Tuesday, July 26, 2011

There's something about the sunshine baby!

Guten Tag!

There was a big powercut today. Our lecture theatre turned pitch black. Was quite interesting. Made me think about how reliant we are on electricity...
Our lectrer didn't know how to react so he just started telling us random stories, and when he didn't have any more he just said we could go! Of course we were all fine with that. ;)

After the power went back on I went to grab a computer to print some things (ahh you see, smart tactic cos the computers had been abandoned!). It's weird how that system works, but luckily easy. I was happy to see the $ I had put on my card 2 years ago was still there! Woo!


Today I was in the library and the BEAUTIFUL sunshine not only was warming but it made my brain happy! Yes, I suddenly had this amazing flow of thoughts for my essay! :D

My second lecture was long, but we got to watch a movie about coffee production (Black Gold) for half of it! Was a nice break. Yup. :P Plus, who doesn't want to watch a manager of the first Starbucks make a fool out of herself?!
It was also easy and I even answer question in front of everyone in the class :D

OH and it was also funny when the lecturer (who is Canadian) put up an ad which she didn't know much about. When we all laughed she was so lost!
Basically she was advertiing for an event and she said "apparantly there are some great guest speakers!" and then scrolled down to reveal "guest speakers Hone Harawira.."
Ahh, Canadians. ;)
OH! We had another moment with her last lecture too! Apparantly she didn't know NZ has a really bad teen promiscuity thing going on..


Now, I don't read Salient (the uni magazine) because the first and (was going to be) only time I dd I thought it was utter rubbish. However, I was in my INTP lecture (which wasn't exctiting cos we had already talked about all she was saying in GEO, ut at least we got to watch a movie about coffee!) ad the guy next tome was saying that he doesn't like Salient but this one was "a gem!"
So I picked up a copy and flicked through it.

Most of it was pretty dumb, but this one tidbit did make me laugh...
You basically have to be a politics student to get this, but:
"Am I freaking out? I can hear a bird. Can you hear a bird? There is a bird? We really are in the State of Nature!" (INTP lecturer that I don't have)

Students who write this (and read it!), from what I understand after reading this magazine, don't spend their time very wisely!


Dinner tonight was pretty average as usual - but we had a laugh fest which was good. :P Me and my roomie laugh a lot. :D

Oh - and these people crashed our INTP lecture today. I actually was interested in what they were saying.
They were advertising:
http://aiesec.org.nz/exchange/oeplusimpact/

...and actually I think it would be pretty cool to do one in Brazil or something... ;) Wish Chile or something was an option though... At least I could understand a little Spanish - no clue about Portugese!!

...and it's quite development studies like...so ya never know! I'll keep an eye on it - maybe next year's summer break...?


OK.
Study time...

xx

Monday, July 25, 2011

Harry Potter...

Aloha!

Sooo
I saw the final Harry Potter movie last night.

It was good but not amazing. Everyone played it up to be better than it is.
I mean, at the end in the '19 years time' scene, they looked like lttle kids in adult costumes/hairstyles. Espesh Ginny. So bad...

The whole scene basically was revolved around this huge battle and they seemed to find the Horcrux's too easily. Anyway, maybe I'd give it a 7/10?

Ok - on the study front,done lots of reading, slowly doing the essay...

On the socialisng front, I think I'm having fun. :P
My USA friend is fun to hang out with (I still miss the sparkle though.. :/). I find it funny how we compare everything and are both on the same playing field when it comes to that.

The weather has been horrible! It rained ALL weekend. Not only that - it snowed a little and hailed! ew!
Needless to say, on Saturday we stayed inside the whole day - and watched a movie downstairs on the big T.V. :) Funny thing was all these people joined us and I didn't even notice until just before the film ended!


MY ROOMATE CUT AND COLOURED MY HAIR.
Looks quite different. ...but I like it.




We spent about FOUR hours doing this.
...and then my roomie forced me to go to lunch with my hair in glad wrap and tin foil!!! Soooo embarrassing.
We were laughing for the whole time we were there. ...and though people stared at me funny I didn't care so much because I thought it was funny too!

Ok.
STUDY time (until dinner and uh maybe more socialising?)

xx


HURT. But I guess that's what happens when you like the glittering object that you can't have :(
sigh.
must reluctantly move on. :/ So.hard.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Am I into you or is the music to blame?

Bonjourno!

I started chipping away at my first essay. It's hard but I think I'm slowly getting there...

Yesterday night I DID end up going towning. Yes, how unusual right?

I only knew Bri, but it was ok. The others were nice and the boys even walked me home under Bri's orders haha. :P

We had cocktails at Alice (this place themed like Alice in Wonderland, and you walk down this somewhat creepy allyway [rabbit hole] to get to it!) and then went to the shot shack (yummmmy - chocomint flavour was totally my fav!).

I find it amusing how it always becomes everyone's mission to get me drunk since I hardly drink. Not that it worked, I stayed very sober and boring. :P I really just hate not being in control of myself. >.<

We went dancing for quite some time and by the end of it all my feet were killing me! It was so good to get back to my apartment and sleep!

Today the weather was horrible. So I just chilled with my roomie. She used me as a model again and this time I actally turned out pretty nice. :) I liked the hair-do. It was weird seeing how I would look without freckles. I was kind of like a china doll. Strange... Thoughts?





Pretty much just stayed inside today. I didn't want to step out into the grossness of the wind and rain...

Going to see HP tomorrow. :D


xx

--> title: from Who Owns My Heart?, Miley Cyrus

Friday, July 22, 2011

It's times like this when you should keep pursuing the impossible

Hey guys!

Today I didn't have class. :D
So I did washing and studied (woo done all my reading!) and went for a walk and studied some more. Yup.

However, what made the day awesome was that...
I got to have a skype chat today!
It was kind of an epic fail (the technology was no agreeing), but anyone who knows me would know that even though initially it's frustrating, it was kind of amusing to me.
Why?
Because it was like a game. To see how and when the next thing would happen. lol!

Anyway so even though it was very fractured I still enjoyed it - thanks Jimmy! :) If you read this - good! ;)

Bri wants to go out tonight....
It's so COLD.
But ok.
I might just meet her in town and not be such a boring person all the time. :P

xx

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Where is campus care?!

Hola!

Sooo....
Today was cool. I mean I didn't get much done but it made me happy. :P

Why?

Well, firstly I had a tute and our tutor basically gave us the answers to everything. Which I mean is probably bad but at the same time it was awesome because I didn't have to think. :P

Then I had my POLS lecture and for the first time I actually understood everything that he said! It was remarkable! It made sense too!

Then I had my Geo lecture. :P Before it started I was hoping that my Amercan friend would sit next to me again (what if he didn't show up? What if he wanted to sit elsewhere?). Luckily he did. ...and it ws a great lecture. ESPECIALLY when the lecturer sang a song for us called "The more you know the less you know". Soooo cool. All teachers should sing to their students if they have a descent voice! Yup! :D

Then I got talking to the American guy and we ended up chatting for ages since he didn't have a lecture for a while and I had finished lectures for the day.
It was so cool. :) ...and then I asked if he wanted to go to the Ball event with me and he said yes! Woo! :P So awesome.

Oh! ..and we had an awesome but slightly frustrating adventure!! My Geo friend, who I'll call 'Steven' because I don't know if he'd like me using his real name haha. Anway so Steven was trying to find the place where he was meant to hand in his form. We were directed by about 4 different people. All saying different things. ...making me loose faith in the directional and helpful ability of Wellingonians... Yeeeeah. We were directed all over the place and eventualy gave up when no-one semed to know the answer.

The final place we went was the mail room (of all places)to ask if they knew - and what do you know?! Someone from the place we were looking for was there! ...except he said that we weren' even meant to gto this place, suggested other places and then was like - maybe just take it to the place you are staying. Uhmm. Right. Ok. Give up.

...but we came to the conclusion that campus care was the guy from the mail room. Yup. Solved the mytery. ;) hahaha

After hanging out at the library with Steven Bri called and found out she was at my Hall!
So I quickly had to go meet her.

I showed Bri were I live and then we went out to get 241 cocktails. Only, that was wed and fri....not thursday! Whhhhaaaat?! A year ago it was totally THURSDAY!!!!

So we gave up on that and decided to see if we could find the Warehouse, cos I needed a few things. ...it took ages (and the weather was crappy - was 'spitting' with rain) but we found it eventually!!! ...and bought more than was planning. But that's ok, it was useful and def much cheaper than other places --> I even saw shoes for $2!

So, after that we were totally classy - me with my toilet paper etc haha. ...we couldn't be bothered going back to my apt so we -seriously- went for cocktails with our stuff. LOL. How cool are we?? XD

They even made us a drink that we requested which wasn't even on the menu any more (how things change in year!) It's called Toblerone and it's YUMMY!....because a few staff members there knew what I was talking about and made it for us. :D So good.
...oh, and they didn't check for I.D. Apparantly I definately look over 18... Not sure if that's a good thing? lol :/

So that was great and then Bri caught a bus home and I walked back to my apt to grab dinner.

Then my roomie wanted to ue me as a model since she does hair and makeup school. So she did that and it trned out SCARY. lol. Good thing she is practicing because MAN. We both thought I looked like a drag queen. ...and no, there is NO picture evidence of this! (phew!!)
...but after I took all that off my roomie and I went to see if anywhere had ear drops and sure enough everything in Welly was closed at 8pm and the dairys only had eye drops!!!

Anyway so that was my exciting day!
Got a skype date tomorrow, yay!

xx

More guys should do Zumba!

Hey ya'll!


Firstly, I have a bone to pick.
So howcome if we are all adults in this building but we are still treated like children?
This week they are having apartment inspections (noooo I thought I was over that after Disney!) and they have also imposed a no acohol/no guest ban until further notice!! (apparantly there was bad behaviour last weekend?!)
What in the world? I feel like they are using whatever strange power they have to make us feel like we are children. And it's anoying.
Not that it reall affects me, I can do without alcohol, and it's not like I intend to have friends over anyway (though one day I'll show anyone who wants to see, my room lol)...

Right.
Next.
I am working on my first essay and it's not going the best. My motivation keeps waning because I am finding it hard to write about. I have plenty of books but I don't think they will help me much with some of the he question. :/ I'm just going to have to push through it I guess.

I had my 3 hour dance day yesterday. Zumba is LOVE. Makes me feel great. I was pretty much dancing on the way down the hill to my Hall. :P Only 2 guys were in our(Bri does it with me) class though!
...oh and I am declaring that Wednesdays are my fav days. Not only because of dancing but I only have 1 lecture and it's my fav subject - Geo! ...for more than one reason! haha. But seriously, the teacher is awesome. He uses music and has great humour. :D

Today I have a tute and 2 lectures. Theeeen I may go out for 241 cocktails with Bri and of course study. Yup. Studystudystudy! ;)

I am feeling like I have gotten over my cold! ...too bad my roomie now has one. XD ...but at least she isn't totally miserable - she has my Utah author friend's books to keep her company! She even finished one yesterday. :)

So.... the Ustay Ball (theme: A Night in Vegas) is on Aug 6. ....I was just fine with going by myself (might meet people)...but now I am considering taking someone. At least if I can get the courage to ask this one guy in my Geo class to go wih me XD ...though, that could be an expensive idea lol....
...oh, and BRI, you should come! You don't have to be from Ustay!


Off to Uni!
xx

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Post this, post that...

Bonjour,

Today I couldn't concentrate too well. I tried to figure out why and I think it probably has something to do with the fact I didn't have chocolate all day. Which is probably like some kind of withdrawl symptom?
Dinner had a chocolate dessert though so I guess I cn test this theory by seeing if in fact I feel better soon...

Aggh!
My arms hurt!
Why is that? I know why... That horrible X55 thing!

I tried it yesterday and man that thing was intense. I mean, I knew from the instructor it would be because I had had her before and she is scary and has high expectations.
But MAN. It really hurts today.
Hopefully I'll be good by tomorrow because I wanna do Zumba and salsa!

Today at uni my brain was not working. I couldn't remember a lot of stuff. It's frustrating because I read so much but can't retain it. ...and I can't read things more than once or else I'd never get through anything! Good thing I take notes etc but still...WHY does my memory have to be so terrible?! Ergh.

Oh! And I have to figure out where I can print things?! How annoying, I hate not having easy access to a printer. :(


I tried to start brainstorming about my first essay. It ended up in lots of words on the page but I'm not really sure if they make sense?
Hopefully my mind will clear and I'll see what scary/miraculous things I came up with...

Oh. In my (first)tute today and in class all these terms were mentioned. Now, it wasn't just me who was lost, but ohmygoodness. So many terms like "post modern" and "post development" that make me stare into blank spaces and try to hide. :P
Let's discover what at least these two mean...

Postmodernism is a movement away from the viewpoint of modernism. More specifically it is a tendency in contemporary culture characterized by the problem of objective truth and inherent suspicion towards global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. It involves the belief that many, if not all, apparent realities are only social constructs, as they are subject to change inherent to time and place. It emphasizes the role of language, power relations, and motivations; in particular it attacks the use of sharp classifications such as male versus female, straight versus gay, white versus black, and imperial versus colonial. Rather, it holds realities to be plural and relative, and dependent on who the interested parties are and what their interests consist in. It attempts to problematise modernist overconfidence, by drawing into sharp contrast the difference between how confident speakers are of their positions versus how confident they need to be to serve their supposed purposes. Postmodernism has influenced many cultural fields, including literary criticism, sociology, linguistics, architecture, anthropology, visual arts, and music.


Let's see...
uhhmm.
A group of people who think the philosopher dudes who talked about modernity are out of date. They think nothing should be set in stone or characterised because things are fluid/more complicated than that?
They want to be P.C and not hurt anyones feelings?
....yeah, still confused. Anyone want to help me an take a crack at it - explaining in easy to understand terminology that won't further hurt my brain?

and

Postdevelopment theory (also post-development, or anti-development) holds that the whole concept and practice of development is a reflection of Western-Northern hegemony over the rest of the world. Postdevelopment thought arose in the 1980s out of criticisms being voiced against development projects and the development theory used to justify them.

---> Both from Wiki.

That makes more sense... It's a group of people saying that we need to stop looking at development in Western terms!


Ergh. Right now though it pretty much looks like a bunch of BLAH. Words on a page/screen that jumble up and don't make sense. :(

By the way! Is it still considered jet lag if every night I am tired by 9ish? I have been unable to keep awake so go to sleep at 9.30-10.30 every night!

Anyway....off to try and do something productive.



xx



p.s congrats to Richard, you know why :)