JamesX

I’ve been neglecting the blog a little lately and it’s mainly because I haven’t been around to make a post. One of the good things about finishing uni is that I actually have time again to get out and catch up with everyone. Combine that with school holidays, and there’s plenty of time to do… well…. less. :)

Since I wont have to talk about uni so much now, I might as well recap what happened last week. The final capstone presentation went really well - in fact, one of the lecturers said we were one of the best groups. It was good to finish on such a positive, and even though I wont have results for another couple of weeks, I’m confident that I should get a pretty good score. We all went out for dinner after class and ended up in Chinatown. Luck would have it that about ten minutes after a conversation about John So, he walked into the restaurant and sat at the table next to us! That’s the second time we’ve randomly crossed paths as the result of a rather eerie coincidence.

The other exciting event coming up is the long awaited Bright trip. The cold weather and rain have produced excellent snowfalls with 27cm falling at Hotham in the last 24 hours. It’s going to be a great trip with 13 people coming along to join in the fun (at last count!). It’ll be good to have a break from work and get away from it all for a while. I’m quietly hoping that The Orchard will be open this year and if the snow keeps up, it’s looking like a chance - it’s easily the best part of the mountain, but since the season was so bad last year it didn’t open at all.

All we need now is for water restrictions to go away!

And so another week has passed us by and we find ourselves in another long weekend. It’s pretty much the last long weekend for a while, the only other one left is in November (I think). It’s weird how they all fall in the first half of the year really, but I’ve been trying to make the most of it by doing nothing. It’s a change from all the work I’ve been having to do lately which will hopefully come to an end very soon! Speaking of which, we’re down to only 12 days of uni remaining. Pretty exciting stuff and by my count, that’s only two assignments left to complete. Fingers crossed nothing goes wrong in the results department - I’d be gutted if I failed one of them and had to repeat!!

For a bit of a recap, in other news this weekend, it was time to hit the town for Penelope’s 22nd birthday. It was a great night and we spent it at Borsch, Vodka and Tears drinking every kind of vodka you can possibly imagine. I’d never been there before, and believe me, when the drinks menu is like three times longer than the food menu, you’re going to have a good time. A group of us chipped in and got Pen a digital camera (the Canon Ixus 75 to be precise). It’s long overdue so it’s good to have her in the digital age - no more wasting money on prints!

My vodka detox consisted mainly of watching back-to-back episodes of 24 season 6 - of which I’m now 17 episodes into. I have to say (and Chris did warn me) that for something that got off to such a good start, it’s really slipped back to the typical 24 “let’s make everything that’s happening so totally unrealistic it’s not funny” routine. But I suppose it’s still entertaining, if not completely frustrating. Maybe the last 7 hours will change that, but I’m not holding my breath. I’ve got some more uni work to do tomorrow so my relaxing weekend is going to come to an abrubt halt rather quickly. Ah well…

Anyone who’s been reading the blog recently is probably getting sick of hearing the same old stuff. Unfortunately that’s because my life is almost on repeat at the moment. It goes something like work, uni, function, work, uni, work, work, function, uni, work, etc. But last night it was time for the monthly dinner (albeit a little late this month, because I had a silly function last week!). I never really talk about the dinners on here because they’re almost like an underground society. Those who aren’t invited don’t know they exist, and even those who are invited don’t find out where it is until the day before. But it works, and it’s been happening like that every month now for nearly two years.

The main reason behind the idea is catching up with everyone - most of which, were it not for dinner, wouldn’t have time to catch up at all. Everyone is just far too busy and if you can find the time to set aside a couple of hours every month, then it just becomes a whole lot easier to manage. After all, if you know in six months time that the night is on, you’re more likely to keep it free than if we planned them one at a time.

Last night was a pretty standard turn out. There were eight of us in the end, which probably represents about 60% of all those who are invited. Most who couldn’t make it had to work (I can really sympathise with that!), or attend work functions. Getting out of the house last night was the perfect change from doing these stupid uni assignments - the latest of which has me analysing artwork against the theme “Transformation - the process of change.” I mean really, give me a break! Luckily I have Pen to help me out who is surprisingly good at this sort of stuff. I never knew she knew so much about the history of Russia. I guess you learn something new every day…

I’ve finally broken the 5 tip barrier, tipping 7 last round! It’s about time I get a decent score, although it was an easy round and there were a few who got 8 this week. It brings me to a total of 39, which is around 30th in both the work and OHA comps - so a little way to go yet!

In other news - I’m so over uni. Do I mention that often enough? I mean really, it never seems to end. Maybe it’s just because I work full time and have to squeeze the most ridiculously huge subject around that that it just wears me out. Of course, it doesn’t help that I seem to spend even more time at work nowadays. I’m back and forth all the time setting up for this and that… I really need to start sleeping at work… only kidding! :) The excitement of finishing uni is comparable only to that of finishing Year 12. It’s weird because when you think about how far away it is, time seems to go really slowly, but really so much happens in a week that the days just fly by without you noticing. I suppose it’s all about perspective really, because obviously time is constant - it’s fun how the mind works.

Also today, and even more exciting than uni, is that it STARTED SNOWING! All the cold weather and rain is making for perfect conditions for the snow to start to fall. I’ve already planned the first trip up to Hotham and hopefully, after such a terrible season last year, the cover will be really good this time round. At the end of the day, any skiing is good, but it’s the really good days that you remember, so here’s hoping that there’s a lot of those this year. I’m still in two minds about the season pass - I might wait and see how good the snowfalls are before committing to that one. I’ll have to keep an even closer watch on the weather now.

It’s been an interesting week. I dare say not all that much of significance has happened but there’s been plenty to keep me busy. I can’t really think of any one thing to write about, but it scares me that it’s been so long since my last post that the inevitable blog anxiety sets in. After all, you have to keep the people stalkers happy!

Following up from last time, the curtain went back up today. I think I cut the knot tying by about half of what it was to take the curtain down, and it was a lot easier going up than down (surprisingly). I didn’t take the same precautions as far as ease of untying as the original knot tie-ers but I figured, it took 20 years for it to come down this time, so in 20 years time, they can just cut the damn thing off!

The rest of my work, I really can’t talk about. And the other stuff I’m working on out of work, I really can’t talk about. So that doesn’t leave me with much. But in other news, I caught up with Marc (and Liv, Soph and Jimmy) last night. It was the first time I’d actually had a chance to see his new place (by new I mean February - yes I am that busy) and I have to say I was quite impressed. It’s certainly a step up from the previous place (not that that was a challenge) and I’m sure I’ll be back there again soon. Although that wasn’t the real reason for my visit. Marc bought a car, as I found out on Monday, and I had to go see it. He still hasn’t got his licence so I’m still struggling with the logic, but perhaps it will be incentive to actually do something about that now.

The only other thing that happened this week that could be classed as vaguely interesting was my latest uni presentation. It went well, all 25 minutes of it, and it’s another thing off the seemingly long list to the end of the tertiary road. Only 37 days to go now - it’s becoming very exciting.

Anyway, it’s late and I’m starting to lose it, which means what I’ve written may not even make sense at all. Take it how you will…

I can’t believe it’s been a week since my last entry. It doesn’t seem all that long ago, but I’ve had a full week with absolutely no spare time at all. It’s unusual, but for the whole week, I worked all day, and went out every night. I know I promised to get the photos up from Bright, and those who have been waiting (read: Mel), they are now up in the gallery. Every pixel has been lovingly transported into the cyber world using my FTP truck but I take no responsibilty for how they look! I haven’t had time to do touch ups and I really can’t be bothered. :)

So what was I doing all week?

Well lets take a look shall we? Monday was, of course, Labour Day so we made the journey back to Melbourne along the Hume. Scarily enough, I’m actually beginning to remember all the bends in the road and anticipating all the unusual road signs, police hot spots and speed cameras even before TomTom has them on the screen. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been up there now - but thanks again to Richie.

Tuesday was back to work, back to uni, and the Year 10 Play. Yes, that was Keysborough -> Home -> City -> Home -> Keysborough, for those who are playing along at home. And for once, Connex got me there ON TIME. I know, it’s incredible.

Wednesday… more work, more Year 10 Play. Venue Management is so much fun. :)

Thursday and Friday were very much alike. They both involved a lot of work, Chris decided to be a girl and take both off becuause he had a sore throat and I had social engagements after work. (Thursday was the monthly dinner which had a very berry flavour and Friday was Catherine’s 21st - Happy Birthday again!)

Oh and I almost forgot. Just when you thought you could have a rest, you have to go to Geelong for the swimming finals on Saturday. It was a good day, but far too early for my liking, but we won so it made it all the more worthwhile.

Needless to say. Today I’ve been doing pretty much nothing at all. Although I did catch up with Marc for a quiet breakfast this morning. I wonder what surprises next week will hold?