Gambling Going Global!

OK, not quite, but I liked the alliteration Today was II's Confectionary Casino Afternoon, the first event I've organised since I joined the committee. It was going to be a card game day, only with gambling using chocolate coins. Seeing as entry and chocolate were free, I figured we wouldn't need a gambling license or anything.

So on Monday, Tim and I went over to the Original Lolly Store in Melbourne Central to check out some coins. Tim managed to negotiate a discount for us, so we ended up getting 2kg of chocolate coins (about 300 coins; 160 big coins and 140 small coins) for $51. The best part is, the student union is footing the bill - we hope (well, I dotted all the I's and crossed all the T's, the forms are in Tobais' hands now (he's the treasurer)).

This morning, I had that horrible feeling, the one you get where you know something is going to go wrong, and you don't want to get out of bed. But, as the keeper of the chocolate, and the fact that I was my event anyway, I had to get up and go to uni. I'd been worrying about it since Tuesday. See, I didn't actually want this position, it's just that the person that last held this position nominated me. She did a really good job, and everyone loved her, only she's no longer a student at Melbourne Uni. so she had to turn it over to a current student.

I have passed the mantle to the one person I thought deserved it. She'd better keep my club alive godsdamnit.

~Louise

Quoted from her livejournal (I'm sure she won't mind me borrowing it *cough* stealing it *cough*). The first part is nice, but the second part.... :S

So I hope that explains my nervousness. I fully expect them to be willing to hold another AGM (Annual General Meeting) just to get rid of me.

Talking to Rob while going to get the drinks was very calming though, as I forced myself to pay attention to everything that he was saying. By the time we got back from Safeway, I was a feeling a little more ready to run this thing. Then I got up to Mary Cooke and looked at the mass of people there. I panicked. If it weren't for the fact that people started saying, "Hey Anna! Is that the chocolate in your bag?" I think I would have run. Turns out that most of them were from MUOSS (Melbourne Uni Overseas Students' Society) whose lounge is right next to Mary Cooke.

[Oh, a side point. I now get greeted by a bunch of people that I don't know. So I'll walk in and some people will say hello, and I'll look at them, smile and say, "Hey....you!" I don't know if they can tell that I don't know their names yet, but I'm sure they'll pick up on it soon. I just never thought it'd be important to learn their names as they'll probably all graduate soon and I'll never see them again anyway. Argh, why can't everyone be called Anna? It'd make it much easier for me to remember my name, too.]

When the Casino Afternoon officially started, I had about 5 people there. And one of those 5 people was me. But I reasoned that the Star Trek AGM was being held at the same time, so people would start coming after that. While it was nice and small, we had a game of Blackjack going. As dealer, I was doing pretty well. Most people either bust, or were under what I had. I managed to get Blackjack a few times, too. Then it broke into games of 500 and poker. By the first hour, there was at least 15 people there (we needed to have at least 21 students there to cover our costs; we got 24, though that doesn't mean we make a profit, unfortunately). Then Tobias showed up and I got him to start a game of Magic: The Gathering so that more people could be playing at a time (we'd run out of decks of cards).

In the last hour, it looked like everyone was having fun. I was so relieved. All the coins were gone from the bank though, so Graham was kind enough to share his with me so that we could bet on a game of Magic. As everyone got to go home with some chocolate, I'm sure they were all happy. There was one coin leftover, so I took it home and gave it to Amanda.

Someone had left their bag in the room, so I said that I'd drop it off at her place on the way home. It was a good chance to take a walk and clear my head. I'd been so worried about the casino afternoon that I hadn't had a chance to process things that have happened this week. I was able to come to terms with something based on the fact that it's the logical thing to do. I just have to hope that the rest of my mind follows soon. I still feel guilty about it, but there's nothing I can do to change that.

On the not-so-plus side, there has been a call for an II pizza night. More organisation, whoopee!

It's the End

Wow, took me a while to post about Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. I'm still undecided about it. It's not an absolute flop, but I think it's still not as good as any of the movies from the original trilogy. It is darker, and definitely not suited for little kiddies. I don't know how to describe it without spoiling it, so I'll leave it at that. I have to say though, going to see it at midnight was great fun! There were so many people in costume (I wasn't one of them, unfortunately), and the night was just filled with Star Wars quotes. Anytime someone got an opportunity to quote a line, they did.

It's also the end of my Freecell obsession. I've found a new game, sudoku. It's a Japanese game, that's kinda like a crossword for numbers. You have a 9x9 grid, and your goals is to fill each of the rows, columns, and blocks (which are 9 sets of 3x3 grids), with each of numbers from one to nine, without repeating any or leaving any out. Sounds easy? Well, there numbers that have already been filled in for you that you're not allowed to change, so you have to work around them. This keeps it so that there's only one solution for each puzzle. It was in today's Herald Sun (finally, that paper is good for something!).

Check out : http://www.sudoku.com

Thoughts of A Cookie Jar

Title inspired by Jean's wonderful blog: http://thoughtsfromacookiejar.blogspot.com/

OK, so the other reason for the title. I'm one of those people who does things on impulse. I decided that I wanted to have a cookie jar filled with lots and lots of cookies, because that's why it's a cookie jar after all. So I went to Kmart and bought the biggest cookie jar that I could find, which turned out to be a 3L one (I imagined having lots of cookies). So I bring home this nice big cookie jar, and after dinner, I start baking. Since it has been a while since I last made cookies, I decided to do a test run first, so that I didn't end up with a hundred cookies that weren't very nice. Well, first batch was done, and before they even had time to cool, half of them were gone! I'm not sure if they were gone because they were eaten, or if they were gone because someone threw them out by accident. :/

I suddenly felt the urge to play Freecell, so I left that jar empty and decided to try again when I had more time. Unbeknownst to me, my mum decided that the jar was too big, and that the little jar that we used to use for peanuts would do instead. She returned the jar to Kmart, and didn't even bother to tell me! I had no idea, so when Anjelica, Amanda and I were in the supermarket (I was looking for a box of cereal that might contain a lightsabre spoon!) and I decided to restart my cookie making plan. I tell Anjelica and she tells me that mum returned my jar. I was rather attached to that jar!

I don't know why mum didn't tell me, so I got another idea. Anjelica was supposed to distract mum while I baked a hundred cookies. Then, she'd be greeted by lots of cookies on the counter, and me innocently asking where my cookie har is. Didn't quite work as planned. Mum came home early and the first lot were still in the oven.

So now I have lots of cookies, but still no jar. :(

Wednesdays are Wonderful

Well, this one Wednesday was. I got an e-hug from one of my favourite people in the world (it was 2AM-ish, I'm counting it as Wednesday). I'm not normally a hug-ish person, but it was so sweet and unexpected. :D

And I take back all the horible things I said about psychology. Troy Visser is such a funny man. He's our new lecturer, and he's this Canadian guy who is very distracted by his 9-month old daughter. The one thing I remember from his first lecture, "You all might think I look familiar, but you can't quite work out why. Well, that's probably because you've seen my twin." (Picture of Keanu Reeves flashes up on the screen.) I have managed to stay awake in all of his lectures so far. Go me!

I also found out about the negative games of freecell. They're the ones that have been proven imposible. That didn't stop me from taking a look at them anyway. That also lead me to thin about the guy who invented Freecell, and I found this: http://www.austega.com/diversions/FreeCell/freecell.htm

Plus, I'm now part of II's committee. Lucky me, I get to organise things, like a camp, and a ball! Can you imagine a bunch of roleplayers turning up to a ball? More importantly, can you imagine me organising one?!

Ah, well that is the goodness that was Wednesday.