I found my cellphone.

It was in my jeans pocket.

Which I had just folded, with the rest of my washing.

Which I had just taken them off the washing line.

...After I washed them in the washing machine. My cellphone is dead.

Oh please, only BA students get a break.

    Three weeks of 'holiday' from the usual slog of the University of Canterbury. Except I had a project, a lab report, a lab entry quiz and three tests to study for. Are they MAD?!
    Well, I've finished the engineering project. It is done. Thank God. And I'm running three days behind what I should be. I don't have enough time to study, I still haven't done the lab report (*gulp*) and I have a Chem test on Monday night that's worth 30% of the entire paper. OH GOD. I'm going a little nuts. I'm tired and I have not had a holiday, and I'm heading towards the test and exam part of the semester. I may just expire. I plan to sleep all Saturday after next week, and maybe a bit of Sunday.

And then there's an award ceremony for that Engineering Scholarship I won. Dress = 'smart casual'. Oh dear.

Oh well, things will get better. I got $20 for washing and vacuuming both cars! I am temporarily rich! :D

TOMORROW: Monday 12:00pm at the Albany Cafe in the Link

I am meeting Jasper there.

And I am going to turn up, because I do.

Yesterday was not that great.

I had gone to visit Freya in hospital in the morning. The principle was very impressed at how much I was looking out for a fellow friend, so drove me out to Burwood Hospital (spelling?) and gave me a chocolate Easter egg to give to her. So I saw her and she was pretty happy. She had slipped at the keg party and put her foot through the window, poor thing. She'd cut two tendons and one nerve, so it was unimaginably painful. A lot of bastards at my hall aren't giving a flying rat's ass though, because Freya is 'different'. She's one of those people who will be quite happy to dance by themselves on the dance floor because, hey, it's fun.

And I want to punch the chauvinistic pig that said, after I told him what happened to Freya, "Yeah. I don't like her, though. She's... weird. And she takes advantage of drunk guys."
So I reply, "And to think, it's usually the other way around <_<"
"Yeah, she's like the opposite."

Opposite to what, Tim? Helpless and not in control? I'm sorry, would you like some Margaret Atwood with that steaming plate of ignorance? Grr. It doesn't matter how insecure one can be about being with the 'normal' crowd, putting your leg through a window F***ING HURTS whether you're 'normal' or not! </rant>


So I was at the hospital for a few hours, talking to her and keeping her company (I signed her cast and wrote my cellphone number on it, it was funny!) and then I caught a bus back into town, and then one to the uni, then I ran back to the uni, and had no time for lunch because I was running late to get to the busstop!

And TWO different locals directed me to the wrong busstop. So I directed Tim, against his father's text, to the wrong busstop. And I had this bloody heavy suitcase with me that I could NOT carry. Luckily I had Kent with me, so when the bus stopped 200m from where I was told it would, Kent helped me carry my bag while Tim just took off. Charming man, that one. And in the rush, I left my jersey in Christchurch. So Kent, lovely man, found my jersey and I was on a cramped bus sitting next to an annoyed blonde wearing a thin t-shirt, and it started to rain. Cold llama. All the way to Dunedin.

Had a nice dinner at home of bacon and eggs (they thought I'd have dinner on the way there... I had a hot chocolate during our 30min stop) and I found Lucy's LJ saying the whole group would be having lunch at the Lone Star today.


And they weren't. Lone Star wasn't even open. I don't have that many cellphone numbers. So I froze my arse off for a while outside Lone Star. Got disappointed. Got cold. Got angry and left. GRRR. Now I must do study, because SOME people are doing a REAL degree :P

On Friday I went to the ENSOC (Engineering society) BBQ with the live band ElemenoP. The people who did that 'Verona Verona' song, if you're as bad with local music as I am. It was $2 entry, and one of my friends got rejected for lack of ID :/

I ended up going to the BBQ/Concert with Tim, someone from engineering who is a mac user (I calls 'em as I sees 'em. Mac.). It wasn't too bad. I hope my parents are proud at how social I tried to be. The bass really rattles one's ribcage, especially in the mosh area. Yes, Alana was in the mosh area. Alana did not mosh. Alana almost got mushed and left the mosh pit and was deaf.

I had a whole cup of beer (I sipped it ;p) and a few sausages. It was good. I left after they played the 'Verona' song and went to the maths building to work on my maths assignment. It's all about the company, really. I had better music back on my PC and my ears are STILL recovering.


On Saturday I spent the morning with Susan and her buddies promoting Earth Hour. It was so much fun! It was SO great seeing Susan again, and we had had supper together on Friday night, and we were promoting Earth Hour with a man in a panda suit. I loved it! I gave stickers to children! She'd be proud... at the end of the day I was still wearing the t-shirt and getting my fellow hall-mates to turn off the lights.

In the afternoon I went to a Christchurch devmeet with Ilfar and Kent. I shall post photos later. There was a mime! The most awesome mime in the world! But mime story shall be posted with mime pictures ;)

The rest of the weekend was just me finishing my maths assignement and watching the movie Serenity (from Firefly) with Jason. AFTER Earth hour. Three of us sat at the top of the Moore fire escape and enjoyed being electrically free in the orange glow of the legally required safety light of the fire escape. It was fantastic fun.

So, back to Uni tomorrow! ONE WEEK UNTIL HOLIDAYS, BABY!

I went to the head of engineering, handed back my marked essay... and then my bibliography... and said I had honestly forgotten to hand it in with the essay. And I had. I had done it perfectly, I had printed it out, and I had forgotten to staple the damn bibliography to my essay.

so I got 12/18 as a grade. 66%. C+. Achieved.

I had handed in an electronic copy at the same time as my hard copy, as everyone did. The bibliography was in the electronic copy. I told him that. I told him it was an honest mistake. If the bibliography had been included, it would have been a B at the very least.

I got my essay back today, again. Stapled to the back of it was the bibliography.

Scribbled on the marking sheet was, in a big circle: Sorry, no change.

...

*stabs stress ball with a knife repeatedly*

Today was terrible. I was planning on going to an earlier Chem lecture so I could have the afternoon to work on my essay. I couldn't find the room; so as of before dinner, no work has commenced on the essay.

So, that was sad.

Then I forgot my physics tutorial. NOT GOOD. I ran all the way from my room to the campus to the lab in five minutes, got there, completely sweaty, apologised, they marked me as present, but I only got half the work done. Not happy llama :( physics are going terrible! And it was all capped off by Caroline...

Caroline: So, are you done for the day?
Me: Nah, I've got a lecture at 3:00 :(
Caroline: Haha, don't forget that one! *laughs at me*
Me: *not amused face*
Caroline: Oooh, SOMEONE forgot to take their happy pills
Me: Fuck you.
Caroline: *laughs at me to her friends*

I don't say that often, but I found the words apt. I would not laughed at her misfortune, had she been through hell.


Ilfar cheered me up much, though :) fish is talented like that. When I'm on the verge of breaking down with all the stress, responsibilities and impending DOOM of the world breaking me, Ilfar can still make me grin ^_^

So instead of working on my essay between my afternoon lecture, I sat under a tree in my Hall grounds and drank coffee. As Ms Hutton would say, I need to center my chi before going forth and doing homework *sighs*

And in the interest of making everybody else laugh, look at my lab coat!

POSE IF YOU LOVE CHEMISTRY!

Tired Llama.

I have had to shoulder the burden of having the 'Fresher Flu', having this ridiculous essay assignment, as well as a love life that's got more plot than all of Shortland Street (although... that ain't saying much now, is it?)

And I believe that doing less than 24 hours of university a week is Bugger All. Hear me! When I have done my degree (and have survived) I will earn a wage proportionate to the number of hours I've slaved away! AND SO WILL THOSE PEOPLE WHO DO ONE LECTURE A DAY. *fuuume*

Today I waited an hour and a half in a que for a book sale, and I arrived half an hour before the second hand text book sale opened. But I loved it, because Ilfar and Kent both met up with me and waited in line with me before Ilfar had to drive Kent to work (so he wouldn't be late; long wait in line!) It was awesome; Ilfar had only just finished his night shift as a security guard, so he was in his work getup. It looked very impressive, plus the three of us kept joking that he could just call a fire emergency and get me my books using the pure authority of the suit. :3

It was like having Qui-Gon and Obi Wan escort me through university. Hehe. The three of us have been hanging out a bit. We're still on all good terms. Lots of fun talking and queing. Ilfar charms a great many people!

After I bought my text books (And you know what? If I had bought Physics second hand and one edition down, I would have saved $135. But I didn't. Frrrrr!) I had to lug all that, and myself, all the way to MATH108.

I had two lectures, a lab and a tutorial today. That's 1 + 1 + 3 + 2 = 7 hours of university. X_X But I have my own lab coat now. I might take pictures. It's pretty sweet.

"You're splashing acid on my lab manual again"
"Oh, sorry."

"We're running out of NaOH"
"Hahaha... all your base are belong to us :D"
"..."
"Ahahaha!"
"..."
"........so..."

And I was the best in my class when it came to drawing. Oh yeah, we were drawing straight lines and circles freehand... I felt so in my element. Straaaight line! Ciiiiircle! Now watch me draw a table in extreme perspective with perfect proportions! George! Why aren't you watching? Don't tell me to shut up! I'm awesome! :D George! Look, I drew an optical illusion!

Hehe, funs. Now I must work D:

Hey all! Thought I'd post some of the pictures I've taken since I arrived in sunny *cough*currently raining*cough* Christchurch, especially of my little dorm room!

I've got a throat infection, I don't know how, but it's quite uncomfortable. Not a good friday for llama--woke up and everything sore! Owie! And I keep almost nodding off in lectures. Not a good start to the year. D: and I have my first assignment! OH NO. *coughs* Owie...

Ah well, here's the pictures of my room!

One Banana
Two Banana
Three Banana
Four!


And here's some other snapshots:

"Flam" - the elevator version
Cicada exoskeletons
Kent in coach
New Brighton Pier 1
New Brighton Pier 2
New Brighton Pier 3
New Brighton Pier 4

So, I'm going to brew myself up some Panadol Lemon Hot Drink... Stuff, and plan my research essay. Then I will hit up vodafone, again, for a plan. And then I will design a website for a club I joined. THEN I MIGHT SLEEP.

D: rawr, llama le tired!

Whoops. I was talking to Jasper online today and got things completely confused, as I just figured out. I thought it was odd that she asked me 'how was school' (not with that spelling, spelling was probably schol) and I mistook her asking my NCEA results for Scholarship results.

I said physics went well, but chem and calc bad. Lol! That was NCEA! I only found out Scholarship results were out when I read another friend's blog! So I went and checked them out, and guess what? 'No Award', 'No Award' and 'No Award'.

Bugger. And I had thought I had a good shot at the technology one.

Never has the urge to chuck higher education in and become a housewife been stronger. I'm taking my apron with me to Canty, just in case ;) Oh, that's right! I knew there was some reason I was still awake. Note! I am leaving for the flat plains of Canterbury tomorrow morning. (Leaving at the crack of... 9am and probably arriving late with lots of geocaching along the way). I probably won't have internet for a while after this. Just me and the Star Wars game (story of my life, these holidays!)

I've already packed most of my stuff... and by that, I'm trying not to take all my worldly posessions with me, but I'm SO damn sure I'm going to need that scarf, and both of those hats, and those stockings I've never worn, and all these t-shirts, and my DVD collection...


(How to cheer up)

Putting KOTOR fanfics and burning DVDs aside for one reason only (and not just because I've run out of either... or both...)

I have (edit: had) a fortune of gift vouchers! Wee! Money that should be SPENT, not saved! Then again, flybuys gift cards are interesting to negotiate when you can't remember which stores accept flybuys. One of the sales assistants at Farmers suggested I spend up large at New World. I managed to force a smile back at her. Spend up large yourself, skinny lady.
Anyway, it was very good. Bought a birthday present for my little brother at Farmers, and some other things there.

Paperplus has flybuys, so I went there and bought a little flip book, called "I Bitch, Therefore I Am", which combines vintage advertising images with witty, provocative, feminist captions. Usually paintings of over-peppy-looking women from the 50s, making it hilarious.

"I still miss my ex-husband, but my aim is getting better"

"I have puppies instead of kids. I would rather ruin my carpet than my life"

And not for the innocent eyes:
"I lost my virginity, but I still have the box it came in."

"Don't talk to my breasts. They are deaf"


:3 gosh, I'm so amused.

First thing one should always make sure when preparing to cook a roast is that you leave it to thaw for long enough. You don't want to be hacking at it with a blunt carving knife only to find it still pink in the middle. This means you have to throw it in the microwave for five minutes, in the oven for another five, the steamed carrots go cold and the gravy turns to jelly. Dinner is 25 minutes late.

On the bright side of this experiment, I can cook vegetables pretty well :D and I got to dance with a beheaded chicken. All in all, a good day.


Last day of working at New World (for the moment) as well. They gave me a little giftie card and chocolates and a goodbye card. I love them so much ^_^ On Tuesday I'm leaving for Christchurch, and hopefully by then StudyLink will have paid UC the money @_@

I got my hair cut! Nothing drastic, just four or five inches shorter than usual.

And I had a driving lesson with Dad and only stalled twice and I did a perfect three-point-turn ^_^ very pleased with that. I've got a driving lesson with the instructor tomorrow morning at 8am D: so I'm going to be up very early for that. *is afraid*

The game I bought off Trademe, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, still has not arrived. I have nothing fun to do. And it is just insulting that I have borrowed KOTOR 2 only to find disk one was missing. Cannot install, cannot play. It's like being given a kitten and then being told that Schroedinger put your cat in a box. And you've got the box. Damn that Schroedinger!


Hopefully these new LJ icons don't clash with my colour scheme, or your colour scheme. Yes, I can see you reading this. Does it work? I mean, there's a lot of colours in that icon, eh? Eh?

Remember those: "Hi, I'm a PC" "And I'm a Mac" ads? Spoofs have always been hilarious, but these ones are AWESOME. (be warned, they seem to prefer PCs and they rip out Linux completely)

Some of the best ones (imho):
    Overclocking

    Services

    Interruption
   
    Operating System

    Networking

Hehehe :)

I woke up at 6:00am, saw the latest Stargate Atlantis episode (yes!) and got up at 7:00am. Gosh, the things one can get done!

Folding washing!
2x batches of gingerbread men!
2x chocolate birthday cakes!
Stress!
Shopping for father's birthday present!
Home!
Out of icing sugar!
Oh crap, s/jam/icing sugar/?!
Oh nuts... here is the reserve icing sugar!
Too late now, time for work!
WORK!

And that was pretty much my day ^_^ I'm getting pretty l33t at gingerbread men, if I do say so. I think I'll make a batch or two for my work mates before I bother off to Christchurch in LESS THAN ONE MONTH!! :O! Alright, I'm scared now.

It was a nice day at work. We have new people, and they're really nice, and they talk to me! :) and the customers are nice, and the fact that they're ripping out some of the building to expand it is all fun.

^_^ yay, domestics!

I went driving today! :3 Don't worry, I didn't kill anyone.

Considering how much I fear driving, I think it went pretty well. I drove around the lovely wide streets of North East Valley, trying to take off without lurching or stalling (gosh darn clutch) and checked intersections and went into third gear and everything! I've had my learner's for more than a year, but putting me in a car is like trying to get a cat to take a bath. Claws.

I drove along North Road... managed to get into fourth gear without any problems (like losing revs or yelling that the car was going 'too fast' at 40kmph) and drove from the Black's Road intersection (not actually being on Black's Road) to the Bethunes Gully car park and back. I did a couple of hill-starts... One when I was on a downwards hill and stalled three times in a row (yes, facing downhill) and then one on uphill that I executed perfectly. AND I was looking around at the same time! (Usually it's one or the other; looking for other cars or driving my own). Perfectly... but I squeaked the tyres a bit. Eheh.

The main thing that's pushing me to learn how to drive is that I need my restricted before I leave home, and Kent doesn't drive. One of us has to know how to, and I suck at reading maps/navigating where as Kent always knows exactly where he is. It's like he has an onboard GPS system. :3 talent!

Here's the latest installment for book plates... as the trend goes, they get suckier each day. So I hide it.


Yeah, it's very wonky.

I went to the cricket today! Wow! My first ever live cricket match!

...It was so incredibly dull. Well, the weather was beautiful... but that was pretty much it. We sat on a grassy bank for three and a half hours getting tanned/burned and watching the cricket people... do cricket (it wouldn't be so bad if they had a simple scoring system, you know). The most exciting part was when the middle-aged men and students got a little more drunk.

"We love Cumming!!" (the name of a cricket player on the New Zealand team) "Well, his mother does..."

"Good single, boys!" (we were 29 points away from winning... 28 points)

"Give us a wave, Peter, give us a wave! *clap clap* Give us a wave Peter, give us a wave!"
...followed by...
"GIVE US A WAVE, PETER! ...DON'T IGNORE ME, PETER!"

And when one of the batsmen missed, "Ten metres to your left, Peter! ...I mean, to the right..."
Audience: LOL *applauds the idiot*

There were all sorts of strange people watching the cricket. Some, like the students, used cricket as an excuse to have a nice, clean, sunny place to get drunk. And there were all sorts of cute kids, especially the kids who dress up in their own cricket gear and really get into the spirit of things. "Mum, isn't that the ball? No, it's an apple." The kid's mother laughed.

I spent the time drawing (more book plates, but none of them were any good) and then listening to the ol' mp3 player and zoning out (mm, wraith!) And I got a little bit of sunburn. Thankfully, not as much as my sister who has a pretty interesting t-shirt stensil and a fair bit on her face. I've got burn on the top of my shoulders and a little bit on my front. You see, I was wearing a top with a very wide/low neckline... so rubbing sunscreen onto that was... possibly more interesting than the match, if I were to flatter myself that much. Anyway, I didn't put enough on low enough, so my front goes tan, pink, white. Heh.

And here's the book template of the day! I decided to go with purple instead of red because I did red yesterday. I should have done red and gold... no ninja would wear purple and green... too much colour! This is not some of my greatest work :/



Tomorrow (hopefully) I'll probably post a ballerina. On the bright side, I've got a grim and a fairy that I drew today that I might scan. They look good, imho. Grim looks neat. I've also got a vampire and some other things in stock. Requests appreciated!

I needed something to do today, so I decided to attack my little garden area!

We live on the side of a hill, and so our property is terraced into three sections; the top level that the house sits on (and front lawn), then the 'middle garden' then the slightly sloping 'lower garden' which is also terraced into little bits. I have a little bit in the corner of the lower garden all to myself. It's got a miniature rose, some lemon verbina and a lot of weeds. Now, the important thing is that between 'middle' and 'lower' garden is this massive holly hedge. Slightly overgrown holly hedge. And the back of my garden IS this holly hedge. And it's overgrown, and it's taking up a fair chunk of my little garden space.

So today we had lovely weather. I got home from work, walked down to the lower garden in my flipflops and saw my garden covered with weeds. Sticky weeds, that lily-looking one and some pink frilly stuff all tangled in my miniature rose. So I attacked the weeds! (And probably most of the legitimate plants living there). Almost pulled out some of my mint plants. As well as the rose and the lemon verbina there lives three varieties of mint and a rosmary bush that decided to grow down the side of my garden than in it. I was without gloves, and just gently pulling the weeds out (so to get the roots out too. Damn roots) because the weeds were soaking up all the water and my rose looks almost dead. On the bright side, the almost-dead lemon verbina looks alive. YAY! I love that thing! Smells nice!

Alana: *untangling weed from rose* you little bastard! You're right under the holly hedge! Ooh, I'm going to rip you out! OW!

So I ran back up and got some pruning, cutting things. But no gloves.

At this point, Mum wishes to travel back in time and hit me with a spade. There is now a (beautifully arched) hole in the hedge above my garden. I was personally delighted to find a rock wall behind all of that hedge... but three feet in was too far in.

Dad: It'll grow back
Mother: >:(

I now have 50% more garden, though :)

Although... my parents may kill me. Anyway, here's another book-thing for you all! (All book labels are free to colour, distribute, sell, buy, tattoo, cook with or bottle as you deem necessary :))







I have little cuts and bleeding all over my hands/arms. But I won!

I have been neglecting my art duties as late (which is, I need to draw art to show of to get praise :D)

Been trying to find games to play on the computer, which is a hassle because I have no money. The difference between having no money and having money to spend on such things is the same as the difference in flux which gives maximum electrical current. In other words, I am cheap and I miss my physics lessons D:

But I did go through a short phase of wanting to draw lots of 'Ex Libris' borders. Pretty!


(yes, it is a little wonky)


That's the Mermaid one, my favourite out of the lot. I've given into temptation to draw pretty mermaids and jokers and bunnies and unicorns. Then again, I also still like pokemon (I wish I was younger and found it more challenging again :/) Coloured it in on OpenCanvas (free!!) As well as the Mermaid I did a ninja-girl, joker, dragon, fuzzy monster, vampire (sorry K-R), an alien and some other ones. The Mermaid is the only one coloured in so far, hence the capital letter.

I might be boarding with my Granny next year instead of a Hostle. We're discussing it now, but it would be cheaper and good marks in the goodie book... Granny needs someone to help with things like cooking--she could teach me to cook! :D! She's a little forgetful... well, getting worse considerably. All I'd need to do is cook and clean, and I like doing both. It's really a hard call.

Anyway, good luck to all you guys on your summer adventures :) I'll do some more art (and hopefully, pluck up enough courage to go for driving lessons D:)

Worked 10 hours today, big wow! Longest I've ever worked, 9am to 7pm. I'm working all over New Year's. Someone's got to.

Want an example of how crazy I am? After watching one of those airport programs, I want to work in the airport... just to be able to test my own levels of compassion. That and because I'd have far wittier come-backs to stupid people that have not yet learned to grow up and take responsibility for how to get from A to B.

Anyway, it was a FANTASTIC day! :D Walked to work via the Gardens thinking, 'Gee, wouldn't it be great if we had a celebrity come through? I mean, just once?' I saw someone famous! Shaun Summerfield!

This guy!

Although, good thing I didn't go 'OMG-you're-a-news-reporter! You're famous!' because I would have called him 'Hamish McKay' or 'Hamish Carter'. I'm not so good with names, lol. But still, news reporter = famous = celebrity (maybe. It was still cool!)

And an aforementioned co-worker that has not for the past year been able to remember my name remembered it! I clapped. I feigned an interest in history. I practically got chased down the stairs being told about old Roman Emperors. Twice. >_<;

And I smiled at someone who said she needed it. She didn't speak a lot of English, but she was very sad and thanked me for smiling.

All in all, it was a good day. I earned a lot of money and impressed the boss (Trish).

Saturday: 10 hours work
Sunday: 9 hours work
Monday: 9 hours work
and more to follow