So the exam period is upon us and I’ve been held down in solitary confinement for over a week trying to get some study done. It’s working so far and I’m feeling more confident about the exams than I had been two weeks ago. Not very much has happened during the semester. A few get-togethers, numerous 21sts and a whole lot of unibar. Can’t say my alcohol tolerance is very impressive, but it’s all fun in the same. If a not so recent incident has taught me anything, I should turn up to my microbiology exam drunk if I plan to ace it. The past few Roundhouse parties we’ve been to hadn’t lived up to the hype of how it was back in first year. Maybe we’re immune to them now, and after a night at the Roundhouse, it’s always regrettable and we always say how we should’ve went to Star Bar instead. If you want good music you can dance to (none of that indie shit, [despite how much I love, I think it's impossible for any rhythmic body to move fluidly to]) and cheap drinks.

There’s four more days til my first exam and half an hour left til the World Cup opening ceremony.

I should’ve taken notes in my social psychology tutes.

We went to Ramen Kan after that and I tried out the new vegetarian menu. Gasp! I am usually the first to pick out the raw items (Kaisen Don), but I wanted to try something new. Tofu steak is delicious! It comes with a serving of salad, and it gave me enough space in my tummy for dessert. Nails introduced me to this Asian ice cream place where they have the standard flavours as well as black sesame and green tea. The place was called Y2K somewhere in Chinatown, just a few places down from the cake shop. It was awesome.

Came back to Liverpool Officeworks after that to get some school supplies. They didn’t stock those Uniball pens that I usually get, and I can’t find them elsewhere other than individually in newsagencies, which charge a lot for it (unfair). I am looking forward to this semester. It’ll be much more easier for me to attend lectures without even trying because a few of them are in the same room right after each other. I’ll mostly be in upper campus this semester, which is good, because Mathews is the only food court with decent food. The next closest thing to that is Randwick. And dear god! If you go to Stock Market and ask for the strawberry and banana smoothie and replace the strawberries with blueberries, you get this delicious purple concoction that’s to die for! Yes, looking very forward to it now. Being based in upper campus also means I can lounge out on the library lawn during breaks. Last semester, I had to always trek it up there, and that means several servings of stairs.

With less than a week to go, my first class starts on Monday at 9AM. I really cannot wait to see the bus queue line. I’ve never started the year at this time before, and this is about as early as it gets, so it’s sure to be phenomenal. I heard it stretches all the way to the bridge under where the trains run. That’s just epic. Can’t wait.

There’s probably nothing more domestically annoying than people dropping over without informing us earlier. It’s not polite, it doesn’t give us any time to be ready and we’re just supposed to let them in? Get fucked. Although, I do suppose that with our extended family, they do just drop by whenever they feel it’s convenient for them. I don’t think I’d ever consider going over to somebody’s place without perhaps asking. It’s all down to basic manners in the end.

There’s so many things rushing through my mind at the moment. So far, they all include escape plans, but that’d be unsuccessful, because I have the “fever”, or am supposed to, and what would they think if I were to just walk past the lot of them to get through the front door. Even if I go through the back door, I’d still have to slip past them. Dammit.

I am feeling a little nibblish, but it’s the unnecessary type, and I can’t get to the fridge, either, without passing them. Now I am starting to understand why people have their whole lives in their bedrooms. It saves the effort of walking past unwelcomed relatives.

I have this Friday to look forward to, but apart from all that, everything is looking pretty mediocre. Especially my chances at escaping house.

Oh great, I think one of the brats injured themselves because I heard a loud thump followed by crying.

Speaking of cousins, my dad went around the house early this morning packing things away, such as our phone chargers left in the lounge and cameras scattered around the kitchen. I didn’t catch why til he explained that my cousins might be coming over tomorrow. Fuck, cousins. I totally forgot about them. We’re not really that close, and even if we were, it’s definitely been a good year or two or even more. Most of my cousins have kids now and the rest are scheduled to be married, so the last group of company I would like to be immersed in is with them. I hate to be cynical, but they only come over so we could give their kids money. Luckily, I wasn’t present for this prestigious occasion last year as I was out. Thank goodness I missed it. I would be spewing if I saw the way the kids terrorised my study. Considering it’s been about two years since I’ve seen them in the house, here’s hoping that they’ve grown up a bit and learnt to keep their hands to themselves.

I’m not very good at family functions, and I’m not sure if my parents are, either. Well, I’m pretty sure they’re much better at it than me, but we tend to keep to ourselves. There’s nothing more annoying, I can imagine, than relatives streaming in and out of your house on a weekly or daily basis, which I am aware of from some of my friends. Our house is pretty quiet, and I kinda thought this sort of buzz would be welcomed around here, but I guess not. It really depends on the sort of buzz you get. There’s the annoying type and there’s the enjoyable type. At the moment, it’s sitting on the former. I don’t know why I find this so troubling, but it is. Maybe it’s because it’s family and I have no choice but to put up with them. It’s true what they say that line between family and friends and being able to choose, or not choose, and so on.

It’s very tempting to pull something out of the bag and find an excuse to leave the house, but that’s just rude. I’m being rude enough expressing my public intolerance for family members and it’s hard to explain why. I only feel this way towards relatives, though. Maybe it’s because when they’re here, they really get in my face and start quizzing me on all sorts of things, such as what I’m doing, what I’m studying or working as, what my average mark is (WTF?! Asians) and how old I am. They never, ever fail to cease asking me how old I am, despite being there when I was born. I don’t know if this is the lowest of bonding on their part, but it sure doesn’t encourage me anymore than it does the fact that they have no idea about anything.

Anyway, time to get out of this shit mode. It was Ivana’s 21st birthday yesterday, so to celebrate, we went lunching in Duy Linh, a vegetarian restaurant in Cabramatta with Jasmina and Nikola. Afterwards, we got some drinks- Halo Halo for me and Strongbow for Ivana and did some catching-up.

Am off now to see Cass. Woo! Noodle House! Noodle House!

- We don’t have a microwave
- We don’t have an oven (see above)
- We don’t have a TV that uses a remote control

I can’t think of anything else that we might not have, but I’m sure the list could go on. The thing is, my parents and I have never really been the savvy tech types and we just kinda make do with what we have and we’re perfectly fine with it. That’s not to say that we’re completely ignorant of the advancements made in technology. I try to make it a deal that I am aware of and understand the latest releases. It’s enough for me, I think, to at least know how they work.

Anyway, speaking of technology, our way of communicating has evolved and I’m sure you’re all aware of the etiquette one must give when corresponding via SMS, mobile phone calls and landline calls. I think there’s a obvious distinction between the last two, and it varies from credit control to radiation worries. At the moment, I personally don’t think people should panic about the alleged link between mobile calls and brain cancer as every single news article that comes up has proved it to be inconclusive. It’s stupid, because as I watch the news, it would show up in the preview and I’d sit there for a good half hour before I am told that there isn’t any strong evidence toward either side. It may be the biggest rhetorical of the generation. So that aside, the SMS comes into question. Is there or should there be certain acceptable and unacceptable mannerisms when you’re sending a text message?

I wouldn’t call myself an avid SMS-erer, but I am an obedient one. By that I mean I’ll pretty much respond to any one SMS within a five minute time period of receiving it (during appropriate hours of the day). I don’t believe in waiting an hour or two (or more) to respond, because that’s just rude. It’s not an email, so a lengthy time period isn’t necessary to formulate any kind of elaborate response that would take the amount of time it takes for some people to reply. SMSes are designed to send quick information and queries. If anyone remembers the older phone models, there was a character limit of 160. That’s just enough for a question and a half and with the taboos of shortcut spelling, these character limits have been pushed on newer models, so we’re able to write in full, and perhaps write with more information than necessary. Most of these days, my SMS volleys have been rants going backward and forward, and completely useless. I don’t know how to feel about something as mundane as an SMS, but the more I think about it, the more discouraging it seems.

Then comes the content of the SMS. Whatever you write in yours is your own business and yada yada, we get it. What I am often confuzzled with is the reciprocity of interest in general SMSes. I don’t suppose being on a plan with several hundred dollars to your credit has anything to do with it, but I was once told of somebody who would send people good morning and goodnight messages every night. I would assume they’re to their close friends, but still. Who the hell does that?? Anyway, with that point, how do you go about with people not replying, nevermind taking forever to answer. That’s sure to happen at least several times in our SMS exposure. Then again, some of you may be thinking ‘big deal, it’s an SMS. What’s the problem?’ Despite the small scale of the SMS in our communication pyramid, it is nonetheless, a form of interacting. Much like speaking in person, or speaking on the phone, while it may shield most of us from participating in a real life conversation, it is still simulating content exchange, and with any exchange, there are particular attributes that make it a good one.

So you walk into a room, see a friend, sidle up to them and start a conversation. You begin with a ‘how are you?’ and work your way up. Unfortunately, in some cases, it ends there because some people don’t know how to reciprocate general sentiments. It should actually be second nature to know what this means, how meaningless the sentiment is, but how polite it is to ask anyway, just because it is. Sadly, the delinquency in general mannerisms don’t stop there. Particular questions in SMSes sometimes go unanswered and these are the ones that are specific enough to indicate that it is not a general ‘hello, how are you? I don’t really care’ kind-of-thing. I understand some people may not be as physically attached to their phone, and I mean, have it on them at all times, so it’s only normal to assume that their replies are not as immediate as one would have hoped. Then there are people who only check their phone on what seems like a once-every-two-days basis. Objectively, that’s fine, do whatever; but personally, man, why do you own a fucking phone if you’re not going to bother checking it at decent intervals? Why give out your number and tell people to message or call when it only goes to Voicemail or if you’re going to have it turned off? What a douche.

I also find SMS volleys interesting. Particularly in the time it takes for each message to be sent to still count as being part of the volley. I still think 5 minutes and less would count. The last few messages of the volley always fizzle out and become something close to grunts instead of language. I guess, just a way of closing off the exchange.

Goodbye? It’s an SMS. You don’t really need to say goodbye and have it said back to you, do you? How old are you? Would it help your ego if people really did respond to your goodbye? I’ve always been a bit trivial about it. Particularly after a volley, what harm could another SMS do to the other person? 25c, but still. It won’t even get you half a soft serve (depending where you go). Is it worth the 25c to type anything that equates to the three letter send off? Is it necessary? Can’t they just imply that you meant it, or receive it telepathically? That would cut savings, definitely.

In the end, a person’s choice in the time it takes to respond to an SMS or respond altogether is variable. What sucks about SMS technology is that it is a mobile model of already existing online computer applications such as chatrooms and the like. While the merging of Internet and mobile devices provide us with more avenues to communicate, it is a little confusing to compare things such as data charges and credit charges. How can you measure megabytes with $$? Timewise, it takes the same amount of time to post on someone’s wall via Facebook Mobile than it does to send them an SMS, so which one is more recommendable? 25Kb, 25c or 25 seconds?

It’s a nice day outside today. The first day of complete sun for a while, and I don’t know why I’m inside being angry at an SMS (or lack of).

The next few days involved trips to Newtown and the city looking for presents and masks for two 21sts happening on the weekend. Jacob, Rajesh, Ray and Jer also came down to Cabra for lunch, though it was a bummer because Noodle House is under construction. Dammit. T’was fun, and we saw a few bogans on Orange Grove. HeKTiK.

Sheetal’s 21st Masquerade

Grace’s birthday was at Waterbar in Kings Cross, and Ulrika and I had a hard time finding it. We left early though, as I had to get to Sheetal’s early the next morning to help get ready for her masquerade themed 21st. It was so much fun! A lot of catching up and eating and dancing. I gained about a kilo or two from eating so much yummy Indian foods. A good thing I stayed home today to detox it off.

Zzzzzzzz…..

Had a lovely catch up with Da Rnjak yesterday. We made our way to The 80s Are Back exhibition at The Powerhouse Museum. It was freaking awesome. If you had a camera, you could participate in this scavenger hunt where you had to pose next to certain objects in the exhibition. I think we got through about three of them before we decided to actually enjoy the display rather than spend the time looking for things. My favourite piece was a giant neon Rubik’s cube, which lit and changed colours. I wasn’t sure if it was solvable, but there was an instruction leaflet pinned on the wall. The exhibition wasn’t as large as I thought it would be, so we decided to explore the rest of the museum. There was an awesome astrophotography section, a design+technology display by HSC students and a chemistry area where you could sniff different scents sprayed from various tubes and see how chocolate is made. I also liked the replicas of the old train stations and aircrafts hanging across the ceiling. Awesome.

Later in the evening, I caught up with Ulrika for dinner at Ramen Kan. It’s been so long- like two months! It was nice <3

I am spending time at home today. I'm thinking about how to go about the three planned birthday events ahead. Oh, how I am going to be so poor. I already am. Maybe I can improvise something…

I smell chicken. Goodbye.

Hi y’all! Hope you’ve all had a great start to 2010. So, is it pronounced two-thousand-and-ten or twenty-ten? Anyway, I had a blast celebrating the start of the year at Lavendar Bay with a bunch of awesome people. It was my second time heading out into the city for new year’s eve. After the first time about three years ago, I had never wanted to do it again. Maybe it was because at the time, we were in Circular Quay, which is probably the worst place to be in. It felt like a mosh pit and I got separated from my friends several times due to the force of current of people. I can only imagine that if I was caught in a rapid, that’s what it would have felt like. It was much better this year. Since then, I have been out of the house a fair bit as my parents were holidaying in China. Segolene had a free house for about two weeks so I have been there a bit. I’m also totes sunburnt from Wattamolla last Saturday. Talk about trying to get a BBQ grill started. We waited about a good three hours for this family to finish on it before failing to get it lighted. I am so tenderised.

It’s been nice to receive mail in the past few days. The first was a handmade invitation from Tali and the others were a postcard from Toronto from Sophia and another postcard from Lukey. Ah, it’s been a while since any mail’s been directed to me.

Going to The 80′s Are Back exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum tomorrow with Da Rnjak. Oh yeah!

I feel like ramen.

On a totally unrelated note, Joey was telling us about a Sham Wow knock-off called Sham-Ease.

It’s getting much hotter these days and it was reported that it’d be raining for most of this week, and so far, nothing yet. It’s really humid and sunny, and it’ll be hilarious, just HILARIOUS if it happened to rain on Christmas Day, like this giant monsoon-like coming of the rains.

I have been alternating my weeks between going out and playing homemaker. Went out with Sheetal last week and had the BEST time! It was just so chilled, relaxed and opened. I almost felt as if I were in my PJs. We must have spent several hours talking and eating and talking and drinking and talking and shopping (browsing for me). Zen is good, especially when sitting in Starbucks and looking out onto the busy, rainy city. I was supposed to help her put together invitations for her big birthday bash, but it was rainy that day, so the idea of carrying rolls of moist cardboard around was a little disheartening. I am not confident on getting any decent redecorating done while my parents are gone and mum insisted that I wait til they get back from their trip. I guess I could wait, but I was really keen on redoing the entire lounge and possibly getting rid of some of the things we’ve been hoarding. There are items everywhere that just don’t go well together, and I’d like to get a nice almost-lime green colour introduced in the lounge with a dark brown feature wall. It sounds a little off-putting when you think about it, but I reckon it’ll be nice, especially with some bamboo wall pieces. It might look like a Thai restaurant, though. Or something oriental like red, but the brown feature wall is a definite yes.

Going out tonight to do some Christmas food shopping with Nails and Amanda. Woo! We’ll be cooking up a feast. The plan is to keep the food here til the 25th, but I might eat it. We’ll probably need to get some locks and chains while we’re out.

I am envious of the people jetting off overseas. I wish I was somewhere as well, but the plan for Byron Bay in early February still stands, I think. Also job hunting relentlessly (in my terms anyway), which is about two applied for jobs per three hour search. I can’t seem to find any that I am qualified enough for. Anybody care to take a panelbeating course with me?

Oh dear lord, it’s 1.30 and I still haven’t properly gotten up and ready. Christmas shopping tomorrow, yes, yes, yes. Must not forget! I’ve been playing mum’s little elf for the past few days getting presents and doing a shitload of wrapping and card writing for her colleagues.