australia

It’s only 6 weeks before my graduation so I’ve started to take
photos of anything and everything in an effort to document scenes of
Melbourne that has been part of my life ever since I arrived here in
2000. I’m starting with the basics – campus and halls then moving to do
photo shoots of the city and other places. Here’s one I took today on
the train, I was sitting in the first carriage and just shooting random
pics of the train interior when I saw this:

No, not the guy in front of the photo. I’m referring to the train
driver helping a physically challenged guy on an motorised wheelchair
to exit the carriage. I found this photo nice, because it showcases the
level of service available for the physically disadvantaged here. Train
drivers will stop and come out of the driver compartment and come into
the carriage to help them enter and exit. I’ve been impressed by the
allowances this country makes for the physically challenged ever since
I was here.

Link of the Day: Infected Mushroom live at Bliss 4 @ QBH tonight!!! [earthcore.com.au]

Infected Mushroom! If you don’t know who they are, kindly disregard the next paragraph and continue reading from the one after.

Heresy! Go back and listen to your Paul Oakenfold and Paul Van Dyk. That’s what trance means to you anyway. :p

If you read that anyway, you have my apologies for the unacceptable
elitist insult. 😉 I was impressed by their intense psy-trance when I
was introduced to their music and I had wanted to see them live ever
since. I want to go so much…but I can’t. Unfortunately my plans of
working ahead to have an Easter break totally free from assignments has
not gone according to schedule. There are just too many assignments to
complete and I need to catch up over Easter break. Why can’t I take a
single night off to go?

Well, because if I go, it’s not going to just affect one night, I’ll
need at least a week to recover. Why? Because if I go, I just know I’m gonna go all out
by justifying it’s the last big one before I go back, so I’m going to
be pushing the limits, fuck the consequences, going out with a bang and
that. And the thought of me contemplating “going all out” scares me too
coz in my dictionary:

going all out
phrase
1. Mental state where excess is celebrated and consequences are not taken into consideration.
2. Implicitly trusting your body to handle and deal with the strain
exerted by the prodigious consumption of various supplements.
3. Living only for the “now”.

See also: Trips to the hospital, formidable financial repercussions, extreme neurotoxicity, comedown from hell.

I’ve also noticed that every time I decide to go all out something
bad happens at the end which more often than not causes regret or
remorse. =D I trust myself not to do anything too stupid and reckless
that will lead to long lasting repercussions, but still the recovery
period from my sessions of going all out (in this context) takes a
week. One week of (horrible) depression, overwhelming anxiety, panic
attacks, unshakable lethargy, mood swings, suicidal tendencies, crying
spells and utter helplessness before the dopamine and serotonin stores
starts grudgingly filling up again.

There was a time in my life when I would have said “fuck it” and went all out, quad-dropping* and candyflipping*
every few hours and get totally mashed and HAVE FUN till the break of
dawn. Unfortunately, I seem to have sobered up and realized the
importance of not fucking up this semester, because it’s my last
semester and I’m graduating in June. I want to spend my Easter break
catching up and finishing assignments and doing some photo shoots
instead of lying in bed depressed and feeling like a significant chuck
of my brain has taken leave.

That doesn’t mean I don’t want to go though. This is probably the
last big event that’s happening before I go back, and Infected
Mushroom!!! It’ll be absolutely crazy in there, I want to go! I can’t imagine what a powerful experience it’ll be to be candyflipping*
while listening to Infected Mushroom live in a “psychedelic mad house
featuring multiple monster lasers, death defying stunts, mind bending
installations + more”.

*I don’t do any of these things, mind you, it’s just an
analogy. I don’t even know what it means! It’s not to be taken
literally. 😉

It will be a total mind-fuck. I want to be there! But I
can’t. Our one week long Easter break has got to be used for catching
up and assignments instead of recovering. Thus, I’m afraid I’ll have to
ban everyone from mentioning the words “infected” and “mushroom” in
front of me, in my near vicinity, within hearing range, or in the
comments. This is because I don’t want to be reminded of what I’m
missing. 🙁 Those who insist on defying this ban will receive a hefty
kick in the balls. That goes the same for girls, I’m sure it’s gonna
hurt too. =D

I’m serious, no one use the words “infected” and “mushroom” until tomorrow, when the event is over.

There’s 1000 words right there. 😉 I’ve having a really busy time
with all my assignments, so I haven’t been making real posts lately.
I’m going to take a nap now coz I woke up fairly early today. I’ll post
again tonite. Oh and that picture is of the Monash University campus in
Caulfield.

The computer labs are full at all times of the day. Okay, that
wasn’t even funny, I’m too busy right now, got heaps of stuff to do. 🙂

I don’t think my new neighbors is aware that this is a feminine
hygiene product disposal bin. Two new people moved in this semester,
one of my previous neighbors has graduated while the other moved to
Oakleigh in protest of the recent raise of the halls rent. The Pink
Healthcare Services bin has never doubled as a rubbish bin last
semester or the previous one, so I think either one or perhaps both of
my new neighbors is making the poor bin do double duty.

As you can see from the photo, it has been stuffed with
miscellaneous things like toilet paper wrappers, toilet papers, an ice
cream wrapper (?) and a plastic soap dish (!). The auto closing
mechanism of the bin has thus been blocked by the debris, and so it has
remained for several days. The cleaners should put up a sign clearly
labeling the original purpose of the bin to prevent such occurrences in
the future. Heh. 🙂

Edit: My apologies about all the disclaimers floating about.
I’m feeling a bit paranoid about getting raided, seeing as to how my
address is visible to anyone who does a whois query. Not that I have
anything to hide of course, nor am I in possession of any illegal
substances. Just felt like putting up the disclaimers.

I passed by the campus center cafe while on the way back from my
tutorial. I was alone at that time. I decided to take away a rice box
for dinner, so I ordered one. I proceeded to the cashier and put my
right hand into my right pocked to get my wallet out. It wasn’t there.
I checked my other pocket, and it wasn’t there too. I had forgotten to
bring my wallet out.

*cough*

“Er…I seem to have left my wallet at home”

That’s what I said to the cashier.

How embarrassing. 🙂

Behold, I say! 🙂 This is the new Roberts Hall dog tag. It’s used to
open doors in public access areas like the kitchen, common room etc. I
received a memo advising me that there’s only one day for Roberts Hall
residents to change their dog tags, and that is today. Good thing I set
an alarm in my Palm to remind me, or I would have totally forgotten
about it. It looks similar to the old one, except the new one has
grooves reading RoY instead of RoR.

This is the last post I make before I change the name servers. It
can take 24 – 48 hours till the DNS propagates to everyone though. If
you’re still seeing this post tomorrow, check back again in a couple of
hours to see if your ISP’s DNS lists have been updated. Take care
people. This is me signing off from Host Nexus…see you all tomorrow
at ICDSoft.