It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like New Year's

I've just finished reading Bridget Jones' Diary, and without Colin Firth, I don't think it's as good. But she did have a nice list of New Years resolutions, and I've decided to make my own list. Even if I only manage to keep one resolution, then it'll be an achievement.

ANNA'S RESOLUTIONS:

1. No overdue library books
(Last year, I decided that this was going to be my resolution. 10 minutes into the new year, I remembered that book I'd left on my desk that was due on the 31st.) Must try harder this year.

2. Learn the kanji as we learn them in class
This was I can avoid trying to cram 200 characters 2 hours before the Japanese exam.

3. Spend less than $1000 on games (this includes 40k models)
I know that I'm supporting the industry that I'm hopefully trying to get into- the software industry that is- but I'm hoping to go to Japan with Nadia at the end of next year, and I'll need to have some money left to get manga!

4. Spend less time watching TV
I'm going to try and restrict myself to shows that I actually want to watch, instead of just watching what's on and mindlessly getting absorbed in some show that I'll have fogotten about a week later.

5. Try and do something productive for society
Sharon and I were going to do some voluntary work at the RCH, but we were told that they were inundated with applications and that we should apply 3 months later. So I am going to volunteer for something.

6. Finish a proper movie, worthy of an arts student
I haven't made any real movies since I bought my video camera, just a few short clips that I've joined together and added some background music to. This year, I am going to try and make a proper movie, it'll probably end up being a christmas card again, but I am going to aim for twenty minutes at least. So it'll probably have to be a family card, since nobody else will want to watch twenty minutes of footage of strangers.


Well, that's all I can think of at the moment. I'll try and add some more before NYE.

[EDIT 30-12-04] 7.Try not to think about a certain person
But even the act of thinking about not thinking about someone requires that you think about them, so I don't quite know how I'm going to do this. At least I resolve to stop messaging him like I did while I was on holiday. I think he's responsible for half of my credit being gone. :'(

Queen of Queens(land), Part 2

Sorry that I haven't continued that last post, but I've been kinda lazy. And still feeling a bit lazy, since I have Stuck On You, on pause. So I'll try to be quick. Anyway, nobody wants to read a 5 page essay on my trip to Queensland.

Day 1:
Amanda, my youngest sister, had a terrible time on the plane. She started to cry at the end of the plane ride and the flight attendant had to give her something to smell. The apartment that we stayed at was called The Penthouses, it had three bedrooms and was right next to the beach. We were too tired to go anywhere that night so we had a nice dinner of instant noodles in weird containers- we couldn't find the bowls.

Day 2:
Seaworld. I forgot to take the tags off my bag from the plane, so the stickers came off and were all over my back. Anjelica didn't tell me about them right away, and started laughing. So I was walking around with a bunch of barcodes on my back. She told me eventually. We saw the dolphin show and the seal show- the seal show was so funny, but one of the actors was really bad. He's the kind of person that overacts. We also saw polar bears, they're so cute. Amanda cried again when we went to see Planet SOS, which is a 3D movie about the trouble our planet is in. In the first few pics from Queensland, I'm wearing a Red Cross hat, but after Seaworld, the hat is never seen again. I lost it on a water ride- it flew off my head when we were going downhill .When mum went back to Seaworld (she, Alex, Anjelica and Amanda chose to return to Seaworld), she said that she saw it on a rock.

Day 3:
Movieworld. Most of the time here was spent buying stuff. Scott went home with bags of stuff from Movieworld. I also picked up a new hat from here. The Scooby-Doo 2 ride was really funny. For some reason, there was a part where you go up an elevator, so you spend a minute waiting for the elevator. I've never seen that in a ride before. There was also the usual things jumping out at you and weird shadows. Oh, and the Police Academy Stunt Show was awesome! Before the show, there was this clown guy and he made fun of people walking past him. The funniest thing about it was that the people that were being made fun of didn't notice that he was making fun of them! He'd follow someone and tickle their neck with a fluffy thing, and they'd swat it away thinking that it's a fly, then he'd do it again and continue until they turned around. Then he'd look away and pretend to be innocent. His other job was to direct people to seats, but when some people refused to go where he was pointing (he mimed everything), he'd reach into his holster and pull out.... a banana! This couple asked him to take a photo for them, and he looks as though he's going to, then he asks the guy to hold the camera, and gets that guy to take a photo of him and the other guy's girlfriend together!

Day 4:
Wet 'N Wild. Basic waterslide, floating on tubes rides. Nobody else wanted to go on the fun rides, like the really high waterslides. They really missed out. Anjelica and I spend a lot of time teasing Amanda by telling her that we were going to put her on one of those floaty tube things and leave her in the deep end of the wave pool.

Day 5:
We had one of those 3 Park Super Pass things, and you're allowed to use it to return to the park of your choice. Scott, my aunty, my uncle and I decided to return to Movieworld. We suspected that in the stunt show, part of it was set up (4 people were picked from the audience to be in the show, but only one actually did anything). We were right, it was set up. Scott also picked up more souvenirs, and I found Agent Smith sunglasses! I was so happy. Debney(my highs chool, for those of you with a short memory) had a fashion parade when I was in Year 12, and Asha and I were going to go as Niobe and Agent Smith, but I couldn't find the right sunnies to go with the suit. I also had a problem with getting a suit! Tu gave me a Harry Potter costume for Christmas, so I decided to go as HP, but in the morning, being late as usual, I forgot. More photos were taken, and Scott and I went on the Batman Ride. It wasn't really a ride, it was one of those movies with moving seats. On the way back to the apartment, I fell on the bus and sprained my ankle, so decided to pick up some Christmas cards and write to people.

Day 6:
Lazed about the beach, wrote cards, oh, I forgot to mention this weird guy that I met. His name was Alex and he was doing some construction thing on one of the apartments. We started talking, and I got the impression that he was flirting, but then I was thinking that he's one of those people that takes advantage of the girls that go to Queensland during schoolies, so I kinda ignored that. I also wondered what Saman would do. And considering that it was a guy, I doubt Saman would have gone for him either. ^_^ (There's your mention Saman.)It was nice talking to him though, since he had this weird Aussie thing (going to Debney meant that I saw very few Aussie people, and I find them so funny! :D). Anyway, it was on this day that I suspect he was also hitting on my mother! Yuck, yuck, yuck!

Day 7:
Last day in Queensland. Got up early because we had to be out of the apartment by 10. My aunty wanted us to leave Queensland as soon as possible so that they could get in as much driving time as they could, so that we'd reach Sydney quickly. But then they go and look at all thte tourist traps along the way- makes no sense to me. We visited a chocolate factory. I saw a milk and white chocolate chess board that I wanted, it looked so good.

Wow, it's getting late. Basics of trip to Sydney and Canberra. Stayed at Taree before reaching Sydney. Ate more Chinese food. Amanda found a little friend called Zong, and we all tease her about him being her boyfriend now. Lost a pair of pants and that Cranky Monkey T-Shirt that I bought with Jing and Jean on our shopping trip. Went to see the Opera House and rode the monorail. Went to Canberra and Parliament house, but didn't see Sam as he had gone to Mt Kosciusko for the day. We drove back to Melbourne, encountering that locust swarm that's been in the news.

Going back to Matt Damon now. Oyasumi.

Queen of Queens(land)

Well, we came back from our trip a few days early, since Scott really didn't want to stay in Sydney. Since we just got back about 2 hours ago, I haven't had time to look through the hours of footage that I took, so Saman, those pics aren't ready yet. Oh, and I think I got some strange looks from my family when I started filming girls on the beach. Sorry, I didn't bring anyone home for you. Oh, and I didn't get to go surfing. I finally managed to convince Scott, but the day before we were meant to go, I managed to trip over on the bus and sprained my ankle.

Sorry for the short post, but I'm feeling really sleepy at the moment. I'll write more later.

つづく　（to be continued)

Goodbye, Cruel World

Since Saman is the only one on at this crazy time, I'm using this to say goodbye to everyone. I'm giving up life, throwing in the towel... I don't know how much more of this I can take. Nothing makes sense and everything has just gone wrong. I don't know what to do anymore. Not even Saman could change my mind. Life sucks to much to go on living...

Wow, that sounded so odd. Actually, what I wanted to say goodbye for, was my trip to Queensland, which I'm leaving for in a few minutes. I've offered to bring Saman along in my backpack, but I don't think he'd fit. Well, I could bring him and not have anything else.... and I'd have to chop him up first.

Anyway, in Queensland, I'll probably be without access to the net, so if you don't see me online, or I don't reply, it's not because I hate you... it could be, but I doubt it.

Movin' On Out

I know that I've already done a post on moving out, but the topic has come up again, and I need help. It seems that Graham has hit a snag in his moving out plan, that being he doesn't have anyone to move out with. Also, sometime earlier this year, Sharon asked me to move out with her and Ting. I refused both offers, for the reasons stated in my last post. So the logical thing would be to get Graham to move out with Sharon and Ting, right? Killing two birds with one stone, and Sharon and Graham get along well (that is NOT a sign that I'm going to try and set them up. When my latest one is over, then I'm retiring, for good. So unless Jean and William get it in their heads to see each other of their own free will, there will be no Jean and William *sobs* ).

I told Sharon about my idea, and she went from enthusiastic about moving out to heistant. I told Graham about my idea and he started saying stuff about how he hasn't known Sharon for very long. I only met him in January this year- and when uni started, I introduced him to Sharon. So he has known her for almost as long as he's known me. Oh, but we were in the same maths class in semester one, so I saw him a lot more then. Why don't they like my idea? I think it's a good idea. Sharon and Ting want to live together. Graham needs something closer to the uni so he doesn't have to get up at 7 or 8AM to make an 11AM class. It's a win-win situation.

Yesterday, Graham asked me if I'd like to move out with him again. I made the same excuses that I did last time, but you know how when you make excuses, and they're not very good, how they seem to get weaker every time you use them? Well, that happened. And I'm scared that one of two things will happen:

1. I'll keep making the same excuses, and then eventually, he'll come up with an argument that I can't beat, and I'll say yes, simply because it's the logical thing to do. If there's no reason for me NOT to move out, then I should if there's a reason for me to move out. Oh, and I forgot to mention, while he's looking for a place to stay in Melbourne, he's living with his sister and her fiancée, but he can't stay there for too long. That would be the reason FOR me to move out.

2. I'll keep saying no and he'll get insulted. Then there'll be this stain in out friendship, and that would be very bad. He's one of the few people who'll be around in my final year (he's doing arts/eng as well). Oh, he might not, unless he extends it by a year. I could make more friends, but that's more work, and Graham is a good friend. I hate losing friends.

And on a completely unrelated note, I was just helping someone prepare for a Test of English as Foreign Language(TOEFL) test. So it is now 12:20AM (compare the time to what it says at the bottom of this post!). Cho, the person that I was helping lives in Thailand, and he is studying so hard (makes me feel so guilty)! It's pretty weird how I met him. I was bored, as usual, and David Tomic, one of my friends from DPSC (Jing, I think you might remember him), suggested that I add random people to my contact list on MSN Messenger, and see how well I can get to know them. Well, I ended up filling up my contact list, but i think about 12 people out of 80-something actually added me and spoke to me. Cho was one of them.

So I've just been trying to explain quoting to him (he said that he did it briefly in class, but I don't think he really knew what it was for). I didn't have a good topic to use as an example, so I just sent him chunks of this post- so he can know about my moving woes too! Then I had a flash of inspiration, and made up a topic, though it wasn't very good. "Do you think chicken is tasty?" Discuss. I don't know if Wayland's post caused it, or if it's just because I'm hungry, but in order to continue with this example, I had to come up with some weird sources. Like a scientist from the Russian Chicken Research Company. Is there such a thing? I just Googled it, and came up with nothing. I bet it's classified!

Jing, Jean and I went to Chadstone, but I'll wait until I do something with the video before I write about it. Actually, I'm probably the worst person you could ask about it. I'm going to sleep while I still have the positive vibes from helping someone. Oyasuminasai.

People Dancing Really Well... And Then Me....

Today, wwwa (Weekly Watchers of Wonderful Anime) held an anime marathon. Anjelica, her friend Anthea, her other friend Mitchell, Sharon and I all went. Since they were showing the end of a series that they'd been showing during semester in the morning, we didn't want to watch just the end, so we headed for the games room. They had a couple of DDR mats hooked up to a laptop, and had a huge collection of songs. I'd never seen so many people play DDR in my life! We do have a couple of DDR mats here, and at Anjelica's birthday party there were quite a few people who were willing to make total fools of themselves. Unfortunately, none of them would let me near them with my camera. :(

Anyway, in the games room, there were some really good (and some really bad -hint, hint, me...) dancers. The guy who owns the game, I think his name was Tom, was amazing. I could barely register the arrows on the screen, and he was moving like mad! He played this song that was 300bpm (5 beats per second), and he cleared it easily! Then he and this other girl started this marathon song that went for 10 minutes. I would have died! We watched a few episodes of some stuff, then we went back, and he was still there dancing!

Anjelica and Mitchell got up to play, on the condition that they could do the song at half the normal speed. It was so slow that there were having trouble hitting the notes at the right time. Then Anthea and I got up and attempted to dance. It's so scary getting up in front of strangers and trying not to fall over. But Anthea and I made it through the song alive and have decided NOT to do that ever again.

I used to think that people who were good at those games: Beatmania, DDR, Guitarmania, etc. were really sad, ie. don't they have anything better to do??? Though, after seeing those people dance today, I think I'm just jealous. Athens, the game, can be played on a dance mat, and you have to move your feet really fast. I'm absolutely hopeless at it, and usually end up giving up halfway through the race- because of sheer exhaustion! I don't know if it's the 200m or 400m race, but one of them is the longest race you can play on a dance mat, and it just goes forever! Or it could just be because I'm horribly unfit....

Stars of Tomorrow

This blog has been re-enabled. ;)

Well, few people came over today. (Yeah, a few. This morning, mum asked how many people were coming, and I said about 4. Anjelica, after everyone had left, told me that I can't count.)

First, Jing and Saman battled it out, Jing winning by a m.....er, Jing winning. (Don't want to offend one of the very few people that read this!) We also heard a nice duet of This Love from Jing and Wayland. Then they kicked butt in pass the mic, score was me; Jean; and Saman:6, to Jing; and Wayland:8, even though Wayland had wasted all of their shuffle tokens in one turn! Should have seen Saman and I try and sing Survivor together... let's just say that neither of us is going to be the fourth member of Destiny's Child anytime soon. Then it was girls against guys, and we won! Well, it was more like Jing and Jean won, and I just mumbled my way through the songs.

Throughout the day, we pretty much established that Jing and Jean are really good singers. Anjelica started playing and was surprised to see how many times their names were on the scoreboard.

Lunch was pizza, and Nadia and Rie (not sure how it's spelt, but she's Japanese, so I'm guessing that's how her name would be spelt) joined us, but didn't sing. :(

But I think my greatest achievement for the day was finally getting Tom to see Spiderman 2. We went to see it in July, but we missed it and didn't want to wait around for an hour, so we went and saw something else. But I did it!

Nobody would let me film them, so all I got were these three pics:

[EDIT] Sorry to Saman, Jing and Wayland, who tried to access the links, but Tripod wouldn't let them. Fixed it now...

http://annatheannoying.tripod.com/Singstar_pics_1.htm (70KB)

http://annatheannoying.tripod.com/Singstar_pics_2.htm (103KB)

http://annatheannoying.tripod.com/Singstar_pics_3.htm (91KB)