clearly packed and already full of elderly...

Some days I just feel like a fish... Swimming in an ocean...