why you (and I) should write smaller

Two exams down, 2 to go!!

I had to ask for a second answer booklet b'coz I ran out of space to write in the exam this morning. It was I think a 15-page booklet but it only had ruled pages on one side of the sheet that we could write on. Plus the lines were spaced apart to accommodate people with large handwriting.

There was only one more question to answer and I ran out of space. So they gave me another one of those 15-page booklets to write on. At that point I started thinking about how many trees I was killing in the process of getting my degree.

What a distraction!

The worst part was I only used up 2 pages. The rest are going to waste.

OMG. I am a tree killer.

I am going to hell for this (sy said so). If not, then I'm contributing big time to global warming and deforestation and droughts and...well basically destroying the earth.

Maybe I should start writing a bit smaller from now on.

exam fever

My study table

It's always this cluttered coz I figure, it's no point putting my books away if I have to use them frequently. When they're on the table, they're accessible.

yay micro!

well...semester's nearly over...yet again. Last day tomorrow. Uni semesters always go too fast for my liking. The good thing is that I don't have any more micro problem sets due.

The last problem set had a funny story to it. It happened to be on externalities i.e. social marginal benefits and costs (SMB and SMC), private marginal costs (PMC). That sort of stuff. For ppl who haven't done economics before, sorry abt the terminology. Anyway...we got this other group to explain the externality question just to see how they did it.

Guy1: we know that the SMB has to equal SMC but we have a negative externality so the PMS...

Guy2: at that point, started laughing so hard he had to go for a little walk to sober up

Erica and I just looked at each other and cracked up. How is PMC related to PMS? Maybe there were too many women standing next to him.

Guy1's version of a negative externality

I hope I won't crack up if I get one of these questions in the exam.

Re: commuting

Catching public transport at around 7.30am, 3pm and 5.30pm are the worst times to travel by if you're a commuter. That's of course, in my opinion (which may not be very important to you but i've been using public transport for a number of years now).

At 7.30am and 5.30pm, heaps of people in suits would be lining up on platforms waiting for their trains/trams. And the trains would usually be packed depending on which way you're going. Chances are if you were on one of those trains, you'd be sandwiched in between taller people. Standing in trains isn't that bad. Standing in packed buses with a heavy backpack is a lot worse. Hold on tight or risk falling onto someone else.

Then at 3pm, you'd find a huge group of school kids rushing to make the train and once they get on, it's talk talk talk until they get off. And you know what school kids talk about, right??

Absolute crap. Most of the time.

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A kid happened to be on the train today and he was running around and shouting most of the time which entertained and possible annoyed some people. That combined with school kids chatting non-stop = a lot of noise.

Happy Birthday, NS & SY!!

Dear NS and SY,

Happy 19th b'day!!

You know what this means? It means that I've known you two for a very long time (approximately 8 years and 2 months!!)

I know I'm not the first to wish you two happy birthday but at least I remembered.

Shan, I didn't forget. It's just been a really happening week.

Looking back on the 8 years (5 years at smss), I can honestly say that I had an awesome time at smss because of you gals. So thank you for including me in your group when I was the "new student" and for all the fun times we had. It wouldn't have been the same without you.

Have a great b'day!!

love,
D

first day back

It was complete chaos at uni today. We had a full power outage at around 12pm. The power in every building on campus went out. So cool! Heaps of people flooded out of the buildings and stood outside campus centre and the main library when it happened. I think there were a few people stuck in the lift too.

The best part was...no lectures! =) The microphones weren't working so there wasn't any point in having lectures. I'm pretty sure the power is still out now. It's definitely turned my yet-another-normal-uni-day into a more exciting one!

tulan beyond words

Why is it that every time I call for a group meeting, everyone agrees and then at the last minute that guy will either be late or not turn up at all? It's bloody frustrating! It's like we're not a proper group. We're not a group at all full stop.

Today he called in sick. I duno how sick he is but I doubt he'll be able to get us an extension for the assignment. So I'll pretty much be doing the assignment by myself.

I am so tulan.

Tulan beyond words.

(sorry kennysia. I know I'm using your word but I have no other words to describe how I feel atm)


*dIScONNECTED is going back to work on assignment*

random-ness

Today's mood: Not as stressed as yesterday

It all began when I saw him eating really small biscuits with a chocolate dip. It looked so interesting that I was tempted to ask him what it was. He was sitting pretty close, like 1 metre from our table but then it'd seem a bit weird to ask him just like that. So I went on chatting with this other gal from my tute. Just to wind down really. It's been a tiring day. (I had classes from 9-3; not much of a break in between and had a group meeting from 3-4. Oh and we had our presentation today. That went pretty well according to the tutor...which is why im pretty pleased).

So...where was I...yeah...I was having a conversation with the other girl abt "getting-to-know-each-other-better" stuff. Actually...it was more like a get-to-know-her-better conversation. I noticed that that guy (his name's Darcy btw. as in Pride and Prejudice Mr. Darcy) kept glancing at us from time to time. Maybe our conversation was really interesting.

Anyway...I was about to leave when I decided to ask him abt the biscuits. He must've thought it was pretty random. But at least us two gals had a nice conversation with some totally random stranger that happened to sit near us. He's first yr arts/eng btw. We were actually distracting him from his studying. Not that he minded too much.

I'd recommend talking to random people. It's a great stress reliever. Coz it takes your mind off things and you basically talk about nothing in particular. Just don't go and chat with people who look like they'll bite your head off.



I like this quote by Carlos A Urbizo
"Stoop and you'll be stepped on; stand tall and you'll be shot at"

Dissatisfied group member

Group presentations suck. Actually...all group work suck. This only applies when you have lousy group members. Of course...I can't really tell them that to their face coz then...it'd be really hard to do the other two assignments with them. Yup. I'm stuck with them for the rest of the semester. That means I'll have to see them in class for the next two and a half months. Therefore, it wouldn't be wise to give them the shits about group work. The only thing I can do is to blog here...hence confining my rants to myself...and to the very few ppl who stumble upon my blog.

So...I had a group meeting today for next week's presentation. If you can call that a group meeting. It was more like a half-group meeting. Somehow I had the feeling that it would happen.

Gut-feeling

Women's intuition

Call it what you like. I just knew.

Anyway, I met up with the girl in my group at around 11.30 (she apparently was waiting in the library but her phone was busy) and we sort of got a little bit done but she was slightly unenthusiastic about working on the presentation. She left early...half an hour after the other guy arrived.

He's a different story. He had this assignment due today and he said he'd probably finish the night before. He was supposed to meet us at 12pm but what a surprise...he came late. I'm sure you're all getting the picture now. A whopping 1hr and 15 mins late, no less. I mean, come on. I know your assignment is important but we've got a presentation due in less than a week and it's the first meeting!! We need to get going!

Somebody help me.

I still have 2 assignments to work on with them. At the rate we're going, I think I might have to do most of the work myself.

Lecture etiquette for dummies

Some people are just so inconsiderate that all they think about is themselves. Young adults mostly. Hence the reason for my lesson on lecture etiquette.

Now you'd probably be thinking who am I to be giving people lessons on socially acceptable behaviour in lectures. All I can say is that I don't claim to be an expert in social behaviour but it's just plain common sense what to do and what not to do in these situations.

So if you have no clue as to what I'm getting at, then you've come to the right blog.


What not to do in a lecture hall

1. Firstly, come on time. If you can't, at least use the back door and sit down the back coz it's really distracting when the door slams.
2. If you plan to talk when the lecturer is speaking, then at least have the courtesy of sitting at the back and whisper, not down the front where some people are actually trying to listen. No, I've got a better idea. Just don't come to the lecture at all.
3. Keep your phone off or on silent. And if it rings, don't answer it and start with the 'how're you going, mate. you want to meet up later....' yada yada yada. It's annoying, not to mention terribly rude.
4. If you come in early, sit in the middle not towards the aisles so those who come in later don't have to climb over bags and legs just to get a seat.
5. Don't leave halfway just coz you feel like it. If you don't really want to sit in on the lecture, then don't come at all. Then you can go off and do sth else that you think is worth doing and everyone else can listen without any interruption.

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I got The Fray and Nickelback cd's today. =) It's great when you don't have to pay for stuff that you buy. And I watched music and lyrics. Compared to most of the other movies that Hugh Grant's starred in, this one was pretty good. His voice isn't great but some of the songs are alright and at least it's not so demeaning. Hugh Grant singing is sort of a first for me.

Maybe I'll get the Veronicas next time. =D

such profanity!

The only thing I'd usually be obsessing on as soon as I walk out the door on weekdays is whether I'd make it to class on time. Public transport punctuality is a bit dodgy sometimes (I know, I know, a few minutes less sleep won't hurt).

So I got to Flinders St Station yesterday and pretty much ran through the ticket barriers, across the foyer and down the escalators. Fortunately I made it onto the 8.08am train which was delayed. So i got into one of the carriages, planning what I was going to do during my 4-hour break when I realized that something was not quite right. (No..I didn't catch the wrong train though I did that once - din't pay enough attention to the display screen).

Right behind me was a woman and across the aisle were a few men. I can't say they were talking coz it was more like a swearing conversation. Almost every single one of their sentences consisted of the f-word. I can defintely say that they have a severely restrictive vocabulary. 0.0 It was so vulgar that I was hoping they'd get off long before I did. Didn't happen, unfortunately.

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Panic at the disco actually has unique music videos from other bands. But most of their songs are kind of similar.


Panic at the disco - I write sins not tragedies

Did you know Keith Urban's got great songs? I just discovered that recently.


Keith Urban - Tonight I wanna cry

mad monday

I'm not going to delight you guys with pics today. I'm taking a break from photos for now. And while I'm at it, maybe stop blogging for a week just to annoy sam.

First day back at uni and I was already late for my lecture. talk about being punctual. Not that I missed much. It was all intros and going through the unit outline, stuff like that. Campus centre was a madhouse. Everyone was queuing for their much-better-looking-than-last-year's student diary. It's pretty cool. horror movie style font.

Met the same old people (some of them) and one guy that used to go to the same school. Carried heavy books (to sell) and carried heavy books home (that I bought). Very heavy day. Textbooks are part of the reason why students go broke (apart from petrol costs and drinks).

Besides that, same old, same old really.




Pudder's Law:
Anything that begins well will end badly
(Note: the converse of Pudder's Law is not true)