If I could sum up my week in one word, that word would be "strenuous". Trying to catch up on work while at the same time working on three separate showcases can be so draining. In fact this week I could really feel my health deteriorating. Goes to show how I should really be more up to date with course material. I'm not complaining about doing three showcases, but I am starting to regret it. Two I can most likely handle but yes, it would have been more pleasant to have a close friend to do it with. Well what's done is done. The best course of action would be to push on and give it my all. And maybe next time don't bite more than I can chew.
As we reach the end of the week, I can say that a night of relaxing and procrastination is in order. It's always good to remove any stress.
Speaking of relaxing, Sunday was Emily's fifteenth birthday party which she held at Bicentennial Park.
I woke up at 8:15, thank you by the way, after having little sleep last night. How I was able to go to the city so early is a miracle. I met up with Elena, Jibbie and Yuki and we then took the bus to the park. Dan, David and Kelvin were the frontmen for the cooking of the food. The secret ingredient of the day was butter. Lots and lots of butter. Surprisingly not many activities were done during most of the day. It was mostly chill and everyone was pretty much being social and eating food. I took photos and also let Whitney take her famous artistic photos. Some of them were really good (wink) and some were questionable if you actually took them on purpose. Later in the day, bull rush was played. I ended up getting grass stains on my pants and a bandage on my finger. I'm so good at games.
It was time for History practice so we went back to Crossover. So much formation work was done and in the end it actually looked okay. Then it was crew practice and we worked till very late and we were all very tired and hungry. We went to Eating World were the real Japanese place was still open. Good thing because if it weren't I probably wouldn't have eaten anything. After dinner the rest of us headed off to Central and I took train with Huy as my train buddy.
I'm not much of a fan of __. Especially the __ part. I wish I could express my feelings on it in more detail but right now I just can't find the words. (I need to go to sleep)
First day back from the mid semester break and I just remembered I have a lab in the afternoon on Buffers that is to be graded. Just my luck. Break time is over.
Also, is it even possible to get past the Rock Tunnel without FLASH?
Perhaps I was wrong about things. Maybe it is best after all to follow my principles. When I think about it, I feel I was being selfish.
I'm in a forest. Except everything is now destroyed. At the moment I disregard the cause whatever it may be. I only feel sorrow on the loss of what was once beautiful.
Surprising how when you realise the lyrics of songs turn out to be in English. Because you could hardly tell until you actually read it in text form. I also just watch the live performance of Teen Top's Supa Luv and the same thing happened again. Sometimes I wish I could unread that stuff. But then again now I can sing along with bad pronunciation also! Maybe I should stop assuming that every word sung is in Korean.
Last night, my brother bought a copy of the Japanese animation Summer Wars. So instead of study I watched that instead. It's a science fiction where the internet plays a vital role in everything. I wish I could say literally everything but it comes pretty close. But anyways, socially awkward Kenji somehow ends up doing a favour for a girl he likes but is a stranger to, because you know, he's a nerd. So socially awkward Kenji ends up in the most socially awkward situation. He has to spend a few days with Natsuki's huge family as they have a reunion for a birthday in their family summer house. Why? Because Natsuki's character is far from socially awkward that she's willing to get a total stranger to pose as her boyfriend. Yep you heard that right. Also those who have seen the Digimon movie would recognise the style of the internet social network in this movie.
I liked the movie, it had an decent storyline, genuine characters and a good artistic style. Too bad my brother insisted on watching it in the English dub. So maybe after a while when the movie is no longer fresh in my head I'll watch the subbed version.
I woke up this morning with nobody at home, except my pet bird who was in his cage minding his own business. So whenever I walk pass the cage I'd have a really light conversation with him. Because you know, I'm totally not lonely like that.
I made my way to the studio where we watched EXO's MAMA music video. Despite bad English it's a pretty good song and dance. Do it as showcase? Maybe, it would be more challenging than the other songs previously planned.
Whitney was playing this iPhone game where the objective is to solve puzzles and open the door in each level. It was pretty fun and though it was really short. When I got it on my own phone I already finished it before dinner. So much for having something to keep me busy when I'm bored. It needs more levels!
History workshop time. I think we're getting better. Though I totally missed a part and now I'm screwed until I learn it myself till next class. Though apparently we're going to be focusing on the first part for showcase, so practices will be done. Should I do the showcase? I can think of reasons not to, but if IJGK people do it then I wouldn't mind.
Afterwards I had to leave to go have dinner with my brother and parents all the way in Star City so I had to walk all the way there. When we were done we drove back home and during the ride I went to sleep. When we arrived home I proceeded to take another nap because apparently I have a thing for naps. Shower was then had and now we are full circle.
I felt like I should blog about this. I was checking out my traffic sources for this blog. I found that my main source is still through the crew page. Something that also caught my eye was that there were keywords, specifically "Taemin so you dorito" I guess someone was looking those words up on google or something. So I tried it myself.
I'm the first search result! (excluding video pages)
That is pretty cool. Now I know how Dan feels when his blog became the source for the Cry Cry video.
Today I went to the dentist for my regular check up. I had my teeth cleaned and then covered in fluoride. So that was an awkward thirty minutes. I trained it back home from Cabramatta station and on arrival of home, I took a random nap. I woke up and found that nobody was home. Not the most pleasant feeling. But turns out my dad was out the front cleaning his car and my mother was gone to pick up my brother from tuition.
I suppose I should study. Tomorrow is Sunday which means possible rehearsals and taking History class. I'm still uncertain if I should continue the workshop. Well the convenience of it being on Sunday is there. At least it's not on any other day or I'd be really lazy to go out of my way.
This week I kind of felt demotivated a little. Just a little. Halfway through the week I started having thoughts such as "what's the point of doing all this?" and "will you be able to keep this up all year? In fact, how do you know what you're doing right now is enough?" Despite already experiencing university last year, I still feel uncertainty. I was never examined other than assessments. I would usually sleep through or even skip lectures, and still be fine. My result that semester was a credit average. With mid-semester exams around the corner, I'm glad it's coming. If I do good, then keep up the good work. If I do badly, then it will be a huge wake up call to work harder. Either way I'll be grateful to either outcomes. I guess what I really need is motivation, a thing to drive me constantly and never stopping. But right now, I need a few moments of rest to get me back on my feet.
Tuesday I took my first test. Sure I've done online/computer tests, but this was more serious. A fifty minute mathematics test, where we sat with IDs on our table and such, I haven't had that feeling since high school. The test was easy, I knew how to go about solving them, except the last question. I didn't see that type of question in the past tests so it took me a minute to remember what type of question it was and go about solving it. I guess now it comes down to how many mistakes I've made doing the arithmetic.
Today is the start of the break and I ended up waking up late. Eventually after a bit of reading I made my way to Crossover for popping class. Unlike normal class it was full routine. I guess I should practice some more. But first I should get the song first. Afterwards was random You and I practice. Then Yuki and Elena were really fired up to go to dinner. We ate at Takeru and luckily we had a table the instant we got there. Afterwards we went to the playground near Darling Harbour. Funny enough, we didn't go to the playground but instead went to get gelato and go all the way back to the studio. Ellyn was still there and after a bit, the others came back from their dinner. People were doing rolls and we did some jamming. On a related note, I want you guys to make a video cover with that hat. And we'll add Doritos somewhere too. I'm sure a certain two people on youtube will find it hilarious ;)
A certain someone has been trying to get me to watch Titanic. I did watch it, just that I was so young I completely disregarded it. All I remember was the obvious ship hitting an iceberg and the famous soundtrack by Celine Dion. This movie is going to be rereleased in cinemas in 3D. I'm impersonal about 3D but I decided to watch the trailer.
That was really nostalgic, not to mention intense.
Maybe I will watch it. Depends on if I have time. Also another movie coming out is The Avengers. I've seen every Marvel Universe movie and all those movies were pretty much leading to this. Speaking of superhero crossover movies this new movie from Dreamworks caught my attention.
Santa with a Russian accent? I'm sold.
Since How To Train Your Dragon Dreamworks have met the quality of Pixar's movies. Will this one continue that trend? I'll read the reviews when they come out. With Hugh Jackman as the Easter Bunny I already have high hopes.
I have a dental appointment tomorrow morning, so I should sleep as soon as this is posted. Also this popped into my head just now, I'm sure some of you will like it.
I could write about my uni week. But that would be incredibly tedious. So highlights:
I'm now behind my pre-labs so for my next lab I'll need to fill it out them before class on Monday.
Tuesday was our last BABS lab before having a break. So sad. Going to miss all the shenanigans.
In one of the maths lectures, the first half I was so sleepy until they started talking about coding messages which I instantly had the energy to pay the upmost attention. Funny how my brain works.
In Friday's math tutorial there's a person who sits next to me most of the time. Only today did we properly introduce each other. Though I already knew her name since she lent me her calculator this one time. I'm not a stalker, cause her name was easy to remember. Her name was Carmen and she gave me an asian cookie. Such a nice gesture.
I didn't do Sherlock, mainly because of Lay's showcase. But apparently he wasn't ready yet cause he was studying. He still needed to pick an song so class was just foundation stuff of moves that we'd be likely to use in showcase. Afterwards I watched the others do Sherlock. They didn't get to first chorus. Though the beginning was pretty good actually. I think too much effort was put in the beginning which is why not much got covered.
I'm starting to like Sherlock more because of one word (refer to above image). Also I find it all the more amusing that Taemin is wearing a poncho. If I ever perform Sherlock, I'm going throw doritos at people when it's Taemin's part.
Saturday was the anticipated live audition. We walked to this place which I will now refer to as Better EC. We had final practice on grass and afterwards we went our way to the studio.
What can I say about the other auditions? Speaking objectively as I can, I don't think the singers were that good. When they sang I didn't really feel the energy or emotion. They just sang. I mean if you want to wow people, incorporate body language into your words. Though my personal favourite was David and that other guy. I really liked when the guy sang Daesung's long note. But I think they should have picked a better song. They moved around pretty well and they had an alright presence.
In the dance section, the bboy group was cool, but the bboy parts were too generic, when you do bboy, you can only compare it to other bboys, and most of them do much better. Though the Jay Park part was good, since Jay is a bboy also. Of the dance crews, I think Project 4D and the bboy group were the best of out of them all. Notice how I didn't talk about IJGKd, that's because I'd be bias about it.
Afterwards we celebrated by forcing Ruby to skip studies and have dinner with us. We had Malaysian food which was pretty good. Afterwards others went to get yogurt. In this store, you had to pay by weight. Pretty sure there's a way to get the most amount of food using matrix equations, but that would mean actually doing math in real life.
For the first time since ever, I had a train ride home with people. (I sound like such a loner). Huy was playing an RPG and we were named after the characters. Reminded me of the time Kelvin and I were looking for MMO's to play. Sad that we didn't make it far with that. Dan suggested Runescape. Realistically that's actually the best we can do, since some of us either has running issues, or bad internet.
Instead of getting a lift home, I decided to walk home. Because I could feel more awake and think clearly. I glad I did cause on the way home there was fireworks nearby and I was able to look at them.
Oh hey I've written enough for Monday to be it's own post. I guess I'll publish it.
Monday Last week I forgot to take my calculator, this week I forgot to put my pencil case in my bag so I was pen-less and calculator-less for the day. I swear Monday doesn't want me doing work, even though I get to campus over an hour early because first class starts at 12:00 and I rather spend my mornings getting some work done. Luckily Elena lent me a calculator and pen. I spent the hour doing maths in the library. People sat next to me were annoying. Annoying because they wouldn't stop talking and their vocabulary was rubbish. I enjoyed how they were annoyed by another talking group. At least those guys were talking about school work.
Chemistry lecture was good. Learnt about a new atomic model known as the Valance Bond Theory. I'm still sketchy but I'll get it eventually. I'm sure the worksheets require me to use it anyway.
In BABS we talked about metabolism. In that lecture they talked about ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) Which they happen to explain now, despite me seeing it used constantly in the previous lectures with it being defined. The lecturer wanted a volunteer to use ATP, which I volunteered for. For ten seconds I lifted up and down two Biology textbooks (which of course were massive) as fast as I could for ten seconds. Then she asked how much ATP I used up. People made guesses but I think my answer was the 'best' (hint: What does the scouter say?). The actual answer was 100 million. Feeling scammed of using my ATP she reimbursed me with chocolate.
Chem lab was good. Last week I didn't get my titration experiment marked off. Now I did and turns out I got a pretty accurate result, I was off by 0.002. Not bad I must say. The lab was on intermolecular forces. Luckily you can't really mess this up. Even the vapour pressure was done by computer simulation. It was good that I went through the lab sheet and went over the theory, which meant I got through it a whole lot faster, minimal questions asked. Also I'm starting to make friends with the people on my table. Which is good cause now we can compare results! Not the guy on my right though. I've already labelled him as a slacker and I don't really want anything to do with him.
I also should note that throughout the day, I had a cold. Like I had a runny nose non-stop through the day. I'm glad that campus has a shop for pocket tissues. During lab was the worst I could not go two minutes without having to blow my nose.
I wonder if the guys at Crossover have this much "fun"
It's week 4! And a slightly different layout to my blog
Monday
Got to uni and forgot to bring my calculator with me. Which was a shame cause I intended to work on maths exercises, which involves calculators the most. I ended up borrowing Carmen's but only got an hour's worth of work done.
Our chemistry lecture was alright. It was about Lewis electron dot diagrams and how we make them from scratch. Needs a bit of getting used to but other than that it was relatively easy. Also the lecturer was testing out a system where the students use Twitter and they would tweet questions and stuff. And no surprise, there were troll posts. In fact I think over half the posts were troll posts. I think the idea was dumb, unless they somehow remove the anonymity of it.
The BABS lecture was... non existent. The lecturer didn't show up.
Chem lab was both good and bad. Good as in it was easy. Bad as in I messed up a few things which in the end made me finish much later than everyone else. My demonstrator ended up postponing checking my results till next week. It was that bad haha.
Holy crap Technika 3 is out. I need to find time to play it. The reason why I'm excited is because it's the first version to have well known Kpop in it. Well just one band but it's pretty good.
Tuesday
BABS lab was full of fun with looking at microscopic beings. Too bad my knowledge of cells sucks. Also our demonstrator chatted with me and Norman about videogames. Such an awesome demonstrator. Note to self, I should definitely go over the basics of cells. I feel like biology was assumed knowledge when it isn't.
Normally I would have my favourite four hour break but it was cut down by crashing Carmen's lecture on cell integrity since it turned out there was a miscommunication on Monday's lecture stream. It was actually understandable which was rare for me. Maybe because it was just about a simple specific part of a cell and not something extremely broad like domains... Also the word of the day is permeable.
Math tutorial was last and in that time I had finally done all the exercises that was talked about during lectures so I'm set for a while in terms of maths.
Wednesday
Maths lecture was alright, nothing much to say here.
Chemistry was alright. Talking about lewis diagrams and etc. It's easy at the start, but then there's the more complex questions that require going back to quantum theory. I should probably pay more attention to what the lecturer says, cause the slides are unhelpful most times on their own.
I didn't go to dance because I had to go meet with my partner to do an interview on. In the end I ended up with more information than needed which was good cause I'd easily break that 600 word limit on my biography.
Thursday
Typical uni day. No need for boredom.
Friday
SCIF tutorials. You never know what to expect. This time we went through our homework which involved a lot of reading science articles, writing our own and editing bad ones. I learned a lot on the details which I didn't pick up on with the editing homework. We had time on the end so our tutor showed us really random journal articles including one that suggested magic was a genetic trait based on Harry Potter. The reference list even included all of the Harry Potter books. There was also one about how to effectively do a comb over for a balding head. Science.
Went to Crossover to do popping, turned out that practice for Upstaged starts next week, but Lay ended up teaching foundations that would most likely be in the choreo.
Since I missed out on Wednesday I had to start picking up the beginning of She's Back. It took me awhile and I still haven't started the first verse yet. Luckily I have a bit of time.
Saturday
Due to increasing demand (from one person) I got my hair cut. Personally I don't like having short hair, but now I've reached the age where I don't mind anymore, in fact, it's nice to not deal with hair in my face for now.
Afterwards I headed over to the city for rehearsals. Holy crap the train was so much nicer than the other one. Formations were improved as well as deciding on a second performance.
On the way home I found out that my family wasn't home yet so I had to walk from the station. Before leaving I figured I could use something to help me not be lazy studying before bed so I bought a can of Mother from the vending machine. (Note: never buy from the vending machine unless you have no other alternative). I ended up doing work while casually web surfing till 5:00.
Sunday
Oh hindsight. I ended up sleeping in for an hour so when I got up I had no time for a proper meal. luckily I shaved some time off by asking my father for a lift. I made it to Crossover and caught the class just after stretching. So when you've had minimal sleep combined with no food what do you get? Well for me it was fatigue and not being able to move my limbs properly. If I was better I would have learnt it much better, but no my body couldn't follow so that was a pain.
After class I headed straight for Mappen and got a large bowl of udon and some tea to help me up. I can say it worked well for me. Afterwards we all went to Market City for lunch/looking for accessories. While everyone was eating I decided to go to Galaxy World and play DjMax Technika 3. The game mechanics are the same and they have all the songs from the previous game as well as new songs. I ended up playing Step, Play the Future and Mister.
When everyone finished eating we looked at the dollar shop next door and had a lot of fun playing with all the stuff there. People ended up buying eyepatches, pirate hats and chains. On the way back I decided to get some gelato cause I was craving some. Ellyn suggested blood orange and lemon. I got blood orange which was really nice as well as mango cause I still think mango is an awesome gelato flavour. I'll try lemon next time.
Afterwards was heaps of training. I think our main one is getting there. It's very exciting. Reminiscent of SM Town preparations. Didn't Jaye say he wanted to wipe the floor with everyone on that event? Let's do it again this time. I missed a call from my parents saying that they were in city and asked me to eat with them. Being the lazy and cheap person I am I agreed and we had sushi at near World Square.
I slept on the drive home, then when I arrived home I went to my room and napped again for half an hour. And in that half an hour I had a vivid dream. You can tell it's one of those dreams that represent your inner thoughts. It was uncomfortable to say the least, but also enlightening. I woke up and my brother showed me a music video from an old band called 4 Non Blondes. The song was called What's Up. The reason why was because the song was used in this other video which he's obsessed with. And I can see why.
