Back to the Real World

Back to the Real World

I returned to Dunedin this afternoon from my all too short holiday around the North Island...and yes it's back to the real world of having to deal with whatever life throws at you and important stuff...like finding a flat for next year. The weather even changed accordingly to fit the situation and mark the end of my break from reality coz I left sunny Auckland and as we flew down South the weather gradually turned bad (It was all rainy and foggy in Dunedin). Still perhaps it's good that my trip has ended otherwise the big hole in my bank account may be even bigger. Ouch!

It was a great trip though....also made interesting by a certain travel companion and details of the trip will be posted in several installments over the next couple of days. I reckon my travel companion will probably give his version of events (although his blog is dreadfully outdated and perhaps there may be a chance that he won't which would be nice ;p) but as always one should note that his version would be skewed towards preserving his "decent" image...

Going Nuts

Going Nuts

It suddenly hit me today that I really don't have much time left before I've to hop onto planes and zip here and there. At the same time I realised that I've got so much I need to do before I zip off. I finally overcame inertia today to actually start packing. I've got heaps and heaps and heaps of stuff and packing is such a major headache. I hate packing...plus I'm shifting flats next year (I don't even know where!) so I've to pack for my upcoming trip around the North Island (RJ I'm totally blaming you for the extra headache), pack for Milan and pack for storage.

Aside from packing there's the whole matter for foreign currency. My parents have been trying to transfer euros into my euro account and there are all these complicated forms to fill in with details you don't have...makes the whole thing so darn complicated. All these silly rules and forms and paperwork...designed juz to make you wanna scream. What's wrong with these banks? I just want my money!!! Why in the world do different countries wanna have different currencies anyway? I swear they do it just to make life difficult and foreigners miserable (especially foreigners with parents who keep texting and calling the whole day regarding one matter or another about the whole money-transfer-currency-conversion-form-filling-in thing). Honestly I'm going nuts! Life would be waaaay simpler if the world ran on 1 common currency.

Daniel Carter Rocks!!

Daniel Carter Rocks!!

Today was Test 2 in the All Blacks vs the British Irish Lions series. The score: 48-18 to the All Blacks (of course!) Since we totally trashed the Lions in last week's test as well, this means we've won the series and don't exactly need to win the last test. Still, it'll be nice to win all 3 tests. Carter was the star of tonight's game. He was so totally awesome!! I've never seen him play like he did tonight. He scored 2 tries and converted every single try save 1 and didn't miss a single penalty...even the ones from the corner! 33 out of the 48 points we got were scored by Carter.

Tonight's game was way more physical than the last test though. The Lions are a nasty lot, kept rucking during tackles i.e. stomping on the All Blacks which is illegal. Last week they deliberately stomped on poor Chris Jack and kicked him too. Tonight, Bryon's face and arm got stomped on. The referees had to break up more fights this time coz de Lions kept picking fights. I think the referee should have given the ruckers and troublemakers a yellow card since they were deliberately trying to injure our players. At least this time the Lions didn't bite our players. Last week one of the Lions literally bit Chris Jack. He was banned from the series of course after that...

Prince William flew down to NZ yesterday to support the Lions in today's and next week's test. His arrival was such a secret that the airport staff didn't even know he was arriving (only the higher powers knew) and the passengers who were on the same plane he was on didn't even realise they were travelling with royalty! The cameras briefly showed Prince William in the spectator stands as they showed other spectators. The commentators didn't even mention him and spectators didn't even bother about him. Clearly, rugby beat royalty hands down. Lol, I would say that Carter was more of a royalty than Prince William... It's a pity though that William came all this way to see the Lions eat dust. Muahahaha

Skating Competition

Skating Competition

My week of non-stop skating is finally over...wow now my blisters can rest!! I've got this huge blister on my left heel and another on my right ankle. Skating with blisters today was agony and I consider it an achievement to have managed to skate properly with the humongous blisters! My left one hurt when I was spinning, the right one hurt when I was landing my jumps... Plus, yesterday when I got in some last minute practice, I fell during the program and hit my knees really hard. It hurt so bad I couldn't move, much less breathe. Needless to say, walking was out of the question. I've never cried from falling in skating, but this time it hurt so bad I did a bit. After all, rebruising my bruises for the 4th time does hurt and my knees now look ghastly.

I was kinda worried that my injury yesterday would make me unable to skate today, but surprisingly I managed to land all of my jumps! Wasn't too sure I could coz during the 6 min warm up I fell while doing the salchow. I did travel while spinning and I kinda mucked up my footwork a little, but it was alright and I managed to finish on time. I came in first in my category although there were only 2 of us in the category...so that wasn't much of a competition. It was all over really really quick...much to my surprise. Anyway I'm glad that's over and my feet can rest and I can break in my skates properly...well till Friday that is.

Back to the Land of the Living!!!!

Back to the Land of the Living!!!!

Exams are OVER!!!!!!!! Yay!!!! So once again I'm back to the land of the living...and I shall worry and stress over my results later. In the meantime, I've got the skating competition to prepare for *panic* and my old skating boots broken down on the right such that when I land after a jump it can't support my ankle so it hurts. Anyway, I had to switch to my new boots, which is potentially disastrous coz I need time to break them in....time I don't have!! Boots usually take a few weeks to break in and I've only got 1 week! I've taken to wearing them around the flat to try and speed up the breaking in process...although I look rather silly.

Funny how you have a tendency to forget that breaking in new boots is always a painful process....still, without them broken in I can't do anything!! I'm sporting this massive bruise that covers almost my whole knee coz I fell while attempting a waltz jump in boot that haven't been broken. It's pathetic....since it's such an easy, no-brainer jump...which only goes to show how awful it would be if I didn't have them sufficiently broken in by competition day. Then I got my blades sharpened and now they're so sharp they're grabbing the ice. While that's fantastic for my edges (I skate great edges now!!) it also means I CAN'T stop...coz I can't turn the blade. My coach suggeested using a piece of wood to dull the edges to skatability which I need to do sometime...probably today.

I can't believe that this is the end of my year in Otago...it went so fast!! Hopefully my semester in Milan won't go as quick...it'll be such a waste otherwise! I haven't really thought about what I'm gonna do for the rest of the holiday...I'll need to pack up my room and clean the flat (coz nobody seems to bother) I'm thinking of getting a short term job...but my plan for the rest of the week goes something like Thursday: skate, Friday: skate, Saturday: skate, Sunday: skate (competition).

Snowed In

Snowed In

It's been snowing on and off since early in the morning today. I was about to leave for my last lecture of the semester when it started snowing really heavily...prob more so since I'm on higher ground. Needless to say I didn't go for my lecture...who wants to walk in heavy snow? I kinda feel bad for missing the lecture...especially since I'm not doing tremendously well in all my 3rd year papers. Sigh

Ok I'm gonna have to start pulling 7 to 12s...or maybe 8 to 12s...ugh! I'm gonna be disappearing for awhile...so if anyone is wondering, I'm gonna be freezing in my room trying to study....

Rugby Super 12

Rugby Super 12

I didn't have the time to make a post on the Super 12 after the finals last Saturday, so I thought I'd just say something now.

The Crusaders WON the Super 12!!! Now the cup is back in NZ...where it belongs really. I only caught the 2nd half of the game, having decided to compromise between studying and watching the finals. I must say that it was a well deserved win...considering the fact that the South African referee was so biased towards Australia! It was soooo annoying how he kept giving the Warratahs the ball even though in some cases the Crusaders didn't actually do anything wrong. Like for example, when Chris Jack tackled a Warratah and pushed him out the boundary, the blasted referee blew the whistle and called for a scrum and gave it to the Warratahs. Geez come on it's rugby you're supposed to tackle and the tackle was perfectly legal too!! Every time the referee blew the whistle, it was to give the ball to the Warratahs...all the way till the 65th minute when he finally decided to be fair! Most of the S. African referees are biased towards Australia though...like honestly biased.

The sad thing though is that Justin Marshall is leaving the Crusaders and the All Blacks to go play for England....he's gonna play for Leeds (traitor!) and Andrew Merton is leaving too (dunno where he's going but he's going). Not too sure if Merton is leaving the All Blacks as well...I wonder though what his dad would think since Merton is "genuine All Black stock" so to speak. Dad was an All Black, granddad was an All Black....

Freedom

Freedom

Finally I get a break...well sorta... Just ended the last of my internal assessments today, which I've been stressing over for the past week. Things are looking good, especially since this week is the last week of lectures. Of course, I've conveniently forgotten that it's coz exams are around the corner and I really should be studying for them, but hey I do think I deserve a break after the last couple of weeks of one internal after the other!!

I must confess though that the last week I haven't been studying as hard as I should have...coz I ended up shopping....online. Yeah, I've discovered the joys of a credit card and ebay. Auctions are pretty exciting and there's so much you can get for a steal, especially in the skating department. Ok, my shopping has all been skating stuff and I ended up purchasing a new pair of skate boots for US$42.50 and they retail for US$355+ in US. They're also new and were a really really good deal! Gosh, I never expected to find such a good deal...even though the postage for US to NZ is costing me US$48.50. Still, I'm getting it for about a quarter of the price. Needless to say, skate boots like these would cost me over $500 here in NZ. It's costing me even less than what I paid for my current pair!! I think I probably won't use them till I attain a higher level though coz they were made for advanced skating and it's kinda a waste to not maximise their potential. I've also got myself a skating dress online and well, although it wasn't as much of a good deal as the skates, it beats paying $70+ to get one here. I'm still looking at skating dresses though...maybe if I get a better deal I could sell the ones I don't want here. That's the joy of the internet, ebay and a paypal account plus the freedom of a credit card 8)!

Fog of Mourning

Fog of Mourning

Weather was awful today...I've never seen fog this thick around here before. I woke up this morning and I thought my window totally fogged up coz I could see about as far as 15m and what was within 15m wasn't too clear. Then I realised tt it was the fog...and although it looked pretty gastly outside, it was quite warm really although such thick fog didn't seem like a good thing. Probably the only thing not so good about fog is that it makes jay walking way more dangerous...as I found out today while walking to church. All u see is this white/gray area down de road and u can't quite see vehicle headlights...till they're kinda near.

It's half past 11 now at night and the fog still hasn't quite cleared...which is fine by me coz it is suited for death and mourning. Sorry for the bleak outlook but I just found out a family friend passed away. He was the priest who baptised me...and I guess I thought he'd always be around. You never fully appreciate someone until that person is gone. Funny how despite it happening over and over, the message to treasure your relationships with those around you never fully sinks in...well it seems like it for me at least.

And here's where you observe a minute of silence in respect of those it have passed away and pray that God grants them eternal rest. May you rest in peace Father Luke.

Testimonies

Testimonies

It's been a really awful week...third year at Uni is just baaaad...what with all the assignments piling up and deadlines to meet. Anyway I thought I'd just share some testimonial humour my lecturer shared with us today in psyc since we're doing stuff on human factors and all...

Here's some true testimonies given by people who have been involved in accidents (most of them pertain to driving since we were studying driving):

"I turned into wrong driveway to a house I thought was mine and hit a tree that I didn't have."

"I thought the window was down, but when I stuck my head out I realised that it wasn't." (ouch!)

"I hit the lamp post because I was trying to avoid the invisible truck that nearly hit me." (my advice: see a psychiatrist for that hallucination problem)

"The pedestrain didn't know which way to run so I just ran him over."

"I hit the lamp post because it was obstructed by humans."

"I ran into the stationary tree that was coming at me from the opposite direction."

Celebrations!!!

Celebrations!!!

Today is a day for celebrations because of 2 things mostly. Firstly, in the Rugby Super 12, the Crusaders beat the Highlanders 27 to 13. It's quite odd really that I'm a Crusaders supporter, considering that the Crusaders are the Christchurch team and the Highlanders are the Otago team. I suppose it's coz my sister is an avid Crusaders fan since Justin Marshall plays for the Crusaders, and also coz the Crusaders are a good team (they have quite a few good All Blacks members). Anyway they were playing on Highlander home ground...which is in the Carisbrook stadium here in Dunedin, but the game didn't go very fast coz it was raining (as it usually is in Dunedin) which made the ground slippery and all.

Second event for celebration: I got the Westpac Travelling scholarship I applied for for my exchange program!!!! It's NZ$2000, but that together with the NZ$1000 travel grant pays for my plane ticket which is fantastic. I'm currently also applying for another scholarship although this one is harder because there's an interview process as well. Still, no harm trying aye? I'm estatic as it is though that I got this scholarship...free cash is always a good thing! 8) 8) 8)

Quakes

Quakes

At 3.40am this morning my sister burst into my room in panic, saying that our house was gonna collapse coz her room was shaking. Half-conscious and none too pleased about being so rudely awaken, I flopped over and told her that she was dreaming and could she please shut my door and let me sleep.

Turns out that no she wasn't dreaming...her room was shaking because of the earthquakes that occurred around 3.35am near Haast. It was only 6 on the Richter scale though and the second one was 5.7, but because they were shallow, we felt them strong enough to be noticeable here...or should I say some of us did (I was out like a light). Apparently the quakes could be felt as far away as Christchurch, according to the newspapers.

Seems like earthquakes are pretty common here...small ones at least. I'm not quite sure I'd like to be around when the big ones hit! Anyway this morning's quakes weren't anything to freak out about...people are scarier than nature really. This point was further emphasized when on my way home today I walked past these two guys and suddenly one of them leaned over and yelled into my face "F****** asians!" Like, wtf?!! What's his problem? Anyway to say I didn't feel one iota of fear would be a blatant lie...duh it's two of them and one of me and both are bigger than me...

I congratulate myself on not making any response whatsoever or showing any reaction to what he yelled...I carried on walking like I didn't hear him...although he pissed me off majorly. Geez! I suppose though that de world is full of bigotted, narrow-minded asses like him so not much one can do about that! I just pity his narrow-mind and pea brain. Still, people are ultimately scarier that nature...you just have to agree!!

Travelling Woes

Travelling Woes

The worst part of travelling has gotta be making the travel arrangements. It's such a headache with so many different options...each with their own problems. I spent an hour with the travel agent the other day discussing several options and it does seem like my time stopping over in Singapore is gonna be cut down by lots. If I managed to get the option I'm aiming for (the most economical!!), I'd be spending less than a week in Singapore on the way to Milan and say 2 or 3 days on the way back!!

On the other hand, whether or not I can get a flight is another thing entirely. It seems like the whole world is travelling to Milan on the dates I wanna travel on! It's crazy!!! I'm now currently on the waiting list for 6 flights (to Rome rather than Milan funnily enough...and then I've gotta deal with trains buses and metros...) and my travel agent also booked me into one which had seats but is the most expensive outta all the options...and that's not even counting the tax!

Taxes...yeah that's another thing I've got issues with. You look at the cost of the flight and then when you manage to convince yourself it isn't entirely too high a price...wham! You get told, "Well actually there are taxes on top of that. Taxes would amount to another $350". Geez! Another $350 does actually make a difference you know? That's like more than a month's rent in NZ and about 2 weeks of rent in Milan!!

Sigh...dealing with airlines is such a headache. Will someone hurry up and invent that teleporting machine please?

Funny Age

Funny Age

It can get quite annoying when people think you're way younger than you really are. I recall trips in the taxi during my secondary school years whereby the drivers ask, "So, it's PSLE this year huh?" or something along those lines (For those who don't know, PSLE stands for Primary School Leaving Examination). On the rare occasion though, it can be quite funny...like Monday when I went for a skate practice.

I was as usual trying to work on that darn one-foot spin (which I still can't do properly) and as usual there are these kids who come up to talk. Anyway there was this boy...teenager say 14 or 15? He was trying to learn hockey stops and all on his own and I don't recall how, but we started talking and like we'd talk off and on... There were these two other girls...probably about 12 and they came up to ask me to do certain stuff (yeah I somehow end up entertaining kids too) and tell me I'm really good (although as usual I try and tell them the truth...that I'm really bad, but they never listen). So they skate around and come up to talk to me occasionally as well.

Ok here comes the hilarious part:
I had just finished another of those off-on conversations with that boy when the two girls come up to me and ask, "Do you know that boy?", 'that boy' being the one I'd been speaking to on and off. I told her I'd just met him today. The next question took me completely by surprise. She asked, "Do you like that boy?" (it was obvious she meant 'like' as in 'interested romantically' or something to that effect). Honestly I was kinda speechless for awhile (like duh! I'm like at least 5 years older than him and he's so obviously a kid). Then I laughed and told her, "He's too young for me! I'm gonna be 20 this year."

Oops, I lied, THIS is de really hilarious part. It was the shock on their faces after I told them how old I was. The girl who asked me even gasped and covered her mouth in shock. I really couldn't stop laughing, although I guess she must have been pretty embarassed, but hey! You don't go asking someone you'd only just met a question like that without setting yourself up for trouble. I asked her how old she thought I was...and she said "I thought you were like 14 or something!" Anyway she skated up to the boy and told him (I did see them speak to him once before earlier, but they don't know him). Then he came up to me and asked, "You talk to other skaters because you can learn stuff from them aye?" I said yes of course. It felt kinda like he was trying to show the girls that talking to me didn't mean that he liked me, but it seemed to me that the girls clearly had gotten the wrong idea.

Actually I was gonna ask the girl if she liked him, because why else would she ask me a question like that? But then I figured she'd already been embarassed enough. I don't blame her if she did have a crush on him though, coz he looked like one of those guys who'd grow up to be a looker. Now if he had an older brother my age...........lol the brother would probably already have a girlfriend! 8p

Skating Social Perks

Skating Social Perks

Figure-skating isn't exactly the most social of all sports. You skate solo and learn solo from your coach, at different times from others, learn at different paces, do different things...so practice is pretty much a solo thing as well.

While in Singapore, you'd be pretty unlikely to meet anyone on ice (which doesn't say very much for friendliness of people there), it's great here in Dunedin. Since getting back on ice, I've met quite a lot of people, mostly during public skate sessions. Seems like if you can skate resonably, people like to come up to you to get to know you. Strange huh? As far as I can recall, I've met someone every single public skate session I've been down to, and these people I've gotten to know range from 6 to 50+ years.

Like today, I met this guy, Keith, who does figure-skating as well. From what I gathered he used to be really good, but he stopped skating for ages and only recently started again. He's looking for a skating partner to do skate-dancing and he wants to eventually enter the NZ Championships. He asked me to consider becoming his partner and I'm actually thinking maybe I'd give it a go. Doing tango and the likes of it on ice sounds fun....not too sure about his ambition to get into the NZ Championships though...I'm not quite up to scratch! Also, there's a category problem. He's 50+ and that puts him in the Masters Category which is for those 25 and above, while I'm neither here nor there really... Anyway Deanna's coaching him as well so I might just ask her about it.

Aside from meeting people, another good thing about skating during public sessions is that people give you a space...I usually use the centre of the rink. So more or less you have an area that is "yours"...most of the time anyway (the hockey skaters barge in and charge everywhere). Of course, you have the occasional poor unfortunate soul who falls into your space.

A third controversial "perk" would probably be that the kids worship you. They actually come up and go "Wow! You're really good." While I must say that it's flattering, it is kinda embarassing at the same time...that is if you aren't really that good, comme moi! Then there are those who ask if you can teach them stuff...the most popular of all being how to spin (why am I not surprised?). I do try to teach them, but it's kinda hard when they aren't too stable skating forward in the first place...and most can't stop. It's like teaching a horse to jump when it can't even walk (Ok that's a lousy analogy, but I'm quite brain dead from tiredness). Still, whatever makes them happy, although I don't quite know what to say when they attempt to do what I demonstrate and can't do it and then laugh (or scream...a rather horrifying experience for my ears which I hope never to repeat) saying "I can't do it!" Well...duh...

Despite all the "perks" and the social bits of a not-very-social sport, I must say that nothing can really beat being on ice...alone...with the whole rink to yourself. It's like a whole different (albeit anti-social) world...you juz gotta love it. 8)

Deformities

Deformities

Today I found out why I've been having so much trouble skating on my left outside-edge. It's coz my leg is munted...or rather my ankle is. Apparently my ankle is crooked and somehow I can't lean in to my left on that foot. *sob*

According to my coach it is quite "bizzare" and she recommended that I see this pilates guy who can find out which muscles I'm not using and then work out a training program or something. It would however cost me about $200 to try and correct it and when I last checked my bank account, it was under $20. Yes, under $20!!! I can't believe it myself....I've to wait till Thursday when the NZ govt once again hands me my weekly allowance. It's so sad, I can't even pay the electricity bill till then!

Anyway, financial problems aside, I wonder if I can practice enough to accommodate for the munted ankle... The weird thing is that I walk on the outside edge of my shoe. We looked at my shoes today and it wasn't worn on the inside while the outside edge was falling apart. I don't recall ever walking that way though, but walking around today I've consciously been trying to walk more on the inside edge.

The Dunedin skating club is holding its annual club competition and the coach has asked if I wanted to take part, which would give me something to work towards and we could work out a program. I'm supposed to select music...I'm not too sure what kind of music I should pick though although I'm quite in favour of the opening of 'Carmen' by Bizet and some of Strauss's waltzes... But I'm gonna have to really work on that darn outside-edge. It's screwing up my footwork!!! I've decided that I will somehow do it....or die trying...probably will die anyway, from all the bruises.

Myriad of Faces

Myriad of Faces

My social psychology lecture today struck a chord. The lecturer was talking about selves and the self concept and how we are different people in different situations. The funny thing was that I was just thinking about it the other day, during one of the times when I randomly think about the more philosophical aspects of life.

Anyway, I digress. Reflecting on the whole issue about different selves, I suppose I've got many selves and sort of multiple personalities, as do most people (just to assure you I'm not crazy!). I reckon it'll be interesting to be able to be in the mind of someone else for awhile just to find out how they view me, be it positive or negative, although certainly I'd rather a positive view!

While I am aware that I do have different faces, I've never actively considered when I put on different masks. Masks. Are they really? Or are they a part of me? Sometimes you put on a 'mask' and you feel like you are wearing one, yet if you can put it on, is it not you? The lecturer mentioned the 'actual self', that being what you truly are. I wonder though, how many people actually know what or who they truly are, considering how complex the self is. It's a connundrum I suppose...although it makes you wonder what happens if you finally figure it all out? Perhaps by then you'd be at the end of life's road.

In the meantime, I guess it's way easier to focus on the simpler stuff in life, like getting over with the next assignment. And we continue shifting in and out of differnt selves, putting on the various faces the situation calls for. The show must go on after all.

Time Tunnels

Time Tunnels

It's rather scary sometimes just how fast time passes. It only seems like such a short while ago that I began uni life. Once in awhile I get that feeling of astonishment that hey I'm an undergrad already! It's like things have shifted and moved so far ahead without you noticing and when you finally stop and take a look around it's strange how much has changed, as if you've fallen through a time tunnel into another reality. Have you ever felt that way?

I mean I never would have thought that I'd actually be here in NZ, living on my own, setting up my own home and all. I never thought that I'd actually grow up this much and become this independent. Its not that I'd never considered the possibility. It was just distant. But here I am and looking back, the difficulty of leaving all I've previously known and moving to a new continent is a distant memory. I can't quite imagine going back to my old life. It's like I'm a totally new person.

It makes me wonder though what would happen in the future which is likely to come straight at you without you realising it. Right now as a student I can honestly say that I can't fathom not being a student. The 'real' world out there seems scary. I'm gonna be graduating in 2 years...and then what next? It doesn't feel like even with all this education I have the skills to be able to go out there, into the 'real' world, and get a job based on my degree. I don't feel I'm anywhere prepared for that!! Not for doing something on a higher level...despite all the goals and dreams.

I guess I'll learn to jump that hurdle when I get to it. Right now the upcoming hurdle would be jumping another continent...onto Europe - Italy, which is more challenging, considering it's not an English-speaking country... Or maybe it's wiser if I just ended here and concentrated on jumping the minor hurdle in the form of an upcoming test for one of my psyc papers next week...8p

Connected

Connected

It's funny how much we tend to take things for granted and you never realise how much you miss something until you no longer have it. I've also just realised how much I've come to rely on technology. It's all good and well to say that 'sure I can live without the internet, the tv, the cellphone' while you still have them, but when push comes to shove, you find it's like missing a limb.

The phone company finally connected me to broadband today. It's great, like I've finally got an arm back coz it means I can now work at night and access online journal articles from home. It also means I can once again socialise in the cyber world with those miles away. I think I appreciate having the internet a lot more after not having the convenience of it 24 hours a day for 3 months. I'm quite certain though that I can't quite live without it.

Another can't-live-without piece of technology would be the cellphone. I really felt quite uncomfortable not having it. It was not very pleasant to realise after I came down to campus that I'd left it at home. My phone is like a secretary of sorts and a form of social connection. Without it, there's this feeling of loss and disconnection from the rest of the world (ok maybe I'm stretching it slightly but you get the idea)...

Bottom line is, technology pretty much runs our lives...or mine at least...even when you don't want it to! So much for total independence... 8p

Drowning

Drowning

Classes have begun again and it's back to trying to keep afloat of all the assignments. I must say though that I feel like I'm gonna drown. This negativity is probably brought on by the fact that I've caught the cold that's been going around campus and my flat. Now everyone in my flat is down with something, which is awful coz I really need to be working at 100% level to complete assignments and stuff. You tend to wanna stay in bed when you're down with something...not good. I had a hard time getting up this morning to go for my skating lesson. I was tempted to call my coach and cancel but I figured that I probably should go coz I didn't skate the whole week. It wasn't so bad though today coz I'm spending time working on spins (back-spin and 1 foot spin) so didn't really get too bruised!

In any case I think I had a very unproductive Easter break, although I did complete like half my assignment (which is definitely not good enough and needs another drafting desperately). I'm behind schedule (as usual) and I can't seem to get through a chapter on child development(I've a test real soon) without falling asleep! I guess I went out too much during Easter...although there was a day when I was rained in. It rained non-stop the entire day. It's amazing how much water can come from the sky coz the rain carried on to the next morning as well. Anyway, the reason why I went out alot during Easter was coz my friend came down from Auckland and so we definitely had to go out (clubbing). He was down for the whole Easter break which was good coz Auckland Uni doesn't have the same semester breaks and mid-semester breaks as Otago. I guess I shouldn't complain coz it was good to see him again and I mean geez going out is definitely more fun than studying!!

The night we went out clubbing, it was quite crazy coz the bunch of us started out dancing in a circle and now and then the better dancers in our group would go to the middle and do some moves. Then suddenly these random people started pushing their way into the middle of our circle and showing off their moves. There was this Asian guy who would breakdance really well and basically he pushed through, did his stuff and was waiting for someone to 'challenge' him.

Before we knew it, all these people had joined our circle and there was this dance battle going on. It was cool seeing all the breakdance moves, hip-hop and all, but it was rather crazy and there was tension from the competition. (What's with guys and competing anyway?) The Asian guy was going hard out on the dance floor and he and this other Indian guy (who's more into hip-hop) were battling and dissing each other with dance. I can't describe how it is to diss someone through dancing, but from watching them, you really get the meaning of how dance can speak and like 'body expressions' and all. Then people stopped dancing and everyone was just watching the battle...even the bartenders. Totally insane! The battling went on for ages and was still going on when we left.

Gosh I'm really tired....I do hope this will blow over soon (like now), otherwise it'll be really tough getting everything done on time!!