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!!

Easter Break

Easter Break

Whoopee!! We're now on Easter break so it's gonna be a long weekend. Classes don't begin again till Wednesday and since I've just had my last lecture of the day, I'm pretty much on Easter break now. Well, Easter break pretty much means you don't have to get up early and...wow you've more time to work on that pile of assignments!

Easter break is also a very good time to go skating...except that after yesterday in which I re-bruised my very big bruise and gain more big bruises (such that I was limping for the rest of the day), I've decided I'm gonna kill myself if I go skating this week. It's a pity though since I learnt 2 new jumps and I really wanna practice, but guess the dancing-skating cycle will have to be broken. I'm going out dancing tonight though...I figure dancing won't be as bad coz I've yet to fall from it!!

The major blip in my otherwise too-hectic-to-care life (I practically live in the library in the psyc journal section) is that the lousy paper-pushing people at the telephone company informed me that my application for ADSL has been rejected because the phone account number is wrong or some rubbish along those lines! I'll have to re-apply which means another 2 to 3 weeks before they'll even connect me!!! ARGH!!! I hate Telecom. It's a pity they're the major market shareholder in telephone connection in NZ and monopolize the market so I can't quite switch phone companies. $%!@^&#*!!

Self Torture

Self Torture

I've come to the conclusion that I must be a sucker for self-torture. I don't think I've ever physically demanded so much of my muscles. In simple terms, I have never exercised as much as I did in the last week in my whole life.

Ceroc on Tuesday was just the beginning & I gained muscle aches from that as mentioned previously. Wednesday was when I had skating lessons so my poor muscles had no rest. Subsequently, I gained more muscle aches in both the usual places and in the unusal places. I still don't know which muscles skating works out, aside from the obvious calf, thigh and butt muscles, but I ache all over so it must work out a whole lot of other muscles I wasn't even aware that I had!

In any case, the sane, non-masochistic individual would have decided it was time to let the muscles rest, thereby halting further exercise till the next week. Being cruel to my muscles, I however decided that Friday would be a good time to go out clubbing with my friends. I don't think I would have made such a masochistic decision, had it not been the fact that the university's annual International Dance Party was on Friday & since I didn't go last year, I thought this year would be a good time to check it out, especially while my clubbing buddy is still around (she might go to Christchurch next year for 4th year Med).

It turned out that the dance party wasn't that fantastic...they kept playing techno music which I don't quite like dancing to. Around 12.30 am we decided we had enough of dancing to techno & our party proceeded to The Cook (one of the more popular clubs) where they had good music i.e. pop, rock etc...the "in" music. We left the club at around 2.30am (I think!) which means that I'd basically been dancing continuously for more than 2 hours. My muscles & feet were protesting loudly on the way home...I recall thinking that if we didn't get a cab soon my legs would just collapse (then my flatmate would have to carry me home...if he was kind...but he didn't know that).

Anyway, if you haven't spotted the pattern already, it's dancing then skating then dancing then...guess what comes next? Yep, I just had to go for skating practice yesterday. After all, since I've been so nasty to my muscles the whole week, what's one more day? So I went skating for 3 hours & gained many bruises. I've got this gigantic one on my left knee which prevented me from bending that knee yesterday and 5 smaller ones on my right knee which are kinda scattered. That's aside from the falls that my butt and tail-bone took. I lost count of how many times I fell on ice yesterday. Besides the bruises, this morning I woke up with even more muscle aches...even in my arms. Seems like skating even works out the arms...

Tomorrow it's Ceroc again. It's gonna be a real wonderful week of my muscles. They should get use to all this activity sometime soon...one can hope can't they?

Campus Architecture

Campus Architecture

I've a lecture every week in one of the oldest lecture theatres in the uni. It reminds me of a church coz the seats are like pews exactly like they have in the old churches with no individual seat division, but there are long desks in front of each pew. It's not the most comfortable kind of seating arrangement coz the long desks in front are kinda low. The cushion of the seat also moves every time anyone in the row moves coz it's just this one long piece.

The graffiti on the desks are really interesting though. Every desk is filled with it...accumulated over the many many years. There's graffiti dating back to 1955...at least that's the oldest I've seen, but considering the uni has been around since the 1830s, maybe there's older graffiti. The desk are pretty interesting too. They've got this slot at the top for putting your pens so they don't roll off down the slanted surface of the desk and at regular intervals there are these holes. I reckon they were meant for ink bottles in the time they still used fountain pens, but I'm merely speculating.

Campus is filled with architecture from different eras, so it looks a bit strange but intersting nonetheless, like the modern architectural building (think glass and metal) is opposite the clocktower building that's old architecture (think massive stone structure and large wooden doors with a very high ceiling), which houses the international office and other uni admin offices. They're on opposite sides of the river which provides a nice contrast really. You have all these tourists who go around taking photos all the time of the buildings around campus...mainly Japanese tourists in busloads.

I wonder if the uni I'm going to in Italy will have clashing architecture too. It should be interesting going around to see all the old buildings...especially the cathedrals! Can't quite believe that I'm actually gonna be going to Italy and around Europe this year! I haven't quite planned my trip yet but I'm thinking that Chiristmas in Paris sounds nice and perhaps New Year's in Belgium or Greece...

Ceroc

Ceroc

Dance class followed by skating class the next day is a very painful thing for my muscles. Ceroc started yesterday and because it's an intermediate class we've got these dips and drops for the girls. It's fun at first but doing it about 20 times isn't very fun coz for this particular move, the Drop-Kick, we had to drop vertically on the right leg by bending it 90 degrees (like sitting) and kick the left straight up. While the guys support us from the back, the girls really have to support most of our weight on our right legs. I felt like my thigh muscle was gonna up and die and not carry me home after class.

The scary thing about doing drops and dips is that sometimes it feels like the guys are gonna drop you on the floor coz they can't support your weight...especially the skinnier ones. One of the guys I danced with had this tendency to hold you pretty far apart from him so when we did drops and dips it was very unstable coz it's hard supporting a heavy weight with your arms extended straight out away from your body...I think he almost (but thankfully didn't) dropped me once. There were better dancers though, especially the older guys who had obviously been doing ceroc dancing for awhile and they know how to hold you properly. It's most fun when you don't have to worry that the guy is gonna drop you!! At times like this though, you appreciate being small and light. My friend, who's way bigger and therefore heavier than I am, had these massive bruises under her arms from where the guys were supporting her coz they tended to grip hard to support her weight. You could even see the finger-marks where they gripped. Ouch!

On the whole though, intermediate ceroc is really cool and when you get a good partner and both of you can dance well enough it looks fantastic! The class is great...made even better because there's a pretty good-looking guy with a nice smile in the class who can actually dance well enough...well enough being that I didn't have to worry too much about being dropped on the floor. What more can a girl ask for? I'm definitely looking forward to the next class!

I have discovered from dance and skate class that I'm really really in a bad shape. I couldn't quite skate properly during my skating lesson this morning coz of my sore right thigh muscle from yesterday. It didn't help that my right leg is my jumping and landing leg either... Plus the coach decided that I needed to learn to do 'shoot-the-ducks' which is skating one one foot squatted down with your other leg extended in front of you...for preparation to learn sit-spins. But I think it seems like that's gonna be really far off though because I can't even do a basic two-foot spin properly and I can't quite do a one-foot one either. The only good thing that's improved about my spins is that I can now do at least 6 revolutions....or so I think coz it seems like I'm able to go more rounds than previously.

After skating I more or less limped off the ice and I can't really climb stairs now. It'll probably get even worse tomorrow. Anyway, this week is gonna see me in my room doing intensive exercises for skating, especially building up strength on my left leg and ankle. Apparently my left ankle is really weak. It's a good thing I'm flatting and not staying in a hall anymore coz I'm gonna look really strange doing spirals (balancing on one leg with the other extended out and raised behind) and going up and down in a shoot-the-duck position. Sigh...

Research

Research

It's been some time since I last posted something, mainly coz things have been somewhat busy. I'm currently doing research for one of my psyc papers. It's quite annoying though coz more often than not, I find the uni doesn't subscribe to that particular journal, or the journal is way too old and therefore unavailable through the many e-journal databases the uni subscribes to! Then there's the problem of not being able to find relevant research...

Anyway, things have been pretty boring aside from finally being able to see the sun and use some of my summer clothes. The only not-a-usual-happening that occurred was the other day when one of my flatmates went out for dinner. I have no idea what he was having for dinner but he mistook his own tongue for a piece of meat and chewed it so badly when he licked his lips there was blood all over his mouth. His tongue bled for 5 hours afterwards and it was all swollen and purple and he couldn't talk. Ouch! Honestly I didn't know anyone who could do what he did and not feel it. Talk about self-destructive....

My Room

My Room

I've finally remembered to post picts of my room. It's not much really, but I like it bien sur...guess it would be horrible if I didn't, considering that I spend heaps of time in it!!!

Starting with the entry to my hideout...


The first thing you see when you enter:

My bright orange dresser! (and yourself)

My wall decor...there was juz too much blank space and holes in the wallpaper...


J'aime beaucoup mon lit...c'est très confortable!


Where I study....sometimes...


The fireplace which is boarded up and is now for decorative purposes.


The entry/exit way with my many pairs of shoes.