If We Only Die Once, I Wanna Die With You

[Something I Need – OneRepublic]

As of yesterday, I’m being taught and trained to make coffees at our cafe as well! This is very exciting because once I’m taught coffee (and become proficient at it), I’m basically able to take care of the whole store (to a degree, I suppose). RESPONSIBILITIES! It also means that I’m expected to work a lot faster than I used to, and to be able to look after other coworkers and help them out. A little daunting, I admit, but the prospect of power just sizzles me with excitement.

Also, I found out that I picked up the basics quite easily, and now it’s a matter of practice, practice, and more practice, until I become as fast as my supervisors, and make beautiful coffees too.

That’s just a small update on what’s been happening since last week. I’ve been playing Pokemon Y, obviously. The game is astonishing and it mostly hit everything I expected, and considering I was building my own hype for about 8 months, it would have been near impossible for the game to actually match my expectations. As always, my slow playing habits mean that everyone who I play with are ages ahead of me, and the battles I do with them are very one-sided, but I won’t let that detract from my enjoyment of my little piece of gem.

I’m also been accepted and offered a place in the courses that I applied for! Now it’s a matter of accepting the offers myself, applying for student loans and whatnot, and getting all ready for conscientious studying. If I learned anything from all the time I spend at work now, it’s that I’m fully capable of not just learning the basics but being really good at it, as long as I put my whole mind to it. I don’t know, though, I mean there are all sorts of new games to play in 2014!!!

On Saturday, Mela and I went to a friend’s birthday party in Essendon, and it was her first time driving into the city. The way home was extremely scary for both of us, because there were lots of cars, and we didn’t know the way at all, and was blindly following the GPS which repeatedly told us to merge into wrong lanes, so she was doing scary turns out of lanes last second. I think it will be a while before she’s confident enough to drive in the city, but for the most part she’s a very capable driver! Maybe I should brush up on navigating skills…

Also, today I shouted my parents lunch. I don’t know about you, but in my family, as I am the only child, there aren’t many times when I buy my parents things – they’re also the kind of parents who don’t really want things bought for them. So today we went to a new Japanese restaurant that opened and I footed the bill. Felt pretty good!

I’m heading off to sleep now, because tomorrow/today is my Dad’s birthday, and we’re having people over. That means I need to clean up my spread of junk food and USB cables since my little corner in the house is actually the entertainment area.

I’ll try to blog again soon, mostly because I feel like I should. But also because lately Serena and I haven’t been talking, and maybe if I blog she and I can discuss my posts. That may be optimistic.

Alex.

But When You’re With Me, I’ll Make You Believe

[Moves Like Jagger – Maroon 5 ft Christina Aguilera]

Strange to be coming back to a habit which I used to have everyday. I read somewhere that 21 days make a habit, so here’s to 21 days of a new habit.

My comeback’s comeback’s comeback (did I count that right?) comes on the heels of a different direction that I’m taking in my life. Namely, that I’m going back onto the same direction that I was (hoping to be) heading towards this time last year.

Bar the stroke of depressing inspiration from the post prior, my life had taken a creative standstill. After graduation, I attempted to continue writing, but the lure of an obligation-free lifestyle took me in too far, and I found myself sitting at the tail end of May with nothing to show for it but working two 3-hour shifts a week, and taking benefits from the government (which isn’t something I’m complaining about). And while every day I told myself that I’d get right on it – ‘it’ being the first step towards a proper ‘life’, i.e. applying for writing/media jobs more seriously (more seriously than occasionally contacting some small publishing company about internships), or at least have a plan sketched out – it was simply more relaxing to watch old episodes of Buffy and gorge myself on Daredevil comics. I started and semi-abandoned two different writing projects, as well as a movie review blog idea which I’ve also heaped into a folder on my USB titled “Microsoft Docs”, the polite sign at the gate that is the graveyard of my creativity spurs.

So when June came whizzing around, I accepted a job at a local cafe, which offered me up to 20+ hours a week of working – and hard working, too. My paychecks started holding much bigger numbers, and I told myself that this was obviously my next step, since it was  next to impossible to find a job in the media these days (especially if I didn’t try), and at least I’m earning some seed money for when I take a step away from the ledge and start doing work for no money – an inevitable step.

Then, the other week, I reconnected with an old friend. She’s the kind of person who would ask about you out of the kindness of her heart, but not take a wishy-washy answer as fact and move on. She pressed why I didn’t have a proper plan, and even went so far as to contact an acquaintance of her own who works in the media, just to ask for how I can get started.

So I dug up my old internet bookmarks where I’d stashed away a few post-grad courses I’d been looking at in my final year of undergrad studying. I semi-made up my mind that I should return to study, if not only for the practical experience that those courses will provide for to fatten my port-folio. I sounded my ideas off of Amelia, who immediately seized on the fact that for the past half a year I’d done naught to further my own career, and guilt-tripped me into doing something about it. Granted, she told me to just go and properly look for a job, but I reviewed my own state of mind, and felt that perhaps I wasn’t ready to look for the job, but instead should study for it. If this would be a vain exercise to put off shouldering responsibilities…well, time will tell.

In any case, I’d applied for and am in the process of being accepted for a Masters in Media. I’d like to think I’d be one of the gap-year-taking older students (although, considering this is a post-grad degree, I just may be one of the youngest anyway) who studies above and beyond the requirement and partake in all class discussions.

600 words in: excellent. I should have weeded out the people who didn’t really care about my ramblings, and am left with Serena. Hi Serena, are you still reading this?

Much like the gag on Family Guy, I’m a writer who needs people to know I’m writing. I haven’t gone as far as to go into a cafe and bring my laptop, although if I am to work and study at the same time next year, it just may happen out of necessity.

So, Serena, please continue reading.

Yesterday was the annual Social Night, an event held by the SAMA club, or the anime club of Monash Uni. Amelia is a committee member this year, and she worked hard for the event. I’m not one for photo-blogging, but here is a glimpse of what the table settings that she designed looked like (if you click on the link).

The event was smaller than last year, but it was still extremely entertaining. Maybe it was because I know how hard Amelia worked for the event, but I felt it was more intimate.

Serena snuck a bottle of vodka into the party, and became the producer/enabler for most of the drunken behavior last night.

The night was capped by a rousing Happy Birthday for Amelia, who turned 21 at midnight after the event. I look at her, and sometimes I’m astonished to realize I’ve been with her for 2 years, which simultaneously feel like no time at all, and yet I can’t remember what I used to do without her in my life (no, I will not read through my old blog posts to refresh my memory).

I’ll find more interesting things to blog about apart from myself for the next 20 days. Unfortunately tomorrow is an entire day of work, so maybe I’ll find a funny customer anecdote to share.

Thanks for reading, Serena (and any of you other beautiful folks who I know have subscribed to and stuck with me despite the hiccups).

Alex.

Tracing letters along my back

Today Annie and I went to the uni library again to do research for our final essay. We thought it would be straightforward like it was for Asian PR, which we did a week prior.

It wasn’t.

We didn’t realize it when picking the topic, but the ambiguity of our research question drove us to near madness. We shuffled through the pages of our books hoping that something would jump out at us, or the jumble of quotes that we were slowly compiling would fall into some sort of essay structure.

Thank my stars Mela came just in time. She sat with me and calmed me down when I had my – and I never have these – attack of pure hopelessness. And it was a good thing she was there to do so, because otherwise I think I would have taken it out on Annie to the point where we would have had a massive fight.

While I was buried in my book and trying to make sense of the confusing language, Mela was watching a movie – tactfully turned away from me – and tracing abstract shapes and letters on my back. I don’t know if in her past this had worked, but I sure never told her that this was something my grandma used to do to lull me to sleep when I was very young. It calmed me down a lot and made me feel a bit better about my situation.

Sure, if I think about how much time I have left compared to the workload, I get scared again. But I’ve seen my ability to write even the most confusing and unresearched essay in a short period of time before. I’ve done the maths – I know that I just need to pass these essays to pass those classes, and even though that’s not the kind of mark that would make my parents happy, these are difficult and dry classes, and I doubt anyone would be having a good time in them.

I took a long hot shower when I got home. My skin reacted slightly to Mela’s sunscreen, so I let it soak a bit in the warm water. It feels better now, but it’s still a bit flaky.

I am going to go take some more notes before going to bed for a good solid sleep before doing as much as I can tomorrow.

And I love Mela, so very much. Not just because she came into the city today just to sit with Annie and me while we freaked out. Not just because she let me squeeze her hand whenever I felt overwhelmed. Not just because, even though she felt a bit ill, she still agreed to stay out a bit late. Mostly because she did these things willingly even when I didn’t realize the inconvenience it placed onto her, and never voiced my guilt when I did realize. Mostly because she looked into my eyes when I was going to just give up on the essay, and told me that I’ll be fine.

Alex.

Burn Another Bridge, Break Another Heart

Lost this song and finally got it back yesterday. Missed this song a lot!

Heading into the annoying period of exams. I think I’ll be fine but I do have to get my ass into gear to start studying a little. Also, one essay.

I did enrollment stuff for 2011 yesterday, and the subjects I picked meant that Semester 1 will once again be full of writing, and Semester 2 research. I kinda hate that. But near as I can tell, I won’t have a single exam next year. Just. LOTS OF WORDS.

I have beaten the Elite Four.

I simply cannot wait til I am done with my exams. Then it is 15 posts a month on this blog, right? I have been neglectful.

Alex.

Last Day Of The Last

Remember my post First Day Of The Last?

I can’t believe that I’m now writing last day of the last.

Today is the last day of the last “school holidays” I’ll ever have. After this, holidays are just merely…holidays. No more 2 weeks of every 10 weeks. Pity.

I have been 70% successful in my venture to study and do homework. I have also been 90% successful in resting, sleeping in and watching NCIS on my computer and all those other shows online.

So, holidays well spent, in my opinion.

After this is what really counts. Exams, studying, preparation, and then I can rest.

So there you have it. Last day of the last.

Take care, everyone about to head off into exams. Take care of yourself, and take care to not fuck up (joooookes).

Good luck, too, of course.

Alex.

Studying…

I haven’t updated in ages, so maybe I should share what I’ve been doing.
I’ve actually been studying! What a change. I have 5 weekdays and 5 subjects, doesn’t take a genius to figure out how I decided to do this.
It’s semi working, I did get methods done (mostly…sort of) and I do plan to do English and catch up on the legal studies I didn’t do yesterday.
Yes, I am so freaking fun and exciting right now. Wait ’til exams get closer.
Yep. Cool.
Maybe something fun will happen later this week. Ten bucks say no.
On the other hand, channel GO! is up to episodes of Moonlight I haven’t seen yet. That’s sort of exciting.
Okay I’ll just…go do homework now. Yep.
Alex.

What I Did/Didn’t Do Today, And Why It Was Awesome

It sounds like the start of a very long and boring blog. So I’m shortening it. I will write 1 sentence of something I did or didn’t do, and then put a score at the end. We’ll see what kind of day it was. Hint: it was awesome.

Had breakfast with parents. -1

Didn’t have breakfast with BRuCE. -2

Played NDS on the train to city. +1

Named a pet hamster on Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box “Jenifer”. +1

“Jenifer” said squeak, and needed to get into shape. +1

Listened to my new iTouch. +1

Waited UCMC for Jen who was late. -1

Jen arrived by running loudly and nearly crashed into a guy. +2

Jen smelled like shampoo. +1

Went to State Library joking about seeing MacRob girls there. +1

It was very cold today. +1

Went to the Games Room to study. +1

Actually started studying Legal. -1

Actually got some Legal studied. +1

Called Carmaine and asked if she wanted to come to State. She said no in a very “duh” tone. -1

Stopped studying after 30 minutes. -1

Played Rockband instead. +2

Failed epically on Easy when first started on the guitar. -3

Failed epically when playing on Easy when first started on the drums. -2

Jen sang to “What I’ve Done” by Linkin Park semi-squeakily. +2

Actually did very well on Medium on guitar after a while. +2

Actually did respectably well on Easy on drums after a while. +1

Managed to play and sing the chorus of “Misery Business” by Paramore for a bit. +2 (Not on the microphone I was just singing along with Jen)

Went to lunch at a Thai restaurant I never been before. +1

The Thai restaurant had no chopsticks. -2

The Tom Yum was sweet not spicy. -1

The Australian mother and daughter next to us suffered while eating their “spicy” lunch. +3

Jen had no idea I lived in Thailand before. -1

Jen got a Golden Gaytime after lunch. +1

She started shivering while eating it. +2

I made jokes about her stupidity. +3

She laughed and loved it. +4

Went back to State and said we’d study. +1

Didn’t study. -1

Played Little Big Planet for a while. +1

Couldn’t figure it out. -1

Played Scene It Buzz for ages. +3

Pretended to be rocket launching off the couch when the characters on screen did it. +3

Won once. +2

Lost once. -1

Played F1 Driving. +1

Crashed heaps. -1

Watched Jen weave all 3 laps like a drunken maniac. +6

Didn’t have Carmaine there to weave with Jen. -1

Watched 3 groups of fail idiots try to play Rockband. +3

One of which didn’t know how to start the game. +3

You have to press “Ready” you idiots. +2

Played Little Big Planet again. +2

Actually worked out how to do it. +3

Died a lot but it was fun! +3

Screamed a lot of “THAT’S FIRE! DON’T JUMP THERE!” +5

Jumped into the fire anyway. +6

Got blown up for some reason. +5

Played until 5pm without realizing it. +4

Had to pay an extra dollar ‘cos we went over the 4 hour limit. -1

Got Maccas with Jen. +2

As I was buying, the order for a large Grand Angus was called, without someone taking it. +3

Said I’d take it. +1

Manager said, “the owner would probably eat you alive.” +2

Didn’t take it. -1

Was reminded by Jen after I was on the train that I left my charger for my iTouch with her. -1

More reason to see her soon. +2

Used a calculator to work out the points just then. +3

Score: 76.

Oh, also, I spent a whole day at State playing games with my friend and generally enjoying myself and laughing. +24

That comes to a 100% awesome day.

Alex

Chirp, chirp, chk chk BOOM!

That was the sound of me on Twitter, and what VCE will do to me now that I am cheating on it with this WordPress, my Facebook, and now my Twitter.

It’s okay here on WordPress because WordPress and Facebook knows the other exists, and in deed promotes Twitter. Facebook even helps WordPress get more face-time (or should it be Word-time?). Facebook now also helps mention Twitter, and Twitter subsequently mentions WordPress. It’s a mutual 3-way as to the acknowledgement of the others’ existence.

But VCE. Oh no, VCE has no idea WordPress, Facebook and Twitter exists. VCE thinks she’s the only one for me, and I intend to keep it that way. As long as VCE thinks she’s unique, VCE will be nice to me. But if VCE was to find out…[shudder].

Nonetheless, if you  have Twitter, please check me out at twitter.com/lost_causes. I’mstill getting used to the whole “no immediate reply” thing, but I’m getting there.

Alex.

Motivation, Such An Aggravation

That’s a line from “Motivation” by Sum 41.

It’s true, but. I’m in my 2nd week of Year 12, and I still don’t really find it that fun to do studying and homework. I have an English SAC soon, and I haven’t really even started on that scrapbook. I mean, I don’t actually even think that the scrapbook will be tedious, it’ll be good to sort my thoughts out…but…

I’ve just had a qaudruple free. My Methods teacher was on a conference today, meaning I didn’t have to go to class. In English I drew in Ly’s planner, in Legal I froze my ass off in the WAY TOO COLD dungeon room, and then it was a free, which I spent in the library reading some stuff for English (I didn’t get far) and then recess, assemblies, lunch, and I just had a free with Dani during which again I didn’t do anything. I have a double free now, and look, I’m online. At school.

I sorted something out with Bee today. It turned out to be another one of our getting-to-be-famous misunderstandings.

I’m starting to feel really tired when I’m by myself. That is, I find myself constantly wanting to be around BRuCe and Dani just because when I’m with them I feel more alert and awake and ready for my future. It’s strange, isn’t it?

Keep Cool (keep working, dammit!)

D.F.

If only…

If it weren’t for the extra NON-COMPULSORY Chinese homework, I would have just finished ALL of my holidays homework, bar printing out and sticking on.

I realized that I do homework and study better when my parents are NOT around to supervise. When they are around, I’d do maybe 3 maths questions before giving up and setting it aside. But today, they both went out to the city to meet a friend and celebrate Chinese New Year, and I went and finished 3 exercises in Maths without taking a single break (even to pee. That was a small mistake. I’ll pee next time).

Anyway, I’m just wondering on how to break it to them.

“I’m sorry, it’s not you, it’s me. Well, I guess it is you. But I don’t know why! I’m just as confused as you are.”

“We just can’t be together when studying is involved. I think it’s better for the both of us.”

“Look, I’m gonna be home late. I got a lot of studying to do. Don’t wait up.”

“I’m studying with someone else.”

Happy CNY to all you Asians, and Aussie Day to all you Aussies. I don’t know, either the shit can really go down with the racist things, or we might have one of the best CNY/AD ever because everyone would just be partying.

新年快乐

Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi!

Yeah…

Keep Cool (and studying hard. All. Night. Long.)

D.F.