May Contain Bolts

So, this is a day late, and pretty much everyone else has covered it better than me, so read their blogs instead for info on the unis. This is a pretty half-hearted effort, so apologies in advance.

It’s 10:42, and I begin this journety sitting on platform 3 at Kogarah. In the background, there’s the uniform sound of trumpets and bass drums – I peer out in the distance, through the hole in a fence and see a man dressed with a black navy-looking jacket, with gold stipes running horizontally. He stops, and flings his gold baton in the air, with an upright stance that would even make a tree jealous.

The platform and other platforms around fill with what looks like high school students. Most of them travelling in pairs, or bunched in groups. Are they all going to open days? Or are they just off to partay, get wasted and play DDR as shocked white people revere their awesomeness?

I stand. My life has no direction. Maybe I’ll be able to find some clarity today. Yesterday at jazz some of us discussed what we wanted to do, and it seems that I’m not the only one who doesn’t quite know. I love jazz so much. We didn’t have a teacher (as Wong was with the year 11s) and ended up playing hat game which was fun (with words like Aryan, homosexual, and Mr Alder – twice). On the Carlo train back, saw some of the yr11s – apparently they’ve done Blue Moon, Under the Boardwalk and Isn’t She Lovely (recycle much?).

6 tears down, and back to the bottom of the food chain again next year. Time flies like an arrow. (how many ways can you interpret that sentence) 11:05 and I reach Central; off to UTS!

10:42, and on the USyd shuttle. Hope I’ll make it to the Dr. Karl lecture in time. So much running…couldn’t figure out where to find the shuttle from Railway Square (marked only by a little piece of paper in the front of the window), and considering it was next to the UTS stand…

Got the UTS shirt, and surprisingly, I was the first Facebook fan to do so. Tis pretty cool (shall take pics later and insert here)

Sandstone is beautiful.

2:36 and I’m on the USyd shuttle again, from Railway Square. I can’t believe how manyy people I’ve seen today from NCSS, Ruse and HPS. Today hasn’t been particularly enlightening though – Dr. Carl was cool, and James Sin made me consider doing Comm./Law. Hearing that there’s very little essay writing in commerce is good.

But neither university has got me completely convinced. UTS just seemed like this mega party uni (full with DJ blaring out the bass and a poppin and lockin battle), and USyd just seemed to be all about the prestige. In the end, no matter which uni you go to you’ll end up coming out with the same degree, and be hunting just the same as everybody else. (which makes UNSW’s co-op look so appealing)

4:31 – So that’s a wrap. Took the final tour of the USyd law school (pretty awesome) with Aditi. Found out the reason why so many places are going postgrad is because Labour axed full-fee places, so unis are looking to get more income by full-fee postgrad courses. Everything is so new, and the main lecture theatre feels like a cinema (and can be converted into one by dropping the big screen down :O).

Here’s a shot from the restricted level 6 of the law building.

The wind is really starting to pick up. I just had a mini-cyclone around me, which dropped all this little leafy stuff in my eye, in my hair and all over me. I hate it when that happens D: Anywho, I’m driving home now, so cya.

More pics after the jump.

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This post was started on the Saturday after trials (22/8), and never properly finished. Quick hello to those who may or may not be reading this. You know who you are. [26/8 - or you probably don't because you've left...]

So, 1 month later, the bane of my existence (so far) is over. The fact that this is the most major exams (and are supposedly harder than the HSC) hasn’t sunk it yet…that’s bad. [26/8 - it has, and it sucks.]

Here is my desk, on it lies
a cardboard box, what could be inside?

[Rex talks about spring cleaning, well this is what my desk looks like. Two massive piles on the left, in no order whatsoever where sheets, magazine, random bits of paper go to die. Makes it 'seem' tidy. Absolute nightmare to navigate.]

/25th August breakaway

Giant piles of paper sitting on my desk
Reminding me of the time that we have left

10 weeks to go till the HSC
As I sit here waiting meticulously
Trying to figure out this mess I’m in
Wondering when the pen will get its final spin
The call, the drop, the sound of the clock
The sighs, the tears, the waves and the shock
As we move towards the end of the beginning
The dawn of a new day, the whole world spinning

As we begin to fade, one by one
Following the paths we have been set upon
But never forget the ones that are here
Will you still remember me come 6 years?

/end random

RICE Rally, Saturday 22nd August 2009 – This was my second RICE, and the number of people from our grade was amazing :O Ate Pepperlunch (for the first time ever) with everybody before it started (see Belle’s blog). The fact that the pork/beef/whatever meat it was cooked itself on the hot plate was awesome! The sound of crackling…and it tasted alright. (hard to come by for a guy like me ) Nobody got into the opening act (Nicole C Mullen) except for me, Jason, and a few others in our area, which was disappointing. (where’s your enthusiasm people!? XD) Matt Chandler gave a really powerful message, which challenged me and my attitudes. (Simon’s got a good summary)

…so what’s in the box?

Click for full Wii unboxing gallery

Twitter. So some of you might remember me mentioning that Panasonic were running a Twitter/Facebook comp to win a Wii. Well, it just so happens that on the last day of competition, after having entered the daily comps for about 3 weeks straight, I finally won. So this came in the mail. You gotta be in it to win it. (for craptacular winning entry see here, entry being referenced here, and for my Twitter page see here) So get entering (as per Belle’s orders).

The Wii has pretty much confirmed everything I suspected about it. Just like when I first played it in 2006 at Game1. It’s quite gimmicky and finicky with the motion sensing (the training games on Wii Tennis where you return the ball are ABSOLUTELY FRUSTRATING when they don’t work the way you want it to). But with other people it’s obviously a lot of fun. Can’t believe Brawl is still so expensive though D:

So, while we were out on trials, quite a bit happened. There was the Leipzig GamesCon, where a bunch of stuff was teased, plus one massive anouncement.

That’s right, the PS3 has gone on a diet. The new PS3 Slim. The best part? AU$499. Sure, craptacular compared to the US$299 it’s going for, but it’s now cheaper than the 360 Elite (AU$549), which has no WiFi and no Blu-ray support. (although Microsoft will announce a price drop on the 360 as it phases out the Pro in the coming weeks) The bad news? Backwards compatibility is gone forever, and Linux support is now gone. Here’s IGN’s unboxing:

We aired our final prefect news on the week before trials. See the rest of the 2008/2009 prefect vids here: http://www.youtube.com/ruseprefects09 (now has the final assembly as well)

Congrats to the 2009/10 prefects on their intro. It did seem a bit slow at points, but the finale was awesome . I must say though, extremely high number of rip-offs/jabs at our vid though…

Next time on May Contain Bolts: The blogodemic – a new craze is sweeping the digital generation, but [generic observation]? We [emphasis on importance] [point of analysis] [subject] [conclusion]. [statement on sanity]

So it’s 5:41, and I’m sitting here with 15 of the ruse09 jazz ensemble crew at the Hog’s Breath Cafe in Castle Hill Piazza, waiting for our orders. Lol benny was here (yeah, thanks Benny. :/) What are we doing here? Well, in a few hours time we’ll be performing at the Hills Centre to a crowd of kids and parents.

We left school just before 3 and headed off in the P-plater’s cars off to Castle Hill for rehearsal. Here’s us in the cool dressing room

Here’s an awesome shot from the Hills Centre.

Got a slew of results back today, and although I didn’t fail (although got REALLY close in a few subjects…) I’m pretty bummed about how I went. I guess it’s my fault for failing to prepare for exams in the holidays. Congrats to the people who did really well though (and the people who won monah in the eco comp and petey).

And food is served at 6:05. Looks pretty good.

Oh crap, forgot to take a pic. (see Belle’s blog when she posts ) Ah well, I had a lite steak (ie. Small) plus the fries and veges (and yes, I did eat my greens and oranges :p)

8:36 – The performance is done, the night is over. Was a great success Performed our signature song All For Love and a Queen cover (Crazy Little Thing Called Love) Had an abolute blast. While backstage, we meddled around with a few people’s heads with a few games XD Also, Alan’s favourite colour is pink.

Sitting in James’ car on the way back home.

So, english speech plus visual representation was due today. Due to procrastination (Chris T, Ed, Jero and Milo will be able to attest to the many lols) ended up finishing at 6AM. So right now surviving on less than 1hr of sleep. And I’m feeeeeeling good

Heh, it’s an upside down 70 sign. Sign, symbols, they mean so much. We’ve somehow been able to associate red hexagons with stop, and triangles with warnings. Universal symbols, how did they come into existance?

Ok, I’ve blogged incoherently enough for now. Sorry, working at like 0 mental capacity, and half high from lack of sleep. Thanks everyone for making today so awesome, and thank you for putting up with my ramblings.

Good night.

Holy shit. Currently at Redfern station, 12:49pm. Just witnessed something extraordinary. I was sitting on Platform 11 after trying to delay my trip time slightly because my mum wouldn’t have been able to pick me up till 1.

It worked a little too well.

I heard shouting coming from the other platform. (note- tunnel, underground similar to Epping-chatswood) Nothing too peculiar – I mean there’s the regular set of hoons from time to time. I knew the train was coming in about 3 minutes or go. Then the shouting got louder. 2 minutes. And louder. 1 minute.

I walked to the other platform, as did everyone else, standing on their feet, aghast. I wondered what all the fuss was about, then I saw it.

A man in a hoodie was standing, as if he were surfing, in the middle of the tracks on platform 12. Guards, transit officers waving their arms madly on the side as the rumble of the train drew nearer. The man still (seemingly) oblivious to what was going on around him.

Then headlamps. The man was still standing there with about 15m between him and the train. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. You hear about these things, but you never really feel the sense of fear until you see it yourself. The death of a man? Time seemed to slow for that moment…

…and he made a precarious dive towards the wall, train still rushing towards him, his legs flailing in the air. The train kept going, doing its best to slow, coming to a stop about halfway along the platform.

Did it hit, or did it miss? I still don’t know, as they moved us along to platform 10, chattering over their handheld radios. All I heard was the faint murmuring of ‘Help’ from beneath the train…

It’s now 1:04, and the PA guy is saying they have no idea when the next train will come. No doubt it will be full. There goes my physics plans…

1:10 – a milenniun OSCAR aproaches, but it says Chatswood on the front. It also only seems to be 4 cars…but the PA guy says the train that’s meant to be coming (Cronulla) is at St. James (5 stations away)…hmm? It’s come to a stop a few metres from the start of the platform…this is confusing.

…ok, now the train has become a ‘does not stop’ and has gone straight through. An empty train that was apparently terminating…ok….

1:18 and supposedly 1min to this replacement Cronulla. The PA guy has tried to redirect the all stops people back to plat 12. People who don’t know English seem befuzzled at all this confusion as people shift. Which raises the question, how do you cater for these people in a situation like this?

1:20, and the train is suprisingly not very full. Empty in fact – like many empty seats empty. Well, I guess this isn’t the best time to be blogging, so I will quickly close and get back to my phys. Good luck to everyone else who still has exams and have fun partaying to all those who are now done.

Postscript:

Looking back, it all seems so surreal. The memory now seems fuzzy. Did it really happen like that? Why did he jump on the tracks? (I don’t know, maybe a mental this one) I think I’m beginning to understand the whole Hughes and perspectives thing now…

The best part would probably be my absolute stoned-ness after the driver came out of the cabin (which was in directly front of me) and said “What happened? I hope I didn’t hit him” and I stupidly responded (missing the second part) “There was a man on the tracks…”

The moral of this story kids: Get to your destination FIRST before you decide to try and start delaying yourself.