One Sentence

He ‘aint heavy – he’s my brother.

(Just needed to post this photo – I love it much)

Study Week (not) Much?

The week just gone was what Curtin likes to refer to as ‘Tuition-free Week’. They don’t call it ‘Holiday’ or ‘Week Off’ for a reason – you’re usually bombarded with assignments and study. Unlike some of my peers (Nishie, Priya, Phil, Ashkan – actually I think nearly everyone) I didn’t have any looming assignments to hinder the enjoyment of my week off.

So I didn’t do any uni-related work (well, I did do about 30 mins on Sunday night – but I don’t really count that). What did I do on the week break then?

1. Road Trip to Bunbury for SportsFest

2. Royal Perth Show

(That hammer game must be rigged if Ash can’t win it!)

3. Not one, but THREE birthday parties

And now there are only four weeks of teaching left … in my whole degree! Four weeks! I feel so underprepared entering the workplace with this piece of paper called a degree.

Exciting news though – Asher and I are off to Singapore and Philippines for missons after I finish exams! Woo.

Breathe.

Lacitiz Baciliti

I can almost count the number of weeks left at uni on one hand … how crazy is that? I was thinking about this the other week, and a nostalgic feeling sunk-in – I feel as if I’m finishing high school all over again! I know I’m going to miss seeing my uni mates nearly every day of the week. It’s a shame that it only clicked in the last few weeks that I should make the most of my time that I have – I will probably never have the opportunity to meet such a diverse group of people in such a casual setting – and I should build into these relationships as much as I can so that they will last once we all graduate and go our separate ways (although I’m sure some of us will meet again under the PathWest banner at some point).

A few of us visited UWA to kill a bit of time. We went with the purpose of sizing-up our rival university, and were pretty impressed with the scenery. We’ve all been there at least once, and are still taken aback by the architecture and lush greenery. We managed to track down a peacock, and it obligingly partook in some photos with us.

We met up with Phil and Ashkan for some Korean food in the city. The second time I’ve been to this place and I’d more than likely return – it’s relatively inexpensive and tastes good! We asked the host what a particular dish consisted of, and he gave a good explanation, but could not translate one important word into English – apparently something that aids digestion. He wrote it on a napkin:

”Lacitiz baciliti”

Ash: Oh he must mean laxative!
Priya: They can’t legally put that into food ya!
Ash: But it helps digestion.
Priya: No I’ve got it – Lactobacillus ya!
Us: Oh … ya!

It seems that wherever we go, Microbiology stalks us. We made a new discovery (well, I already knew it about myself) – besides Phil and Ash, we all fail at pool. Marie did attempt to show off with her ‘behind the back’ shot:

Pffft. Show off.

Check out more photos from the night on Picasa.

The Lego Cradle

Works like a charm! I might mix up the colours a bit now that I know it works.

Audrey’s 21st was on Saturday night:

And I did relish the opportunity to dress up! Jono’s theme was ‘inside-out’ – pretty good idea! Although I must admit that this guy was probably the coolest:

If you can’t tell, he is dressed as a Lego block. Pretty cool indeed. I have ideas for another party like this in the future …

The Minimalist Effect

I’ve been told by a handful of people over time that my wallet is too fat. And personally I think it is too. So whenever the wallet-nazi’s comment about the thickness that my wallet presents, I usually justify the cards I have in it.

And I think that it’s a ‘hoarding’ gene that I’ve inherited from my mum. A while back I was in a spring cleaning mood, so I decided to turn my wardrobe upside down and throw out some of the junk that had been accumulating. I made a lot of progress and was pleased with the end result. What I wasn’t pleased with was the next day when I discovered things that I had thrown into the bin beginning to pop-up over the place. What had happened was mum went to the bin after I had finished and fished-out the things that she didn’t deem worthy of disposal!

And my wallet has taken a similar course. There are just some cards that I feel I must keep in my wallet – ‘just in case’. I’ve adopted the Scout's’ motto of ‘Always be prepared’ and applied it to the sea of plastic in my back pocket.

So tonight I have decided to be a minimalist. I’ve decided to down-grade my wallet. I wish I could say that this movement was instigated by my turning from the emotional attachment I seem to have with the pieces of plastic and their magnetic strip. But sadly it was mainly brought-about by my sore leg from sitting on the stupid wallet!

So I’ve moved from 15 cards to just 6. And I consider these six cards the bare essentials:

• 2 x ATM cards (one is a Visa Debit)
• My driver’s licence
• My student ID card
• My Smart Rider
• My Fly Buys card

OK the Fly Buys card probably isn’t an essential per se but out of all of my cards, it’s one of the most frequently used.

So we’ll see how long I can last without my other cards. I have a feeling I will much prefer this new cardless approach … time will tell.

Rest.

When it rains…

The weather has been pretty miserable lately – it’s just under 9 degrees Celsius as I write this. It was so cold that today while I was at work it hailed. I haven’t seen hail for a while now – usually because it happens in the wee hours of the morning while I am fast asleep in my electrically-heated bed.

So while it was hailing I decided to open the door and take a look outside. Hail was depositing at the base of the door and there was a moment where I stopped to think – have I ever touched hail? And to my amazement, the answer was no! Not in any of my childhood had I picked up hail before. Is this yet another missed childhood moment? I seem to be racking-up a list of them.

I shall add a new item to my list of things to do: Be snowed upon. (And of course to accompany that is write my name in the snow).

Uni is starting to get busier – weekly lab reports on top of assignments! The pressure is building, but the light is getting oh so closer, which draws me to my next fork – what next?

Only God knows…

Numbers

OK so I may have lost a little bit of interest in blogging lately. I’m reading a book at the moment which I got for my birthday (it’s taken me this long to get around to reading it) and the one thing I love about books - well just writing in general - is the ability to express ourselves through (mostly) carefully chosen words. It’s quite unlike a verbal conversation where words kinda just flow, and once they leave our mouths and enter the air, they cannot be retracted. But no, these words can be revised, replaced or just deleted until they effectively convey the meaning within the author’s mind.

Just prior to this I logged-in to Google Reader to check out my blog subscriptions. There’s one thing about subscribing to blogs that has always been a bit of a thorn in my side – I don’t like to have huge numbers of unread blog posts. At the moment I have 334 unread items. That’s just too many. It' feels threatening, as if I have a to-do list of 334 items. But as uncomfortable as this makes me feel, I cannot muster up the strength to simply mark all of the items as read. What if I miss something important? I have been culling some of my subscriptions lately so I guess that will help alleviate the situation somewhat.

In other news I’m hoping to buy a new digital camera soon :) I’m liking the Panasonic Lumix FS-15. Photo-snapping pro’s will probably shudder at my choice of camera – but I just need something stylish, slim yet practical that I can carry around easily. So that quite easily rules-out SLR’s. It’s had pretty positive reviews and I just reckon it looks hot!

It’s back at uni – last semester! The light is getting closer and closer. No time to stop now.