Here we go again...

So, once again, stuvac is upon us. And we all know what that means... That's right, studying! *insert nervous cough here*. Or not. It should mean studying. After all, stuvac is short for study vacation (which is a pretty crappy vacation really). Quite frankly, I have selective thinking which means I'm perfectly capable of ignoring things I don't like and that means the 'study' part of stuvac. I've spent the past couple of days staring at various screens. Re-watching the Godfather trilogy because it's just total awesomeness (even the much maligned third one is pretty good compared to most of the junk at cinemas these days), staring mindlessly at my computer minotor in the hope that someone will start some inane conversation with me on MSN or staring at my DS screen as I try to solve the increasingly bizarre cases in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. The one thing I should be staring at but haven't been is the pile of lecture notes and textbooks on my desk (okay, I lie. The books were on my desk. They are now in a nice tidy pile in the corner of my room.)

Other activities that I have partaken in in a desperate attempt to avoid having to do any sort of study include:

• purchasing and constructing a large bookshelf (in hindsight, it would have been easier to construct it in my room rather than just outside my room. I figured it'd be easier since it was a bit roomier outside.)
  
• arranging all the junk in my room onto said bookshelf (which entailed sifting through the piles of junk which had accumulated in my old shelves, and arranging my books and dvds in alphabetical order)
• vacuuming the house (twice)
• playing one man scrabble (which is even geekier than playing scrabble with someone else)
• arranging my deck of uno cards (by number, by colour, and by alphabetical order)
• arranging my deck of playing cards
• attempting to juggle cutlery... and failing miserably
• wandering down to the local shopping centre for no reason in particular
• sleeping (one of my personal favourites)
• reading the dozen odd books on my shelf that I bought but never got around to reading, none of which are related to what I'm doing at uni
  
• thinking of ways to avoid having to do any real study

Smiling Like An Idiot

Just a short list of ten things that have made me smile lately to remind myself that happiness comes in all forms.

1. Playing attorney and yelling "OBJECTION!" loudly into my DS speaker. Feels amazingly wonderful to do this regardless of what sorts of odd looks people give me.
2. The tour t-shirt that reminds me that I saw Linkin Park live at the Sydney Entertainment centre.
3. The ringing in my ears that reminds me of just how damn awesome the concert was.
4. Physically getting my hands on one of those skilltester machine claws which was stupid enough to stray down into the prize chute. Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera on me that day but it was smilingly good fun none the less.
5. Seeing my little cousins again, who are no longer so little.
   
6. Taking a nap under the jacaranda tree in the quad. Without being shot at by campus security.
7. The various stuffed toys I've won from Capitol Square, including a a pair of mushroom slippers, a Yoshi, and a Garfield in wedding gear.
8. Strolling through Victoria Park by myself in light rain.
9. The fourth season of House on TV without a several month delay behind US airing.
10. Thinking about the stupid grin I will have on my face as I desperately try to complete my NaNoWriMo entry for this year with only hours to spare.
    

It's been a while...

Yes, it has been a rather long lay off between blog posts. Apologies to anybody who still checks here in the hope of seeing something new but I really have been up to my neck in preoccupations or otherwise having no access to a computer. Let me recap what it is I've been up to the last month and a bit.

Mid-ish September: working on English assignment, working on psychology report (I don't even recall which one anymore, I think it was something to do with randomness), and planning my birthday party/bbq (which turned out rather comically. I'll explain later).

Sep. 26 - Oct. 1: flew down to Melbourne over the mid-semester break for my cousin's wedding. Spent most of the time playing pool and baby sitting little cousins. Only had access to a computer with functioning internet and time to myself for about half an hour.

Oct. 2 - now: frantically working on essays and reports galore. English essay due first day back from Melbourne, philosophy essay due last Wednesday, social psychology report due last Friday and cognitive psychology report due yesterday.

Anyway, as most of you know (and probably don't care) my birthday was on September 23 and I figured it'd be a good idea to have a bit of a bbq/party thingy to celebrate. Since I couldn't be bothered cleaning up my house afterwards (I was up until 3 or 4 cleaning up after NYE last year) I opted to have it at Bicentennial Park. Problem: I failed to account for the stupidly large number of people who would be there due to the start of school holidays. Damn kids. As a result of this lack of foresight on my behalf, we were unable to find a usable bbq. Fortunately, Haidang's place wasn't too far away so we just crashed his place and highjacked his bbq for the afternoon. Many thanks for that, buddy. Hope we didn't leave too much of a mess. A very late thanks also to everyone who chipped in for the wonderful presents (which included a funky clock with pigs on it, a can of instant coffee packets, Shakespeare's complete works in one volume, a copy of Pan's Labyrinth, King Kong computer game, 'A congaline of suckholes', 'A short history of nearly everything, a single Toad slipper, a few boxes of chocolate, two bottles of wine, and a bottle of whiskey). Unfortunately, I misplaced the list of who gave me what but you know who you are and I love you all *eyes water*. What? I'm not crying... *blows nose*.

Not much to report about my trip to Melbourne except that despite the weather being utterly miserable from the moment I got off the plane, it managed to hold out and play (mostly) nice for my cousin's big day. Everybody looked absolutely beautiful, especially Ken and Carol (the groom and bride, respectively). As Linh (my other cousin, getting married in January) observed, "No matter who's wedding it is, it's always just our side of the family up there dancing the whole night". The only other thing worthy of mention is that Jetstar is shit. Not only do they not feed you or give you headsets for the flight, the airport they use in Melbourne (Avalon) is an utter shitbox about an hour away from anything remotely resembling civilisation. And by shitbox, I mean it's a warehouse with a runway attached to it.

Assignments... well, I left them all to the last minute as always. And they were all packed full of bullshitty goodness. Despite frequently telling myself that I would not leave things to the last minute and do the research etc., I'm still concocting bullshit and getting away with it. And as long as I'm getting away with it, I see no real reason to change. Old habits die hard.

Anyway, I'll be back tomorrow after House to blog a bit more. Hopefully about something more interesting than my dreary life. 'Till then, ye faithful...